Phet's story

Phet Amornpinyo is a 10-year-old drummer from Udonthani, Thailand, who reached grade 8 in Trinity’s Rock & Pop Drums. Phet, who is also known as Ar Hong, was also classified as a Champion in the Percussion aged 10-12 category at the International Young Musicians Music Competition in Wien, Austria in 2022.

We talked to Phet, his parents and teacher Sahas about everything he has achieved so far with the drums.

Ar Hong’s mum told us that she first noticed his drumming potential when he was very young.

“When he was two or three, he always wanted to hit the table – it had a little beat to it! We were like wow – this isn’t normal!’

Ar Hong told us that he didn’t actually start playing the drums officially until his school was closed due to COVID-19 in 2020.

“I was at home, and I felt bored. I saw someone playing the drums online and I wanted to play them too.”

At first, Ar Hong played drums to the beat of his favourite Minecraft game, quickly progressing to the beats of a YouTuber called Marshmello.

The more he learned, the more he realised how many other songs he wanted to play. His teacher explained the role Trinity’s Rock & Pop syllabus played in this.

“His parents are not musicians themselves, so when he started playing during COVID, they just let Phet decide on everything.”

“After they got to know the Trinity syllabus, he started looking up all the old musicians and drummers, and then he saw the drummers from maybe like the 50s or the 70s.”

“He really liked that Trinity has real songs - that was part of the inspiration to keep him moving forward. He could see the real examples of how epic these pieces are.'

Under the guidance of Sahas, Ar Hong passed both of his Grade 6 and Grade 8 Rock & Pop Drum exams. A natural performer, Ar Hong felt pretty relaxed on the day of each exam.

‘I felt normal in the exam – it feels fun like a normal day.”

After the exams, Ar Hong went on to compete in the International Young Music Competition, Wien 2022 reaching the Global Final Round, which included musicians from all continents.

Ar Hong scored First Place in the Global competition and became the Champion of the Percussion category for 10–12-year-olds, even though he competed at 9 and a half years old.

He was invited to receive the award and perform at the Winner’s concert at Ehrbar Hall in Vienna, Austria on 22 July 2023.

With so many amazing experiences with music already under his belt, we asked Sahas what Phet would like to turn his attention to next.

“He knows that he wants to keep playing the drums – he’d like to try playing with other musicians and he's working towards an ATCL.”

Phet had this advice for anyone who was thinking about taking up the drums.

“Drumming becomes easier the more you do it.  I make fewer mistakes now, so just practice with the songs that you like and just keep practicing!”

We’ll leave the last words to Sahas, who had this to say about his modest student: 

“Music will take Ar Hong to places I’ve never been!”.

“He really liked that Trinity has real songs - that was part of the inspiration to keep him moving forward. He could see the real examples of how epic these pieces are.”

Find out more about Trinity Rock & Pop exams
More Trinity success stories