Who Was Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky?

Who Was Tchaikovsky? His Life Story, Explained Simply

Here’s a little experiment for your next family dinner in December. Hum the first few notes of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and see how many people at the table can finish the tune. Then ask who wrote it. (I’d happily bet a plate of Christmas cookies that the first question gets a lot more hands than the second.)

That’s the funny thing about Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Most of our families know his music long before they know his name. It shows up in ballet studios, holiday commercials, and Fourth of July fireworks shows (more on that in a minute). So let’s meet the man behind the melodies, because his story has a few surprising turns that I think your kids will love.

Prefer to listen? You can hear Tchaikovsky’s story told just for kids in Episode 20 of Busy Kids Love Music.

How to Choose Extracurricular Activities for Kids (Without Losing Family Dinner)

When I was in middle school, my mom made me quit the basketball team.

I went to a small church school about a half hour from our house, with maybe twenty-five kids in my grade, and when winter rolled around, pretty much everyone played basketball. There just weren’t enough of us for anyone to sit it out. So of course I wanted to be on the girls’ team (all my friends were on it), and my mom let me give it a try for a few weeks. I wasn’t a star, but I also wasn’t hiding in the corner hoping nobody would pass me the ball. I scored a few points a game and held my own.

Then one day my mom said, “Okay, we’re done with basketball.”

I was so mad. Her reasoning was that it was too hard on the family, which, to a middle schooler, sounded like the most made-up excuse in the history of excuses. It took me about thirty years and two kids of my own to realize she was completely right. Continue reading “How to Choose Extracurricular Activities for Kids (Without Losing Family Dinner)”

Why We Switched From In-Person Piano Lessons (and Don’t Regret It)

There’s a particular kind of disappointment that comes with a canceled piano teacher. You’ve made the decision. You’ve told your kid. Maybe you’ve even cleared a spot on the calendar and mentally rearranged your week around it. And then, a couple weeks before the first lesson, the plan falls apart.

That’s exactly what happened to Sarah, one of our members. She has three kids, and she’d found someone willing to drive out to her house and teach all of them at a good family rate, which for a busy homeschooling household felt like the only realistic way to make music lessons happen at all. Then the teacher changed her mind. No lesson, no backup plan, and a daughter who was, in Sarah’s words, “so, so disappointed.” Continue reading “Why We Switched From In-Person Piano Lessons (and Don’t Regret It)”

What Does a Piano Lesson Really Cost?

A few years ago, my son Benja was taking drum lessons through a School of Rock program near us. I want to say up front that the program itself was wonderful. The instructors were talented and kind, Benja truly loved drumming, and I loved what the experience was trying to give him.

We were paying $375 a month for it.

I didn’t think much about that number at first. It was just what music lessons cost, and we did our darndest to cut out other things in the budget to make it happen. But Benja has special needs, and after a full day of school he was often completely maxed out by the time his lesson slot rolled around. So we’d get there, and he’d hit a wall and refuse to go into his lesson, and I’d end up canceling last minute. No makeup lesson. No credit. Just $375 leaving our bank account every month for an experience that, more weeks than not, wasn’t actually happening. Continue reading “What Does a Piano Lesson Really Cost?”

Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?

Who Was Mozart? His Life Story, Explained Simply

If you’ve spent any time around classical music, you’ve heard the name. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of those composers everybody’s heard of, whether they can name a single piece he wrote or not. But who was he, actually? I dug into his real story for my podcast, Busy Kids Love Music, and I wanted to write it out here too — because the real version is more interesting than the “genius in a powdered wig” image most of us grew up with. Continue reading “Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?”

