From the time he was a tiny child, Dainavon Tuzo knew, as instinctively as breathing, that music would be his destiny.

Which is hardly surprising considering his grandmother Dorothy plays piano and saxophone, an aunt plays piano, father Eugene is a professional musician who plays bass guitar with Fantasy; two sisters, Zakia Tuzo and Tanya Iris sing, and cousin Ormond Hodgson is also a professional musician.

"It was a gift that I couldn't escape from,'' he smiles.

Small wonder then, that at age two Dainavon received his first musical instrument -- a set of drums -- and immediately took them seriously.

"On Saturday mornings I used to wake up everybody in the house,'' he recalls.

"I was the first one up, just to practice. It was in my blood.'' Yet, as much as his family encouraged his talent, the child preferred to pursue his own system of learning: through watching others drumming, asking lots of questions, and studying on his own.

It was a pattern which Dainavon would also extend to the other instruments he took up later, and one which he still follows to some extent today. In fact, he has never had formal drum lessons.

"I learn a lot on my own,'' he explains. "I not only play and watch other people, but I also practice, practice, practice. You have to want to do it.

When your friends are playing around outside, you sit down and practice.'' At around age seven Dainavon began taking an interest in the piano, and quickly demonstrated a natural talent for playing by ear. He well remembers his first attempt.

"My dad taught me a song, and the minute I got it I ran over to my granny's with my little keyboard. I was so excited that I could play the song,'' he remembers. "After that I played every song I could hear on the radio until I got serious.'' Getting serious included taking lessons from cousin Ormond, a professional musician and graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

"He had a piano in his house, and I decided to learn a bit about reading music, and was one of his first pupils,'' Dainavon says.

As usual, one stepping stone led to another, and by the time he was 13, the talented youngster was adapting his keyboard skills to the Hammond organ, playing for Sunday services at his church, Miracle Temple on North Shore, where granny Tuzo was and is the pastor. He learned all of the hymn tunes by ear, and in fact continues to play for services today.

Although his grandmother played the saxophone, and had an all-woman band at her church, it wasn't until he was approaching 11 that this instrument caught the young musician's attention -- and then by happenstance.

"The church band used to rehearse at granny's house, and one day after they finished she let me blow into her saxophone,'' Dainavon relates. "It had a beautiful sound coming out of it, so I said, `I want to play that', and she asked me if I was serious.

"I knew I was going to Berkeley Institute and I wanted to play in the school band, but I didn't want to play drums because I already knew how to play them.'' Thus it was that, on his eleventh birthday, pastor Tuzo bought her grandson his first saxophone, and the child was so happy that he "played and practiced for the whole night''.

By the time Dainavon attended Berkeley a year later, having also been encouraged by Wendell (Shine) Hayward, he was more than ready for saxophone theory and music lessons with Anthony Wolffe.

Naturally, as the years have passed, the young man's musical abilities have become so superior that he has played with both amateur and professional groups. These include the Bermuda National Youth Jazz Ensemble, CedarBridge Academy gospel choir, the Inspirational Seventh-Day Adventist choir, Voices of Triumph LA Crew (Love Alive ministries), and Shine Hayward and Friends.

Of the latter, he was just 15 when the eminent musician sought him as a drummer in his group to open Jazzfest 1997 at Dockyard.

"I got to meet some of the great musicians like the guitarist Lee Ritenour, and Kevin Eubanks,'' Dainavon relates. "I also met Mr. Eubanks' drummer, who started playing when he was 13, and he really inspired me. I got to shake his hand and he told me, `Keep practicing and don't be distracted by your peers.' It was nice.'' Similarly, the young man's face lights up as he recalls meeting the celebrated Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval at Jazzfest, and later jamming a little with him at Warwick Academy, when the artist addressed the music students.

"He told us how important it was to keep practicing, and to keep focussed on our goals and future. `Balance your reading skills with your ear at the same time,' he advised.'' Overseas, at age 11 Dainavon was pressed into drumming along with a Bermudian singer before an estimated crowd of 8000 at a religious convention in Jamaica, and more recently he played with the Bermuda National Youth Jazz Ensemble in Colorado and Florida. CDs of the live performances are now in his collection.

"I realise it has been a blessing from God to do things like that. I also realise that a lot of people haven't been privileged with that type of challenge, even though they have the same talent I have had,'' he notes.

In fact, Dainavon attributes all of his successes -- including academic ones -- to his deep religious convictions.

"First of all, I thank God that I was brought up in the church,'' he says.

"This is His gift to me, and I think that is why I have been blessed in so many ways. Every time I do something I thank God for giving me the talent I have. There are so many talented people in the world, but they don't take time out to recognise God. I think that's the bottom line right there. They have to realise that talent comes from someone. He could have given this gift to anyone, but He chose me.'' Certainly, there is no question that God has answered the one prayer for which Dainavon has been beseeching Him since childhood -- an opportunity to follow cousin Ormond to the highly-regarded Berklee School of Music, which admits only the best.

"Ever since I was a little boy, it has been a dream of mine to go there, and I have asked God for that opportunity all my life,'' he confesses. "As I got up to my last days at high school and sent out my application, I talked to God and said, `If it be your will, please let this happen in my life'.'' Sure enough, the power of prayer won through, and at just 17 years old Dainavon is heading off to the famed Boston campus in September.

Keeping the beat Unlike students who have to submit demo tapes or attend auditions, however, Berklee took one look at the Bermudian's application and accepted him on its contents alone.

"It was grace of God,'' is how the prospective student sees his success. "I believe it is His blessing.'' While Dainavon admits that he is both "nervous and excited'' about the opportunity of studying with some of the finest teachers around, he is confident that he will do well.

"I'm prepared for anything that comes my way, because I believe God will protect and guide me if I just keep myself focussed on Him,'' he assures.

Having elected to study three instruments all those years ago because he felt they would ultimately afford him more opportunities as a professional musician, Dainavon plans to major in piano at Berklee, but his course will also embrace "learning all of the instruments -- all the transpositions of the keys'' so that he is equipped to play in orchestras, where it is vital to understand what each instrument is doing. He will also study theory, all of which will go towards achieving his long-term goal of a Doctorate in Music Performance.

Based on his achievements thus far, and the fact that he was also an excellent academic student at CedarBridge Academy -- he was on the deputy principal's honours list, and was voted Most Talented Male Student by his peers, and also won the Teen Services Performing and Visual Arts Award 2000 -- it seems certain that Dainavon Tuzo is destined for great things in future.

Nonetheless, the teenager is concerned about the wealth of young talent coming up in Bermuda, and the schools' approach to music programmes in general -- all of which he would like to address some day.

"Music is a major class in other countries, like English and Math,'' he says.

"Students study music constantly, have school orchestras, practice every day, and learn the history of music and everything. In Bermuda schools music is an extra-curricular class, and you choose whether or not you take it.

"The reason why Bermuda has so much talent is because people enjoy music, and they enjoy getting together -- like the group Mahogany. There's nobody pushing them.

"Some day, maybe I can get into producing and finding new talent, which I can take out and show the world that Bermuda has got something.''