Friday, August 14, 2009

Lullabyes long gone

I loved this post on Notes to Self so much, I just had to steal Kyran's idea. We took the boys to Music Together classes when they were toddlers--I guess to build up that music awareness portion of the brain. I don't think anyone took me to such things when I was very small, since I definitely lack a musical brain center.

Both our boys are musical, but I can't say for certain that it was the toddler classes that did it. I suspect their musicality is innate. Teddy always enjoyed the classes, mostly sitting happily on my lap as we sang, clapped, and played together.

Barley? Well, he really enjoyed running around the outside edge of the classroom, playing with the venetian blinds, chalk, or any other loose object in the room, while I gamely sat with the other Moms. I felt kind of dopey sitting there, my lap empty, clapping and singing songs that Barley had no interest in. I could almost hear Barley thinking to himself, "Gee, I have to entertain myself while Mommy is at her music class--I hope it is done soon!".

We did enjoy the tapes from the class, playing them in the car. DH said the melodies were good, and he could hear the boys matching pitch and tone from the back seat. One of the songs became the lullaby he sang the boys when they werebabies--"my love and I" having been replaced with "my child and I".

Inspired by Kyran's blog posting, I went in search of a YouTube version to hold us over, until I can pin DH into recording one for posterity. (Given his history of public singing at emotional family events, I suspect he may resist...)

The Water is Wide, I cannot cross o'er it
Neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And we shall row, my child and I...


2 comments:

  1. Great song! Lucky boys!
    BTW, i just found this website and thought you might be interested:
    http://greatergood.berkeley.edu
    Thanks again for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I do remember holding Barley, singing that one to him night after night. For a baby who wasn't always open to physical contact (from anyone like me who was NottheMama, anyway!), my nightly singing of Water is Wide were the only times I would feel him relax and just melt against me. Special moments with our challenging boy are worth their weight in gold.

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