Do you hear what I hear?

I have been working for this one family for almost seven years as their babysitter. I have grown very close to this family, so much so that they took me on vacation with them to watch their girls. These are the most well-behaved intelligent children I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. The family is a heavy patron of the arts, so even when the girls were very young they were constantly listening to all kinds of music. They take private lessons, ballet class, piano, and audition for theaters in their local town.
Anyways, everytime I came to babysit, the girls would just light up and have an entire schedule of events and activites for us to do. Beading, coloring, braiding, hide and seek, baking, movies, etc. You name it and it was on that list. All for one evening! These girls keep me on my toes that is for sure. At this point we have developed our own traditions. For example, I always role their hair in foam culers before they go to sleep so they have curley hair for the next day.
When they were younger, I would sing to them before they went to sleep. It especially helped with the youngest when she was a baby. There were about 4 or 5 songs I would cycle through. One day, about 4 years ago, I was watching the girls, and it was time for them to go to bed. With their hair roled, teeth brushed, and stories read it was time for a song. The eldest proudly announced that she was too old for bed timed songs(which was a little dishearteneing because it was true). The youngest, who was two at the time looked up at me as if saying "aw it's ok, I'm still adorable and want to hear your songs". She crawled into bed and I started singing, but she stopped me. "I don't want to hear that one." "Ok", I said "which one would you like to hear". Instead of telling me, she started singing it! a Two year old! For the record it was "Pie Jesu", and very tricky to sing. Yet here she was, singing it in the most angelic voice I had ever heard. I let her sing the song all by herself, and sure enough she knew everyword.
Kids amaze me everyday. Their minds are constantly taking in information. Try singing with your kiddos, they love it! And it's a great way to bond with them.
-Rosey

Just for fun!

As I was browsing through my facebook homepage today, I came across the most amazing youtube video. It inspired this entire blog post, so I hop you like it!

 

The majority of my blog shares my experiences with these kids and music, and now I would like to show you. I hope you enjoy this video! If you pay very close attention at 0:27, you will notice that he is actually singing! 

 

 

 

Cute isn't he? I love how music inspires kids to light up! Plus it makes for great entertainment for adults. Speaking of entertaining, here is a mom who got smart when she realized her son had a knack for imitating Britney Spears.

 

 

This little one absolutely captures my heart. He is singing this entirely a capella(without music), sings the musical interludes between verses and choruses, AND hits the key change. adorable. Enjoy!

 

Music is such a powerful thing! Granted, these are all meant for show and pure entertainment, but at the heart of it, these kids were inspired by music. It moved them, and inevitably will shape them as they get older.

Do you have any videos you would like to share?

-Rosey

 

*Please note that I do not have authority to claim these videos as my own, nor do I wish to claim these videos as my own.

 

The Miracle That is Technology

 

Hello readers! I Trust that you all had a magnificent Thanksgiving, and completely stuffed yourselves with all the high-calorie delicious food. Carpe diem right? But I digress.

With 10 years of babysitting under my belt I have acquired so many of the most hilarious and rewarding experiences with children. I have come to find that this generation is blessed and cursed to have the technology that they do.  They have HD TV, Wii, xbox, Kinect, and iPods, which let them take their music anywhere. On the one hand I say bravo! It’s  great that they have access to such advanced technology, and it allows them to get any kind of music or game to play almost instantly. But what is it doing to their imagination? I remember the days when mom would bring something home in a big box, and when it was empty,  I would just crawl on in with a box of crayons, and suddenly the box was a castle, a house, a fort, a kitchen, or whatever I wanted it to be! Games like the Wii are simulated to create pre-existing worlds that these kids play in. Even toys make the sound effects for them so the ever popular “Pew pew. Neeeeeeeaaah. Boom!” sounds no longer echo from play rooms.  In the case of music however, I think this new-found technology is a good thing. They constantly have access to it! It’s in their TV shows, toys, video games, CD players, but mostly the iPod which holds hundreds and thousands of songs!

This story is entirely devoted to the iPod, because without it, I would’ve not have survived this night. I had just started working for a new family with three kiddos. They were a well-off family, really nice people, and of course had the typical pool in the backyard, in-home movie theater(which took me months to figure out how to work), and flat screens everywhere. This was my first night on the job, and these kids gave me a run for my money. I was use to kids trying to push their luck and see where their boundaries were with me, but never like this. The youngest was by far my biggest challenge. At the time he was a year and a half, and barley speaking. But oooooooh how he loved to yell! Right in my face, for no apparent reason.

