Why "English with Music"?

1. We are raising two wonderful boys here in Germany. Many people question me about raising bi-lingual kids. Many people tell me how big an advantage our boys will have. I would like to help others as well.
2. If you read my back ground page you will learn that I did work for 2 years doing software/programming support mainly in the southern parts of German (just before the industry Crash!). I learned that many adults that have had English classes throughout their school years are shy to speak English. Many companies have been taken over by North American concerns (not  British) and pin boards are covered with information in English. I met many people that would like to improve their English skills.
3. Practicing with a musical instrument is much like practicing English. Let's take the one instrument that most all of us have, our voices. Anyone can talk, anyone can sing! Sorry, not on your life without practice. Most of us have listened our whole lives. We have patterns embedded in our brains and then we started to reproduce them. What were your first words? Speaking became fluid after we stopped thinking about how to hold our mouth or move our tongue. The same happens with a musical instrument. We learn patterns, scales, chords, etc. and when we can play without thinking about very step our music also becomes fluid. When we move our attention from one subject to the other, we internalize more and more of the little bits. This is exactly the reason why we learn more from frequent short practice times than infrequent power sessions.
4. Learning takes time and repetition. I've been watching several young musicians in the last year and been a new music student myself for almost as long. Learning to play the guitar does not happen over night. It is a long process that is ideal for also learning to speak English. People told me that since our boys were learning two languages they would likely start to talk much or somewhat later. This was not the case.
5. English can be a very dry subject to learn but many lyrics in popular songs can be quite interesting. Song lyrics are most often rhythmic and repeated which is perfect for learning. I still find it interesting how many German people might recall and sing an English song but when I ask them about the meaning of the words they have a difficult time to answer. Here at "English with Music" we will be digging as far as we can, or makes sense, into the poetic and literal meanings of songs.
6. On a more selfish note, I like teaching and interaction. I now often sit in front of a computer display trying to get more out of a user interface and hardware that is possible, and that is frustrating. Teaching as I was for 2 years, and actually most of my life in small degrees, has a lot more rewards and is an interesting challenge. I hope with "English with Music"  to offer my students something rewarding that I also can enjoy.

Namaste,

Kevin Tough