I have had time to do some things over the last couple of days. My husband is with family taking care of details, and his mother, after the death of his father. Since he needed to be on a plane that day, I stayed home with Lucy. His father did not want a funeral, and asked that his ashes be spread over Crown Mountain in Montana, where they had a cabin for many years. My husband will make this journey and hike, when the weather mellows.
In the meantime, I have been wanting to put together music for my grandson. Like all grandmothers, I believe him to be very bright and talented. He loves music! From day one, he could be soothed with music or just singing to him. He now sings to himself, with his current favorite being row, row, row your boat. He walks around singing "row, row", or "hap birrr day". Music can influence us in so many ways. My daughter and son-in-law do not currently have a working stereo, so the only music he hears is from the television. From a developmental point of view, this has been bothering me. We know that certain connections for music are made before age ten, with an explosion of connections in the brain by age two.
So after looking at different ways of producing the types of music for him that I think is important, I decided a little Apple Nano will fill the bill. My daughter has an I-Pod stand with speakers. So yesterday I filled an entire day choosing just the right combination of music that I think he will enjoy, and learn from. I tried to include music from as many genres as possible. We have jazz, classical, rock, soul, African, American Indian flute, reggae, pop, and show tunes, all for children. Who knew the choices for each song would be so vast! And since I wanted each one to produce a certain "sound", i.e., the nursery rhyme songs to be clear and easy, and the lullabies to be varied between classical music and songs sung very softly, it required me to listen to all the different variations and musicians. It took all day to find 100 songs! But I am now satisfied that he will have his "own" music, carefully selected, to keep him company as he plays, or is going to sleep. Included is a selection by Taj Mahal aptly titled "Ask Grandma".
10 comments:
What a wonderful Gramma you are! I hope your daughter appreciates you. Daughters often take for granted what their mom's do for them. I don't mean in an insensitive way...they just take for granted that we love their children as much as they do.....and we do!
What a thoughtful gift. No doubt Mom will enjoy hearing it just as much as her son.
Oh that is GREAT!
My little ones adore music, and I couldn't think of a more wonderful gift. The gift of music will last a lifetime. Wonderful stuff! Love to you.xx♥
How sweet and what a wonderful gift. He's going to love it. What a fun, l-o-n-g, day too :)
That is one lucky kid. If you have time and are so inclined, will you post a partial playlist of the music you put on his ipod? I agree, music is so important!
I remember the story about the successful son who returned to his mother's home with a gift of a new stereo and dozens of cd's of the classical music they'd listened to when he was a child.
After a few days he said, 'Mom, why haven't you listened to any of the albums I brought you?'
She answered, 'It was very nice of you dear but I don't have much use for classical music'.
In shock he said, 'But you always played it when I was small'.
'Yes', she answered with a smile, 'because I wanted you to grow up understanding good taste'.
Wonderful gift :-)
That is so fantastic.What a great idea you had and how sweet you are to make it all happen for your grandson, i really love this. You are so right how important music is, now you've got me thinking. I would love to see the playlist also.
Oh, have you heard Renee & Jeremy? they have a c.d. called It's a big world, and the song Night Mantra is a favorite of my grandbabies. You can hear it on YouTube if you like.
I am sorry for your family's loss and hope all goes smoothly for your hubby.
What a wonderful Grandma you are, I have no doubt your grandson will be delighted!
Booga is going to LOVE IT!
I just discovered your blog and was intrigued with this entry. I'm also filling mp3 players for my grandchildren and am including audio versions of children's story classics read by professionals as well as "home-made" ones from Oma -- me. Would love to see more of your full list of music.
Love the scope of your blog.
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