So, for the past week and a half or so we've all been engaged in two new familial adventures - riding bikes and "playing" music. Gillian bought a guitar and has been learning diligently thanks to her online "tutor" (some Australian dude). And then we had a local unschooling rock band session that was such a blast that we plan to have regular meet ups. I did not plan on getting involved myself but the seductive lure of the electric bass guitar drew me in wholly. I have now borrowed Murray's bass in an effort to wow everyone with my coolness next time we get together. My musical "learning" style, like with most things, is the complete opposite of Gillian's. She's all about repetitiveness, form and perfection - studying the exact placement of the fingers, the correct alignment of the pick... it's working and she's doing great. Me, I'm all about finding whatever way possible to play simple, cool bass-heavy tunes like "seven nation army". I also like the idea of plugging in and making loud sounds.
Fergus seems keen on the drums. He has some sticks and bangs away on whatever is within reach. His current favorite bit is banging the sticks together at the start of a tune (similarly, his favorite part of bike rides is having everybody lineup and then saying "ready,set, go"). For Effie, she has a role in the rock band as a singer and conveniently knows all the words to the Grease and Abba songs that we "play".
Deep in concentration:
It took her a week to get up the nerve to take the tags off...
At the session, Steven played the synth drums (you should see the man do a drum roll!):
Three people trying to follow along...
Two people who actually know what they are doing:
One person who has completely no idea what he is doing:
Memet's photo of, obviously, the
guts of the band:
