I have 2 beautiful kids (1 and 3) so obviously rarely get to sit down and have a good session.

I find that I end up snatching a few hours at the end of the evening when they've finally gone to sleep (leaving my partner to watch girlie crap on telly).

I recently took a couple of days off work to coincide with their nursery days....it was bliss. Managed to almost complete a whole track in Reason !

Other dads got any tips - and ditching the kids + partner are not a current option ?

BC

My situation is about the same, with the same solution. Fortunately I don't need a lot of sleep--never have--so I do get some time in many evenings. I have to make sure I make some time for my wife, or she feels neglected and gets pissed. Things go slow this way, but then through persistence tracks get done.

The consolation? Consider the times BEFORE the advent of the DAW. Imagine trying to be a parent and have a working band!! This is the ONLY way there has EVER been to write and record anything other than, say, acoustic folk songs (no interest in it myself) and maintain some semblance of parental responsibility. My computer is now my musical partner--pretty much at the ready 24/7, and willing to "save" anytime my wife calls for help. I feel twenty years younger (I'm 48, BTW) having it around, and I feel that what I am doing now is artistically valid. In other words--I am still a working original musician! No way that would be happening without my DAW. Thank God I am living in this era.

I'm in the same situation, but my kids are a couple years older. I've always been a night-owl, but since I've been doing the wife/kids/dayjob thing I find that I have no energy to write music late at night anymore. Usually it's during the day on a weekend when I can lay some tracks down. Like Paul said, persistence is key!

I've got a three year old too and am pretty much in the same situation - late night sessions. Wish I had all this technology when I was 17!

I think it pays to be disciplined and plan ahead - those moments at the DAW are precious so I try not to waste them. Doesn't sound very artistic, but there you go.

Hi There
Well my son of 21 moved out a while back and I have found that my interest in producing music has once again been rekindled!
The truth of the matter is you cannot realistically expect to turn out a large catalogue of creations if you have young childeren to care for - you would only achieve this by ignoring them , putting it all on your partners shoulders or locking yourself away!
When my son was young i tended to be nocturnal - making my music late at night or in the early hours - not good if you have a day job - I had a evening job so I was lucky.
You sound like a responsible person so I suggest you have Two sensible options 1) Collect Vst's (but do not necessarily use them) -this will keep you ecenomically oppressed but materialistically fullfilled.
2)start thinking ahead - in 15-20 years time you will have been through the most demanding phase of parenthood and will now be on the threashold of newfound disposable leisure periods , of course will you still want to be producing the long forgotten styles of music that currently interests you?
Thats why I said think ahead - you will be able to develop an interest in a new musical style!
This is very much My experience - I was into 70's reggae when I had my child , 20+ years later I am sitting down knocking up some D&B at 180bpm!
Good Luck Original Flipper.

I am fortunate in that my living is made in my basement studio. I have a seven year old son, and much of my work is done while he is at school (including any music that needs writing). When he is home, he sometimes hangs out with me in the studio, or I grab the laptop and take the music where he wants to be. He loves wearing headphones and playing about on any number of my old analog synths while I work, and has been known to come up with a good sound that winds up in a song. As he has gotten older, he has found more and more things that he likes to do, and now the situation is reversing. I am sometimes trying to distract him from his "work" just to spend more "dad time" with him. He has begun to get interested in learning to play guitar, so we might tackle that together...I can honestly say that being a dad has always improved my artistic output, rather than hinder it.

I am in exactly the same boat, with a 2 year old and a 5 year old. I take a real long time to finish each piece, but I am amazed what the technology (which is now reasonably affordable) allows me to do. I tend to write very small snippets at a time, and compose a lot of the ideas in my head while I am driving, etc. Then, I try to work out the ideas on my (synth) keyboard.

JeffN

Ah, well, since misery loves company, I'll chime in here.

I think I have you beat though. I have a one-month old and a 2.5 year old, AND am about to move 5 states away to temp housing, until we can sell our old house/find a new one (corporate move - non-buyout).

Finding time is next to impossible. The good news is that I'm planning to build a decent studio in the basement of whatever house we move into. Also, the new day job should provide a better schedule, and by the time the move is finished, the one-month old should be older and sleeping through the night.

So, there is hope for me yet!

As far as advice, the only answer is learning to live on less sleep. Hmmm... wonder if I can get a Modafinil subscription?

Similar situation (mines 9), similar solution.
The only thing that I can add is that I'm glad I invested in a decent set of headphones.

