I find when things get busy in life, you really need to prioritize and organize what is most important.
First Things First.
For me, I have found that I always wanted to pass down my joy for music with my kids. With work and gigs taking a significant portion of that time away, it was imperative that I found a vehicle that would channel these skills and values.
Enter the Suzuki method.
This is a wonderful way of passing down music from parent to child, with a lot of learning commencing between the two. It is a method that heavily involves the parent, regardless of that parent's musical skill level. The emphasis is more on building a relationship between student, instructor, and parent. Although, the process may seem slow, the rewards are bountiful and timeless. In fact, the one-on-one time between parent and child is its own unique reward in which price can be tagged. A parent gets to learn with their child a skill and a language that few get to learn; which may down the road be a source of income or a means of livelihood.
What I have taken from this program is that routine is key; both in my children's musical education and also in mine. I have learned more about my children's character and their tendencies. How one would like to get to the end of the piece or how another wants every note to be exact. One will lose focus at any given opportunity; another will stay focused regardless of distraction. I share in my children's frustrations when learning something new and celebrate with them when they overcome a difficulty. We have moments of laughter and moments of pain, but we go through these roller-coaster moments together.
In our home, practice time is just part of the routine before bed time. But it is quality time that we get to share every day.
