January Members of the Month

January MOM
Meet the Chan family, who live in California, around the San Francisco Bay Area.They are a family of four, Diana, her husband, Amelia Busy Kids piano student, age 7, and her younger brother age 3.  They adventured as a family to see snow for the first time this winter season.
Q: What’s your musical background?
I can play some piano, but it’s always been off and on. I took a piano class in my elementary school for a few years. Then I took some lessons in high school and college. My husband played the trumpet and baritone horn in high school.

Q: Anything fun or unique you’d like to share about your family?
Our kids have never seen snow before this winter season. We took them to see snow recently, and they love it! They don’t always wake up early, but when we tell them we’re driving to see snow, they’re ready. We’re hoping to go another time before the snow season is over.

Q: How do you structure piano lessons/practice for your family? Any tips to share?

I still have to figure this part out! We put our piano keyboard along a high traffic area in our home so we are reminded of it. We aim for 1-2 times/week. No particular amount of time – only that a lesson is finished or a song is practiced. Some weeks Amelia plays more, and on some busier weeks, she plays less or not at all. We still have to work on making it more consistent. When I feel that we haven’t played for a bit, I sit down and play something. My daughter comes over to see and sometimes another piano lesson starts off from there. When she sees other people play, she feels like trying it too. The monthly challenges are also helpful in motivating her.
Q: How did you learn about Busy Moms/Kids Do Piano?
I learned about it through Facebook.
Q: Do you have any stories you’d like to share about your musical journey with piano lessons?
Amelia gets pretty excited about the different piano pieces she gets to play in the lessons. Her younger brother likes dinosaurs, so she used to play him the T-Rex song from one of the beginning lessons. I remember she thought a piece named Ireland sounded beautiful and kept on playing it. A little while ago she went back to some of her older pieces and asks if I remember it. And recently during a video Ms. Carly mentioned there’s a beautiful song coming up – she was giddy with excitement. She also likes it when we play the same piece together at the same time and match each other.
Q: What is your goal with having your child learn to play the piano?
We hope when she hears a beautiful song and wants to play it, or if she wants to play another musical instrument one day, she’ll have a good enough musical foundation from playing piano to be able to learn it.

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