O has had to put up with opera music this week. Cruel and unusual punishment? Perhaps. But with all the complex melodies, and lyrics in different languages, it really can't be that bad for him. And wouldn't you know it, this week he's been singing along with pretty much everything. He has an impressive falsetto for a child his size, though when he gets going on his bass register he's a force to be reckoned with.
He just loves exploring the studio, and hates being left upstairs if I have to go down for any reason. Usually I bring him with me, so that he can amuse himself while I get some stuff done. I caught him up on his toes happily banging away at the piano the other day, not a care for where mum was, or whether I was watching! Now that he's realised he doesn't need any help to play, there's no stopping him. When I'm playing, he frequently cruises around the keyboard, playing a few notes here or there, which I'm sure he thinks adds to the melody, but really just distracts me enough that I lose my place! He also loves standing at the bench, just watching me, and singing along.
When he plays now, he experiments with all the notes he can reach. He listens to the different tones, and stretches as low on the keyboard as he can, and then plays his way up as high as he can. Of course this got me thinking about how O perceives pitch, and what this jumble of notes means to him. We've all heard of perfect pitch, this supposedly mythical creature that a few lucky souls have (and yes, I happen to be one of them. I also believe that O's dad has it too, though he lacks musical training). The new thinking is that it isn't rare at all, perfect pitch is something all babies are born with - but something we grow out of if it's not necessary in daily life.
It seems like O has a pretty good ear for pitch and tonality, so it's something we'll be working on as he gets older, because, I mean, why not?
He just loves exploring the studio, and hates being left upstairs if I have to go down for any reason. Usually I bring him with me, so that he can amuse himself while I get some stuff done. I caught him up on his toes happily banging away at the piano the other day, not a care for where mum was, or whether I was watching! Now that he's realised he doesn't need any help to play, there's no stopping him. When I'm playing, he frequently cruises around the keyboard, playing a few notes here or there, which I'm sure he thinks adds to the melody, but really just distracts me enough that I lose my place! He also loves standing at the bench, just watching me, and singing along.
When he plays now, he experiments with all the notes he can reach. He listens to the different tones, and stretches as low on the keyboard as he can, and then plays his way up as high as he can. Of course this got me thinking about how O perceives pitch, and what this jumble of notes means to him. We've all heard of perfect pitch, this supposedly mythical creature that a few lucky souls have (and yes, I happen to be one of them. I also believe that O's dad has it too, though he lacks musical training). The new thinking is that it isn't rare at all, perfect pitch is something all babies are born with - but something we grow out of if it's not necessary in daily life.
It seems like O has a pretty good ear for pitch and tonality, so it's something we'll be working on as he gets older, because, I mean, why not?