All tips gratefully received.

Thank fellow pere's - it's nice to hear from people in a similar position.

Paul - I see you're a psychiatrist. Not too many oncalls then Part of my reason for specialising in pathology was more time for music !

I too need little sleep (always been like that) although guess it's a Darwinian thing - we're the only type of father who COULD find the time to make music.

I'm definitely gonna take some more "nursery" days off though - might get a final mix down of the 1st track

BC

3 kids here (8, 6 and 1 years old). only one solution : just waiting for them to sleep, and using headphones

sadly i have much more inspiration (and energy) when i happen to be alone at home during the day (very rare moments)

job + kids = same problem as you all : time

Yup,

Good to see I'm not alone. I have a 1.5 year old girl. Our apartment is kinda small with my daw and my wife's pc in the same room. My wife has a basket of baby toys stashed in every room of the house (including the "studio") to keep our girl occupied whenever she's trying to get something done i.e. clean, check her email, fold laundry etc...

problem is, my daughter loves doing anything BUT playing with her toys. If I'm trying to write music at the computer, she comes running in, and starts banging on the keyboard, or crawling under my desk, messing with cables, or pressing every power button on my rack. THe best is when I'm jamming and she turns off my computer.

So like everyone else, most of my stuff gets done way late at nite. I can't wait to have a house with a basement or some kind of detached studio, because right now, I'm stuck with using headphones 99% of the time.

Look on the bright side, Coppola directed all his masterpiece movies post marriage/kids. It can be done....

I'm pretty much the same.
Mine are 8 and 11 , though.

Time IS limited still. Mrs. Scuzzphut also requires Scuzzphut time, so I can't just wait til they're in bed.

2 times I get a decent session.

(1) When Mrs. Scuzzphut goes out with her pals on a Friday or Saturday night (usually once a month or so) I can play with the kids until bedtime, then stick on the headphones and have 3-4 hours until I need to sleep. (Ususally Mrs S is STILL not home by this time )

(2) I set my own schedule for work (I'm in construction industry sales) , so I'll work from home one day, burn the phone for a few hours really hard, then take 2 hours instead of 1 for lunch. Add an extra hour at the end of the day for paperwork and I've made it up. This is during the day obviously, so the kids are at school and Mrs. S is out somewhere. The big advantage of this one is that the house is empty so I can do vocal or acoustic guitar takes.

same boat, I look after my 3 year old daughter 3 days a week but actually it's much more that. never stops.

I have to do most music 2 days a week, but often work evenings thru early a.m .

on my days off it usually ends up doing family stuff
then when they all goto bed I stay up.

hence im always worn out, man I need a holiday.

I should add that I do have a studio separate from the house (half the garage had been converted into an office - a MAJOR selling point for us (err... I mean me)). It's my version of the "potting shed".

I had this double-glazed when we moved in so I can pretty much make as much as noise as I like.

When my lad does sneak into the studio he does attempt to play furious percussive embellishments on my recently repaired Ensoniq SP1 weighted piano keyboard. So I tend to power down the music partition, fire up the internet and try to stop raindrops from hitting Thomas the Tank engine with a brolly until he gets bored (which can be a LONG time).

MY DOUGHTER IS 9

just let them join.
you can never be young enough to start doing studio stuff

I'm not sure if all this information is comforting to me or not... my wife and I are expecting our first baby sometime in the next two weeks!

Well I will chime in,

I have four kids (7,5,2,1) and my wife homeschools. That rules out the day but I am at work anyway so that makes little difference.

Here are my tips:
1) I sat down with my wife and worked out times when she would let me work without interuption. I know it will have to be in the evenings but instead of starting a 9pm, I now can start at 7pm on Mon, wed, and fri.

2) I have about 3 or 4 mini tape machines and minidisk recorders everywhere. One in my car, one in my wifes car , etc. This way I can capture ideas. I have stacks of tapes.

3) I have found that a plan helps: I get 4x8 cards and I put them on my wall in my studio, in a row. Each card represents either a 4, 8 , or 16 (anything for that matter) bar part of the song. Now I 'build' the song on the wall so that I can sit down and begin to work through it. I write on the cards my ideas or wishes for that part. Then I have something to look at rather than trying to remember.

