Yesterday, with the MOMS Club, we went on a guided tour of the Ward Brodt Music Mall. The place was packed with over a dozen sound-proof practice and instruction rooms, sheet music, supplies & accessories, and hundreds of instruments of all kinds. The tour was informal, with one woman from their education department demonstrating several different instruments (including a $47,000 computer controlled piano), and she provided the opportunity at the tour's conclusion for each child to try playing a guitar.
However, by the time the girls sat to play the guitar, I had already supervised their contact with other guitars, drums, pianos, and a xylophone. Some of the moms were enforcing a museum-like "NO TOUCHING" policy that seemed overly strict to me. How can you let children into a shop filled with instruments and expect them to completely rein in their curiosity? The experience left some frustrated and with pent-up energy, and I wondered how much of an appreciation or understanding they came away with.
The moms, surprisingly, stood by with the same attitude, but if I was curious about a guitar, I was going to take it down from the wall and try it. We were in a store, after all, and I was simply sampling the wares. So after a few short minutes, I decided on my three-fold guidelines. First, Juliette and Ilsa could only touch on my say-so, after I demonstrated the proper technique, and when I standing right by. Second, their samples were limited to the items we can afford to buy! A $200 guitar? Sure. A $14,000 guitar? Sorry, honey, that one is too high for me to reach! And third, instruments are for playing. Granted, real instruments are to be treated with respect, but they are still meant to be handled. So we did.
However, by the time the girls sat to play the guitar, I had already supervised their contact with other guitars, drums, pianos, and a xylophone. Some of the moms were enforcing a museum-like "NO TOUCHING" policy that seemed overly strict to me. How can you let children into a shop filled with instruments and expect them to completely rein in their curiosity? The experience left some frustrated and with pent-up energy, and I wondered how much of an appreciation or understanding they came away with.
The moms, surprisingly, stood by with the same attitude, but if I was curious about a guitar, I was going to take it down from the wall and try it. We were in a store, after all, and I was simply sampling the wares. So after a few short minutes, I decided on my three-fold guidelines. First, Juliette and Ilsa could only touch on my say-so, after I demonstrated the proper technique, and when I standing right by. Second, their samples were limited to the items we can afford to buy! A $200 guitar? Sure. A $14,000 guitar? Sorry, honey, that one is too high for me to reach! And third, instruments are for playing. Granted, real instruments are to be treated with respect, but they are still meant to be handled. So we did.
2 comments:
Yesterday on television I watched a band of artists from Vienna playing music with vegetables. Very funny! :o )
Ah, Vienna... land of so many great musicians throughout time...
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