Hearing the music

Yesterday I took Granddaughter to her ballet lesson. I had my iPod hooked up to the car stereo. While we rode, she blurted out that she had wanted a violin for Christmas, and didn't get it. I happened to have Hillary Hahn's version of Concerto for 2 Violins in D Minor on the iPod, and played it for her, then other pieces. She was totally rhapsodic.

Although I'm not a musician, we have a tradition of music appreciation in our family. Just before she married my father, my mother was accepted as a soprano in the Muny Opera in St. Louis. She never performed, though, as my father (typical 50's man) took it as an afront that his wife would need to work, so she quit. Some of my earliest memories are of hearing her sing in a Methodist Church choir (the only way she would enter a church). My father was an accomplished trombonist when he was a young man. Classical and jazz music were played constantly on the phonograph when I was a child. I can carry a tune fairly well. One of my brothers is an amazing singer and was in fact offered a full ride music scholarship to college (he turned it down; he saw music as an avocation but not his life's calling). I made sure Only Son got guitar lessons as a child. He not only still plays, but is starting voice lessons. He picked up some rudimentary piano skills along the way.

All the grandchildren love music, dancing, and singing--GS #2 especially. GD picks out tunes on their electric keyboard. And it just warms my heart that a six year old wants to play the violin. The tradition continues!