C'Mon, Get Happy!

OK, you can just start calling me "Shirley" (as in "Shirley Partridge"). Adam, Greg and I just returned from an outing to Patrick's Music, where our youngest family member was registered to take drum lessons.

In case you haven't been keeping track, this is great news for the family band. Greg (Dad/ER Doctor) plays a mean guitar. He has a standing gig on his acoustic at our 9:30 Mass, but also plays some great electric guitar stuff.

Greg's musical talent has been passed down to Eric, who plays guitar, bass, and saxophone. The two of them have a blast "jamming" together.

The mom of the house plays (or, rather, is trying to learn) fiddle. I have weekly lessons and am lucky enough to have men in my house who can play along with the songs I'm learning. It's surprising how good I sound when Greg or Eric are accompanying me - mostly because they play much louder than I do! My fiddle teacher is trying to teach me to play sitting down, but according to Nana I need to be able to dance and jig while playing, so I practice both standing and sitting. The only problem with this is that I could never dance, even when I wasn't playing a violin, so the dancing skills are in serious need of work!

Adam has become proficient this year on two instruments: the recorder and the ocarina. If you're in my house for any length of time at all, you'll be treated to a pretty mean version of the theme from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". Since we were in New York, Adam's been asking for lessons on a new instrument: the trumpet. His Dad and Brother have been trying to gently coax him into playing the drums instead. We wanted it to be Adam's decision though. So today, we took a trip to the music store where Eric and I have our weekly lessons. They graciously allowed Adam as much time and space as he needed to try both instruments, which helped to cement his decision: the drums. We'll see how it goes - I talked Greg out of buying a drum set today (I think he really wants one for himself!). Adam has his first lesson on Monday with a teacher who seems to be very nice.

You may have heard that a few months ago my formal dining room was officially turned into the family music room. It gets much more use than the dining room ever did! Looks like we may have to make room for a rhythm section in there soon!

Playing together is very fun. So far, I'm the weak link. The boys would much rather play Eagles tunes than Bluegrass, but they humor me. None of us may ever play outside of our home (with the exception of my Mass playing hubby), but the fun we are having with each other right now is just wonderful. I'm not sure how I will feel in a few weeks with the sound of drums crashing all the time, but I think I'll prefer that to the sound of video games!

And hey, there's always ear plugs...