So I say..thank you for the music!

So, now you all know how important books are to all of us round here. Hubby, Video Boy, Wombat Girl and I all LOVE our books.

And we seem to go in cycles - a week of immersing ourselves in literature, maths, or science. Ebb and flow. Intense and relaxed.

Well, at the moment, Wombat Girl is immersed in music. She is loving it and learning it and listening to it. Video Boy and Hubby quite enjoy it, but it is Wombat Girl and I who LOVE it.

Back in the day, it was me who brought LP's and CD's into our newly set up house (Hubby brought the knives and forks and the couch, so it was only fair). I got a special CD tower made to store them all (and then they still overflowed).

How fabulous that Apple invented the iPod and I can now have that entire stack of music on one device. And how fabulous that they let me use my credit card and download new music whenever I want! (actually, again - too easy - they need to set some limits for problem music lovers!).

My Dad loved music and so does my brother (who is having a love-affair with vinyl at the moment!) and my sister (although she and I have slightly different tastes in music - death metal anyone?). The funny thing about music - we can be passionate about it, but we can differ (sometimes significantly) on what we like to listen to. Me? I'm a classical ballet, musical theatre, 80's pop kinda girl with acoustic overtones. But I'm open to new ideas too :-)

I always have music playing in my head. I love times, like painting bedrooms, entering data into MYOB, running or driving to Sydney, where I can put my iPod on shuffle and listen and listen. Music moves me to tears at times. It makes me dance around the loungeroom like a crazy woman (I'm glad there's no video footage of that!). It reminds of times past. I look forward to new releases from my favourite artists and undiscovered gems!

I could not comprehend a life without music. And yet, sad to say, I cannot play an instrument (Mary had a little lamb on the recorder does not count!).

Wombat Girl loves her music too. She is most often humming a tune to herself. She sleeps with Glacier Bay playing on her iPod in the background, to keep the monsters away. She listens to John Mayer's "Stop This Train" on repeat in the car until even I cannot stand it any more.

Wombat Girl started keyboard lessons when she was in Year 1 at school. She progressed nicely until she had to start playing the bass cleft with her left hand. It got too hard. She stopped. And I have to say I was a bit sad. But as we've gotten more un-schooly, she has fished out her keyboard books and is working her way through them. I have not nagged her to practice once - it is all her doing. On some days she will spend a few hours in total practising her next song. She is teaching herself to read music. She is learning pieces off by heart. It's not easy for her at times, but she keeps going. She is also learning about perseverance, practice and persistence.

That is the essence of how I want my kids to learn - because it's something they want to do, not because I think they should or make them.

And most of all, I love that she loves music. It inspires her, fills her up, helps here cope with the sad, makes her life more shiny. And for that, I say "thank you".

(Don't you just love the shiny jumpsuits and blue eyeshadow?

But good music never goes out of style!)