Speaking Music

I want my kids to learn to speak music like a language, spontaneously and fluently. I found a game to help this process while practicing arpeggios.

I will "ask a question", for example, by playing an ascending G major arpeggio for two octaves. And my son will answer the question, playing a descending G major arpeggio. I mix it up among various keys, and various rhythm patterns, without describing them in words.

Learning to reverse is nice but I don't want him confined by a game of precise reversal, so sometimes I tell him to answer the question however he wants.

This game quickly translates into other areas. For example, I asked him what he wanted for breakfast by playing the theme to Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21, which we had been listening to of late. I played the theme and sang the words "What do you want for bre-eakfast?" And he answered back with his violin, and singing, "What are my choices?".