My three-year-old daughter is sitting on the couch right now with my husband, and together, they are perusing the lates issue of Vintage Guitar magazine. She is identifying the different types of guitars. She doesn’t know all of them yet, but she can tell the difference between a Telecaster and a Stratocaster, she can identify a Les Paul, she knows what a lap steel is, oh, and she knows what a Flying V is, too. Yesterday she pointed out a guitar she thought was an Ibanez Artstar AS80, but she was wrong about that one. She was on the right track, though–the guitar she misidentified was the same color, and had F-holes, just like my husband’s AS80.
Sigh. So now I’m living with two gear junkies.
This is great. Juuuuuuuuuust great. Anybody know of anyplace that’s hiring three-year-olds? I can’t afford to support her AND my husband. At least my husband did get his own day job. :eek:
Just have two more kids and your SO can have his band.
Does your daughter play any instruments? You said she was only 3, but that’s when I started playing piano, and I have never regretted it.
Now that she’s mastered the instruments, make her memorize all the cool bands from the '60s and '70s in alphabetical order (strictly the cool ones, though; who needs the rest of them?;)). Then, uncle omni could enter the scene, have a one-on-one chat with her and further her musical education. (Hey, it’s possible you COULD have left a few bands out!)
Simetra: You don’t know just how close you are to the truth, there! My husband has always had a dream of starting his own band, made up of his kids. We’ve got a 1-year-old son too, who is just LOVES music. My husband also has a 7-year-old son from a previous relationship, and that boy too seems to have the musical leanings. The oldest boy’s birthday was just a few weeks ago, in fact, and as a gift from Dad & stepmom, he got a used Danelectro guitar and one of those itty-bitty pocket-sized practice amps. The boy was beside himself with glee, I’m telling you. Oh, and my daughter doesn’t actually play anything properly yet, but she does have an acoustic that she loves to strum on. And here’s something that’ll make you happy–she LOVES piano. I’m seriously considering getting her lessons within the next year or two.
My beloved Omni-not: Having her memorize the cool bands from the '60’s & 70’s will probably fall to me. My husband knows them all, but he seems to have trouble actually saying their names without spitting on the ground & making the sign of the horns. I’m not good with band names, though, so any assistance you can give would be very much appreciated. Now we just need to get Uncle aha in here to back both of us up, and we’ll be all set.
Please do, if she’s really into it. That’s really great to see parents supporting their kid’s artistic interests. That speaks volumes.
I love to make music, and the piano lessons just gave me the proper tools to do so later on in life. Having learned piano, learning various other instruments became infinitely easier. Plus, piano is one of those instruments that teaches reading music a little better.
AND, you don’t have to tune the piano yourself (a big task for many kids, tuning).
Start by 4, if you can. By 5, many kids have enough ‘worldy experience’ to refuse because they don’t want to practice. Not that yours will do that, if she’s as thrilled with music as you say, but even some musically talented kids turn down the chance if they have other things on their minds. My husband’s sister’s piano teacher BEGGED his parents to get him lessons, she said he had the most talent of any kid she’d seen in years… he was 5, they asked if he WANTED to take lessons, and he said No, so they didn’t make him. Years and years wasted. (He still thinks they should have just made him take the lessons - even a few lessons would have given him more to work with later.)
Start looking for a teacher, NOW - the good ones are often booked up for ages, so get on the waiting list. I have a friend who teaches piano and voice for kids and adults, and she turns away 20-30 students EVERY MONTH, simply for lack of room in her schedule… and she does this full-time, so that’s a big schedule.
We’re in a similar boat, though our son is more of an orchestra kid so far (and not quite as sharp on the details as your daughter). At 28 months, I showed him a drawing of a woman playing a cello, asked what that was, and he said, “um… Bass? Maybe Cello.” Okay, so he wasn’t spot on, but what kid knows ‘Bass’ at less than 2 1/2? For xmas last year (age 2), he asked for (NO FOOLIN’): “A drum. And a horn. And a drum. And a violin. And a guitar!” NOTHING ELSE. That was all he wanted. And he still remembers that he didn’t actually get a guitar (he’s asking for it again this year - and he’ll get it, if I have anything to say about it!). We’re on the waiting list for piano lessons next year.
