Summer 2018 with the grandkids was our Summer of Music. We have themes for our summer every year, and this one has to have been the most fun yet.
It was a different summer. The boys are older and don't really need looking after so much as they need activities besides video games. The youngest was going into 6th and the oldest into 10th grade, and they are old enough that we could do some really fun things with music. This was their idea -- way last winter, in fact. So I've been plotting and planning for some time. In fact, last winter, Kevin and I took a guitar class together which I blogged about in an earlier post. Kevin especially wanted to try as many different instruments as he could. So here's what we did.
Before school was out, I began looking for ukuleles for the three of us. After much research and shopping online, I found the best ukes for a moderate price. They came in a kit with a case, a tuner, extra strings, a strap, and picks. They are all wood and had a nice sound - real musical instruments not toys. I also found a good book for teaching ourselves.
Also, some months before that I had been watching online for a good deal on an 88-key Yamaha electronic piano with weighted keys. They range widely in price from hundreds into thousands. But when I saw one for $100 including stand and bench, I made it my mission to check it out. It was in perfect condition, and I ended up buying it the same day. What a great deal that was!
When school ended the boys went to Brazil with their parents for three weeks, so it was nearly July when we got started. Most weeks they spent three days with me. On Mondays I gave them each a piano lesson and a practice assignment. I pushed the older kid to learn faster because he already played violin and could read music. Then every day after our lunch and reading routine, we played our ukes. We worked our way learning together from our book and had so much fun with it. The kids picked it up fast and we accumulated a pretty good repertoire by the end of summer. On Friday, each week, Kevin and I played our guitars together just to keep fresh. But we didn't do anything new.
The days sped by and it was fairly exhausting being in teaching mode every time they came over. Toward the end of summer, we decided to put on a program to show the parents and grandparents what the kids had learned. See the printed programs at the top of this post. We ended up incorporating ukulele, piano, guitar, violin, and SINGING! Yes, the boys were a little reluctant to sing in front of everyone, but they agreed it was part of our Summer of Music.
The week of the program we were practicing intensely every day, perfecting pieces, making changes and settling on our final program. I got some pretty cardstock and made up some simple programs to hand out. We set it up at the boys' house where we could designate part of a room as stage and part as audience. The day of the performance, we made some refreshments as well. The menu was the boys' choice: lil smokies in blankets, chocolate pudding in tiny pie crusts, mixed nut cups, store-bought cookies, and pineapple juice to drink. We were all set.
For our performance, I had bought suspenders and bow ties with musical notes on them, and the boys wore fedoras they already had. Even Frankie wore his musical note tie. Our performance came off splendidly and the parents were truly amazed how much the boys had learned in what was really just 8 weeks.
This is a summer we will all remember forever. As school is underway, the boys are busy. But we are still doing piano lessons. And we play our ukes once in awhile. I also bought a third guitar, an electric guitar, which may become the oldest grandson's. What did we accomplish? I think the boys have discovered their musical side and realize they are real musicians. Such a worthwhile summer.
