Wrapping up Routine Songs Focus… 

After a week of blogging, I’m reaching out to anyone who read my blog to comment on how they used the songs and activities that were covered. Please let me know if you have anything to add to the discussion. As parents, we learn so much from each other and talking through our struggles together. Even though I teach music and think about music education constantly, there are definitely times when I struggle to make music a meaningful part of my interactions with my children. Please comment on any of the following:

• Which songs were most useful to you?
• Which songs did your children enjoy?
• In what ways did adding some music to your routine change the dynamic of that particular moment?
• Was it a struggle to add more music to your routine?
• Does it feel natural to you to sing and play musical games with your family?
• Growing up, do you remember certain songs or musical activities that were a part of everyday life or part of yearly celebrations?
• How much does your musical life with your children mirror your musical life growing up?
• Are there musical family traditions that you carry on?

There are so many different ways that we interact with music, and each family has its own dynamic and its own traditions. Think about what makes your family unique. Try to carry on those traditions and pass on those happy memories to your children. Those types of memories that are shared from one generation to the next are powerful and beautiful. They help form our musical selves.

Music has the power to instruct, inspire, share experience. In whichever way you want to share this with your little ones is something valuable that you give them. Check out this commercial from Apple from this past holiday season. It’s a tear-jerker because everyone can relate to the bond between the grandmother and granddaughter that was forged through song. That song is a shared experience. The grandmother gave her granddaughter the song, but what she didn’t expect was getting it back. That is the beauty of a musical gift; it’s so easy to give back. (Sans all of the technology, in the case of our young children.)

My next post will cover what it means to be a musical family and how to alleviate the stress of thinking “are we not musical enough?” or “what does it mean to be musical?”