Like most Americans, our family is living by a schedule. Between:

my work,
my volunteer activities,
my husband’s work,
visits to parents, and
my eight-year-old’s extra curricular activities (yes, even in the pandemic, I’m looking at you virtual cub scouts and online music classes),

we NEED a schedule. It’s also a coping mechanism: See? Our lives are not COMPLETELY swamped by this virus- We are still cub scouting!

But the Summer is different. My work slows down, my husband takes more vacation days, and my son is not in school. And we want to PLAY! After the dreary winter (and let’s be honest- a particularly dreary year all around…) we are looking for novelty! PLEASE- BRING on something new! We are exhausted of Dreambox and Lexia, staring at the same views from inside the house, watching Hulu documentaries…(Also- HOW did we make dinner EVERY SINGLE NIGHT before the pandemic without dying of boredom?)

Amidst the Summer river-swimming and hiking, we’ve found an interesting way to bring novelty into our home while maintaining all of the benefits music lessons brings to our child during the school year: Summer Music Instrument Exploration.

In the Summer, we purchase two months of private lessons, for the musical instrument of my son’s choice. This gives him a chance to explore new sounds, new fingering, new hand-eye coordination, new scales, and all of the benefits that come with learning a whole new instrument: increased problem solving skills, creativity, memory, self esteem, and more. He can maintain his music skills, in a whole new realm: NOVELTY! Voila!

And he LOVES it. He owns total creative authority over: which instrument, the practices, and the lessons. He learns to love music because he gets to MUSIC, (yes, I’m going to “verb” it) HIS WAY.

Is your child bold and sassy? They may want to try the trumpet!

Does your child want to develop leadership skills? Percussion is the heartbeat of the band!

Does your child calm and focused one moment and a faster than lightning the next? Perhaps violin is the key.

Whatever they decide- let it be NOVEL!

When I was in the sixth grade, I committed to playing the clarinet. (The decision probably had more to do with the fact that my mom played the clarinet than any choice on my part.) That sixth grade commitment went on to serve me throughout middle and high school, through Marching Band, Jazz Band, Concert Band, and several Music Leadership Band Camps. My mom (age 75) still plays clarinet in her county’s local community band (currently on hold due to the pandemic…) But the decision I made in sixth grade, (and she made all those years before me) lasted so much longer than the single year we’d originally committed to.

Third graders in Howard County Public School System (HCPSS), have the opportunity to play a string instrument, and fourth graders - a brass, percussion or woodwind instrument.

How wonderful to know my son will be better prepared to choose his instruments than I was, because he’s already experimented with several, before he has to make a commitment for the school year. And, as a side note, he’ll be more prepared than his non-music-educated peers, in terms of increased cognition, memory and attentiveness skills, and exercising both sides of his brain hemispheres. But don’t tell him it’s all about strengthening his corpus callosum. Instead, we’ll just tell him he gets to choose something NEW for the Summer!

Olenka School of Music (www.olenkaschoolofmusic.com) offers music classes and lessons for families, starting as young as one month old, through all ages of adults. They currently offer private lessons on very nearly all musical instruments.

Summer is for music NOVELTY!