2024, education, Family, Kids, Music, Uncategorized

Happy Kids Music Day

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The National Day folks have determined that today is National Kids Music Day, to emphasize the importance of music education for children.

My first music teacher in school was Miss Roesetter, who studied music in Paris at the Sorbonne. How she ended up in a small, rural school in Minnesota I’ll never know. Our school was blessed with wonderful band directors, most who had been educated at Luther College. Husband played cello in his school orchestra. Son played trombone. Daughter played piano, French Horn, and violin. Grandson is to start piano in a year ago. He loves to toot on his great grandfather’s bugle.

Grandson loves our recording of Peter and the Wolf and The Carnival of the Animals, narrated by Hermione Gingold. He listens to it on a cd player in his bedroom. His parents value music education as much as we do. His mother was a vocal performance major, so perhaps he will have a voice, too. It fun to watch how much children benefit from music.

Daughter is currently on vacation in Maine with a former Suzuki violin student she studied with in Bismarck as a child. Last year they visited their violin teacher who had moved to New Mexico. How fun is that?

Tell about your experiences with music teachers and music lessons as a child. What was your favorite music as a child? As a teen? Any instruments in your home now?

32 thoughts on “Happy Kids Music Day”

  1. My first piano teacher was Mrs. Carpenter, a friend of my mom’s. I could bike to my lessons, and I loved that feeling of independence. There were other teachers, as we moved to a different town, but what I remember most was specific music that I loved – simplified versions of Tchaikoswky, Sibelius’ Valse Triste… I recently found one of my former piano collections on Ebay – Let Us Have Music, Vol. 2.

    I now have my mom’s electronic piano – not perfect but better than nothing, and it takes up the right amount of space for this house. I gave away my guitar a few years ago, as my hand would start to cramp up if I played much.

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  3. I could write a book! (But I won’t.) šŸ™‚

    A day without music is like a day without sunshine . . . or breathing for that matter. I can’t imagine not having music in my life. My parents were musical (HS band). We had music in the house almost daily. Me and my siblings were in band. I became a music teacher (small town band director for 6 years). I conducted a few community bands, played in a few. Fell in love with jazz/rock in HS (Chicago; Blood Sweat & Tears; Earth, Wind, and Fire, etc.) Then fell in love with jazz. Classical love came during college.

    I start every Monday-Saturday off listening to John Birge on MPR, then a variety of CDs from my collection on Sunday while I read the Sunday Strib.

    Learning music is like learning a language. It also develops math skills, listening skills, non-verbal communication, teamwork if one is in an ensemble, self-confidence, and artistic expression. Music is a universal language that can unite people who otherwise might hate each other or be ignorant of their culture.

    I had good, not great music teachers up through HS. In college, I had a fabulous jazz ensemble director who taught us rookies how to “swing.” I was also fortunate to play in ensembles with the brilliant, inspiring “Dr. Ben,” Frank Benscriscutto. That man could coax great music from a room full of vegetables.

    Even though all I do now musically is pound on my drum set occasionally, I am and always will be a musician. It’s a character trait as much as any other. That’s why the main character in my novels is a musician. Once music hooks you, it never leaves.

    Chris in Owatonna

    ***BSP*** The Deep Valley Book Festival happens tomorrow from 10 to 4 in Mankato! More than 60(!) authors from all genres will share their works with the public. It happens at the Country Inn & Suites near the intersection of US 14 and MN 22 on the northeast side of town.

    Authors will be available until 3, then keynote speaker, cookbook author Beth Dooley, will address the attendees at 3:30 and talk about cooking. Check it out at the website: https://www.deepvalleybookfestival.com/

    I’ll be there, of course, selling and signing. I’d love to see some baboons if you are passing through Mankato (I know most of you are in the Twin Cities.) But Mankato is a happening college town with some excellent restaurants, nearby state parks, good shopping, a vibrant downtown, nearby wineries, and brewpubs. Something for everyone ***END BSP***

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  4. I’ve never had music lessons of any sort.
    I hated being in 7th grade chorus. The class followed the band practice.
    Spit everywhere!
    Sing Along With Mitch, Lawrence Welk, Chess Records, Motown, Grand Ol Opry, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, The Troggs, Jefferson Airplane…

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  5. We currently have have a piano, a French horn, two cellos, a Fender electric bass with amp, a guitar, a dulcimer, a concertina, and lots of harmonicas.

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  6. I took guitar lessons when I was maybe 10 yrs old. I took Banjo lessons when I was 35. Neither of those stuck. Fifth grade I started trumpet in the elementary school band. (Was it 5th or 6th?) Played that all through school and a little bit after. I can still do the lip buzz, but haven’t actually used the trumpet in years and years.
    Mom wanted a piano when I was a kid and she ended up with an electronic organ. I played on that a lot. I’ve got a pretty good ear and I could fake a lot of stuff. It surprised me how many people say they can’t fake it; I thought anyone could figure it out.
    Kelly played drums in school, and she can play piano, and sing. We have a old upright piano now. It doesn’t get played very often.
    Son grew up playing upright bass in school, and bass guitar in church and some shows. He started college on a music scholarship.

