Music

I am not a musical person. I like listening to the radio in the car, but I pay very little attention to artists, and song titles and things like that. (Same is true for movies, actors, producers and directors. Which makes me terrible at trivia!) Of all the forms of entertainment, music pretty much comes in last around our house. But that hasn't stopped my boys from being interested in it.

We've had a piano since before Nico was born, courtesy of Tim's parents who passed it down to us from his grandparents. So the boys have been banging on the keys since they could reach them. I've offered them piano lessons, a few times, but every time I've been shot down. See, they're already "really, really good!" so they don't need lessons.

For Christmas Nico was given a guitar, and Lucas an electronic drum set. I had my reasons for picking the electronic drum set, 1. smaller and takes up less space, 2. you could plug in headphones making it quieter. However, I now realize that I should have gotten an actual drum set instead. The electronic one has already gone through four sets of batteries, not from being used that much, but from being left on and forgotten. Also, it's just not as much fun, and so it hardly gets used.

The guitar is awesome, and both boys play it daily. Although, Nico yells at Lucas anytime he touches it, Lucas finds a way to get in some play time while Nico is distracted. I'm thinking soon we will be buying a second guitar, and a real drum set.

I have offered guitar lessons to the boys, but again they refused. They want to just play, and not be told what is and is not acceptable. The funny thing is, they're not half bad. The more they pick it up and play, the better they are getting, even with out any formal training. They are completely uninhibited when they play, and that makes all the difference.

***EDIT***

I forgot to mention, we have WII Music, which has introduced the boys to a whole host of instruments, and the sounds they make. I was amazed the other day when a commercial came on, and Nico accurately attributed the music in the background to cymbals. I wasn't real impressed with WII Music, but the boys love it, and play it often. Will it teach them how to play real instruments? No. But it has taught them a lot about music, sound and rhythm, and for that alone it was worth the money.