"Setting my mind on a musical instrument was like falling in love. All the world seemed bright and changed."

I couldn't be more proud of how the boys are growing up. There's not a week that goes by where they don't blow me away in some way. Seth especially over the last few weeks has made me so proud. When I was given the chance a while back to review a pBone I had no idea what it was, so I googled it and when I first saw it, I was desperate to give it a go. The first professional plastic Trombone and it came in a variety of colours... I'm quite sure that I'm not the only person that got excited about that. As much as I hoped they would, I never for one moment thought that either of the boys would take a serious interest in it, but there was a slight chance and I really couldn't pass that up.

When the awesome purple pBone arrived, the following nights fell in to a routine of Seth dropping his school bag and going straight into the lounge to watch Youtube videos and try to learn as many notes as he could. It was lovely to see him trying something new and feeling motivated to learn more. Weeks passed and things then started to slow down and the pBone started to come out less and less. It was a little disheartening and I attempted to get things going again but I was never going to push it, so I just let things be.

Then one afternoon we received an email from pBone inviting us to one of their events at the Birmingham Symphony hall, followed by the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra playing songs from the movies, which even to this day has been one of the most amazing nights that we have had together as a family. We were able to try out the pBuzz at the event as it had just been released and we were also given a trombone lesson which was a lot of fun. The show itself though was truly magical and as we left the Symphony hall, Seth, very excitedly, asked if he could have trombone lessons.

It was music to my ears (haha) and Mrs M had soon arranged for Seth to start having lessons at school which he instantly loved and his trombone teacher loved his pBone so much that she went and brought one for herself! (the magic of the pBone). When a musical show at school was planned and children were asked if they would like to be a part of it, Seth jumped at the chance. I feel so ashamed to say this but at the time I thought to myself 'I'm not sure what he was going to do in the show as he doesn't know how to play anything, just notes', (how wrong was I!). Seth decided on a song that he wanted to play (based I think on the Mighty Ducks hockey movie that he loves) and each night he would disappear to his room (or sometimes the garden) and the quiet in the house was replaced by his loud tooting.

Even then I thought to myself 'I can't tell what that is?' and I worried that maybe he had bitten off more that he could chew by signing up for the show (I know what a terrible dad!). The show came around (which fell on my birthday) and as we sat in the audience I was feeling so anxious. Seth looked very serious and it was clear that he was nervous. when it was his turn to take the stage I began to brace myself unsure of what would happen next. Seth calmly stood up, placed his music on the stand and erupted into 'we will rock you'. There was silence in the room as he started but this soon turned into all the parents clapping and stamping their feet along to the beat. I was in complete awe of this amazing child on stage that had the confidence to get up and play in front of everyone, it made my birthday.

The lessons have continued and Seth now states that 'he has a passion for music' which I love to hear. Which brings us to the last few weeks that have made me so proud as a dad. Seth has been looking around secondary schools to start in September, one of the schools that he has been very interested in going to is out of our catchment area but they offer the chance of earning limited placements for various skills and passions. With 18 music places available, Seth was invited to an interview at the school and was asked to complete a musical aptitude test. On the evening before the test we were chatting and he told me that he wasn't expecting to get a place as he didn't feel like he was good enough and was yet to take his first grading, Seth being Seth though still went into that test confident that he would give it his all. One week later and he has received a place at the school, which we are all so excite about. Clearly his passion for playing really came through and he should never have doubted himself for a second.

It's crazy to think that something as insignificant as an email asking us to review an instrument could have had such an amazing impact on all of our lives and I am forever grateful for pBone and the magic they have brought to our family. It is going to be so exciting for us all to watch Seth's next steps as he continues following his passion for music.

"Education isn't just about feeding the brain. Art and Music feed the heart and the soul."

There are so many great reasons for learning to play an instrument. It teaches coordination, perseverence and discipline not to mention that it has been scientifically proven to increase the capacity of your memory. I was never given the option to learn an instrument as a child which was disheartening but the thought of one day playing an instrument was something that stayed with me throughout my adult life to date. Years ago it was the violin that really interested me but I was too scared to take the leap as I was told by a violinist that I know that it was a really difficult instrument to pick up as an adult. Years went by and still I hadn't taken any musical leap, until recently. Seth has been taking Trombone lessons for a few months now and although he enjoys his lessons he is frustrated that he cannot hit certain notes after this amount if time. His teacher keeps telling him that he needs to practice for short periods every evening but sadly he rarely makes time for it and this is something I will never push because I feel that this is something he needs to work out for himself.

That being said though, this was all the motivation I needed to start learning an instrument myself. A few months back it was Opeie's friend Matthews 5th Birthday and we thought it would be nice to buy him a Ukulele. I had always loved the sound and felt like they were a very misunderstood instrument, often being seen as more of a toy. I couldn't shake off this niggling in the back of my mind that I wanted to learn to play one myself and eventually caved in three weeks ago and bought myself my first Ukulele. This was so out of my comfort zone but I really wanted to give it a go. 

As I said, I wanted to learn to play an instrument for many years and this was a very exciting step into the unknown. There was another bigger reason regarding Seth's trombone predicament that was my motivation for taking the leap though. The information that is readily available to us these days means that anybody can do pretty much anything if they put their mind to it. All this information is now available at any time and no matter where we are, and that is a really exciting thought. I want the boys to realise that because of this, NOTHING is out of their reach if they really want it and if they have any questions that maybe Mrs M or myself cannot answer, then the information is only a few clicks away (what an amazing time to be a child growing up). I also wanted to show Seth that if you put the time in to your endeavors you can see the results pretty early on.

So I began to play, and Youtube became my teacher for the first few nights. I learnt to play a few chords and practiced. I sounded terrible! So I waited until everyone was in bed, shut the lounge door and strummed away out of tune. Desperate to learn quicker, I clicked on a link for Yousician that kept popping up in my browser. You've got to love how clever computers are these days, offering you the information before you even need it based on your web browsing. I downloaded the app to my phone and signed up for a free trial. Two weeks on and I still cant believe how quickly I advanced playing. Being able to have a music teacher of this calibre to take with you in your pocket is truly amazing.

Yousician makes the introduction in to learning the Ukulele so simple and each tutorial when completed makes you feel increasingly confident which is what you need from your first few steps. With videos on the basics like strumming and how to play your first chords, Yousician has the sort of direct information that you really need as a newby to the instrument. The Chord and Strumming workshops and lessons on finger picking (which I am terrible at at the moment) steadily advance at just the right rate that it pushes you, but not enough for you to get frustrated and possibly give up. The video's and tutorials are so clear that you could use this app from a young age, which has been really interesting to learn, as Opeie has shown some interest in playing so I think that santa may send a Ukulele his way.

The best thing about this app though from a personal view is the impact it has had on Seth as he has seen me advance through perseverence and practicing every day. Last week I played my first song through, which was the Lava song from the Pixar short movie. I still cannot believe I have come this far in 3 weeks. Seeing this has motivated Seth to practice a little more which was exactly what I had hoped for and now I am excited at the thought of one day playing together.