The gift of music to our children Audiophile style


I was thinking one night about my kids and music. I am very happy to say I passed on the love of music to my teenagers 16 and 19. My Son Alex actually went a step further and is a classical music composer at Yale. My Son has been listening to classic rock and attending rock concerts with me since he was little My daughter Melanie loves the Beatles and we see Ringo almost every year in NYC. My son even had his own vinyl collection. When finances were robust I got them an LP12 with an SME 3012 to use with their Revox receiver and ADS speakers. They have spend many hours listening to my different systems and enjoying music. They have also traveled around the region to pick up or drop off audio equiptment. I have always made all my music systems available to the kids since they were little. While my prized possession is my audio system(s) they are not off limits to the kids and never have been. When my son was little he once turned the volume up too fast and qot quite scared, I did'nt get upset, I just explained how to use the volume control. Luckily no blown tweeters. Now the kids love their I pods and enjoy building a music collection and My son writes some excellent modern classical music. Eveyone makes use of the ipod/Linn classic system connected to the bathroom too. I have to say I get so much pleasure hearing my daughter blast the tunes in the bathroom while singing along. I think its one of the good things I have done and hope to be remembered for that gift.
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Showing 2 responses by mapman

Weiser,

Congrats on your son's choice of study!

We think alike (I think).

My kids are younger. Both like music, my 13 year old boy classic Rock and my younger girl Hannah Montana, Beatles, and Abba. I showed here how to play "Honey Honey" by Abba on a toy keyboard, and now she doodles around trying to figure out other tunes.

My son is learning to play drums and requests the classic rock station in the car all the time but has no interest in listening to music in the house most of the time. His Xbox resides in my biggest and best listening room. Stereos come second to Xbox, at least so far.

I used to sing (child appropriate) Beatles songs to them before bed when little. I think that helped more than any amp or speakers.

I agree appreciation of music is one of the best gifts a parent can give a child.
"Now I'm plotting how to create the world's first Todd Rundgren/Lindsey Buckingham obsessed 3 year old."

Go the proven Billy Ray Cyrus route.

Get them a show on Disney Channel as wisecracking parents of Selena Gomez, Demi Lovado, Miley Cyrus and others.