This was ‘reported’ in my Tot School post but I wanted to do a full separate post on it to write about some thoughts.

I was really, really surprised at Darius’ reaction to playing the organ. I wanted to get him a toy piano but still hadn’t found a suitable one so we just played on my old organ. I thought he’ll be slamming on it, hitting the keys anyhow like what children always do but…the moment he laid his fingers on the keyboard, he started moving them over the black and white keys. He played with fingers on both hands too, one up and one down. For some reason, he just started laughing as he found it amusing.

This went on a bit til hubby took this video:

Darius has great interest in music and to those who read our blog, this has been stated many times in our blog posts of him since he was very young (see ‘Music & Darius‘). From this initial contact with a real keyboard, we are convinced that he has a natural talent in music.

This, I’m really happy about because he doesn’t seem to enjoy craft activities like paintings or drawing, which I love so much (hope it’s just his age). One of my wishes for him is to let him learn to play a musical instrument especially piano when he’s older, because I believe it helps his overall brain development and the building of a disciplined character. But I would not want to force him to if he does not like it at all. So I’m really glad that he is showing a liking at such a young age. Why a piano? Probably because I myself wish to learn too. ^_^

However, when it comes to the older generation, like my mum…She said over the weekend when I mentioned casually about his love for music, “Boys must not like music. Boys should not become musician. They have no future. All so poor…” somewhat like that. I was really shocked at hearing her say this when I hadn’t even mentioned anything about letting him learn an instrument. She must have watched too many chinese drama serials where those musicians or artist slogged over their work which no one appreciates, couldn’t feed their wives, end up contracting TB at a young age, vomitted blood and died.

She had this belief twenty plus years ago when I was a child and killed my hope of ever becoming an artist. Now she still has it. I wonder whether people are still having this mindset that learning music, arts or being good in sports is no good since the govt are encouraging nurturing young talents and had these specialised schools built.

This is a habit of his. He loves songs so much from the Hi-Fi, that he would stand right in front for ages, or sit beside it to flip through books. I'll on it for him, repeat tracks, change CDs many times a day. He doesn't even play with his toys, just listen.

Thoughts ahead…

My journey into art started when I was very young even when no one nurtured me. I’m a visual learner and good at copying things I had seen. I drew my first full figure drawing, not the stick kind, complete with arms, clothes, eyes, ears and mouth when I was 4 years old because I saw someone drawn it. I still remembered that all I did in kindergarten during playtime daily was to draw on the blackboard easel with a chalk while the rest of the children was playing the kitchen set and other toys. I still remembered how proud I was that my teacher saw my drawing and asked all the children to come and see it.

As I grew older, I kept drawing whenever I was free. My mum would tell me whenever I finish an artwork that, “Artist only become famous when they die. No future one. Don’t become an artist“. She said this instead of praising my work. She does smile and look but barely discuss anything about my artwork. This was repeated countless times throughout my childhood. I don’t have proper colouring books since she didn’t want to nurture my talent so I coloured my brother’s revision workbooks where they drew some scenarios. (luckily, I still have colour pencils because school required) They got me a white board so they did not have to waste money buying paper and thus, everytime I drew something, it had to be wiped away so I never had drawings saved from my childhood which I regretted til today.

Thus, I chose to do science in my JC days because I know she’ll never let me enter NAFA or LaSelle and she couldn’t afford to.

So how did this organ came about? It was a belated gift from my dad who striked lottery and got it for me because he promised he’ll get it for me when I was in Primary 1 but got it for me only 4 years later. I think it’s a miracle as this was the only electronic toy I ever had and owned because my family was poor. They even signed me up for classes and I’m the only one out of three chilldren because they were already struggling with the fees at $40/mth. But the next few years was battling as I dealt with comments when I was playing classical music pieces that, “It’s very horrible to hear.” Only when I played pop songs which they recognised would they love my playing. I had to play the organ when they were watching tv in the living room over headphones. Thus, I ended up playing only once a week for a few hours just before classes, yet I always made the class. I guess I was naturally talented in it. I could play the tune for a song without musical scores just by hearing it. But I still need to know the chords for it to play a full piece. This led people around me to marvel, how do I play when there’s no notes? I don’t know how I knew too. I just knew.

Then, the fees got too hectic for my dad’s small income ($110/mth) and I just had to stop after five years of classes. If I had gone on and with enough parental support, maybe I would have become a music teacher now because I so love to teach.This is a small regret that I have til this day.

Now I’m doing art related work only because I got married and had my hubby support. This also took a lot of courage because my mum was totally against it and we had huge arguments. Yes, I’m not earning much because I never did an art course before but at least now I had the time to work on my passion which had been suppressed over the years…

Hence, my point of this long post is to say that, if you notice your child having a talent in something after he/she has been exposed to it and love it, do help nurture it. Don’t ever kill their interest because it does not seem like a profitable thing for the future. I was really inspired with a Scrapbooker lately. If she tells people what she does for a living, people will laugh so much. ‘I’m a Scrapbooker’? It does not seem very ‘professional’. Yet she makes money from her kits, her designs, her classes and she has written four books. This shows that if you have a passion in one thing, being good in that one thing will still put you on the right path. Unlike me, half-half in lots of different stuff because I took the wrong road due to parental restraints.

What about those children who doesn’t seem to be interested in music but still forced to learn for his own good? I’m not against those parents who introduced music to their child as I myself believe it’s just another option for him to have an overall learning. Music is really good for development. He might even be grateful in the future for learning something useful even when he was forced initially. Maybe his interest will develop? Look at Jay Zhou for example. Just…NOT many classes at once. Arts, music, sports, swim…too many kills interest in anything because there’s no time for free play anymore. I think for me, I’ll just focus on one interest of Darius’ first and move on.

However, I think I might have a sweat rolling down my forehead if he tells me he wants to be a heavy-metal rocker when he’s in his teens( not the classical musician…). I’m not sure whether I would like him like that..no offense, but just not my type, but I would try to accept it if it really comes down to this. *smile. As for Hubby, he says Darius could be a pop-star…ha.

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