Happy Heart

My house is a happy place right now, at least for me, and my heart is smiling! Both of my kids are in their rooms playing an instrument. For Sadie, it is her ukulele. She got it last January, and taught herself to play, and she plays it fairly often...almost daily, and usually sings along. And every time I hear it, I smile. But it also made me miss hearing Aaron play his guitar..

Both of my kids have musical talents, and both can sing (a lot) better than Toby and I. Aaron started playing guitar in 2nd grade, I think. He got a mini-Fender electric guitar from Santa and started lessons that year. And he played through most of elementary school. But he quit lessons in 5th grade (or sometime around then). And shortly after that, he pretty much quit playing guitar at all. A few times, when he was grounded and couldn't do anything else, he would pick up his guitar (no longer a mini...he got a full-sized electric guitar in 3rd grade). But always, once he was ungrounded, he would quit playing.

Until now. About a month ago, we took Aaron in for some testing. It was expensive, and it was basically really in-depth aptitude testing, to help him figure out what he wants to do with his life...what major for college/what career path. It was a day and a half of testing, and then we sat down with his tester and were told the results. One of the things the testing revealed was that Aaron has great tonal memory. The guy said what that means is that if he hears a tune, he can go sit down at a piano and would probably be able to figure out how to play the melody, without any music being available. We all looked at each other, and smiled, because Aaron does this pretty often. He has never had a piano lesson, but when he hears a song he likes, he will sit down and mess around on the piano for about 2 minutes and then be able to play the melody (not the full harmony...just the right hand, and just a single note at a time). Ever since then, Aaron has been playing his guitar more and more. And just like on the piano, he can figure out the melody of songs on the guitar too. Again, not the chords, but the melody.

And this momma is loving it! I love hearing them play their instruments. I am a practical person, and I know that music is not necessarily going to be either of their career path (and the rational person in me would hope that they wouldn't choose that as a career because it can be such a difficult career), but I know that them being able to play instruments is something they can do for life, and it can bring joy to them, and me, and all around them!