4) It is hard to get my kids from sneeking into my 'area' and turning nobs and worse yet poking the cones in on the monitors!!!!! AGH!!! Just last night I heard a crash and found my 2year old had pulled a monitor off a stand and was putting cds into my computer. Needless to say I lost my cool but I cooled down and said I was sorry. (after I put gates up at the enterance of the room

I think we need an association called DWWMMTKWLT
'dad's who want to make music but their kids won't let them'

I think that is why there is a thing called EP
That might be as far as we can get!!!

Lance

Hi all

Interesting thread.
I now have a 21 year old in college, but I remember those days. I still managed to make music, because my wife picked up the kid, and I got home ealier then she did, so that was my music time as well as after hours.

Right now, I am on disability due to a vertigo condition: can't drive or go anywhere.But this enabled me to get into sound design, so I get to spend my days in the studio ( for the most part)

I have a suggestion: Try to get them involved with Music on the computer: get some music software that is bent towrds kids. Make it a game. Why not take the opportunity to also share your knowledge.? They might grow up to be mozarts

Due to my music interest my daughter loves and has a passion for the violin. Just went to the college on the weekend and saw her play Beethovans 9th! ( ran out of tape at the 4rth movement ..MAN!!)Makes all the pains worth it!

Tim

Scot Solida wrote:

I am fortunate in that my living is made in my basement studio. I have a seven year old son, and much of my work is done while he is at school (including any music that needs writing). When he is home, he sometimes hangs out with me in the studio, or I grab the laptop and take the music where he wants to be. He loves wearing headphones and playing about on any number of my old analog synths while I work, and has been known to come up with a good sound that winds up in a song. As he has gotten older, he has found more and more things that he likes to do, and now the situation is reversing. I am sometimes trying to distract him from his "work" just to spend more "dad time" with him. He has begun to get interested in learning to play guitar, so we might tackle that together...I can honestly say that being a dad has always improved my artistic output, rather than hinder it.

i kinda have a similar thing goin on with my son,hes 10 now and learnin guitar at school and we often sit and play together
but as for actual writin i work nights so when i take him to school before i go to bed i get a couple of hours at the pc.and also because i works nights at weekends i tend to be awake at night so then its headphones on and away we go


while theyre that age i suggest a couple of toys from the early learnin center they do some great tambourines n stuff
get em interested
and while theyre playn about sample em

it all makes sense

Hey y'all.

I'm only 23, working full-time(placement year at university) and living with my girlfriend( ) and I hardly have time to make any music. So I just wanted to say I have great respect for the family men (and women) out there who manage to make time to write and record trax.

What a great thread, I don't feel so alone now! I have two boys, 3 and 1. I'm always disappearing into my "office", much to the chagrin of my wife. I tend to lose track of time when I'm in there. She's usually pretty cool about letting me have some time to myself on weekends, and on weekdays there is the odd hour or two right after the kids' bedtime. Once in a while the older one will wander in, he likes to bang on the drum pads. It's kind of fun when we're both sitting there laughing at weird patches. I've been doing music for so long now, it's important for my ego to come out with new stuff, but there's just not enough time. This is a deceptive hobby. I think I'm finally realizing I'm in over my head, and sometimes I just have to be thankful for a half hour of freeform bass jams against a hastily assembled four bar drum track. The thing I hate the most is when you do get some time to yourself, then waste it all chasing down some stupid technical problem. Then when you've got it fixed your wife is calling and the kids are screaming. That's just mentally exhausting. I should have taken up chess instead.

deastman wrote:

I'm not sure if all this information is comforting to me or not... my wife and I are expecting our first baby sometime in the next two weeks!

mine was due on the 5th, and the mother was taken in last nite to be induced, but she just seems to have fallen asleep and forgotten to give birth...

good luck dave

Cheers mate

yeah good luck Krimski, and it's cool to meet all the other parents in here.

I have a 19-month old daughter, who is already starting to drum up a storm on the yamaha midi drums, and my wife and I have another baby due in March.

The MIDI drums magically appeared in my house shortly after my daughter was born....as the middle of the night is the only time I can now do music, I needed drums with a headphone jack! It's my little secret to being a father and still getting time to bust out the jams.

Laserguided wrote:

I have a 19-month old daughter, who is already starting to drum up a storm on the yamaha midi drums, and my wife and I have another baby due in March.

you must be at it all the time
no wonder you cant find time to make music

sorry mis read it thought it said one of 9 months not 19 months

Quote:

sorry mis read it thought it said one of 9 months not 19 months

LOL, hehe I still try to keep 'busy' vurt

Yup, you can add me to this group. I have two pre-schoolers at home and a wife who works every other weekend. I can carve out time a couple of nights during the week after the kids have gone to sleep. On weekends, I usually spend one late night working on music and can usually spend a little bit of time during the days. During the weekends my wife works, I have a window of opportunity in the mid-morning when my kids usually want to play in their bedroom or watch a video. My studio room has a TV and VCR in it for the kids, and their bedroom is right across the hall. And, of course, there's that 2 hour afternoon nap time that daddy can take advantage of.

