"Tap, tap...is this thing on?"

I was told to blog early and often. Better late than never, eh?

Now know this: the BackyardBrand blog is not about me, The Backyard Harmonica Teacher. Rather, it's about you and what you'd like to see next from Backyard Brand. But even that's just the tip of this blog.

For example, you may have noticed I wrote a new Ezine Articles article recently, "Harmonica's Personal Journey to a Usb Port Near You." [ http://EzineArticles.com/?id=3348144 ].

That article is all about the creative process that led to FlashHarp's emergence.

What I've been thinking about lately is a bit different. It's about how important I think the harmonica can be to music appreciation in young children. I may write an EzineArticles article on this topic soon, too; but today, since I've got this new blog, I'm going to write about it here, too...

I started to play harmonica when I was a kid and my whole life have gone through a process of picking up and putting down the instrument. Now, lo these many years later, I have my own children. Even more, they are both budding musicians, and I'm extremely grateful for that fact. I take a little credit for it, too. Here's why...

When they were 4 or 5, my harmonica life was in one of its "off" periods. That was understandable, I think, because we'd been raising twins; and believe me, that can take up the better part of the day. Anyway, I made a conscious decision at around the time they were five that was driven by a single desire: Whatever I did as a father, I did NOT want to ever preach at them about, "practice, practice, practice." I find that kind of daily berating (especially if it comes from someone who doesn't themselves play an instrument) counter-productive.

Rather, what I wanted to do was give my two tikes a daily emersion in handmade music.

In other words, rather than preach, I gave off a good daily dose of sound from my own instrument. And believe me, it wasn't always beautiful sound. I know I'm not the greatest harmonica player in the world; and even if I was, too much of a good thing...

Anyway, what I'm saying is, emersion works best. My kids play now not because anyone ever told them to play (neither parent ever did). Rather, they play because they both got to a point somewhere along the line when they each said, "I want to play piano," and "I want to play violin." The decision was all theirs, occurring against a backdrop of actual, authentic, day-in-day-out musical sound. And I'm not talking "recorded" sound here, either.

What I'm saying is this: It's extremely important for young parents who want their children to become musical, to themselves try to derive pleasure om their own from "playing" a musical instrument. In other words, set an example and keep the "practice or else!" speech to a minimum.

I think I'll come back to this later, since I have my own blog now...

Best Regards

The Backyard Harmonica Teacher