We have only seven more rehearsals until our children’s first concert on the stage of the Tennessee Theater in Knoxville. The Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra operates six different ensembles for children on different levels of music skills. Our children auditioned this summer and got into Overture and Preludium respectively.
My son (in red shirt) during his first practice with KSYO Preludium
This experience may be a tad more exciting for me than for them, although I can see they like playing in their groups. They made some friends over the summer during String Camp and they were excited to see them again now that they are in the orchestra together.
Music lessons give people different memories and thoughts. Some have never had lessons and regret it. Others think it is really expensive to pay for music lessons and an instrument (it is not). Some people I talk to used to take music lessons and do recitals and then something happened in middle school. They gave up and got interested in sports.
I cannot tell you how many people have told me this. “I got interested in sports and my parents got tired of coaxing me to practice. So they gave up. I gave up. And now I see these adults who can play an instrument and they don’t even make a living with it, but they can just sit at the piano and play. I regret my parents did not insist with my music lessons.”
My experience is that my parents did not make me practice. So I got by with the most basic practice on my own and made it through eight years of violin and four years of piano. If I had been encouraged, I would have better skills. Nevertheless, I am able to help my children right now and can play what they play probably for the next few years.
This helps a lot, because in this way I can work with them at home in acquiring new music, for instance, while during their lesson their teachers focus on things that I would not know how to teach or challenge them with. It’s a team effort and the teachers are happy when they find a parent who understands music theory and practice.
Based on these testimonies and my own experience, I will continue to make sacrifices and keep my children’s music lessons going. Practicing is the hardest part, of course, but I keep telling myself they will thank me one day. By faith, we can move this mountain.
