Piano

We inherited a piano when my Aunt died sixteen years ago. I am so grateful we have one. I never took lessons and cannot play, but I spent most of high school and college singing in elite choirs so I'm familiar with sheet music. Steve took lessons for a few years but he doesn't play either though he can still plunk out some notes. But the time has come for our children to be better than we are. M and J have started piano lessons. It was a little tricky for J at first but he has put his mind to it and really surprised us with his determination to learn new concepts quickly. A delightful bonus has been that his academic abilities have improved as well. Maybe there's something to those music-improves-academics studies I've read about.

M has been resistant to piano lessons for years because she can play almost any song by ear but once she started telling people she can play the piano I knew it was time to make it a reality. She has excelled so far and willingly practices. The only time she and I have a difference of opinion is when she knows the song. For instance: Silent Night. She was practicing and it sounded great, but once I sat down with her I realized she was improvising and not playing the song as written. What she was playing sounded better than what was written, but that was not the point. Sooooo....we talked about the importance of learning the rules first before breaking them. She was not impressed with that explanation, but she learned the song as written and then improvised a way better arrangement.

I've got to be honest...I love listening to them practice. It makes my heart happy. And I also love that D is chomping at the bit and keeps asking when he gets to start taking lessons. I'm telling you I lucked out in the kid department. I just have great kids.