My musical children

I've taken some time to talk about my musical children.  Sarah is 25 now, and is quite an accomplished amateur pianist.  More about her in another post.

My son Michael who is 22 is musical in his own right.  He took piano lessons for a very short time, and then decided to take guitar.  His teacher Mike Hagerty, is a local guitarist, who has quite a following from the catholic schools in central Ohio.  He is a creative guitarist, and allows students to learn pieces they are interested in, as well as introducing them to the fundamentals of the guitar.

So, this is a blog about piano, so why do I digress about Michael and the guitar?  I digress, because I believe that even if children or adults do not play the piano on your home front, they still hear the piano, and it has a profound effect on their musicality as a whole.

I often found Michael checking chords he had learned on the piano.  Or he would come home from high school, and he would be humming a song, and I would find him "chording it out" on the piano.
The piano provided a musical place where he could verify what he was learning on the guitar.

And if nothing else, sometimes, he would hear his sister playing, and I would finding him humming the song she was breaking apart during a practice session.

Though the piano is often the go to instrument of choice for a lot of parents, in terms of an introduction to music, I don't believe it is ever the only way to go musically.  Sometimes, for what ever reason, a child will see or hear someone playing a specific instrument, and decide that very day...."Mom I want to play oboe," or "Dad I must play the saxophone."

Also, I think that one sibling playing the piano, might result in friendly competition, and thus, another child wanting to learn to play the drums or cello.  If the instrument of choice, gets one to a love of music, that is all I need to hear.

Michael went on to form his own rock band in high school, and looking back they were pretty good. They even played at a local concert venue, which takes "balls" at any age.

I am just glad that my children, now that they are adults love music.  They both have a basic knowledge of theory and chord structure, and they both have an amazing sense of rhythm.  I can count on Michael to always enlighten me about music he cares about, taking me out of my comfort zone of classical and top forty.  The piano opened the door for both of them, and each of them are on their own distinct musical journey.