When I decide to write about music this week, I'm sitting on a chair in a drafty hallway. There is a closed door to my left. There's only one number on it: 5. I hear piano notes through the door. G, G, E. Pause. F, F, D. Pause. The first notes of “Little Little Hans.” The next transition is easy. C, D, E, F, G, G, G.
I'm a little proud. That sounds really good.
G, G, E. Pause. F, F, D. Pause. "Yes, I think. "That's it."
C, D, E – Abort. A muted one. "Oh, no." He can't do that part yet, son. But it's also common. Because at this point things are going to be different than before. C, E, F, F, C – that would be correct. But that doesn't quite sink into the six-year-old's head.
My son is now learning to play the piano. He was given a toy guitar early on - from my brother, who is a musician. The dwarf played around on it with so much passion that at some point we also bought a small keyboard.
Unfortunately, my son quickly found out that he doesn't have to play properly because finished melodies are also saved. So he regularly turned on the medley of 20 popular evergreens at full volume. Each song plays for about five seconds, then the next song comes on. When all 20 are through, the terror begins again. It's not particularly funny the first time. I agree. My son likes it even after the 80th repetition. Have you ever tried to work from home while “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” fades into “Yankee Doodle” for the umpteenth time? I can't recommend it.
At some point the small keyboard mysteriously disappeared from his sight and reach. And then, fortunately, quickly out of his thoughts. But the fun of music remained.
My son doesn't have any regular afternoon activities yet. Try to get a free spot on a soccer team or a tennis training group in Hamburg. Good luck! But because we agreed that it would be good for him not to always sit at home or meet friends after school, we enrolled him in piano lessons.
His teacher is a real nerd. You would also be able to tell if there wasn't a poster on the door indicating his metal combo's next gig. »Tickets here«. In the first hour I didn't sit in the hallway but in the room because the two of them had to get to know each other first. The teacher asked, “So why do you want to learn to play the piano?” And my son said, “My mom wants that.”
Do you know that feeling when you have to laugh and swallow at the same time? Strange feeling.
The question hasn't left my mind since then. Why piano? I also had piano lessons as a child, but I hardly ever used the knowledge I learned back then. Isn't it actually nonsense to learn to play an instrument that is so big, heavy and expensive that very few people have one of them at home? There are other options too. Guitar. Flute. Violin. Or, for that matter, clarinet. Do you send your children to music lessons? Have you had good, bad or funny experiences with it? And how would your children answer the question why they are learning an instrument? Feel free to write to me at: familie@spiegel.de.
In any case, my son enjoys playing the piano. But it also reveals one of his weaknesses: he is very self-critical. If “Little Little Hans” doesn’t work right away, he’ll get angry. Not on the piano or the notes, but on yourself. He then reminds me of Don Schnulze from Sesame Street.
For everyone who doesn't know him: Don Schnulze is a master composer. Whenever Kermit the Frog interviews him, Schnulze first has a creative block and then a nervous breakdown. “I'll never make it, never, never, never,” he shouts, banging his head on the keys. I showed my son a video of Don Schnulze. He laughed and then said: “He’s like me.” And got angry again the next time he gambled away.
The fact that my son is sometimes too self-critical was also a result of our first school development discussion. These are available in the first grades instead of half-year reports. Before the interview, he should assess himself. He thought he was pretty good at German and so mediocre at math. His class teacher, who is also his math teacher, said he was really good at math too. And he shouldn't be so strict with himself, but praise himself more often. They practice this in school: You cross your arms over your chest and then pat yourself on the shoulders with both hands.
I think it's great that my son is learning to be proud of himself at school. I'm proud of him too. He's a great little guy. And I hope he thinks about it when Little Hans gets lost in the woods again. In this respect, a possible answer to the question of why he is learning to play the piano would perhaps be that it allows him to have new experiences of success and notice how good he is at many things.
My reading tips
We have reported very little about the sense and nonsense of early musical education in the past few weeks and months. My colleague Julius Fischer once made fun of the fact that there is little really good children's music in a very entertaining way. My colleague Anna Clauß also wrote a clever text about music in the family, as usual.
Thanks to my colleague Anne Otto, we know that it is never too late to start playing the piano. If you are thinking about it, I would like to recommend this conversation between my colleague Takis Würger and the pianist genius Lang Lang. Both pieces are a bit older, but piano music is timelessly beautiful. And why should you bother learning an instrument? Well, music can help us keep our brain healthy. My colleague Jamin Schneider visited a project in Berlin that shows how singing and dance are used in dementia therapy.
And if you have no interest in music at all, I would like to recommend these three special pieces from this week to you:
Marianne Wellershoff has accompanied the Alkhatib family for years. Mohammad Alkhatib and his three sons have been German citizens since last Monday. Marianne was there when they received their naturalization certificates and reports that the path through the German bureaucracy can be longer and more complicated than escaping from Damascus to Germany.
Julius Fischer did not deal with music in his current column, but describes the wonderful differences of his children in a text that is no less wonderful.
And Sandra Schulz was once again out and about with her “monster”. This time we went into the snow with the family motorhome. And I would say that if you only read one article this week, it should be this one.
The Last Judgement
My son should praise himself more. And we can reward him, as I learned. So this weekend we might have “Death By Chocolate” based on a recipe from our cooking columnist Verena Lugert. She writes of “floods of chocolate that seem endless.” Sounds like a useful reward.
My moment
Back to the topic of music: My colleague Philipp Löwe wrote in his last newsletter about his experiences attending a concert with his daughter.
In response he received this wonderful letter:
»We love metal, and our two children (6 and 8) mainly listen to metal.
In this area, most providers are very child-friendly. ›Metalacker‹ is free for children up to 12 years old, as is the ›Feuertanzfestival‹. A ticket is only required for individual concerts.
Our children are really into it and are big fans of 'Versengold' and 'd'Artagnan'.«
Thank you for all the lovely emails! My suggestion for myself is: If my son doesn't work with the piano, we might try the electric guitar or drums. The neighbors are happy too.
Kind regards,
Malte Müller-Michaelis