This is my first attempt at blogging.  I was inspired after reading the poem  below. Feel free to comment.  I   would love to hear your suggestions about any topics related to music, and children that you are interested in.

“When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound, in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.  I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.  I come into the presence of still water.  And  I feel above me the day-blind stars   waiting with their light.  For a time, I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.  “The Peace of Wild things”- Wendell Berry.

As parents, it is so easy to get distracted in our daily lives  by all that we have to do, And all the worries and fears that can crop up , that sometimes  we forget  how to be truly present and enjoy ourselves and enjoy these beautiful beings that are in front of us.  We are all so busy, working,Making a living, rushing here and there, doing , doing, doing, that we forget what it’s like to just be. Children, on the other hand are only in the present, and when we take the time to observe them, we Can get in touch with that unbridled joy, inhibition, passion and energy, that children have , and that we have almost all have forgotten as adults.

What I love about teaching music classes, is that no matter how bent out of shape I might be, emotionally or physically, when I am in class I have to be truly present in order to hold a class of toddlers or preschoolers together. If I am thinking of my problems or what I have to accomplish when I get home, or what has happened in my personal world in the past, the class dynamics would totally fall apart.  So it is the gift of being in the present of these beautiful children that  I am able to  get in touch with that part of me that also is joyous , uninhibited , and full of energy and passion.

What I have observed over the years in my classes, is that when parents totally give themselves over to Being truly present with their  children, and allow themselves  to be in the moment, enjoying , participating, singing, dancing, being silly and not judging themselves in the process, something magical happens in our classes.  Class becomes a vehicle of harmony,  love and  joy and the energy   is electric and palpable.  It is a wonderful feeling to behold and it why this work has sustained me for almost 19 years now.

So  Take the time to be present  with your children as often as possible.  You not only do them a great service , you give yourself  the gift of the present moment, which is always a gift of  love and joy!

Many blessings,

Miss Andrea