Meet the Nesbitt Family from California! They live in the beautiful San Fransisco Bay area. They are a busy family with two kids in the Busy Kids Do Piano program. Jonah is in 2nd grade and Kyle is in kindergarten. At the start of the pandemic the Nesbitt family started their own YouTube channel called This Japanese American Life.
Q: What’s your musical background?
Amy (mom) played piano through childhood, though somewhat reluctantly in later years. She now appreciates that her mom had her stick with it. She can strum a few guitar chords and likes to sing (though others may not want to hear it). She wants to provide musical learning as an opportunity for the kids.
Q: Anything fun or unique you’d like to share about your family?
We love eating/cooking together, playing games of all kinds, and started a YouTube channel called This Japanese American Life during the pandemic to focus on the every day joys in our lives because there are so many even though our brains tend to focus on the negative/hard stuff!
Q: How do you structure piano lessons/practice for your family? Any tips to share?
The kids know “things of the day” need to be done by 7pm for us to get in some extra family fun time. “Things of the day” includes things like homework, cleaning up their stuff, Japanese writing practice, and piano practice! Alexa also reminds us on our chosen day of the week for each child that it’s “Miss Carly time”.
Q: How did you learn about Busy Moms/Kids Do Piano?
Facebook ads! The one time I’m glad we tried!
Q: Do you have any stories you’d like to share about your musical journey with piano lessons?
In the pandemic both parents have been working from home. We loved Jonah’s in person piano teacher, but running around to piano lessons while juggling parent jobs (even while at home) just wasn’t logistically going to work for us long term. Plus mom was too cheap to start both of them in person at those rates when she felt like she could teach the intro stuff while they were young. BUT it’s so hard teaching your own kids, figuring out class schedule/curriculum, and having everybody stay sane. That led to us giving Ms Carly classes a try, and it is working well for us since it’s economical and more of a mom monitoring role in our own home!
Q: What is your goal with having your child learn to play the piano?
We would like them to have music exposure, even if it’s just introductory, since even a small foundation is so great for their brains. From there, if they want to continue GREAT! If they want to learn another instrument, GREAT! If they want to do something completely different after a while m, GREAT! I want them to have confidence with trying and learning new things!
