Music

Vintage Oliver & Daddy, from July 2008, 4 months old

We all know that Oliver is very musical. How could he not be with a father who plays every kind of guitar expertly, and a mother who plays the piano beautifully and sings like an angel? Hey, who said all angels are great singers??? Anyway, Oliver showed an interest in music from a very young age, as he'd sit and bop to the beat from at least 5 months old, maybe earlier? For my first Mother's Day last year, Marty got me a piano, in part because he knew I really wanted one, but also because we want Oliver to grow up loving music and encourage any interest in it that he might demonstrate. As you can see, he loves the piano.

 Vintage Oliver & Daddy, February 2009, 10.5 months

Marty loves it too. Never taken a lesson in his life and he plays better than I do! Hopefully Oliver inherited his musical ear. Of course, Oliver also loves his daddy's guitars (see also the photo on the left with Marty). Remember word #2 (whispered only, "tee-ta")? He loves to strum them; every time he went into the office at home, he'd point at the guitars Marty has hanging on the wall until we picked him up so he could pluck the strings.

Vintage Oliver, March 2009, at almost 1 year

Sadly, the piano and most of the guitars are sitting back home in Iowa, waiting for someone to play them. Marty did bring the acoustic to Connecticut, which is good so that Oliver is still exposed to it. Here's a photo from this weekend:

 

Oliver helping Daddy play the guitar & dancing along

To encourage this musical interest, and just for fun, Oliver & I have enrolled in a Music Together class. Music Together is a national program that has local franchises. You can read about it and see a video of a class on their website. It follows the premise that music can aid in development and learning, especially when started at a young age. So we go once a week and spend an hour singing and dancing and playing lots of fun instruments. Oliver's favorite part is when they dump piles of fun little instruments in the middle of the room and everyone grabs one or two for a big jam session. He also likes gathering all the instruments to put away when we're done...he's so helpful! I'm enjoying singing and finding my voice again, it had gotten very very rusty over the years since high school when I used to sing all the time. It's also nice for Oliver to have more interaction with kids, and for me to have more interaction with adults! As the weather grows cooler, we're really going to start looking for things to do when we can't go to the park, so this takes care of one morning a week!