John and Mary are greatly enjoying their piano lessons--and I am greatly enjoying having found a teacher who teaches in our home instead of our having to drive everyone to a studio!
Both children have found themselves doing nascent composing in their free time. The first time Mary did it, she took her sheet music, photocopied it by herself ("Mary, you must ask permission to touch our printer!"), then used blue and red pencils to make changes to some of the notes. Then she played it with her adjustments, declared it to sound "like sorrow floating on the breezes," and named it "I Long for You."
Later I found her writing a song from scratch, using the notation system her teacher uses for such young children. (You can see above ovals with finger numbers written in them, blue for the left hand, red for the right hand.) I asked Mary if she was just writing down letters or if she was thinking about the sound in her head (e.g., 'G sounds like this') and choosing notes purposefully--and she said it was purposeful.
Mary's first original composition, as yet unnamed
Chris and I are musically illiterate, so it tickles us to witness our children learning such a beautiful skill.
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