Before the Pandemic and the crazy started, my grandchildren were involved in group sports. My grandson was a Diamondback and Eloise was on 2 teams, the Tritons and the Wildcats. Their dad even coached one of their teams this season. Needless to say it took up a lot of their time and provided great physical and mental stimulation. They live in southern CA and the outdoors was still accessible for a while until the beaches closed, pools closed, trails closed and eventually everything closed. They could still play outside in their cul-de-sac and go on bike rides, but it has still become a challenge to occupy all the extra time indoors.
To address this dilemma, my daughter went to work brainstorming new indoor activities that would not revolve around electronic devices. She thought piano lessons might be fun. She found an older piano on Marketplace, asked friends for recommendations for instructors and introduced my grandchildren to a whole new adventure. Snap! They loved it and have learned so much in such a short period of time.
When we are visiting we get a full on concert. Miles usually doesn't walk past the piano without sharing another tune he has learned. And he walks by it a lot! It is also fun that we are able to digitally watch their piano recital every Wednesday night on Zoom. All the students get an opportunity to play and then the teacher encourages feedback and interaction. With typical piano lessons, students would not even get to communicate with one another, but with Zoom they have the opportunity to begin new relationships over a shared interest. Best of all, it gives Lala and Opa another avenue of conversation and connection from across the miles.
Music is something all ages can enjoy and exposing them to various genres can be a fun activity too. When they visit us in Arizona, our Alexa provides us with many hours of entertainment while we request each of our favorite song selections to share. " Hit The Road Jack" used to be a favorite of Miles. Not sure why he chose that song but we certainly had fun singing along with him. In the near future we may not need Alexa. We will be doing sing -a -longs around the piano watching our granchildren playing our favorite songs.
Music is a powerful influence throughout most people's lives.
It can bring people together, promote happiness, emotion and relaxation.
It has a powerful way of uniting people through anthems, hymns, love songs and lullabies.
We, as parents, have used music many times to calm and soothe our children.
The power of music can lead to better learning by:
Enhancing cognitive brain development
Promoting reading awareness
Enhancing speech processing skills and fine motor skills
Inspiring creativity
Building confidence
Teaching discipline
Music has also been found to provide many health benefits by improving memory, treating mental illness, lowering anxiety and improving overall health.
We know that children absorb things so much faster when they are young. They have open attitudes about music and have loved making noise (music) from a very young age. I am guessing most of you have experienced a kitchen concert from your toddlers. We can build on these natural instincts by understanding how music improves social skills and benefits cognitive development.
I miss the days of singing the nursery rhymes to the babes and watching their cute little bodies try to find every beat to the music. But now I get to watch them actually make the music and I love it just the same. I hope they continue on with the piano, but if not, at least they have experienced the joy of it and will benefit from some of the many positive developmental aspects that it provides. Who knows, maybe it will lead them to another instrument to try out. I have some drums in storage, but I'm guessing " mum " is the word on that!
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight
to the imagination and life to everything.
Plato
Here are 2 of the books of sheet music that my grandchildren have enjoyed. You can find them both on Amazon.
Stay safe,
Lala Malana
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