The blessing of music

Lawren is my little music lover. She is constantly getting magazines (usually it is the Friend) and putting them up on the piano and pretending that they are piano books. She will sit and sing and play for a few minutes and than get down and do something else for a little while, and then start again. She really loves to play the piano. Whenever I sit down to play, which isn't very often (less than I should anyway) she is right there with me staring at my hands and bobbing her little head. She is sure to follow in my sister Melissa's footsteps and be the next piano prodigy!

I haven't started Seth or Nathan on the piano. They seem less then interested. I hope that they become more so as they get older. My brothers have said what an asset it was to be able to play as a Priesthood holder, and that is my desire for them. I am a not an advocate for "forcing" it on them, but hopefully I will find a way to get them into it.

Lyndi is getting lots better, She is kind of a perfectionist and likes to be able to play every song perfectly the first time. She gets kind of disgruntled when I correct her. She likes to make up her own songs, and spends quite a bit of time just sitting and experimenting with different sounds. It's great to see her so into creating music. She has always been so creative-I think that she gets that artistic gene from her dear ol' Dad.

I get to teach four kids beginning piano that are in my ward, plus Lyndi, and one of my nephews. It is fun to teach piano, and I think that I am getting better at it. I don't think the kids always like me correcting them, but it is so fun to see them learning to love to play, and getting excited when they figure out how to read music.

I guess the point of all this is this: I consider myself lucky to have learned music when I was very young. I appreciate the fact that my parents took the time to teach me to love music. It has been such a blessing in my life. I love the piano, and really feel like having one in my home has been a great thing. There are many times that music has touched me in life-changing ways. It brings the Spirit into my life the way nothing else seems to be able to. I just hope I am doing enough to pass that knowledge to my kids so it can bless their lives too!