Mom life… It’s for real! We give everything to our children. Including, sometimes, our sense of self. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to run a beautiful community of music at Dominelli School of Music and Dominelli Recording Arts Centre, and get the opportunity to speak with parents in our community every single day. Through these great conversations, I have found the secret of personal discovery. LEARN TO ROCK! Seriously. It sounds crazy. However, we have many participating in our adult band program, where they come together each week and learn a new instrument, write songs, play at local music venues, and be a part of a supportive community. Watching these parents take this precious time for themselves, and seeing their confidence and personal well being grow, has been the ultimate inspiration. I now, am learning how to drum in one of the bands and feeling great!
Now, how to fit rocking out into the schedule? You can start by grabbing that guitar that you bought for your son, that he only played once and is sitting in your basement. Pick it up, go online, search for a song you like and see if you can find a beginner tutorial. Or visit
dominellimusic.com for a full range of free video music lessons. Yes, those noises you make will sound terrible at first! That is completely normal. Now have a glass of wine, and try again. Then contact your local music school, and see if you can book a lesson time after the kids are in bed, or while they are in school. Take that time for yourself, it’s worth it.
Plus, there are many studies showing the health benefits of music education. A recent study by Brenda Hanna-Pladdy, Associate Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, conducted a study in 2011 that focused on music education and adult neuropsychological ability. Hanna-Pladdy divided a group of 70 healthy adults, aged 60 to 83, into 3 groups: musicians with at least 10 years experience playing an instrument, those with 1 to 9 years experience with an instrument, and a control group that lacked the ability to read music or any type of music training. Each participant in these groups took a comprehensive battery of tests that would provide neuropsychological information, and hopefully substantiating data, in favour of receiving a music education. After the tests, the group with more than 10 years of music training scored highest in subject areas like visuospatial memory, nonverbal memory, absorbing new information, and naming objects. As a comparison, the group without prior music education performed least well on the tests. Those who had played from 1 to 9 years ranked in the middle.
So there you have it, pick your favourite song, grab an instrument and learn to rock! If you live in Edmonton or St. Albert and would like to join a band or take lessons, contact us at Dominelli Music as we would love to support you in your journey towards self discovery through music.
Dominelli Music
Dominelli Studios
