Classical Music Kids

A few months ago, we got an upright piano.  The piano was free, the tuning was not.  Bottom line, “music” is now played in our house every day.

 

Both Charles and Jamie claim they want to play the drum set when they get older, so I told them that they have to learn to play the piano first.  Like, as a prerequisite.  Like, if you talk to them, the party line is that one CANNOT learn to play the drums without first learning to play the piano.

  

Music is a big deal in our family.  Tony and I both played instruments in our youth and Tony still plays around on guitar when he has time.  We listen to music all the time.  Jazz during dinner, oldies for dancing, alt-rock for cooking, 80s for more dancing, and classical in the car.  I donate regularly to KING FM and my hope is that my children don’t think opera is weird until someone tells them it is, much later in life.  We also listen to kids’ songs (mostly Sandra Boynton) when they are allowed to choose.  That, and “Yoda” by Weird Al.  Because Star Wars.

 

A few weeks ago, I took Jamie to the family concert given by the Skagit Symphony.  We had a wonderful time.  The only real problem was that Jamie did not understand why he wasn’t allowed to dance in the aisles.

 

 

Is this one of those things?  You know, those things you force your children to do that they resent at the time but then later appreciate that they immediately recognize the difference between Mozart and Beethoven?  My hope is that they will love classical music at some point in their lives, even if we have to subsist on a steady diet of Peter and the Wolf and 1812 Overture for now (any song with cannon, you know).

 

 

It helps to bribe the wee ones with frozen yogurt.

 

And it helps to hold onto memories like these, perfect days of music and cuddling and frozen treats, when my Jamie is being a total jerk.  Like today, when he punched me in the nose as I was trying to help him brush his teeth.  Quick: choose one word to describe your children!  I choose “exasperating.”