Rylan and the Piano

Rylan decided to start playing the piano again!  Really the driving force is not his love of music, but his love of video games, but at least he's playing.   Both Nathan and Rylan have had an on-again-off-again relationship with the piano.   They both started playing about 2 years ago but I didn't push them very much.  I really just wanted them to learn to play for fun.

When we first moved to Spain, we didn't have a piano so no one played.  Then we bought a small electric piano at Alcampo in December last year.  I started teaching Nathan and Rylan piano lessons again, but somehow the boys lost interest or we got too busy.

We decided last Spring that during weekdays, the kids would not be allowed to play video games.   But I made Rylan a deal that if he played 30 minutes of piano, he could play 30 minutes of video games.  This worked for awhile and then Rylan decided it wasn't worth it and he stopped playing piano again.

Now all of a sudden, he wants to play.  I basically just let him choose whatever music he wants to play, I teach it to him and he plays it until he learns it.  Last week he learned how to play Jingle Bells and this week it's Deck the Halls.  He says that he doesn't like playing the piano, but I know that secretly he enjoys it, because even after he's played his 30 minutes I'll hear him playing his songs just for fun.  I'm happy because Rylan has a talent for music.  He prefers to play by ear, although I am encouraging him to read music too.  I don't know how he does it, but he is able to memorize a song after only hearing it a few times.  Anyways, let's hope this keeps up.