I grew up in a very musical family, but the only instrument I've ever played is my voice. So when Bre wanted to learn to play the piano and our budget didn't allow for piano lessons I decided that I would have to do it myself, even if that meant learning right along with her, and I am pleased to say that it has been fabulous. I got her a book and we started at the beginning. She picked it up rather quickly and it had been an absolute joy to see her fall in love with making music. We were able to have some family over the other night and she gave her first recital of all the Christmas carols she had learned. I was as proud as a peacock.
Well, the last time the kids and I went to TN they had a blast making music on Mimmi and Meemaws pianos, guitar, banjo and bass fiddle. Mimmi told Bre that I needed to buy her a ukulele SO, ever since then she has talked about little else. A ukulele was the top item on her Christmas list and to be honest I DID NOT want to buy her one. My reasoning was purely selfish in nature; I was already teaching her to play the piano, something I already don't feel entirely equipped to do, and I didn't want to be responsible for learning another instrument so that I could turn around and teach her how to play it. DID. NOT. WANT. TO. I had decided she would not be getting ukulele. She would just have to deal with it, and be satisfied with playing the piano. Until Christmas was 3 days away, and all of a sudden my selfishness began to give way to the realization that she would be utterly crushed if she didn't get the one thing she asked for AND, I thought, what better gift could I give my children than the gift of music, especially if that's what they really want??? So, Matt and I headed into Rochester that evening and bought her a purple, diamond head, ukulele. As I clutched the plum hued instrument on the way home, my reservations quickly gave way to excitement of the big day approaching, and the impending reaction of complete and total joy sure to be on her face. I was not mistaken.
(She looses track of the melody line when she sings and plays at the same time, but she hits the chords right on.)
I'm so very glad I didn't let my stubbornness stop me from fulfilling my little musicians wish list, and I must admit that I've fallen in love myself with this tiny little instrument and have been taking great delight in how quickly I've been able to make music with it. I find it interesting how providing opportunities for my children to further themselves in music has spurred me in my own pursuit of the art, and I don't intend to put an end to my journey or theirs from here on out. We're already talking about getting Wes a drum set for his birthday in a couple months (maybe an electronic set with volume control lol). My ultimate goal for myself has become playing my non vocal instruments with the praise and worship bands at church some day. So, as a step in that direction I thought it would be fun to learn a song on the uke especially for this extra special day of the year.
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