Friday, August 6, 2010

Jam Sessions

Erin's side of the family has some kind of music gene. Erin can play (basically) three instruments, and has a lot of patches on her letter jacket from her days as a band geek. Her mom, dad, uncles, and cousins all play instruments, and of course Lindsay is a dancer. I, on the other hand, love music but have no such talent *cough*wind beneath my wings*cough*.

Luckily for everyone, Owen and Mason seem to have quite a knack for music and it's really become a big interest for them. They pick up the beat quickly, they can carry a tune, and they understand the mood of a song very well. When they were still 2, we noticed that they were basically interpreting the feeling/mood of the music they were hearing. The specific example is while listening to the theme from Disney's Pirates of the Carribean ride. It is mostly instrumental and they would say "this is a happy pirate" when the music was light and bouncy or "this is a mean pirate" when it was heavy.

One of their favorite things to do now is to sit at the piano, turn on the radio, and play along to the music. The funny thing about it is that they pick up the beat of the song and whether it's a ballad or something fast-paced and adjust their piano playing accordingly.

Here's a good example of what I'm talking about. Owen, playing a George Strait ballad for us very seriously. What cracks me up is the movements that he's doing along with it and the serious expressions on his face (you have to watch closely since most of the video is from behind or to the side of him) - I have no idea where he picked those up but we were silently cracking up in the background.

...and some extra shoulder action on a more upbeat song: (Yes, apparently they like their women a little on the trashy side!)

They also love to sing. We've posted several videos of them singing songs in the car, which they love to do. They're definitely a different generation than us, though - the thought of not being able to play any song they want whenever they want (like if we're listening to the radio) drives them nuts.

Beyond just singing along to songs, they love to substitute silly words into songs they know. Favorite silly words right now are "mine," "weasel," and (don't ask me) "beady bore beard."

Finally, here's a great video of them on the piano and the mic doing one of their current favorite songs.

I think this music thing is great - it's a pretty cool thing to be a kid and be able to sing and dance your heart out without being embarrassed or worrying about what you look and sound like. Hopefully they keep that spirit with them as they grow up.