<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  &amp;quot;So, do you miss soccer?&amp;quot; I asked my 11-year-old as we pulled out of the parking lot after his brother&amp;#039;s soccer practice. Nicholas had decided not to sign up for soccer this year, and I was fine with that. I really was. But there was something about the gorgeous fall leaves, the coach&amp;#039;s whistle around my neck and the smell of soccer field in my car that made me wish that he missed my favorite sport, even if just a little bit. &amp;quot;Nope,&amp;quot; he answered matter-of-factly, as though I&amp;#039;d just offered him a piece of gum. As in Nope, I&amp;#039;m just not going to like soccer as much as you do, Mom. But my 10-year-old does. He loves shutting down the other team&amp;#039;s star forward as much as I did when I played defense. He loves the running, the sweating and the glory just like I do, and it&amp;#039;s brought us closer this soccer season as I&amp;#039;ve coached him and his team to the playoffs this week. But it&amp;#039;s also made me worry that I&amp;#039;ll never have anything like that with his big brother. Soccer is to me what music is to Nicholas. He plays the piano and understands music better than I ever could. But while I enjoy listening to him create his own classical songs on the piano, I&amp;#039;d resigned myself to the idea that I could never really be a part of his music, unless he needs a second pair of hands to play &amp;quot;Heart and Soul&amp;quot; with him. And considering that he calls rock and roll &amp;quot;just a bunch of the same chords played over and over again until it&amp;#039;s annoying,&amp;quot; I don&amp;#039;t think he&amp;#039;ll ask me to join him at the piano anytime soon.  But I can play in his orchestra. While his brother was out with a friend the other night, Nicholas set me up with a Wii controller, and together, we played Vivaldi&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;The Four Season&amp;#039;s Spring&amp;quot; on various instruments on our new Wii Music game. He had become fascinated with the video game ever since we got it last week, and I&amp;#039;d wondered what all the fuss was about. &amp;quot;Mom, you play rhythm now!&amp;quot; he said, as he selected a saxophone. I clicked on the vibes and together, we jammed. Then we played Mozart&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Ein Kleine Nachtmusik,&amp;quot; a song I recognized largely from Bugs Bunny, but I didn&amp;#039;t tell him that. &amp;quot;How about La Bamba?&amp;quot; I suggested. He rolled his eyes, but clicked on it anyhow, playing the clarinet while I played the piano. Never mind that Ritchie Valens most certainly didn&amp;#039;t have a clarinet in his band. My son would never touch an electric guitar - even a virtual one. I didn&amp;#039;t dare suggest we play Madonna&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Material Girl.&amp;quot; We rounded out the evening by conducting an orchestra together as they played Beethoven&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Ode to Joy.&amp;quot; We were just finishing up when his brother walked in. The screen announced that our conducting chemistry was more than 90%. We high-fived each other, as my son the soccer player looked on. Finally, I could play music with my son. Finally, I could be a part of one of his favorite things, instead of hoping he&amp;#039;d be a part of mine. Later that night, he asked if I could find Bach&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,&amp;quot; which until then I&amp;#039;d known as &amp;quot;That scary Halloween organ song,&amp;quot; on the Internet. As we watched someone play the song in a YouTube video he asked if I could find out where the world&amp;#039;s largest pipe organ is. Turns out, the second largest one is just 45 minutes from our house at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. &amp;quot;Can we go there?&amp;quot; he asked, excited. &amp;quot;Okay, but I&amp;#039;m in charge of the radio on the way home,&amp;quot; I said. &amp;quot;And I promise, no &amp;#039;Material Girl&amp;#039;.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/a20659/mom-scores-in-virtual-orchestra/?src=shelter_footer>