We’ve tried hard over the past few years to make sure that Emma and Henry appreciate all kinds of music. This started early for Emma, with me rocking her to sleep to the sweet sounds of Stereolab. As she and Henry grew they would listen to pop and country in the car with Marla while I introduced them to The Beach Boys and The White Stripes in mine.

At home there have been “music education nights” where I forced the whole family to listen to rumba and merengue or late 70’s British heavy metal. A little Guitar Hero and Rock Band thrown into the mix and you can see that they’re on course to turn into kids with well-rounded musical taste.

We went to several concerts in the park over the summer where we heard the Pacific Symphony play. The kids really seemed to like it, as did we, so we’ve been going to a kid-friendly performance once a month since December.

Marla has been to most of the concerts thus far, but I took the kids in February to see the performance of Scheherazade. The new Segerstrom Concert Hall is an amazing venue. I can’t wait for more of these as the year progresses.