Children People

God…and NOBODY can live with that forever.

Now, let me harp on the music a bit…and hopefully make some useful points…

Think about this: who said the music on the sheet of paper that your child was practicing from was “correct” to begin with?

In truth, those notes on that piece of paper are just one person’s expression…and if your child’s expression happens to be a little different, so what?

Chet Atkins is widely regarded as one of the best if not the best guitarist of all time…and I heard him tell a story about making mistakes on his recordings…people would learn to play the song from his recording…and when he would play it “right” in a concert, people would tell him that he “messed up” because it didn’t match the recording.

Music is NOT about the notes on a piece of paper!  Music is about expressing yourself…it’s about having fun…letting your spirit soar…communicating to the world real feeling…and who cares whether or not that matches what’s on a piece of paper.

In fact, a piece of paper is nothing more than a CONSTRAINING device that LIMITS a person from expressing themselves musically.

When I was growing up, EVERY DAY AFTER SCHOOL, my parents forced me to practice the piano for a FULL HOUR…and they completely drove me away from music until I was an adult who could pursue the kind of music I wanted to play…the beautiful music I had in my heart.

And I LOVED music…if they would have just worked with me…I would have been an incredible pianist…but, THEY wanted me to play CLASSICAL music…which I enjoy listening to…but did not care to play…I wanted to play the boogie-woogie / bluesy piano style…and that didn’t match what THEY wanted.

Further, I LOVED guitar EVEN MORE THAN THE PIANO…and even though my Dad could play the guitar, he refused to teach me how to play the guitar or to get me one so I could learn on my own…again, because THEY wanted me to play classical piano…it was all about THEM…instead of helping ME become the kind of person who could express himself musically through the instruments that I wanted to express myself through.

You know what?  After all those years of that piano practice, you could give me pretty much any piece of sheet music and I could play it…I could answer just about ANY music theory question you could ask me…and I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HOW MUSIC REALLY WORKED…no sheet music in front of me meant I couldn’t play anything.

But, when I put away the sheet music…when I said forget all that nonsense…I just want to express the music that’s in my soul…and I quickly learned the patterns and relations of the 12 notes in music…and now, I can get upon stage with my guitar…with ANY band…and I can RIP through ANY song…even one that I’ve never heard before…in ANY key…and people listening will be saying “WOW!” when I’m done.

In my opinion, THAT is what music is all about…it’s what ALL the music greats did.  Go study the history of classical piano players…they were people who were hired by kings and dignitaries to play…and what they played was different every time they played because they were expressing the music that was in their soul…and the sheet music that we have today of their music is but a single INTERPRETATION of that music…but it was by no means the composers ONLY interpretation.

Ok, enough of that…admittedly, I was on a soap-box and ranting…but I had to say all of that…because it sickens me how many parents are forcefully teaching their kids to be chameleons of other people…they are teaching them to be followers of the “crowd”…and teaching them to DENY their true self…and NOBODY can truly be successful in life UNTIL their REAL SELF begins to assert itself and shine forth to create and bring about the good that God intends for them to manifest.

In terms of “fixing” this problem, the solution will depend upon how open your wife is to receiving instruction from you.

Possibly, just a discussion that is your own variant of the above may be all that’s needed for your wife to make the shifts she needs to make.

Myself, I tend to “teach” my wife by providing contrasting examples.  What one person can do, any other person can do too…IF they do the same thing.

So, going forward, when you interact with your children, notice what your thought-processes, attitudes, time-orientations, outcome-orientations, perspectives, and behaviors are and share those with your wife so that she can take on your mode of operation and get the results you get.

Copyright 2010, Article by Calle Zorro of HusbandWifeHelp.com

Mwamba has released a new Music Video for the song “Siyahamba” recorded live at Life Point Church in westminister Marryland

Pages: 1 2