Am I A Drummer With Autism Or Am I A Person With Autism Who Plays Drums?

Am I A Drummer With Autism Or Am I A Person With Autism Who Plays Drums?

By Andres Ortiz, 02/2021

Photo courtesy of Andres Ortiz, Photography Class Project

My name is Andres Ortiz and I have high functioning autism. I’ve been playing drums for about 16 years. Playing drums makes me feel energetic, happy and special both inside and out. Learning to play the drums has helped me in lots of ways.  Not only do I have a better appreciation of lots of kinds of music but my social skills have gotten a lot better because being in a band means that you have to understand other people.   Music has been my link to the neurotypical community.  When I’m behind the kit, no one knows that I am different.

Music has helped my behavior, social and communication skills. It doesn't matter if I am

playing or listening to music. Playing the drums makes me a better musician and a better

person. When I first started jamming with people, I was worried about being accepted and

being a good enough drummer but I learned how to get along with them thanks to my love

of music and making friends in general. 

My first teacher, Mr. Manning, taught me to play the basics at home.  We started with two

Beatles classics, “If I Fell” and “Hey Jude” because I am a huge Ringo fan.  He said that to

be a real drummer I had to play with other people so I joined School of Rock .  I am now in

their Grad School program for people 19 and older.  Jack Mazza is our bassist and he’s

really good. He also has autism and is also my good friend.  He’s not my friend because he

has autism but because we both love music and because we have the same sense of humor. 

Jake and I are not the only musicians who have

autism.  Did you know that many famous

musicians like Mozart, Courtney Love from

Hole, Marty Balin from Jefferson Airplane,

Craig Nicholls from The Vines, Alan “Blind Owl"

Wilson from Canned Heat, some say

Keith Moon from The Who, James Durbin from

American Idol in 2011 and then Quiet Riot and

of course the 2019 winner of America’s Got

Talent, Kodi Lee also have autism?  I even got

to jam with the members of The Austistix The

AutistiX - Just The Same - YouTube when I
was in London in December 2019.  They are a band of musicians who just happen to have
autism.

Some things about having autism are actually helpful when it comes to playing music.  People with autism can understand the smallest details of music very easily and even better than neurotypical people. Many have perfect pitch for singing and harmonies.  Because we perseverate, we get really smart or really good at whatever we’re interested in. We don’t mind rehearsing the same thing over and over again. Eye contact is easier when we are concentrating on playing which is important in a band. Sometimes though loud noise can be a problem but headphones can help.

Playing music and even trying singing has been a great experience for me and has helped me to improve lots of things about myself.  If I did not try it I don’t know where I’d be now, especially when it comes to meeting people and knowing how to interact with others.  I have learned how to be patient and appreciate other people being patient around me.  I know it’s hard to try new things especially when you think you can’t do it but you never know until you try.  Believing in yourself makes you stronger.  If someone tells you it’s impossible keep on trying as long as you find a way to have fun.  It’s going to be hard work and you may want to quit but just keep going because you don’t know what could happen.  If I hadn’t been air drumming at an Elvis tribute concert I never would have met my girlfriend, Melissa.

Andres in the rehearsal room with The Austistix.