Concerto

My Grandfather was a jazz musician, he could play any number of instruments but specialised in the saxophone. Although this gift never manifested itself in either my father's or my generation I often wonder if maybe one of my boys might show an interest or talent in music at a later age.

We have a variety of kiddy instruments in our playroom such as a keyboard, guitar, bongo drums, recorders, tambourine and lots more but none so lovely as this...

I picked up this lovely child-sized violin recently in Vinnie's for $20. I was particularly excited to find a violin because my boys are huge Andre Rieu fans.

Seriously. You know the Dutch violinist who travels the world with his orchestra and soprano singers? His concerts generally concentrate on popular crowd-pleasing classical pieces and waltzes and sell out to huge numbers. Well most nights before bed, we put on a few segments of one of his concerts to get the boys to wind down and it works like magic. They stop in their tracks the very second "O Mio Babbino Caro" comes on and stare in fixation... I'm still not sure whether it's the music or the pretty soprano who holds their attention but they really love to watch Rieu's music :-)

I think this little violin really is a beautiful object, it needs some tlc but I don't ever plan on it being a working instrument. I'd like to let the boys play around with it and maybe use it as decor later on (if it's still in one piece). It would just be interesting to see if any of them seem to take a liking to holding it and trying it out before we ever considered buying a new quality instrument or organising lessons of any sort.