Lang Lang: Playing with Flying Keys

Loved it!  After reading Erica Moore's review of Lang Lang: Playing with Flying Keys at The Well Read Child, I decided to check it out from our library for my own reading. I'm so happy that I did - this book is fantastic! I finished it within 24 hours of getting it home -- Lang Lang's life story and journey of becoming one of the world's most famous classical pianists is stunning. 

The book brought tears to my eyes several times as I followed the drama of Lang Lang's struggles and triumphs -- the pressure of his father's stern, demanding, brutal drive for success, the sadness and love of his mother left behind to support the family, the generosity and caring of some teachers and friends, the enormous sacrifices made by Lang Lang and his parents, and the dramatic, perilous, ascent to the top of the classical music world. 

I was fascinated by the descriptions of China and Chinese culture, and the actions of people in Lang Lang's life. An amazing read worth your time!

Family Piano

I've always dreamed that my family would be musical, envisioning a piano, guitars, sing-alongs, drum circles and happy children and teenagers who enjoy making music together.

On Saturday, my husband and I bought a digital piano. It was kind of an impulse purchase -- I had only started thinking about a family piano earlier in the week. After packing up all the kids and looking at a few models in the music store, my husband said, do you want to get it? I said yes, and later that afternoon we unloaded our piano into the living room. It was initially a shock it happened so fast.

My husband and I are both adult beginner players -- I had lessons on and off as a child, and he won a few lessons from a silent auction last year. We are both enjoying playing around with the piano and we're excited about becoming more musical and learning to play more.

Now I'm hunting at the library and online and this opens up a whole new area to explore -- learning more about music, composers, performers, and checking out YouTube performances, audio recordings, sheet music, lesson books and other titles. There's so much to explore -- just last night I discovered this Youtube, Horowitz plays Lizst Consolation No. 3 and I've also heard just a little music by Ludovico Einaudi. (Something I may be able to play eventually.) It's so exciting to experience new things!  I'm looking forward to newly inspired library visits for recordings and sheet music and books!

A few things I'm going to look at soon as I continue to dream and plan our musical adventures.  

• Musical Improvisation for Children
• The Right Instrument for Your Child
• Musical Instruments for Children: Choosing What's Right for Your Child
  

I promise I will not be the pushy mom about these things. While these selections may look like I'm planning the kids' lives in advance, I'm hoping to learn more about the possibilities. I hope the kids will love and enjoy music, but I'll be content to have this as my hobby and support the boys in what they like doing even if it turns out to be all sports..... even the ones I dread most -- hockey and motorcycles. (Oh, ok, that might be VERY difficult..... I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for now.)

Remo Rainforest 10-inch Tom Tom Drum

One "noisy toy" I don't mind having in our home is our Remo 10" tom drum.  I purchased this for my two-year-old son's birthday after reading about other moms' good experiences with them, and after having seen large Remo drums used at several of the children's music and movement classes we had attended (Music Together, Kindermusik). 

It's a beautiful instrument / toy.  The boys enjoy it, and it would probably be more fun to have two -- so the boys could both drum at the same time.  I don't know much about drumming circles but it looks like something fun to explore when the kids get a little older.

The drum has a wonderful sound... want to hear?  (This is my first video!)

The drum is available from Amazon as well as other online music stores. If you shop, you may want to do a Google shopping search to see where the best prices currently are. We bought ours from a store called Same Day Music, but I've heard of good deals on Remo appearing now and then at various stores.