It can be a little slow going due to the time constraints, but I have found that if I make sure that my music time doesn't conflict with family time, responsibilities like chores and of course time with my wife, then everyone's happy.

Druu

I'll join the club, too.
Three kids: two boys (4 years and 2.5), as well as a little baby girl (5 months).

Been making less music since my daughter was born, since she doesn't exactly have a constant schedule, and I need to give my wife a break in the evenings.

But I've been extremely lucky in that my boys have a very early bedtime - in bed by 7pm every night! So once the house has been tidied, I either get to have some time with the missus in the evening, or a few hours on the laptop with headphones.

So I won't be a professional musician any time soon, but it can at least remain a fun hobby.

I can't wait to get my boys involved... they currently haven't shown much interest in the keyboard at all. But then, they don't hear me making music, so they have no example.

-K

just get them some toy instruemnts
it gets them interested honest
and make sure theres always music on around them when theyre playing

im not saying it will make them virtuosos just it may give them an interest
oh and the bad side is your not allowed to tell them off for being noisy

Kriminal wrote:

deastman wrote: I'm not sure if all this information is comforting to me or not... my wife and I are expecting our first baby sometime in the next two weeks! mine was due on the 5th, and the mother was taken in last nite to be induced, but she just seems to have fallen asleep and forgotten to give birth...

Good luck Krim! The first three weeks or so are the hardest... then when the little one has learned to eat and sleep a bit it's almost manageable...

Elliot's 3 months old now, and it seems like ages ago that I was pacing the house at 4 am singing strange made-up songs trying to get him back to sleep. (Worked great, btw!)

I'm finding time right when I get home from work and late at night. My wife and I work at the same place, so we're taking a short lunch and working 7:30 am - 4 pm... we're usually home by 5 pm and I can sneak in an hour of music time. And although I've always needed a lot of sleep, I've found I can get by on 5 hours a few days a week.

Though time is short, I do feel much more motivated now to work on music and build a music life for Elliot... I almost can't wait until he starts pounding on drums and a toy xylophone.

-Garret

Yeah Kids are motivating and inspiring. Mine now play piano, guitar and trumpet and get off on playing Virtual synths and sampplers too. It won't be long before they will have to get their own DAWs and midi keyboards.

It's funny to see how many of us have the same problem but approach it differently. I have three children 7,4,8 mos.

For me, it is early mornings only. I drag myself out of bed at 5:45am whenever I can because that is the only time I can justify it. After the kids knock off, the rest of the evening is spent with my wife (usually watching her fall asleep 10 minutes into the movie SHE wanted to watch).

I do my vocals mid-mornings on Saturdays but all of my computer work happens during the week, in the wee hours of the morning.

MY TIP: Others have mentioned it already. Do bits and pieces of songs. I typically do 20 minutes work on 4 songs each rather than an hour or so with one. Eventually you get done....eventually.

I cannot tell you how many times I've worked on songs bouncing the baby on my leg. He seems entertained by the weirdness eminating from my monitors.

vurt wrote:

just get them some toy instruemnts it gets them interested honest

yeah like frui... err nm jk





DISCLAIMER: I don't really mean it, I was just joking!

Nice threat. I'll also join the MDA (Muso-Daay-Anonomous). I got two: 6 and 12. Same sollution as most day-workers here. I got about 2 hours every noght on the headphones. At least about 50% Sundays are mine when the wife takes the kids to her parents. That's the only time I get to use the large monitors. Busy building a studio in the garage. I hoped it would have been finished before summer break. Well, summer has broken and not finished yet.

Tonight I'm naughty. Listening to Vurt's oreal gone vurtical now on the large monitors. Wife and kids screamed and fled. Me am happy, but the fun have to stop now (it's 20h20 now) and I'll have to pack the big things away and get the headphones out again.

Chemik wrote:

I cannot tell you how many times I've worked on songs bouncing the baby on my leg. He seems entertained by the weirdness eminating from my monitors.

