As a parent I see the benefits in the lives of adults have who have developed their musical talent. Education with music creates a balance and really does benefit in the matter of mathematics. It may sound like voodoo, but we've seen a difference in her mathematical understanding since she has taken up piano. We fully intend for her to continue to learn an instrument - any instrument she wants - throughout her education.
So when she was four-years-old she walked up to a septuagenarian on a piano and stood next to her as she played. The kind lady stopped, smiled and told Gabriella that she began to learn piano when she was four-years-old. Gabriella just looked in awe and asked to touch the piano. Since then she's been learning and creating little pieces like the eerie one she played today called "Dark Night." Obviously, I want to encourage this love. The challenge I'm finding is not pushing it. I don't want to make her snap and suddenly hate lessons like so many others do. Like I did as a teenager.
Yesterday came close. She had a typical young girl meltdown over something completely unrelated right at the time for her piano lessons. We ended up having an emotional heart to heart in the car about how the one issue was not related to the other. It was heartbreaking to look in those big eyes welled with tears as she said, "You promised if it wasn't fun anymore I wouldn't have to do it. And it's not fun." Talk about drama. I promised her she could switch to another instrument if she likes (she's had an inkling toward drums, and that would be so cool) but we soon realized that it wasn't really about the piano at all. She was upset about something else entirely and associating it with piano because of the timing. Yikes. Crisis averted this time, but I'm looking for new ways to excite her about music. Not just to listen, but to play!
