Do Young Musicians Still Listen to Music?
Listening to great music is such a significant part of learning to be a great musician, I would say it’s almost impossible to make great expressive music without it. And regardless of the kind of music we make or desire to make, we are all a part of a tradition, a history, and a current community of music, I would suggest that to honor that tradition, we have a certain obligation to listen and know what others great musicians have done and are doing.
Music Can Be a Part of Every Life, Even if it isn’t the Main Thing
One of the things I’ve always found fascinating is when people say something like “yeah, I just don’t think my kid really needs music because they don’t want to be a musician.” And they will follow that up with saying things like “you know, this isn’t something they’re going to do after school or as […]
Trust the scales, Practice scales, Take the wins
Scales can be a big win for you, that’s one of the reasons they’re so important. Just yesterday I had a great example experience of why scales are so important with a wonderful student, and not for the reasons that You might think! Yeah we extol the virtues of scales all the time because honestly there are so many virtues to learning scales and theory that we could do it forever.
But one of the reasons that scales are so important that I think a lot of people miss, is that scales are a big win for you!
Piano is a Great Foundation
“Piano is a great foundation. It’s an awesome instrument and it’s a ton of fun. Once you learn how to play it can be a lifelong discipline, relationship, community builder, and source of joy and inspiration. It can of course legitimately also be a source of income for you as well if that’s something you really want to do.
Scales and Theory Matter, Get the Foundation
While it may be conceivable to create some good sounding music in both of those situations without necessarily knowing all your scales, the reality is it would be extremely time consuming and likely involve a lot of wrong notes that don’t sound good first, because you would be exploring those keys and trying to figure out what works over those chords—and you definitely don’t want to be playing those less than choice sounding notes over the chords in a rehearsal or in the recording studio!
Summer Vacation Instead of Music?
I made a lot of friends. I played a lot of music. Yes, a lot of it was also hard work, and I don’t regret any of it. As a matter of fact, I looked forward to those summers every year. Did I go on summer vacations? Nope. And I bummed about it? Not at all. Do I feel like I missed out or was left out? Not one bit. I think my summers were meaningful, memory making, life shaping, and fun. I am still friends with some of the musicians that I met!
Music isn’t an Instant Joy and Excitement for Everyone but it is Worth the Wait
We often hear parents say things like oh, I’m not sure if my child will like music. Or yeah, he tried it and I’m not sure he’s really that into it. Here’s something to think about, there’s a good chance that your child or teen may not be that into music in the beginning, and it may take some time. Letting them drop out or just withdrawing them from lessons, band, or orchestra altogether, may mean missing a lifetime worth of joy and happiness, wonderful experiences, friends! Career opportunities! If you want to start your music journey, we are here to walk with you Olympia! Drop us a line!
Music Can Save Your Kids
You’d be amazed at how many people I have spoken with who share a similar story. They studied music as children and teens. They graduated high school. After high school instead of pursuing music as a career, they did something else-pursued some other career. But then, after getting into their career, maybe even after college and years of career pursuits, they woke up one day and said, I need to be doing music.
Music Lessons as a Self-Care
One of the cool things about [learning music] as an option is that if you learned to play an instrument, if you’re learning to play music, not only are you engaging in some great self-care during those lessons, but you can continue to engage in that same self-care act any day that you want to, and anytime that you want to throughout the week and in between your lessons! That’s actually something most people probably don’t get from other forms of healthcare. Of course, we could and would all benefit from practically and intentionally pursuing out some of the things we talk with our therapists outside of therapy, but do we? Honestly there may be a greater chance that we might be willing to sit down at the piano or pick guitar.
Music lessons are Therapy
For so many of our students, music lessons are therapy. And we’re here for that! Just the other day I had a student telling me how much it just felt good to sit down and play their instrument. And for this student, that’s a big deal because there’s a lot of things that unfortunately don’t feel good, and that’s true of course for a lot of people. But I am so thankful that our wonderful students can sit down and play their instrument and find happiness in it, find solace in it, find peace in it.