Thursday, April 2, 2009

the sound of music (whatever sound that is)

I discovered a few forgotten m&m's in the bottom of the trail mix this afternoon. Very exciting.

In other exciting news, Jaxon is developing very definite tastes in music. We know that Jimi Hendrix's Red House gets Jaxon grooving. We're talking head-bobbing, lips pursed, run-and-get-my-fake-guitar grooving. He gets in a trance, nearly. And if you turn off Red House before Red House is done, oh, you never hear the end of it. Not to mention he stares you down, daggers in his big brown eyes, his long eyelashes suddenly menacing instead of unbelievably cute. He tenses every muscle in his body and turns beet red. Then takes a breath only to say in a gravelly growl, "That was my SONG!" I'm telling you. Don't cross this boy.

Both of the boys love Queen. Yesterday during Bohemian Rhapsody I look to the back of the van to find Reed staring pensively out his window, brow furrowed, lips pursed. (This means that he is having a dramatic daydream. I know this face. I make this face when I listen to music that moves me and makes me daydream.) I know not to interrupt that face. And Jaxon? He stares straight ahead, brow furrowed, solemnly bobbing his head in time. He loves it so much, he's mad. (He comes by it honestly. I love things furiously, too.) Invariably, though, the standard We Will Rock You gleans much bigger reactions, and I end up putting it on Repeat to soothe the screeching teradactyls I sometimes drive around in my car.

But the best part of it is that their tastes vary so widely. While Jaxon proclaims himself to be strictly "Wok and Woll", I have glimpsed his sweet face in the mirror while Silk Road Ensemble & Yo-Yo Ma was on (I couldn't find the exact song on YouTube., but this is one of our favorites) and he looked so tender I thought he might cry. And once when I looked back, little tears were trickling down Reed's cheeks.

It makes me really, really happy to see them affected by music, especially music that I love. And I know my music tastes are all over the place, and you make think I'm silly, but this is just another song I'm adding to my favorites:
Jai Ho (I read that it means "we wish you victory")

6 comments:

Qait said...

Rae, Ender is SO responsive to music. Even if you just pat his toys in something resembling a pattern, he bounces up and down or bobs his head. If the music really rocks, he grins and even laughs sometimes, kicking his legs or squat-dancing. And if it's sacred, he'll even dance the same way but with a very solemn expression on his face. I LOVE seeing him react to music. It matters so much to us both that our kids love music. I feel a kind of grand connection with Ender when we listen to music together and both love it. Music really opens the soul, doesn't it? When you let it? Ender's little baby spirit just embraces it.

Abby said...

Which Silk Roads song were you wanting to find? I had not heard the one you linked to before. It sounds like mostly improv, but then I only listened to a minute of it. Their other stuff is SO great though isn't it? I even had a couple of their songs on the Relaxation CD I made for labor.

I can picture you and your shrieking pteradactyls. :)

And I know that growly voice of Jaxon's when he's mad. I love it!

I love that our tastes are both so eclectic in music. Our kids dig rock and roll but they love the classical too.

raehink said...

I love all the songs on the Slumdog soundtrack. World music is awesome!

Kate said...

My kids also have loved music ever since they were little. I'm so glad. Have a super weekend.

chucknorris said...

yay! way to go! raise them on the good stuff! haha
yep i think everyone loves music... but that is so cute and awesome and sweet that they react that way.
love ya!

Cyndie said...

Music rocks, although the sound of music most recently at my house is the sound of High School Musical 3. That's all. Just High School Musical 3. In the bath, during dinner, in the car ... all HSM all the time. It's like a satellite radio station from hell. I do have a great recollection of Fan when she was about 3, though, laying in her bed and feeling very sad and weepy. She just said, "I don't know" when I asked what was wrong. Turns out, as soon as I turned off The Carpenter's CD I was listening to, she was fine. Apparently, rainy days and Mondays always get her down.