Dear Mai,
You like music. This makes Daddy happy.
If there is one thing I hope I can give you in this life, its a passion, love and appreciation of music. (okay, there are many things I hope I give you but this post is about music) I love music. I feel music. Hearing certain music can change my mood for the better instantly. Today I was on the way home after work. The sun was just setting, I put on my headphones, my bus came and this Sigur Ros song started. Bam. My world was transformed. The music surrounded me and it became the soundtrack for my commute home. Music can change your perspective on normal things. My "normal" bus ride was transformed and I viewed the world and all the people around me in a new light. It is such an awesome feeling when that happens. You become lost in the moment. Not worrying about anything. Total, 100% focus on the moment, the music and life. Music can be spiritual.
You are 2 years and 4 months old right now. It might be a bit before you reach that point. That's okay. It will come. And don't worry, between now and then you will go through a phase and like some awful, awful, awful music. I had one. I think we all do. Just be sure its just a phase and not a lifestyle.
Mommy and a lot of my friends say I'm a music snob. They are probably right. I am pretty opinionated when it comes to music but... I like to think I'm open minded and have somewhat of an eclectic taste though. So I've been trying to expose you to a lot of music even before you were born. When you were a little baby and had trouble going to sleep, I used to "rock" you to sleep while jamming out to The Sword. You were usually asleep after I moshed (walked and rocked you) to a song or two. We also listened to the Hvarf album by Sigur Ros a lot at bed time. You barely ever made it passed the second track before you were off to sleep.
Fast-forward to last November and you attended you first symphony. Okay, it was a kid friendly symphony that only lasted an hour but you were riveted. You were barely 19 months old and talked about that concert for a long time. "Fun time! Jingle bells" (It was a Christmas concert.)
You showed such a strong interest in music at that point we decided to take you to your first music class at School of Rock Seattle. They have a "Little Wing" class that lasted 10 weeks long or something like that. It was supposed to be for 3-4 year old's but we went to the trial class and you did great! So we decided to enroll you. You loved it. In fact, you still to this day ask to go to music class. You say "I want to go to music class. I want to see Ava!" Ava was your teacher. You were definitely the youngest there but you did great. You were kind of shy at most classes but as soon as you came home you sang your heart out. Even now you sing, We Will Rock You, NaNaNa - Goodbye, Octopus's Garden, Get off of my cloud and some They Might Be Giants song. One of your favorite parts about the class was getting a tattoo after class. There opening another School of Rock close to our house so we'll start that up again in the fall.
Fast-forward to January. We just got home from our long Ohio vacation and I found out that School of Rock Portland was doing a Red Fang show and that members of Red Fang were going to show up! So what did we do? We packed up a run ragged, tired 20 month old baby and took her to a rock and roll show 3 hours away in Portland! Someday you'll think that's cool and not totally irresponsible and stupid. Someday.
You had to wear your noise cancelling headphones. Even though they were kids playing, it was still loud. To be honest with you, you weren't that into the show. There was an outside patio and I think you were more interested in all the food than the actual show. BUT... as we were on the patio, Bryan (guitarist/vocals) for Red Fang comes out on the patio. At this point, we had watched enough Red Fang music videos that I knew you would recognize him. I said "Maya! Look! Who's that?" You walked over to him, right behind him and said "excuse me. Red Fang" I don't think he knew what to say. Then you started rattling off Red Fang songs. It was quite the comedic scene.
When you get older you and your friends will play the "the first concert I ever saw was..." - You've won this game. Hands down. You saw Dead Can Dance at 6 months old and Red Fang at 20 months. No one can beat that. Ever.
Fast-forward to today and you are crazy. Whenever a song comes on the radio you ask "Who's that Daddy? (or Mommy)" In fact you probably know more radio songs than I do at this point. You had a huge Lorde kick for awhile but seem to be over that phase. You can recognize Beethoven by look or first notes of Ode to Joy. You still dig some of your Grandma influences like "Boom Boom" and "Cruise."
The last time you were back in Ohio I guess you wanted to play the keyboard at Grandma's constantly.
I'd say that you have a pretty good eclectic taste in music Mai, especially for a 2 year old. You still like all the kid songs too. Here is your Wheels on the Bus rendition from last February.
You definitely like to sing. Slowly but surely you are learning Thank You by Zeppelin.
And dance! Show us your moves Mai! This is a conscious happy dance. When you were younger this was your default state when you got excited about something. Pure, unadulterated happiness.
You Great Grampa Plasencio was an awesome musician from the stories I've heard. He played guitar, bass, accordion, fiddle and probably other instruments I'm not aware of. We'll have to have Grandma tell us some stories soon. In fact, Grandma plays piano and used to teach. I think she said we were too impatient to learn but you might be a different case!
Music is an awesome gift Mai and as long as you show interest I'll keep providing musical outlets. We have another Red Fang show coming up at the Bumbershoot Festival. We'll hit music class again in September. I even have some more music activities planned for us in the near future, but you'll have to wait for those. Its a surprise. :-)
Love you sweet child o' mine!
Daddy