Spend more time playing music with my kids

After languishing in a corner for over a year, my old guitar finally has some new strings. The kids and I sat around this afternoon and sang a few favorites, the only problem being when they fought over which songs to sing. D wanted a train song, Baby Girl wanted Baby Beluga. They were screaming at each other over it, so we had to stop. I’ll have to come up with a song about a whale on a train or something.

I’ve taught my son how to play his first scale on the piano. He remembers where middle C is and uses correct fingering. Bach isn’t far behind!

Had some fun with this goal this past weekend. We had a little band practice. My son requested we sing a Ralph’s World favorite HappyLemons and we did a punk version of the ABCs. Then I broke out an old folk song book and we sang a few oldies. On another day we had a crazy dance move contest and danced to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Baby Girl can really groove!

This is a game we haven’t played in awhile. I’m going to schedule a practice session this weekend. Here’s how to play:
1. Grab your instruments.
2. Play really loud.
3. Make up crazy lyrics that must also be loud.
4. Strike a rock star pose every now and then.

So far, my four-year-old knows how to do the windmill strum (a la Pete Townsend) and stick out his tongue like Gene Simmons. This weekend I’ll teach him how to stage dive off the couch. The one-year-old pretty much just plays the toy drum, but in the tradition of the great Mo Tucker, she’ll use anything and everything to bang away.