A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about our graduating
senior. I mentioned that she was smart
and athletic and a joy. But I forgot to tell you that she was a talented artist
and musician as well. That one’s on me. I should have honored her other talents.
She played the trombone until she got to high school and way
back, she took a few piano lessons, but those are the limits to her musical
training. But the story doesn’t stop there. She can sit down at the piano and
in a short time, knock out about anything that she has heard.
Her dad could do that. His aunt was a concert pianist and I
don’t think that sort of thing is taught through osmosis but he is amazing at
the piano. At his wedding to my daughter, he played a classical piece that
would rival what anyone can do. And this despite never having had a piano
lesson in his life.
Obviously, his daughter inherited that. She even writes some
of her own music. If she had chosen that career, I have no doubt she would have
been successful.
Then there is her art. As part of a school project, she was
to paint a photograph of the rear corner of a red sports car. She shared the
process as she did the painting then when it was finished, shared that as well.
Here’s the thing—I thought her finished product was the photograph itself.
It wasn’t! It was her
work. I paint, mostly abstracts, but she is gifted. You think that her cat that
she painted is going to jump off the canvas into your lap.
Which brings me to the point of all this. I strongly believe
that we need to develop all parts of our brain as we grow up. I believe that
education in art and music and dancing and history and all those “other” things
that you might not think is particularly important is essential.
Your best efforts at art may be a crude stick figure but I
believe there is value in trying to draw the best stick figure ever. Or simply
splashing colors on a canvas. I do that all the time.
As I said, I paint but I don’t really consider myself an
artist. I paint for me. I can go into my little spare room/art studio and lose
myself for hours. It is definitely my happy place.
I for sure don’t like everything that I do, but every once
in a while, I get lucky and do something pretty decent. But as I said, I don’t
paint for any other reason than the joy it brings me.
I believe that everybody has a little bit of artist in them.
It’s in our brain. And if we never exercise that part of our brain, well, we
just aren’t all the person we can be.
Same for music. It’s a part of our brain that needs to
develop as we grow up. That’s why some
form of music education is important. If you can’t play an instrument, you can
hum, sing, or whistle. Lack of real talent shouldn’t slow you down. I know
people that can’t carry a tune in a bucket but they seem to take joy in singing
along to their favorite song.
My music education started with the trumpet. I was actually
in the high school marching band in the 7th and 8th
grades, before it interfered with football. Because my Band Director, Mr.
Lawson, was so good at his job, I could play anything with a mouthpiece and
three keys. Baritone, tuba, French horn. Still can.
Believe it or not, I played in a variety of musical gorups
in high school and early college. Daryl Lunsford, who made a career as a
musician, would organize groups to play everything from rock to early heavy
metal to a baritone quartet.
Yes, you have to study the three R’s—reading, riting, and
rithmetic—and you know I believe it is essential to be physically active—but
give your child the opportunities to develop all parts of their brain. Only
then can they reach their full potential.
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