Mom, will you please stop singing?

My husband is a professional musician, so perhaps I have a different outlook that other folks on the importance of music instruction to a well-rounded education.

When the public-school budget cuts began a couple of decades ago, researchers began trying to establish a connection between music and math in a desperate attempt to keep music in the curricula. Many succeeded: Studying music does, in fact, appear to help kids grasp mathematical concepts (although proving this connection doesn’t appear to have helped keep music instruction in public schools).

But I’m just wild enough to believe, as did medieval European scholars, that the study of music is useful in its own right.

English, Spanish, Latin, music

To me, teaching kiddo-schmiddo to sing in tune and keep a beat is right up there with teaching her how to speak English or Spanish. She probably won’t grow up to be a professional musician, just as she probably won’t grow up to be a professional writer or translator. (I’m extremely okay with that.)

But if I don’t teach her how to “speak the language” of music, I’ll effectively be cutting her off from the accumulated knowledge and beauty of thousands of years—and every known culture—as expressed in rhythm and melody.

And that just ain't gonna happen.

Participation vs. instruction

When K-S was just a few months old, I carted her to baby music class once a week. Not for anything resembling formal music instruction, but to listen to other kids and moms make music together and to participate. Our instructor, Clarice, was fabulous. At this age, kids can’t possibly do music “wrong,” and unlike other pre-K music instructors I’ve encountered elsewhere, Clarice knew this.

Instead of working at music, we played! With drums, and shakers, and rainbow-colored scarves, and animal antics. And though up until that point I’d never done more than mutter the words to “Happy Birthday” in public, you’d better believe I was belting out the tunes in baby music class (and in the car, and while I was giving her a bath, and while I was fixing dinner, and…) because, as Clarice pointed out, kids are more likely to make music if they see their moms make music.

Even if what their moms are making is barely recognizable as music. (Hey, I can hit a pitch, but that’s about all I can say for my voice.)

These days, K-S is getting a bit more formal musical education from her dad. And we’re planning to start her on the piano this fall—perhaps with an instructor who follows the Suzuki method, perhaps with an instructor from our local university.

But I’m still gonna belt out tunes every chance I get.

Even if she does interrupt me with, “Mom, would you please stop singing now?”