Music to My Ears

When John was two years old he was already a veteran at music class.  He’d been attending since he was an infant when he would sit in my lap and we would bounce to the rhythm, or I would tap his knees or clap his hands.  As he grew, we listened to music almost every night at bedtime.  We sang during the day and played CD’s that he eventually knew by heart.

As he got older, and continued in his weekly music class, the children of course, became more engaged in the activities, dancing, playing instruments, waving scarves and taking part in organized wiggling.  But John was so very bashful he would never join in.  Each week he would sit quietly in my lap and observe the silly antics of the others.  No amount of encouragement or coaxing could entice him to join in.  Each week his wonderful and wise instructor would lightly and gently say to us, “That’s ok, he’s getting it right where he is.”  I would be consumed with worry on the inside and she would instinctively say, “Don’t worry, he is just fine, he is taking it all in and he will join in his own time you’ll see.”

Week after week my toddler would timidly observe from a safe distance as his teacher routinely passed beautiful wooden tone bars and a mallet to each child, and we would all sing while each played a special rhythm, and then each child pass the bars to the next child.  Each week when it came to his turn, John would stare down at his hands folded in his lap, chubby knuckle to chubby knuckle, and refuse to look up.

            His wise and wonderful teacher would flash that carefree, no worries in the world smile at him anyway and say brightly, “That’s OK John, “ and move on without skipping a beat.

I can remember my heart sinking each time, as I rested my chin on the top of his quiet little head, each of us staring straight ahead, lost in our own mommy and son thoughts.

Finally the last class of the summer session, I watched as the little girl next to John gently sat the tone bars on the floor in front of him and reached out to hand him the mallets.  His turn had come again, and finally, he gingerly reached out and took the mallets from her and ever so softly began tapping out his little two-tone melody, but it sounded like a symphony to my ears.  His wise and wonderful teacher caught my eye and even though we didn’t share words, we shared every bit of that triumphant moment as we witnessed John step out of his private world of protection into a brave new place for him.  I will never forget it.

It is just one of dozens of life’s most precious moments shared with our wonderful and wise music teacher, Jan Vidruk, or “Miss Jan” as she reluctantly allows my boys to refer to her.  She has been a part of both of my son’s lives for almost 13 years.  The brilliant and magical program my sons have had the privlidge to take part in includes music, drumming, stories, pretending, acting, and songs as well as hundreds of things they have no idea they’ve even learned.  Things I have been humming to them since they were infants, they didn’t know why, later, when they were learning to play those same songs on the piano that they sounded so familiar.  They have learned that waving a scarf up as the notes go up and down as the notes go down is a fun game.  They didn’t know they were learning about musical scales.  They have learned that tapping certain rhythms goes with certain songs.  They didn’t know they were learning, quarter notes, 8^th notes and 16^th notes or ¾ time.  Never mind the research that shows correlation between music and learning, I can show the correlation between music and joy.  I have seen it, felt it, sung it, celebrated it. 

The only thing more amazing than what these little musicians learn, is the dedication and devotion to the world of music demonstrated day in and day out by our wise and wonderful teacher, who, in her spare time, dedicates hours to promoting the combination of music and movement taught simultaneously, as my children have had the opportunity to learn.  If it is a new concept to you and you are interested in music or teaching, I urge you to check out her passion, the Early Childhood Music and Movement Association, ECMMA, which is holding it’s International Convention in Green Lake Wisconsin in August.  Find them at www.ecmma.org

My hope is that more wise and wonderful teachers will be born from this international convention in our own backyard, and that more children will have the amazing opportunity that mine have had, to experience music and movement melded into a seamless program from tapping their knees to tapping the keyboard and carrying them into middle school band or orchestra or choir, and beyond, to a lifetime that includes music.