Why Is Pachelbel’s Canon in D So Popular? The Real Story

Why Is Pachelbel’s Canon in D Everywhere? The Story Behind the World’s Most Famous Wedding Song

If you’ve been to more than one wedding in your life, I’d put money on the fact that you’ve heard this song. You may not know it by name, but the second those opening notes start, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

It’s Pachelbel’s Canon in D — and it has one of the strangest backstories in classical music. This piece sat in a drawer, essentially forgotten, for almost 300 years. Then it came roaring back and became one of the most recognized pieces of music on the planet. I dug into the whole story for episode 104 of my podcast, Busy Kids Love Music, and I wanted to write it all out here too, because it’s too good not to. Continue reading “Why Is Pachelbel’s Canon in D So Popular? The Real Story”

Why Piano Lessons Still Matter for Kids in the Age of AI

Wondering if and why piano lessons still matter in a world full of AI? Here’s why hands-on music education might be more valuable for kids than ever.

A few weeks ago I was at my daughter Ella’s bookstore for a craft night with some friends. We were bedazzling books — you know, gluing sparkles and sequins onto paperbacks to make them look pretty. Everyone else’s turned out lovely. Mine looked like a craft project a raccoon got into.

And I loved it. I still have it sitting on my shelf.

I loved it because it’s a memory of laughing so hard with my friends that my face hurt, not because it’s a good piece of art. It’s proof that something real happened in that room.

Continue reading “Why Piano Lessons Still Matter for Kids in the Age of AI”

Add Piano to Homeschool: A Real Starter Guide for Moms

Adding piano to your homeschool year takes a keyboard, fifteen minutes a day, a structured online program, and about two weeks of finding your rhythm. Done right, it’s one of the lowest-friction additions you’ll make to your curriculum this year.

Every August, without fail, I pull out my favorite coat and boots even though it’s still ninety degrees outside, and I start craving pumpkin-flavored everything a solid month before anyone else does. I can’t help it. There’s something about that first hint of fall — the light changes, the air gets a little different, and even here in Georgia where summer holds on stubbornly, I feel that reset energy kick in.

If you’re a homeschool mom, you know exactly what I mean, because you feel it too. Fall is when you actually sit down and put the finishing touches on what this school year is going to look like. And if piano has been on your “someday” list, this is the someday. Continue reading “Add Piano to Homeschool: A Real Starter Guide for Moms”

Summer Piano Practice: An Honest Pep Talk for the Moms Who Wonder If It’s Enough

Every summer, I watch something happen in our piano families. The school year ends, the schedule loosens, and somewhere around the second week of June, the question starts to creep in: are we doing enough summer piano practice?

Maybe practice has been shorter than usual. Maybe it’s been skipped a few times. Maybe your child has been playing the same piece on repeat because they love it and refuse to move on (which, honestly, is a great sign — but we can talk about that another time). And maybe you’ve been standing in the kitchen wondering if this is the summer that sets them back, undoes the progress they made, or signals that you’re not cut out for this home-teaching thing after all.

Here’s what I want to say to you, from one person who has been teaching piano for over twenty years: you are doing better than you think. And summer — real summer, with its softened routines and long evenings and absence of pressure — might actually be one of the best things that could happen to your student’s musical development.

Let me explain what I mean. Continue reading “Summer Piano Practice: An Honest Pep Talk for the Moms Who Wonder If It’s Enough”

What the Circus Taught Me About Folk Music for Kids

This past week, our whole family piled into the car and drove into Atlanta to take our son to the UniverSoul Circus for his 14th birthday. (He picked it himself, which I loved, partly because it meant I didn’t have to be the one to come up with a brilliant idea this year.) This was our fourth time going. You’d think the novelty would wear off after four visits, but somehow it doesn’t. If anything, I think I love it more each time we go.

If you’ve never been, UniverSoul is a little hard to describe. It’s a circus, yes, with acrobats and motorcycles and the kind of stunts that make you grab the arm of whoever is sitting next to you. But it’s also a giant, joyful, foot-stomping celebration of cultures from all over the world, with music pumping through the whole tent from the very first minute. The audience doesn’t just sit and watch. We clap, we sing, we get pulled up out of our seats to dance. By the end, you truly feel like you’ve been to a party rather than a performance. Continue reading “What the Circus Taught Me About Folk Music for Kids”