Easy Ways to Encourage a Love of Music
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Before our children were born, my husband and I loved going to the symphony. We even had season tickets to the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra and never missed a performance.
I dreamed of one day sharing this experience with my children.
They are both finally old enough to join us at the symphony!
One of the reasons we are excited to bring our children to the symphony is that we want to encourage a love of music. There are numerous benefits of listening to music. It can even strengthen memory.
Easy Ways to Encourage a Love of Music
Attend musical performances
Nothing compares to seeing musicians perform right in front of your eyes. We tend to gravitate towards classical symphonies, but concerts count too. There are many types of music and they all have their value.
Tickets to professional symphonies do not come cheap, but there are ways to enjoy the performance without the high price tag.
Look for volunteer performances. There are often fewer performances each year and they play at smaller venues such as community centers and high school auditoriums, but they cost just a small fraction of the larger performances. We recently attended a performance at a local high school that was fantastic.
Search for children’s performances. These are often geared towards early elementary kids. The performances are shorter to accommodate small attention spans. The music frequently has a theme, such as Halloween, to help hold their interest. Sometimes there are even ‘instrument zoos’ so the children can see musical instruments up close. These are a fantastic way to instill a love of music in little ones!
If you are in the Northern VA area, I highly recommend the children’s band, Rocknoceros. Hannah and Ben loved them when they were little.
Find a good music teacher
I have zero musical ability so I do not trust my abilities to competently teach music. It is okay to outsource music instruction.
We have had good luck finding music teachers at church and within our homeschool co-op. If you are having trouble finding someone, ask around. You can even check with your local music store staff to see if there is someone they recommend.
We made our children take a minimum of one year of musical instruction. Hannah sang in our church’s children’s choir when she was in elementary grades. It gave her practice singing in front of other people and a chance to learn the basics of singing correctly.
Ben has spent the last year learning to read music and play the recorder. He is learning how to be part of a musical group. Learning how to be a small part of a bigger group, all working together to make beautiful music is an important life lesson.
You know how else we foster a love of music? We let them quit after they give it a solid try. If they really don’t enjoy the lessons, there is no point in forcing it and making them associate music with parents fussing. They can always try a different music later if they want. Or maybe they will be like me and just appreciate music.
Listen to a variety of music genres
There are almost too many types of music to count. Classical, jazz, country, pop, rock, etc. Everyone has their favorites, but there isn’t really a wrong music choice (other than lyrics that are questionable for little ears).
We have an Amazon Echo in our kitchen and it acts as a great radio. We just ask Alexa to play a genre of music and she complies. Sometimes we ask her to play specific songs and she does that too. This allows music to be only a voice command away.
Listening to a variety of music means that our children appreciate different songs depending on their mood. Sometimes they request It’s Raining Tacos, sometimes they request Hedwig’s Theme, and sometimes they request the 1812 Overture (the canons are dramatic and fun).
How do you encourage a love of music?
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