My 13 year old daughter is learning to play the penny whistle.

She is only the latest member of my very unmusical family to pick up a musical instrument.

My son, who is now 20, got the ball rolling five years ago when my then-unmarried brother-in-law decided to divest himself of all his material possessions, and so he (my son) found himself the proud owner of, not one, but two guitars - one electric, one acoustic. And so he set out to learn to play - by himself, no lessons. I knew he succeeded a while later when he played a note-perfect rendition of Blackbird.

Now he sits in his room and works out Jimmy Page riffs (Like Over The Hills And Far Away) and tries to do Hendrix, but without the 60 ft stack of Marshall amps it just isn't the same.

Anyway my daughter was next - she is now 10, and about 2 years ago she took up the violin. She diligently went to her lessons, and practices at home, with only a bit of parental nagging involved, and actually figured out how to make music out of it Imagine the proud parents at the recital at École de Musique Vincent D'Indy, hearing her perform the second movement of Haydn's Symphony No 94 in G (which is essentially Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in a minor key).

Then in November of 2006, my wife took up the flute. It's something she wanted to do for years and years, but when she finally took the plunge, it was totally unplanned. We were out for dinner, and at the mall where the restaurant is we stopped in at a music store, and she started asking about flutes, and when we left, she had a rented flute in hand, and a six month contract for music lessons.

Now she has her own Yamaha flute purchased on EBay, and she takes lessons from not one, but two teachers, both of whom are accomplished jazz sax players.

And she practices and the house resonates with the sweet sound of flute.

So my son, the one who plays guitar, went down to Archambault, and bought a penny whistle. Well he actually bought two, one for himself, and one for his 7 year old sister. He bought one, with a book, to teach himself to read music; thus far his adventures with guitar have been playing by ear, and using something called "tabulature," which involves diagrams, but not actual musical notation. My 14 year old, though, got the same idea, and now she takes the book, and the instrument, and she practices and practices and practices. And the other night my 17 year old got so exasperated that she took the penny whistle away, and they had a big fight, which I was unlucky enough to miss, not being home at that exact moment, but I caught the aftermath, the one kid crying her head off, the other huffing and puffing. And she said Daddy she was playing for THREE HOURS. And I said, I don't care. She can play for 300 hours. And she said. NO SHE CAN'T. and I said yes she can. And she said no she can't. and I said….

Then yesterday the subject came up with Mom. And Mommy said it doesn't matter how much it bothers you. She can play as much as she wants. And I said hey, that's what I said.

So this is a family where musical efforts are respected. You want to practice? Practice. You can play the same song 5000 times is a row, and make the same mistakes every time. No matter. So what if I go to work humming Have You Seen The Muffin Man with three flat notes. I'm just jealous that I'm not the one playing anything, that's all…