Calming the Beast

by Phil

After a highly unscientific study that is sure to drive my biologist wife up the wall, I am now able to make some rather bold claims. I performed this research with a limited sample size (n=1) but feel confident I can extrapolate the results to the entire population of infants just under the age of 7 months. Ready for my definitive results?

Babies love music.

Well, okay. That's something that everyone knows already. I didn't say it was groundbreaking research.

Something that I'm not clear on, though, is if every baby loves music as much as my kid does. Because, while I have many nieces and nephews, I have had, until now, limited day-to-day experience interacting with a child, especially to this degree.

I am quite stunned by how much this kid loves music and at how early it started. Right from the beginning we could see a change in his demeanor whenever we put on music. My wife swears that very early he would suck his pacifier to the beat of up-tempo pop music. While I recognize his love and connection to music, I'm not fully convinced of that one. (Sorry, Angie!)

One thing that was apparent when he was just a few weeks old was his strong dislike of any strings-heavy classical music. If it's too violin-y, you've lost him. There was a time when he would start crying. At this point, he just seems to ignore it.

But on the flip side, he can be in a full out cry, oblivious to everything in the world but his own misery and if the right song is played or sung for him, he'll cease his wails and start to smile. For a few months, the song that held the strongest sway was Ariel's Song from Disney's The Little Mermaid. "Look at this stuff/ Isn't it neat/ Wouldn't you think my collection's complete..." My wife would sing that and it was like a flip was switched. He would stare at her wide-eyed and coo. The power of the Little Mermaid seems to have diminished a bit. It's been replaced by the ABC's, of all things. He can't get enough of the ABC's.

He's also enjoying most of Josh Ritter's catalogue, especially the album So Runs the World Away, which I love but must admit am getting a tad tired of because we play it in the car so often. I wake up with that album playing in my head. It's very good but I don't want it in my head at 3 am when I get up to pee. Sorry, Mr. Ritter! Although, it's inevitably better than whatever crazy kid's album he's going to insist on when he is able. I fear for my car's radio when that happens.

He also likes Barenaked Ladies' If I had a Million Dollars, which is kind of like a kid's song to begin with. The upbeat tempo, the repetition, and usage of the list. That wasn't meant to be a disparaging comment either. That album is in my iTunes library because I like it. I'm just saying it's got certain qualities I can see an infant enjoying.

And briefly, he also likes Simon and Garfunkel, Loreena McKennitt, Alicia Keys, Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, and Manfred Mann's Quinn the Eskimo.

It's really fun to introduce him to all of this music for the first time and see him interact with it. There are tunes that he smiles at from the first few notes and immediately loves. Then there's the stuff that he likes because it's become familiar. I'm excited to watch as his music tastes develop. I'm also scared to see what kind of crappy pop he'll enjoy as he gets older.

Hopefully, though, no matter how old he gets, there will be some song available that will halt any crying fit.

That's possible, right?