Project INSPIRE: Ten Grands for Kids

I always have this motto in my head, "Inspire, not require."

Well, I want to instill in my kids the love for music, and especially for the piano, since that was a love of mine and still is, in my life.  It's hard to find places that will allow children this young to participate in the audience but I took my chances with a "Ten Grands for Kids" Concert that was made FREE through the Snowman Foundation (http://www.snowmanfoundation.org/).  McKay and Elijah loved it!  It only lasted an hour and 15 minutes as opposed to the typical 3-4 hour concert they normally give.  I wish I had a clip from the actual concert but of course it wasn't allowed.  Here's one from a couple years ago.  Their concerts are really quite amazing.  I'd love to have our kids participate one day!

One cute thing McKay noticed was when some of the young pianists mentioned their ages (i.e., 13 or 15 years old, etc., there was even a 9-year old!!) McKay would say something like "Hey, that's close to Joseph Smith's age, cause he was 14!"  I thought that was kind of cool!

Since we can't go to concerts very often, I am finding the internet to be a great resource.  You can find a lot of great clips of fabulous instrumentalists which I can show to the boys, and they enjoy it.  Another thing I could also do better is to practice on the piano more myself, which I'm trying to do.