Imagine a band of half-crazed adults in costumes that involve glitter, cows, and fairies, accompanied by a small tribe of children madly thwacking on cow bells, cymbals and maracas. It’s led by a man in a kilt with a mop on his head. Got it? That’s our band, Freddy Fuddpucker and His Rolling Clones. The other night, we played in the band with our daughter – her in her sweet red princess dress and Santa hat, me in a half-medieval fairy dress with fairy hat. It was the opening of the Christmas lights at the local garden.
My daughter comes from two musical parents. We met in a band. We both love music, although the regularity of these musical interludes has diminished somewhat over time. And as we approach next year, I am debating entering into formal music instruction with my daughter.
We have a piano in our home, and a violin, tuba, French horn, trumpet, and trombone. We also have small drums. She’s played with each except the tuba, which tends to be a tad large for a four-year-old. She also sings like anything, except when she’s telling me not to.
However, I’m debating the wisdom of formal music instruction. She’s asked, and I know of those who wish that they’d started early. Will the need to practice the violin or the piano take away from her desire to play? I know that it did for me. Maybe things have changed since the 1980s, though – I sure how so. I want to find a lesson where she can learn to play, but still love music and play it with wild abandon. I find that I love music the most when it is irrepressibly fun, like our band.
What do you think? Would you go for formal music lessons for a five-year-old, if she was asking for them?