When The Saints Go Marching In

Ammon started his second year of piano lessons in September. His awesome teacher Candise moved away last spring, so I taught him in April and May. And now he has a new great teacher Nichole. He's doing really well, especially for having 3 different teachers in 12 months! He admitted to me that I have been his least favorite teacher, which is fine with me. I think he learns better from others, and so although I could teach him to play, I'm happy to pay somebody else to do it! While listening to him practice the other day, I heard the keys played and knew what song it was. I said to him from the other room, "Ammon, is that 'When the Saints Go Marching In'?" He said "Yeah, how did you know?" And I responded "Because I played it in the sixth grade", which also happened to be during MY second year of lessons.
Playing the piano is like learning to read. When you play, you first learn the letters, then you learn the finger placement, then you learn to count, then you learn to put it all together into a song. It takes a while before songs are really able to be played. Just as in reading: you learn the letters, you learn the sounds, you learn how to put sounds together to create words, and then you can read sentences after a while.
It's fun to watch my kids grow as they go through different learning phases. Right now, Ammon is in the learning to play the piano stage, Kanyon is in the learning to talk stage (his new word phrase is "tay-koo" for thank you), Jonah and Micah are in the learning to read stage (they have learned the letters & their sounds, and they are learning how to put sounds together to create words, such as their names).
Isn't learning fun? I love to learn! And I love watching my kids as they learn! I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a participant in their growth and learning. Life is constantly changing, and soon enough Kanyon will be in school, Jonah and Micah will be reading, and Ammon will be playing Beethoven. But I am truly content for now with "When the Saints Go Marching In", and seeing the half-written names in first-hand of "J-O-N" and "M-I-C", and hearing grunts emerging from the baby's mouth.