SING!

Fiorella is concerned about so many celebrators in restaurants singing "Happy Birthday" off pitch. And why are they off pitch? Because people may walk around with I-phones glued to their ears day and night, but they themselves rarely sing. After all, those songs they're listening to belong to specialists.

Think about it--your voice is your own special instrument, the original musical instrument of mankind. But using it, like everything else, requires practice. There's no way you're going to get kids to throw away their ear candy and launch into song during school bus trips anymore, and luring them to church just to sing hymns doesn't seem to be the right thing to do. Unfortunately, elementary school music programs seem to focus more on instrumental music than singing. So voice training is up to you.

People, SING to your children. Sing lullabies, nonsense songs, whatever you know. Let them hear a real person's voice in their ears and invite them to join in. Teach them to be active rather than passive, providers rather than consumers, givers rather than getters.

SING!