Last night I attended my son’s high school jazz band performance and as I sat in the audience, I realized how much I was going to miss the music when he graduates in a few years. The enjoyment I get from hearing him play is akin to how I imagine some people feel about watching their kids play sports. Music has filled our house and lives for decades and I get sad thinking about … [Read more...]
Family Traditions: We’ll Take the High Road and the Low Road
Traditions weave families together, bonding them with counted-on rituals and shared memories. They can also make some of the best stories. Case in point…. Whenever my older son, Trevor, performed in one of his high school band concerts, our whole family would head over to Jeremiah’s Italian Ice afterwards for a treat. This popular, local place regularly pulls in a steady … [Read more...]
What to Say to a Child With Stage Fright
Helping Your Kids Overcome Stage Fright “I’m so nervous. How do I not get nervous when I’m playing my solo?” How many times have we heard these words uttered to us as music teachers and music parents? One of my Jazz Band students (Elementary) just uttered these exact words right before our part of the Spring Concert this week. Aside from the fact that it breaks your … [Read more...]
The Sound of Music and the Price of Parental Sanity
Music in the house When I was a second grader somebody let me pick up and scratch out a few notes on a violin. I can’t fathom why I wanted to. Might have been a Laura Ingalls kind of thing. The class was held in a building I remember looking a little like a one-room schoolhouse. It was probably just one of those portables dressed up in my fantasy. I did go all out for … [Read more...]
Raising A Rock Star – The Creative Teen
My son is the type of person who would NEVER call himself a rock star. He is and will be a musician. To say that I am proud of my son would be like saying I love staying home with my cats. It’s an obvious understatement. My son has not always been the easiest child (there was that time in 8th grade where I was convinced he was trying to kill me with stress), but he … [Read more...]