Oh, yes... forgot that tip. Buy a Baby Bjorn front carrier... pricey but worth every cent... My guy love to be in the Bjorn so much that he'll happily take naps any time. And it's pretty easy to noodle away at the daw with him sleeping.



http://www.babybjorn.com/

-Garret

Still have two kids at home, 12 and 15
mom is on her computer at one end of the house.
one kid (usually the 12 yr old) on the play station in the living room.
I have not moved the tv out of my studio room, so the other kid, when she wants to watch tv, is in there with me. That's when I have to pull out the headphones.
I'm also up around 4-4:30 am, simply because there are no distractions.
The biggest hindrance is the dachshund who loves to play fetch and keeps getting his ball and slapping it under my foot, and then running out into the hall whining till i throw it out there.

I've "only" got a 3 years old son. I thought my life would end and there would be no time for anything else again, but when he was born i sat down and made the "northern lights" album for thinner. Followed by my release on Forte. Although my son is one of those 24hours kids (too much energy, gets up at 7 in the morning - goes to bed at 8-10 in the evening, wants you to entertain him all day long...) i somehow manage to make music. Pretty silly to say this when i look at some of you guys with 2,3 or 4 kids.

One thing that really keeps me off from finishing a track is new technology. If i wouldn't visit k-v-r daily, download the latest plugins and test them i probably would have a way higher track output

That's the way life goes...

Ronny

--

Moritz von Oswald for President!

Quote:

One thing that really keeps me off from finishing a track is new technology. If i wouldn't visit k-v-r daily, download the latest plugins and test them i probably would have a way higher track output That's the way life goes... Ronny

Amen Ronny!

When my daughter was very little I employed her as a human randomisiser in music and several of my paintings. She's still very proud of those paintings she helped me with (got one on our living room wall).

My son lives 3000 miles away with my ex...so no problems.

My wife and I decided not to have any kids before we got married...so no problems from that either.

Well I'm a little surprised at the numbers on this thread - it makes me feel much less "alone" than I did before.

Thanks everyone

BC

-what's the point ?

(...see below)

huh...

...again a feedback knob problem

Wow! And here I thought I was the only one! I work full time and have a wife and 2-year-old. I've learned not to expect too much of my music. If I have two or three hours on the weekend, that's usually enough to put something simple together. If I like it the next day, I can come back to it on the following weekend.

Excellent ideas, h2ogun99! I especially liked the scheduling a time with your spouse for music (and the "closed door" is VERY important for that time to be used effectively -- I've heard writers with children talk about the "closed door" as being essential).

I alread use the mini tape-recorders, but I'm also going to bogart your note-card idea... not just for screenplays, eh?

Great thread!!!!

Two of my three boys are adults now but when they were very young they would want to be in my home studio. In those days I always had a cassette tape running to capture ideas and rough sketches on the guitar or piano. Kids love microphones--magnets really. So I ended up with improvised songs from them. Two years ago I dubbed them to one tape and I plan to make a CD for them soon. A real time capsule. Glad I didn't freak out when they "messed up" my sessions.

i've got a 1 yr old and my laptop has been a godsend. if i've got 15 minutes, that's enough to try something out or work on a track. late nights are another option as they go to sleep earlier. luckily, i get to take my laptop to work and make music there.

i'm actually much more productive now than i was before. i think part of that is making better use of the free time i have (munchies & tv are OUT), and part of it is become better with my tools.

vurt wrote:

just get them some toy instruemnts it gets them interested honest and make sure theres always music on around them when theyre playing

my kid went absolutely apesh!t one day as i put Underworld's live cd on while playing with him. totally apeshit - hand waving, knee-hopping, bouncing, headshaking. a few times he tried to do that all at once, freaking me out into wondering whether he was having a seizure or sumfin. )

his stocking's stuffed with toy instruments - jingling, rattling things he can hold and shake. when he gets a little older, i'm gonna leave my tablas out.

Wow, the universal problem. 4 and 7 my boys are. When I'm not breaking up a fist fight between them I try and lay down a few notes. ...ahh I wouldn't trade them for the world. My hope is to write a song with my oldest so he can take the cd in for show and tell at school. Not sure if I've convinced him yet of that just yet. ...he's muttering something about top billing!

dano

danielmm wrote:

Wow, the universal problem. 4 and 7 my boys are. When I'm not breaking up a fist fight between them I try and lay down a few notes. ...ahh I wouldn't trade them for the world. My hope is to write a song with my oldest so he can take the cd in for show and tell at school. Not sure if I've convinced him yet of that just yet. ...he's muttering something about top billing! dano

my sons doing a project on me
this seemed ok until the day when they had to make their first presentation,he played my cd
now while i personally like my stuff,i dont think its what a group of 9 n 10 year olds call music

now that my name has appeared in computer music all his mates think im some kind of superstar and i can often hear shouts of "hiya Mr vurt"when im out n about


hey arp lazlo i forgot to mention getting yourself some earplugs for christmas too

arp_laszlo wrote:

i'm actually much more productive now than i was before. i think part of that is making better use of the free time i have (munchies & tv are OUT), and part of it is become better with my tools.

