Music is what feelings sound like.
~Author Unknown
Disclaimer: This post contains unmitigated fawning over my first born. I don’t do this often, but a certain joy embedded in my blog is that I’ll not see your eyes roll as I pride in my progeny.
Occasionally, stars align and I find myself alone with Mia during our drive to school. Like other things too scarce, these twenty minutes are treasure.
Mia’s two and a half years older than her brother, and her brother is the eldest of all our students. Conversation with her, you can imagine, exists on a slightly different plane.
This morning, I formally introduced her to the musical stylings of Nirvana. ”What’s Nirvana,” she asked. ”It’s like Heaven,” I said, “but easier to get to.”
I love music.
I thank my parents for permeating childhood with a ton of tunes. We didn’t have a whole lot of diversity; they pretty much dug deep on classic rock, but they loved what they listened to, attended concerts with semi-frequency, and dribbled their affection down to me.
I love it all. I’ve a soft spot for the classics of course, but my mac’s packed with 80 gigs, jamming everything from Marshall Mathers to Mozart.
My singing voice is terrible. Really, at my best, I sound like a love sick moose. Despite this, I have a decent ear for pulling apart the various sounds in a track.
Mia puts my skills to shame. At two and a half, all on her own, she started to identify composers off the classical station in the car.
“What’s that?” Mia asked this morning, while listening to one of Cobain’s quieter numbers. I had to back the track six times to hear what she did:
Dave Grohl, lightly tapping his drumstick on a tightened cymbal in composed momentum.
A few minutes from her school, I explained how Nirvana were BIG TIME when I was in high school.
Why?
Because they had a new sound.
“What did it sound like?”
I bounced the track to “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” and played the first minute.
We turned onto her school’s street.
That’s not a new sound, she said. That’s pianoforte.
Pianoforte: ORIGIN mid 18th century ‘soft and loud,’ expressing the gradation in tone.
Yes, Mia, that’s correct. Nirvana is a wonderful example of pianoforte.
We kissed and she ran from the car to her first grade classroom. Again, I thought how lucky we are that she’s in a class that is challenging.
Later on, conversation resumed. Our words drifted to the life, and tragic end of Kurt Cobain. It was a beautiful conversation, and I would love to share, but I think I’d like to save it for another week.
Before I bid you all a wonderful weekend, I’d like to first say WOW!
Tuesday’s post, Stop, and Wednesday’s follow up, I Said Stop, were quite the surprise. Originally, I was going to post about the power of praise, but an early evening incident inspired a change.
I just want to say, I’ve never been more proud of this audience. I’m inspired by what happened here this week, and believe it will affect my writing. There was genuine dialogue, and though we never did get any answers from Benjamin, there’s always tomorrow.
I can’t wait to comb the comments again this weekend; slowly, with Daisy next to me, inch upon inch of intelligent argument like candy for my mind. Thank you all, for all your words. First time through, these are the commenters who struck me in some way, or pushed our discussion further.
Blogger Dad, Matthew, Dave Fowler, Ian, Wendi, KittyTown (love ya), Jamie, Kool Aid, Janine, Kimmelin, Melissa, Miguel, Jim, Blake, and BJ. Special mention to my dad, who dropped his first comment ever. (I know, right?)
Thank you all. See you Monday.
Writer Dad
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Excellent point, WD, that we as parents set the tone with what we give them to pay attention to. You sure are brilliant.
I am feeling the need to go back through and read much of your older stuff and comments and all today because I am feeling uninspired and well, like I’m not paying attention lately. I need a little brain food so here I came.
Excellent point, WD, that we as parents set the tone with what we give them to pay attention to. You sure are brilliant.
I am feeling the need to go back through and read much of your older stuff and comments and all today because I am feeling uninspired and well, like I’m not paying attention lately. I need a little brain food so here I came.
l have just bumped into your site and its realy full of heavy rich stuff , oooh dear l am not yet in the parentship ride. But thanx to u!
WD, l will go back to your old posts and lick them! You are a star!
sharons last blog post..Ask and It Is Given-Segment Intending
l have just bumped into your site and its realy full of heavy rich stuff , oooh dear l am not yet in the parentship ride. But thanx to u!
WD, l will go back to your old posts and lick them! You are a star!
sharons last blog post..Ask and It Is Given-Segment Intending
Emily: That’s really sweet that you would visit me for inspiration. I am touched. Thank you.
Sharon: Thank you, Sharon. It is nice to have you. Please, keep the slobbering to a minimum. The last time the site got too moist, I had to shut it down for a week, and my traffic plummeted to zero.
Emily: That’s really sweet that you would visit me for inspiration. I am touched. Thank you.
Sharon: Thank you, Sharon. It is nice to have you. Please, keep the slobbering to a minimum. The last time the site got too moist, I had to shut it down for a week, and my traffic plummeted to zero.
Thanks WriterDad, I’m honored to be in that list.
Btw, I’m warning you, I will be writing a Wee Review of one of your Wee Books. (Fear, Fear :) )
Miguel de Luiss last blog post..Hope can save your life.
Thanks WriterDad, I’m honored to be in that list.
Btw, I’m warning you, I will be writing a Wee Review of one of your Wee Books. (Fear, Fear :) )
Miguel de Luiss last blog post..Hope can save your life.
Miguel: Then I’ll just HAVE to pop out a review of your first english book. : > )
Miguel: Then I’ll just HAVE to pop out a review of your first english book. : > )
The kids will always outdo you when it comes to music.
My daughter was on the receiving end of my effort to expose her to all kinds of music, raising a mild objection only once when she was about four, about halfway through side one of Captain Beefheart’s “Trout Mast Replica”. Her first love is the one genre that still eludes me – Broadway show tunes.
And I observed my then one year old son singing/chanting while randomly pressing the buttons on a Disney music book. Now, at fifteen he can still memorize the background music of most of the movies he’s seen. And he can already play guitar better than me.
Jaybees last blog post..An Old Fogey’s Guide to David Bowie:
The kids will always outdo you when it comes to music.
My daughter was on the receiving end of my effort to expose her to all kinds of music, raising a mild objection only once when she was about four, about halfway through side one of Captain Beefheart’s “Trout Mast Replica”. Her first love is the one genre that still eludes me – Broadway show tunes.
And I observed my then one year old son singing/chanting while randomly pressing the buttons on a Disney music book. Now, at fifteen he can still memorize the background music of most of the movies he’s seen. And he can already play guitar better than me.
Jaybees last blog post..An Old Fogey’s Guide to David Bowie:
Hi Writer Dad,
I just came across your blog today and I really enjoy your writing. I find it very refreshing to read a “daddy blog.”
This post especially tickled me – I was a tween when Kurt Cobain died and spent a lot of my teen years pretty, well, obsessed with Nirvana. This is a hilarious yet impressive conversation to have with your little girl.
Lus last blog post..Death in the Family
Hi Writer Dad,
I just came across your blog today and I really enjoy your writing. I find it very refreshing to read a “daddy blog.”
This post especially tickled me – I was a tween when Kurt Cobain died and spent a lot of my teen years pretty, well, obsessed with Nirvana. This is a hilarious yet impressive conversation to have with your little girl.
Lus last blog post..Death in the Family