As parents, it's natural to want your child to do great things. Even not great things are often puffed up to seem like great things. This is natural. I happily listen to folks telling me about how their kid scored a goal or won a Science Fair ribbon. It's not really bragging (well, usually not); it's just joy in your kid's success and you want to share it. I totally get that and I'm happy to share in it.
It's a little different when your kid gets better than you ever were.
That hasn't happened yet. I was a pretty decent musician by High School standards. My parents were fairly strict about practice time. My private teacher's day job was at Julliard (really!). That kind of support pays dividends. People who knew what they were talking about said with a straight face that I should consider it as a profession.
I indulged that thought for a while but came to realize that it wasn't going to happen. I just didn't have the passion for it that's required to make it your life's work. Music is very cruel to those who give some but not all.
Yaya may well come to the same conclusion. She's not better than I was quite yet (she's only in 7th grade) but, barring some major change of heart, she will be. Whether she has enough passion to make it her life, only she can judge. What's obvious to me is that she has more than I did. She practices more. I never have to enforce it; if anything, I'm telling her to put it down and tend to her other subjects. She asks more. She's constantly hitting me with questions about music. The questions are getting deep enough that I'm having to bust out my music theory texts for some of them and flat out defer to her teachers on others.
Most importantly, she dabbles. She picks up new instruments on a whim. Listens to weird stuff. Tries new things. All the really good musicians I know do these things. Almost all the people I know who do these things are really good musicians.
There was a brief time when I was a bit whimsical about all this. I saw what she was doing, saw the joy it was bringing her, and wondered why I didn't take the same path. I'm past that. As much as I value all the things I learned both about music and life from my years performing, I'm fine with the fact that I gave it up and soon my daughter will be way better than I ever was. It's not pride, it's joy.
Here she is playing her feature with her school jazz band. And, yes, she likes dressing like a dude. Deal with it.
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