I would love the twins to learn an instrument or two proficiently, I have grown up playing music, I started to play the organ at home as my dad was a keen player and then at secondary school on the Cello at around age 12 and I then moved onto brass playing the Baritone in the school Brass Band, I took this into my adult life and played for Ross-On-Wye brass band for a short time.
I always live with the regret that I never learned to play guitar or piano proficiently and I know, I can hear people say 'it is never too late to learn' but the motivation that is required for these kinds of projects is just not there for me, so I am always in awe of people who can play and play well.
The amount of dedication that some people put into music blows me away, it has a certain discipline to it that always has me inspired.
From the twins being very small I introduced the twins to musical instruments, they have had a drum kit which was their first, Oliver took to that like a duck to water, his enjoyment of the drums shone through and they are on their second keyboard and have a guitar each, a recorder and a violin.
Olivia is keen to learn the guitar and gets motivated when she see's someone doing something musical, for example at one of the science meets, someone did an experiment using instruments and Olivia immediately on getting home wanted to practice guitar, I showed her a video of one of my FB friends playing her favourite song on his piano which had her running off to practice, this is the inspirational video I showed to her... (With permission, thanks Dick x)
I have noticed the motivation they both have for music when they see someone 'real' playing an instrument. 'Olivia's comments to this video that Dick did "how can he play like that"... I replied "with practice".
Having real people playing music has a different effect than watching 'pop stars', the twins have been motivated by 'pop stars' in the past to do a video which you can watch with enjoyment here that we created for a technology and video project we where working on.
The inspiration that comes from people they can relate to as 'normal' people gives them a sense that yes they too could one day play like that, whereas listening too and watching the mainstream pop scene does not inspire them at all in the same way to pick up an instrument, although it does motivate Olivia to clean up, she loves listening to music and tidy at the same time.
I have taken them to live orchestra events such as that at the Halle Orchestra to watch performances geared towards young children with the intention of motivating them to engage with music. (Halle do great school programs that are open to home educators)
I think it will be an important part of the twins education to engage with music, the way I have done this so far is just by exposing them to the real possibilities of music and learning to play for enjoyment of music.
We do not currently have the money for music lessons so we have to do it through video on you tube, there are so many out there, it is astonishing, I can also read music so that also helps.
The problem I find with this online learning, is that it can become inconsistent, we may spend a day and then never do anything again for months, learning to play an instrument requires regular practice if not daily at least weekly.
I think you cannot substitute for real life lessens with a teacher that is expert in their field of music, and I know if these two have any chance of keeping their passion for music fueled then I will have to find some money for lessons at least once a week, sadly that is not something that is possible at the moment with the funds being so tight and I am hoping this is something that will not just be lost in my myriad of priorities.
But I have found a local Guitar teacher who is a speed guitarist and he has given me great rates to teach the twins together fortnightly, he said he did not usually teach children so young but as they where home educated and could attend during the day he was prepared to 'give it a go'.
So although not weekly it is an opportunity to go fortnightly and if nothing else it will give the twins that focus to pick up their instruments regularly.
Another thing to look forwards to, watching the twins develop musically really will be something to watch for me.
The problem I find with this online learning, is that it can become inconsistent, we may spend a day and then never do anything again for months, learning to play an instrument requires regular practice if not daily at least weekly.
I think you cannot substitute for real life lessens with a teacher that is expert in their field of music, and I know if these two have any chance of keeping their passion for music fueled then I will have to find some money for lessons at least once a week, sadly that is not something that is possible at the moment with the funds being so tight and I am hoping this is something that will not just be lost in my myriad of priorities.
But I have found a local Guitar teacher who is a speed guitarist and he has given me great rates to teach the twins together fortnightly, he said he did not usually teach children so young but as they where home educated and could attend during the day he was prepared to 'give it a go'.
So although not weekly it is an opportunity to go fortnightly and if nothing else it will give the twins that focus to pick up their instruments regularly.
Another thing to look forwards to, watching the twins develop musically really will be something to watch for me.
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