Music at home…

…Daughter and I have exchanges about music theory. She calls them “wacky questions,” and enjoys it when I give her puzzles about harmonic relationships. “If A is ONE, then what is the TWO chord? The FIVE chord?” “Spell a G major triad.” Etc., etc.

Recently we began moving into questions about harmonic sequences. “In the key of C, what is a I-IV-VI-V-I progression?”

She’s seven. I don’t have any huge expectations about this; it’s just a fun game we play. This is way out of her league.

Or is it?

At tonight’s guitar practice I was coaching her into a D-minor chord (the standard one at the bottom of the neck). She started playing a sequence, not too adroitly…and when I tried to steer her in the direction of something I had planned, she said, “Stop! I want to play my own progression!”

Then she dictated: “D minor, A minor, C, A minor, D major, G, A major, D.”

I did a little on-the-spot voice-leading to make two harmony parts and we sang through them. Cool. My daughter’s composing her own chord patterns.

Then she told me to “write it down, so we don’t forget it.”

I think it’s time to show her more about notation.