Good luck! Kinda cool that she isn’t memorizing Barbie accessories, huh?
My dad is a motorcycle fiend. Not any old motorcycles, but European. Preferrably BMWs. Not because of the usual guy reasons, (ie: Harley riders…they’re loud and they get you noticed…) but because he likes to cruise. Think Easy Rider.
As a result, both my younger sister and I can identify most makes of European motorcycles on sight. It’s impressive when you’re watching Indiana Jones with your 6 year old sister and she screams “Triumph! The bad guy is on a Triumph!”
Needless to say, an intrest in music is infinately more useful. I wanted Piano lessons horribly as a kid, but we couldn’t afford a piano. Fairly hard to practice without one. And we were pretty poor, so buying a keyboard in the early 80s was beyond my parents. I got voice lessons and stuff later, in my teens, but I DO wish I had gotten into it earlier.
Getting her lessons, if she wants them, isn’t really going to be a problem, thank the Goddess. My husband is an extreeeeeeemely gifted musician, and when it comes to guitar, he’ll be the one teaching her. In fact, he just last week started teaching other students at a music store–his first straight job since 1987. He got the job through a good friend & fellow musician, a so-talented-he-makes-you-weep piano player. So if we can’t get piano lessons for her for free, they’ll be really, really cheap. My husband also knows several other musicians who teach on the side, so whatever instrument she decides to take up, we’ll be able to find a teacher.
Thanks! My parents always supported my artistic endeavors, too (I was in band & drama). I firmly believe that the arts are an absolutely vital part of education. I also believe that children who get their creative sides stimulated end up doing better in their other subjects, too. Once those creative juices get going, they can see things from many different angles, thus making the stuff they really have to think on, like math & science, a little easier. And I believe in encouraging children to work with their natural aptitudes as well. Example: I suck at math, and I always have. But my parents, wonderful people that they are, learned this fact about me early on. So they encouraged me to try my hardest at the stuff I wasn’t as good at. It was okay to try & fail, as long as I had tried. I wasn’t allowed to just blow it off, though. But the A’s & B’s I got in my other classes made them quite happy.
Swiddles: That’s cool about the motorcycles! My dad & brother were like that too, but with cars. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to learn that you & your sister’s knowledge of bikes scored you more than a few dates.
::Swiddles rubs her chin in thought:: hmmm…Note to self…
Actually, Dad has a profound joy in meeting, as he refers to them “potential suitors” of my self and my sisters. He’ll talk casually about his bikes (plural. Don’t ask) and the suitor will express interest. He will then invite the suitor to the garage to drool over his babies. At this time he will casually invite the suitors for “a short ride.” He will then attempt to put the fear of God into these brave young men by approaching speeds even they, in their reckless youth, wouldn’t dare, taking turns with knees nearly touching the ground, basically trying to make them soil themselves. Luckily, he is a masterful rider with 30+ years of riding experiance, so they are not in any real danger.
I WISH my dad was a musician. Might help the fellas from being chased away.
You think your daughter is soooooo smart…welllll…lemme tell you what my 2.5 year old son did not so long ago…he tried to put a matchbox car up my dogs butt.
Shirl, when my daughter isn’t looking at my husband’s guitar mags, she does stuff just like your 2.5 year old. Believe me. Her disposition is one that I politely call “spirited,” which is parental shorthand for “These qualities you possess will serve you well in adulthood…if Mommy lets you live that long.”
Swiddles: BWAAAAHAHA! Dontcha just love dads? I’ve got to say, though, that although my husband thinks it’s way excellent that our daughter is interested in music, he’s also a bit freaked about it. He’s a guy. He’s a musician. He knows what musician guys can be like. He’s also the father of a “spirited” daughter. He doesn’t want his baby girl hanging out with guys who’ll act like he used to in his wild & woolly younger years. He’s no dummy.
