Being Intentional With Music

As a singer and a music lover, I want to help my children grow in their love and appreciation of music and also to help them each to develop music skills.  Both of my children are naturally attracted to music.  If music is on they smile and dance and try to sing along at times.  They often sing their own tunes or I recognize them humming songs they have heard before.

In our home, we play music from our phones, music from our computer and other devices; we even have a CD/tape player that we use.  My son is quite adept at turning the tape over and hitting play.  So my kids listen to a variety of music, sometimes by their request and sometimes because my husband or I have it on to listen to.

We have a piano in our home - a gift from my grandfather - which we brought all the way up from Florida.  I grew up singing with my grandpa while he played that piano so it reminds me of many wonderful memories.  It has been a wonderful addition to expose the kids to music and to let them tinker with the notes and "play" their own songs.  I'm looking forward to actually having them each take piano lessons when they are old enough, mature enough, and have hands that are big enough to play.

One of my local libraries has a music story time that we have also enjoyed going to.  It has been a fun way to introduced different types of instruments to the kids since the man who leads the music time brings different ones for each class.

At home we'll have "music class" where I instruct them to copy my patterns of hand clapping (to learn rhythm) and notes that I sing to challenge their pitch recognition.  I keep it short and fun and I really enjoy seeing them figure it out.

And of course they see my example as I sing for fun or to practice for a performance.  My daughter has been hilarious lately, singing loudly with me, as I am singing at home.  Recently, I have also been practicing and learning to play hymns on the piano (this is a first for me).  So my kids are seeing my example in that area as well, which I hope will encourage them even more to learn the piano as they are old enough to do so.

While music has many purposes including personal enjoyment, first and foremost, I want my children to learn that music is a gift from God and I want them to know that the gifts and skills they have and develop are ones that they can use to serve God and others.  I am looking forward to seeing them use music in service throughout their lifetime.

Singing off...sing unto the Eternal
Gina

Question for you: In what specific ways do you bring music into the lives of your children?