This is what I try to convince myself - that if I didn't have all this other committments then I would just waste the endless hours with aimless doodlings.

Instead of wasting precious minutes with aimless doodlings

BC

not really, no.

well, actually, the biggest obstacle to having any time is the dreaded "work", for most of us I would think, except the lucky bastards for whom work is a livelihood. I managed a tour a couple of years ago, and played at Benicassim, but since then I've not really been able to do anything (other than the tune I posted in Music Cafe a few days ago), and whilst the tour was as leisurely as it possibly could have been it did put domestic life under a ton of stress...

The second biggest obstacle is "tha missus", not that she didn't know what she was getting herself into all those years ago, but she does like to see my face (as opposed to the back of my headphoned head) every so often! They're funny like that, wives.

Always remember that your children are probably the best excuse you will ever have to invest in a cupboard full of percussion instruments. And a melodica. It's educational, innit?

My 4 year-old boy is fascinated with my computer music, thinks I am the shiznit, and has a bunch of cast-off electronics (old effects boxes, a broken VCR, discman, a toy laptop, headphones, etc.) that he connects to each other so he can make his own pretend music. This Christmas he specifically requested a "big boy" keyboard, so I am buying a pretty nice Yamaha keyboard (touch-sensitive keyboard, nice digital piano, plus the usual sequencer/drum options) for him to start playing with. My daughter wants an acoustic guitar. My wife says I'm spending too much money on this, but I assured her I would spend time teaching them as well. So I am now starting my family band!!

By the way, I have FINALLY completed my self-proclaimed masterpiece, "Death Defying"--a synth pop anthem for middle-aged parent types like us. I am sending it off soon to be mastered, but feel sufficiently satisfied to let my fellow kvrists hear it. However to date I have no website to post at and don't want to be bothered with setting it up just yet. Could somebody temporarily host my MP3 so I can provide a link for my fellow kvrists to hear this song? If so, please email me at pminot@mainegeneral.org.

Deadlines are my best motivations to work things out!
Got two big strong boys - 10 & 7 years old.I work parttime at home - graphics on the computer and the home stuff, shopping, cleanings, cookings,boys homeworks, taximan to shool etc...The basic homeduties. By day i explore the musical news, listen a lot and try the new coming vst's etc. Then i think a lot on coming own work but the real creation is only went i'm alone at home and went i can concertrated on music only. Even a pill of dishes to wash can irritate me and i'll wash them before. So mainly it's when i got a musical job to do that i can forget everything and be a 100% on the musicalline. On a week-end i sent everybody out and i work even for a 300%. The ideas are clearly worked out in my head, then i put them on the computer. The finishing touches are for late nights with the headphones.
But the boys are surrounded with music, they love the synths and the effects but they got their stuff.
So they jam on an Yamaha DJX2 and it's possibilities, hitting a Yamaha drumpad,editing an old Roland Juno106 and since last year the oldest is learning piano at the academy and plays a Roland HP2 much better then me ( he reads the musical chinees that i cannot). They record on an old DAT or the minidisk and have a great fun.
When i was a kid a had an old false piano with a wooden frame, some melodicas an as top a taperecorder and TWO cassetterecorders. My favorit game was to make mixes and strange recordings, making noises etc..
It never left me and i'm happy that the boys love to do it too, and CAN use their ears somethings only to LISTEN.

and what about the mothers?

AND WHAT ABOUT MOTHERS, HUH???

who?

no, my mum never really played an instrument

You mean she hasn't got a clue about making music ???

Glad you appreciate the joke...

yeah, she would too, if only she was still here.

My wife and i are expecting out first in 3 weeks. I'm glad to hear i'm not going to have to give up my music.

Can't believe how many "musical dads" there are here

I am joining the club in a few months as well. Nice to pick up tips on how to create a structure for keeping up musicmaking.

All of our beloved at once...

huh?