I have a six going on seven year old and feel very similarly to many here. currently, with covid and remote learning, I am also tasked with Music Class twice a week and have been working my way through what that looks like. she loves to sing and perform, but she shies away from the real work of instruments, so instead of forcing her, I am just trying to make it such a part of daily life that it’s natural for her to seek to express herself that way. we had her in piano class a year or so ago but she didn’t have the focus for it and both my wife and I were wary of making it too compulsory and killing the joy.
Music Class has taken many forms, sometimes we just listen to music. we had a “listen to all the styles of music in Trolls 2” day and an Ella and Louis day. I bought an Orff book for kids but found it was mostly for groups of kids and now am a little rudderless for the formal music learning aspect. But really just getting her to do anything, clapping, shakers, any kind of noise maker or synth sound that keeps her interested and having fun for 30 mins feels like a great day. the Bach example is one I think of often, surrounding the child with music and normalizing it on all levels so it becomes their language, their culture. we cannot hope to replicate the Bach household here, but she does like making up silly and increasingly not so silly songs, so I’ve had some impact.
this year, with the help of my older step kids, we completed the holiday record I’d been threatening. it’s pretty hard/cutesy listening even for parents, I’m not going to lie, but track 6, “Rise,” is something she just sat down and played and as a parent who is into spacey keyboard music with fantasy lyrics, it’s one of my proudest moments. I accompany tentatively on cs60.
