User:Lavenderizer/sandbox

Music
Klearman's interest in music started with his father, Jeff Klearman. Jeff played music often during Sam's childhood, whether it be a work of Jeff's own or another artist's work. Some examples include The Beatles, The Monkees, and The Beach Boys. Jeff's personal guitar playing, singing, and compositions also contributed to Klearman's musical interest. At the age of seven, Sam attempted to learn how to play guitar. For about three months, he took private lessons at a nearby music store and middle school. Sam quit short after because of his lack of interest, mostly due to his lack of practice and focus. After Sam's parents divorced in 2006, his dad stopped play the guitar almost altogether while also trying to start a private business.

At elementary school, Klearman was taught to play the recorder, although like any peers of his, never fully understood the instrument or the music that he played. Klearman stopped playing the recorder when he was 10. In middle school, he chose to play trumpet in his school's band program. Playing the trumpet allowed Sam to understand basic music scales and quire basic music knowledge. After discovering the he enjoyed playing music even in the school band, and hearing a close friend of his play a Chopin composition on piano, Klearman decided to take up the piano. After learning how to play the theme song of NBC's The Office, Sam started private lessons with a nearby teacher. One of the first songs he would learn completely was an abridged version of The Entertainer by Scott Joplin. Klearman was satisfied with his steep level of progress, and continued to learn new songs by himself and with his teacher. By the summer of 2012, Sam had become unsatisfied with his progress, and unsatisfied with the piano as a whole. He quit the instrument in July of 2012.

At the age of 11, Klearman started listening to songs that his dad had played for him while alone. This continued through the age of 12, and in the summer of 2012, when Klearman was 13, he taught himself to play the guitar. The first song that he learned to play was The Steve Miller Band's Rock'n Me. Klearman primarily taught himself using barre chords for the first few months of his guitar playing, only later using open chords as well. Using his basic knowledge of music from piano and trumpet, Klearman was able to teach himself how to play guitar, at first using the Ibanez SGT-120 that his dad had bought for him at the age of seven; the instrument was small and hard to play. Klearman began using his dad's two electric guitars (a 1979 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe and a 1983 Aria Pro II CS-250) at his father's house, and eventually brought the Aria Pro II to his mom's house, where he spent most of his time playing. One of the first songs Sam learned to play with open chords on the guitar was All Star by Smash Mouth, which he had originally learned to play with barre chords.

When Klearman was 14, he taught himself how to play basic drumming rhythms and would enjoy playing songs by ear for hours at a time.

Cycling
Since Klearman's childhood, he had always had a bike and would ride it on a fairly consistent basis, whether it be around his driveway, or around his original neighborhood in New Canaan. When he moved to a different part of his hometown that closer to his school and the town center at age 11, he started to ride his bike much more frequently. He as able to occasionally bike to school or town. In around the