It's hard to find the right balance- for any mum.
In my case, the balance has to be divided between my children (three of them)
my husband,
ele-ahbaant,
& my lesser known life as a musician.
yes, in my 'other life' I'm a musician.
a career in music is varied to say the least-
as part of my 'job' as a musician, I perform;
everything from performances with Orchestras, through to Jazz, to cover bands, to working in clubs with DJ's!
and I teach- music of course :)
primarily saxophone, but also piano, flute & clarinet.
I'm often asked the question by other mum's
"When should my child start to learn a musical instrument?"
to which of course the answer is,
"how long is a piece of string?"
There is sooooo much research now expounding the benefits of learning a musical instrument.
these benefits range from social, intellectual, educational, physical, emotional and many, many more, but when?
the answer lies within your child.
There are advocates for early starts, & advocates for late starts.
Personally, I advocate starting when the child is ready- & I guess this is the tough question.
I have taught 6 yr olds who have been diligent & focussed & I've taught 30 yr olds who don't practice, forget their music, fail to remember lessons & really don't seem to understand what their role in learning is.
Your child needs to be ready to take on responsibility for their own learning- to a degree of course.
They need to understand that it's not all going to be easy & they will have to work at it, but that it will be worth it in the end.
They need to have patience & perseverance.
tough call isn't it?
I also stress to parents that sometimes it may turn out to be
not the 'right time',
but it doesn't mean that it's the end.
sometimes, it may not be the right instrument,
but it doesn't mean it's the end...
Whilst we're not all going to end up being professional musicians, I could list many, many professional musicians who have broken the rules- started too late, changed their focus instrument, stopped playing for an extended period of time... the list goes on.
We might not all perform music, but we are all surrounded by music in various shapes & forms- just think of the impact music has on our mood, on setting the scene in a film or play, think about how much children love singing, dancing, clapping & moving to music.
A healthy understanding leads to a healthy appreciation.
I do encourage, for all parents, that they surround their children with music, play as many styles as you can!
surround them with instruments.
of course our kids are spoilt for choice with instruments- a perk of being in the industry, but it doesn't have to be expensive-
try filling a plastic jar with rice as a shaker- kid's love it!
lay out the tupperware like a drum kit- chopsticks are fun to use.
& cardboard tubes make great didgeridoos.
then there's the old favourite of filling glasses or jars with different levels of water-
experiment with the sounds you can get.
At the end of the day, really the only thing that counts,
the really important thing ~
teaching letting them enjoy music!
