Have you read the book My Struggle by Karl Ove Knaausgard? In the second volume there is a funny, neurotic description, as if from a horror movie. The author took his kid to circle time, after which he promised himself he would never return. I did not finish the whole series, but I am sure he kept his word.
I know that feeling. I too, often want to get away from the activities I do with the girls. It does not happen as often with Rose, nowadays, as preschool takes a lot of her time. With Maya, during the week, we go for a story time in the public library. Too many nannies, too many children, too little space, too little coffee. Almost always, however, it turns out, it is worth it. After each class I can see that the girls have grown up a bit.
In our neighborhood, parents put a lot of emphasis on music education. There is probably some snobbery behind it, there is also the belief that music supports development.
We also try to develop musical interests, and that’s why we have been participating, since over a year, in the popular Music Together classes.
There are different teachers, different classes and always something new. Each semester, we listen to new songs and arrangements, which are unexpectedly tolerable to the adult ear.
Last week, our teacher came up with the idea that parents and children would dance the traditional Dutch dance. He also played his ukulele and played a kind of harmonica. Everyone had to come up with a new dance movement, and others had to repeat it. Some tried to avoid it, but he did not even let a mother and three children get away without it. Once, I also had to sing alone to the group; I had no way out and I strangled something. It turned out that, to my disbelief, that I have a very nice voice. Their favorite moment – freestyle with instruments. Girls love to play on small drums. There are always a good few minutes of free dancing with colorful headscarves.
In addition to the charismatic teacher teaching in a Berkeley style bungalow behind a high wooded gate at the Music School, you would see me sitting in a circle with focused and content Rose next to intimidated Maja, as well as nursing mothers, aunts, dads, grandparents nannies, babies, and recently even an au-pair from Mexico. There are a lot of foreign-language parents. I have heard Russian, Korean, Chinese, German, French and Spanish. Every semester we have a song in Spanish.
The participants are very different from each other, raise their children in different ways, have different worries, different plans for the future, but for one hour we are focused on doing something together with our kids, as one team. I often leave the class with that feeling of a job well done.
We have three more classes before the end of the session – there were ten altogether, one hour each. We will take a break for the summer session due to the holidays, but in the fall we will probably tune back into the magical world of Music Together.
[update]Here are pics from the most recent class:
