Why We Enrolled Our Son in Guitar Lessons

Before any of you, ask me anything related to guitars, please be informed that I do not know how to play the guitar.

And please also be informed that among my parents’ eight children, I am the only one who cannot play a guitar. As my mom would say it best –ako lang ang naka-“among”.

My three sisters and my four brothers can play the guitar. Me? I listen to someone, play the guitar.

When our seven-year old son was rocking an imaginary guitar while singing, ( he is enrolled in a singing class, too) one of his voice coaches suggested guitar lessons for him.

We enrolled him in a guitar class but not with the music center, where he goes to. Given his age, playful at that, we wanted a one-on-one session for him.

We enrolled him with Lyric’s Little Mozart at SM North Edsa.

We had him try, the six-session package, since we felt that our son is not ready yet. (or so we thought)

Besides should our son decide not to continue with the lessons, it would not hurt the pockets so much. (Plus… Uso pa ba ang harana? Marahil ikaw ay nagtataka. Sino ba ‘tong mukhang ( you know), nagkakandarapa sa pagkanta, nasisintunado sa kaba.)

My son’s guitar teacher, teacher Jean was patient with him. We were surprised that by the end of the session, our son could strum few basic guitar chords.

Therefore, we will be enrolling our son in another set of guitar lessons, we will just have to arrange his schedule.

So why did we enroll our son in guitar lessons?

1. My husband and I do not play any musical instrument. It is maybe because, we were not exposed to it, when we were younger. So we thought that introducing a musical instrument, to our son, would help spark interest. ( when his coaches suggested that our son might be interested in guitars, we did not hesitate in enrolling him)

2. Our son rocks an imaginary guitar when he sings a Journey or a Jon Bon Jovi song. Thus, instead of a play-pretend guitar, we thought that maybe, our son would want to play the real one.

3. Both my husband and I, value Filipino traditions and we want it passed on, to our child. We thought of the guitar, as something that would remind our son of Filipino traditions, with HARANA as one of them.

4. I have always placed premium on my roots -the rural setting I was brought in.

In my barangay, all the TAMBAYS in our KANTO can play the guitar. They play the guitar, with or without the spirit of tuba. ( not another musical instrument, mind you but the coconut wine)
(yeah,we Filipinos are mild drinkers)

Err, well, uhm, that’s not to put emphasis on the tambays by the sari-sari store (nor the ones in FPJ films who get one two threed by Da King) but on the instrument they play, which liven up the entire neighborhood.

5. Most importantly, a guitar is an instrument that could be brought along. It could be played anytime, anywhere.

6. Okay, okay fine. Playing the guitar is one of our (me and my husband) frustrations.

You know how we parents are, sometimes, we make our children the extension of our dreams. It is a good thing though, that our son wanted to learn.