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  7. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I had many music teachers as a child into college. They are some of my favorite people, ever. Music and band really helped me thrive in my teens, especially due to the high school band teacher who is still with us at age 89 (his birthday is any day now.). For years I encountered him in all parts of my life, which is the nature of small town living. He attended the small local college with my aunt and uncle, he attended our local EUB, then Methodist Church and was my Sunday School teacher grades 7-12, and I saw him daily at school. I also babysat for his 4 kids. He was so very kind and understanding with me, and he knew that my family life was difficult. I developed performance anxiety after a different band teacher (Junior High) was quite cruel to me, so he took over my lessons. We are still in touch now, and I treasure his role in my life. He did move on to a large school band director position in Aurora, Colorado.

    Years later when I had breast cancer the strangest thing happened between us. I was dreaming of him night after night following my diagnosis and during the start of chemo and surgery. He encountered my sister at a reunion, and asked her if I was alright, because, he told her, he kept thinking about me and feeling anxious. She was so startled. She said, “No, Jacque has breast cancer.” I then got a long letter from him with his school picture enclosed. It was supportive and encouraging of me and my treatment. It was so important to me that he reached out like that.

    He has lately had a setback though. He is back in my hometown after his marriage broke up after 40 years. Another friend and I called him to express our support and he started to cry. Despite that he had been in Europe for three weeks earlier in the summer.

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  9. My first music teachers were nuns. Mom bought me a cheap classical guitar (probably Sears) when I was eight. She sent me to guitar lessons from the nuns at St. Maryā€™s in Owatonna. We werenā€™t Catholic. I guess there were no other teachers available. They talk me several basic chords and a few different strumming and picking patterns. We played songs like ā€œMichael Row Your Boat Ashore.ā€ I learned enough that I was able to learn on my own from there.

    In 7th grade, Mom started pestering me again if there was an instrument Iā€™d like to play in orchestra or band. I thought about it and decided on the flute. Band was taught and conducted by Roger Behlke. He knew how to play every instrument in the band and taught all of us. He was kind and encouraging. He always made me feel good. You could tell he was someone who cared. He also taught us how to read all of the music, not just our own part.

    I started singing in the choirs and chamber singers in 7th grade too. Lloyd Hanson directed the choirs, and I had voice lessons from his wife, Sally. (ā€œThe tip of the tongue, the teeth, and the lips!ā€) I loved singing in the choirs more than anything.

    Sally Hanson also started up a womensā€™ 6-voice group called Da Capo Singers. We sang a wide variety of music. I enjoyed that too.

    I took piano lessons from a lady in Faribault but Dad didnā€™t like me practicing and Mom didnā€™t want to drive me into town. It didnā€™t last long enough for me to really learn, although I was able to play a few tunes.

    Once I got to St. Olaf, I continued with voice lessons and sang with the Manitou Singers. Singing in choirs was a very happy experience for me.

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  10. Oh! I like Peter, Paul, and Mary as a kid. Later, I loved Simon and Garfunkel. Anything with harmony. I have had a guitar since I was eight. I still have my flute. I also have several recorders. Now I have two guitars, three mandolins, a banjolin, and four ukuleles.

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  11. Iā€™ve played the piano since I was five although I couldnā€™t tell you the name of one of my piano teachers over the years and there were quite a few since we moved around a lot. I donā€™t play much now because I just donā€™t think about it on a regular basis, even though thereā€™s a huge chunk of a piano sitting right there in the room.

    Iā€™m a child of the late 60s/early 70s so of course I also played the guitar and the recorder for a while. Havenā€™t had a guitar in the house since YA was born. And Iā€™ve been in choir off and on throughout my schooling and then a couple of different church choir. I donā€™t have a strong voice and can be easily let astray, but I am a first soprano, so Iā€™m occasionally valuable for those really high notes.

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  12. I’ve played piano since about age 6 but didn’t start lessons until 4th grade. I had five teachers between 4th and 12th grades. The best one was Mrs. Ashley when I was in 9th grade. She was still taking lessons at MacPhail and she introduced me to “real” classical music – not what I had played with the Schaum and Thompson books. I have small hands (can barely reach an octave) so she was a bit frustrated trying to find music that I could reach but would still challenge me. She was much more strict than any of my other teachers and I didn’t really appreciate her until she moved out of state after just a year of lessons. I haven’t had a lesson since graduating high school but I am a good sight reader, which is an asset for an accompanist. I have accompanied a variety of children’s choirs (school and private) and still accompany at two middle schools. I did play clarinet from 5th through 12th grade – good enough to sit first chair as a ninth grader and again a a senior. Haven’t touched one since 1970. The only instruments in my house now are my beloved Yamaha digital hybrid piano and an egg shaker.

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  13. You all remind me too of some favorite choral teachers – Steve Melvin in high school, for one. And directors – Curt Oliver was the most fun, led our little Prospect Park Community Chorus (we met in the Methodist church right next to the Witches Hat). He was good at picking out music, and funny. One season when I could inexplicably sing higher than usual, we had too many altos and too few sopranos. I asked him if I could sing soprano for the season, and he didn’t miss a bit – just said “Poof, you’re a soprano.”

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  15. I have a guitar and a dulcimer, but neither are in very good shape, and haven’t been restrung for decades. I have a harmonica and a recorder, too, I’ve never been able to play anything proficiently, though. By the time I was sixteen or seventeen it was pretty clear I wasn’t gifted that way.

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  17. Listening to Ludovico Einaudi tonight. Daughter heard one of his pieces played by Daniel Hope, and wanted to play it for a competition, but her Suzuki teacher had her play Meditation from Thais instead. Both pieces make her sentimental.

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