Tuesday, April 1, 2014

A first

Tyler has really developed his piano ability.  He seems to have the play-by-ear gift that God gave us and I've been teaching him the Star Wars themes by John Williams.  He can do the following themes:
Imperial march (his favorite)
The Force
Leia
Opening credits
The emperor.

Recently, Scott has gotten interested in learning the Imperial March.  I watched a youtube video where it was played on two pianos and I started teaching Scott a simplified version of that, but a more advanced one than I taught Tyler.  Scott still has more dexterity due to his age and experience with the piano.

Well, this morning, the boys got up and fought over who got to play the piano!  A first!  I'd like them to learn Suzuki and reading, since they need a more broad exposure to piano, but Heidi doesn't want me to force them into it.  We had a long discussion about how my sibs and I all learned the piano even though she perceives we may not have enjoyed it.  I certainly detested it until I was about 15, so it was ten years of struggle for Mom.

But since God has given me this piano gift, I want to use it to teach the piano to my kids.  Heidi wants them to do sports.  Well, maybe not Tyler.  But I think their time could be better utilized doing piano than Minecraft.

Eh, anyway.

3 comments:

Julia M. said...

I can't believe they were fighting over playing the piano! Definitely something you want to remember.

I just read this book called Brain Rules for Baby and it says that teaching kids an instrument before 6 has statistically shown to increase their intelligence. I can't wait until we can start Phineas on it!

Chelle said...

That is so great that they are both playing by ear! Siena seems to have the gift too. Obviously from the McMillan side. :) She's been playing "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic. I had her listen to Vader's Imperial March, hoping she'd want to play that. I think it's awesome you're being diligent about piano. they will def thank you one day. Even if it takes 10 yrs like it did with you! ha ha.

DavidandJuliann said...

That's great that they are anxious to play the piano.

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