As a parent, you want to balance your kid’s development across many areas. Local sports fill one space, scouting another, education is in the middle, I’m sure you have them volunteering and doing something for the community and you’re probably traveling and exposing them to new people & places. Something else to consider carefully that is equally as important is music. If you have not gone down this path already with your kids, you really should do so. This is great right-side-of-brain stimulus and who knows, maybe it will even help them with their math.

It is not good enough to have your kid participate in the school band. The way they run the music programs in the schools now is shameful (in their defense, they are doing the best they can with the little they have). Compounding the lack of quality music training offered is the uninspirational tune selection I’ve heard over the years. Some of my kid’s concerts were just difficult to listen to. They can’t be much fun to practice and perform. There are options.

Let me suggest this great music school that is inexpensive and top quality -

 

The Boston Comhaltas Irish Music School

http://www.ccebostonmusicschool.org/

Taught in the fall at Harvard University and in the Spring at Boston College, top quality instructors instruct on a variety of traditional instruments.  Kids really like to practice because the music makes senses and it sounds good. I highly recommend. They take all range of experience and welcome beginners. To supplement this training, local ’sessions’ also provide members the opportunity to jam together weekly (Green Briar Pub in Brighton, MA (Boston) 7pm every Monday is the best for new musicians).

My other website, on the topic of learning to play Irish Traditional Music, is here: www.fluteandfiddle.com

If you like or want to learn about Bluegrass music, consider going the to GreyFox Festival in July. They offer a “kids academy” where your kids can go for free and get lessons and exposure to this genre of music. We also have ‘old-time’ fiddling groups in our area that are good places to jam often. All of the above you can easily google for more info.

If you are local to the Boston area, you may want to consider getting them involved in a fife and drum band. The William Diamond F&D band in Lexington is a great start. (William Diamond was the kid drummer who, on April 19, 1775, sounded the first alarm on the green). You don’t have to live in Lexington to join. What is nice about this is 1) they learn to read sheet music which is important, 2) they get in with a nice crowd of kids, 3) they perform in interesting places, 4) when the time comes, this activity (or where it takes your child musically) may warrant being mentioned on a college entrance application, 5) the music is all mainly celtic in origin an many of these tunes have great connections to other music forms. It is really a great learning experience. If you want to join an older youth/adult group, the Sudbury Ancient Fife & Drum Company is the best option. They perform all over the Boston area and are based at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, MA (performing every Wed night Apr-Oct).

On the subject of musical instruments: I know people won’t agree with my opinion here, but here goes -  4 instruments really percolate up to the top in being worth learning. Here they are:

1. Piano (including accordion/concertina)

2. Guitar (including banjo)

3. Fiddle/Violin

4. Whistle/flute

Being good at these instruments will put your kid in a position someday to be the figurative life of the party. These instruments are all melody instruments, meaning they take the charactertistic tune on. When you practice, you feel the tune. When you play, people like to listen. People don’t generally want to hear the oboe, drums, clarinet, french horn or trombone. These are all backup instruments. I know, I know – your kid expresses a desire to say, play the sax. You think, let the juices flow, let me fan the fire. But do they really know what they want? Do they know enough about music to make this type of life choice? I concede that maybe there’s a chance they got a spark from somewhere and they could soar to great heights with one of these other instruments. And yes, I know, where would the world be if people only played the four instruments I mention. I am merely bringing this up as a discussion point for you to stop and reflect on it for a moment.  Minimally, you should take time to expose your child to all the instruments’ sounds and consider how learning any particular one will help him find happiness and success in life.  He may also have some natural talents you’ll want to try to identify and help develop.

I will post more on this topic later.

Road Trip: If you’ve got a bunch of guitar players in your troop, you may want to consider organizing a trip to the Martin Guitar factory in eastern PA. Kids would love it. Here is a very well written NY Times article that was just published, it gives all the details. martin-guitar.doc

One of my favorite classical bands is The Musicians of the Old Post Road. You’ll love their concerts (click logo for link).  Great to include in the Music Merit Badge Program.

Here is something else fun for introducing blues music (click on for link) -