May 30, 2019
In this weeks episode I sit down for a drink with Jenn and Sandy Cohen to discuss the transformation they seek for their son and music lessons. It’s never about the lessons. It's always something more complex than that. Jenn seeks balance for her son. Ethan is athletic and social. She hopes that music can allow him to connect with another side of himself. Balance is what she seeks. That’s her pain point.
Jenn took music lessons herself as a kid. And like every parent I’ve interviewed, she hated her lessons. The pain goes even further. Jenn’s mother is herself a classical pianist. Her mother places a lot of value on not only music lessons but classical music lessons. Because, as Jenn says, that’s the “right way” to learn. I’ve heard other parents say “well isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”
We all know that piano is just one way. Classical music is just one of many flavors. Music is music. It either has a good beat and you can dance to it or it doesn't.
Jenn comes from a family with traditions she wants to honor. She wants to make her mom proud by sending her kids to piano lessons. Yet she had a negative experience with piano lessons. Certainly, an experience she doesn’t want to subject her kids to. She wants to be a good mom. She wants to be a good daughter. She wants her son to have a life with balance. She wants him to simply be happy.
SHOW CREDITS
Intro music: Dusted by Fojimoto
Transition music: Levi Simon
Outro music: Rain and Revolution by City Breathing