Editor’s note: This is another in a series of articles from our new feature: Kid Concepts - These are essays written by kids, giving parents an opportunity to view the world as seen through the eyes of children, not adults. Please welcome Grey Gallagher to GNMParents. According to his mom, “Grey is a nine year old country bumpkin who likes to read, run, and raise chickens, but he is happiest when he is making other people laugh.” Today, he discusses music, the piano, and how it brings the family together:
My parents bought a piano when I was one year old. My Mother tells me I liked to bang on it every day. When I was six or seven I started getting interested in learning how to play it. I wanted to take piano lessons but my Mother said I had to learn the notes and how to play a song first to see if I was ready for it. I wasn’t. Two years later my Mom got out her note flash cards so I started learning the notes and how to play them on the piano. It took about two days. After I learned the notes it took me about two more days to learn my first song and memorize it.
So why aren’t I taking lessons yet? Well, you know how Mom’s don’t always keep their promises? Mine doesn’t always either. When I asked her for lessons she said, “Well, you’re doing so well on your own, why don’t you just keep at it?†So I got mad at her but then I learned two more songs on my own and memorized them. My Mom says I didn’t act like I was mad but truly I was. Maybe if I practice really hard every day for a whole month then she will put me in lessons. Or maybe my Mom is just too lazy to find me a teacher.
Our whole family is going to be doing a Musical Adventure this year. I’m learning the piano, my little sister and my Dad are learning the guitar and my Mom is going to play the piano and take singing lessons. We’re going to be doing fun stuff like performing concerts for other people, studying about composers and their music and my Mom wants me to dress up like Beethoven this year for Halloween. No I’m not!
Our friends are going to be coming over for a recital in a couple weeks so we’re all practicing for it. Everyone is going to play or sing something. We do mini recitals at our house every night just for our family. Anyone who practiced that day gets to play in it. Me and my Mom are 100% sure that we will always get to play in it because we like practicing.
As I get better at the piano I’m going to learn harder songs and I’m going to start playing in concert halls. You are all invited!
[tags]kids, parents, children, music, piano, activities, fun, family[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by Aelle, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
4 responses so far ↓
Chris // Sep 14, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Grey, that’s awesome that you are teaching yourself to play piano. Instead of waiting for your mom to find a teacher, you might ask your friends about piano teachers they know or perhaps they have a sibling who takes lessons. I love your family’s nightly recital idea. When my kids are older (they’re just 4 and 1 now, a bit young still for playing an instrument), I hope we do something similar. Keep at it and I’m sure you will be playing in a concert hall someday!
Megin Hatch // Sep 14, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Grey- this is inspiring. I am perhaps the least musical person you’ll ever meet. Couldn’t carry a tune if it had a handle. I wish I took voice lessons when I was younger, if for no other reason than not to mortify myself at church.
Thanks for another great contribution to Kid Concepts. I look forward to what’s next.
-Megin
Karen (Pediascribe) // Sep 17, 2007 at 5:18 am
Great job! Sounds like you love it. I encourage you to tell your mom why lessons would be best….
Good luck!
I took lessons as a kid…about 3 years, but only a year at a time, and then I’d quit. But I always had a teacher who would say “here’s a song, learn it.” It was hard for me, I’m not a natural. I struggled a lot (which is why I quit a lot)
My kids take piano now and have a wonderful teacher who teaches them the THEORY about why certain notes work together and what things mean on the page (something my teachers never did) They aren’t naturals, but they sure do get it easier than I did! So find a teacher who teaches THEORY, not just memorization.
Another reason to get into lessons soon is so you don’t pick up bad habits that your teacher has to “un-do.”
Montserrat // Sep 17, 2007 at 6:52 am
That’s exactly how I started learning to play the piano. Only I had to teach myself because my parents were too poor to afford a teacher. Way too go Grey!
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