Nothing seemed to be working, he would just yell and scream if he didn’t get what he wanted, but he also couldn’t tell me what he wanted. It was a very frustrating process for the both of us. I remembered his dad saying something about “Taz” having and iPod, but I thought he was talking about some kind of toy. Nope. When “Taz” realized that screaming at me was not working, he ran over to an iPod doc, and low and behold there sat a beautiful iPod touch. I groaned with exasperation. How is it that an 18 month old had an iTouch, and I had the same iPod nano for the past 5 years? At any rate, I gave it to him and watched the magic unfold before me.  

His fingers flew across the apps  as he found the playlists, almost like he knew what he was looking for. Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the U.S.A.” came on and he immediately started dancing and clapping. Non only was he moving to the beat, but he knew every single word to that song, and articulated them well! Of course this made me laugh, but mostly relieved. I didn’t think much of it, because I figured it was a fluke that he found the song, and he probably just heard it playing from his mom’s iPod enough to know what the song was.  

After a couple of hours of peace I found his iPod laying around, so I picked it up and put it back to the main menu. A few minutes later he came toddling back in and gesturing towards the counter for it. I gave it to him more than willingly and again watched as his eyes flickered, and he made his way to the playlists. Another song started up, but he changed it almost instantly, again another song came on, and he changed it about 4 seconds into the song. This process continued until about 6 songs later Miley Cyrus once again began to blare through the speaker. The dancing, smiling, and clapping started up again. Taz had found the song again. 18 months old and he knew exactly how to navigate an iPod touch, what his favorite song sounded like, and every single word to that song. The mind of a child never ceases to amaze me.

Do you have any siblings, nieces, nephews, sons, daughters that have a favorite song?  What is it?

-Rosey

Mood Swings

Throughout my many experiences with children and music, none quite measure up to this particular instance.

I was working as a fill-in nanny over the summer for a very good colleague and mentor of mine. She has two daughters, a 9 month old and a 4 year old. Both girls are just absolutely the most precious gifts to God’s green earth. The oldest daughter has the bounciest blonde curls I have ever seen, and the baby never stops giggling, smiling, and babbling. They are a very musical family, since mom is a choir director and piano teacher. They have a baby grand piano in their home, so the house is always filled with music. Even the baby has her own little xylophone that she often tinkers with.

Mind you, this was all in the summer, and of course what do all children want to do in the summer? “Let’s play outside”, “let’s go swimming”, “can I spray my baby brother with the hose?”, “ooooo water balloons!!!!!”, “lets re-paint the house with finger paint”. These activities are all good and well, except when it comes to nap time. For those of you that don’t babysit, nap time is the second worse time of the day next to bed time. It is astounding to me how many creative ideas kids can come up with to avoid nap time. You have to get them water so they’re not thirsty, check for monsters under the bed, make sure that the stuffed pig is sleeping next to the stuffed elephant because the pig and chicken don’t get along. So instead of calling it “nap time”, I resort to “quite time”. The manipulation of the name makes it seem as though they don’t have to go to sleep. I give the kiddos a choice of a story, movie, or music they can listen to, and inevitably they fall asleep without the fuss. Magical!!!!!!!!

So on this particular day, it was time for “goldy locks” quiet time. I asked her what she would like to do, and she said “watch ‘Little Einstein’s’” . For those of you who are unfamiliar with the current trendy children’s television shows, “Little Einstein’s” is a show where the characters go on a mission, and the entire episode is centered around one famous musical idea or motif. For the record, goldy-locks watched the same episode of this show every day during her quiet time. For the sake of my own sanity, I decided to play a different episode for her. Her nap pallet was all set, and she was just about to settle down, when Beethoven’s 5^th symphony theme came on the television show. Click the link below to hear it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4IRMYuE1hI

Goldy-locks whipped the covers over her head and started screaming and crying. “Please turn it off, it’s scary, I don’t like it!!!!!!”, she yelled. I was completely taken aback. This little 4 year old girl was so deeply effected by this music, and completely scared, that she could not watch the show. How crazy is that!

Has something like this every happened to you? Have you seen or experienced music in such a profound way that it instantly changed your mood? Think about the movies you’ve seen that scare you. Is there one in particular you can remember where the music just absolutely freaks you out? Please share!

-Rosey

 

Kids do the darndest things

Hello readers!
I hope this blog is very interesting and insightful for you to read. I wanted to write about music, and how it effects children. In my 10 years babysitting, 6 years as a camp counselor, and the 4 years I have gained in college as a Music Education major, I have had the most outrageous experiences with these kids. I have worked with kids 0-17 years of age, and it never ceases to amaze me what a profound impact music has. In this blog, I will be sharing my stories and experiences that I have had in all of my lines of work.

Please keep in mind that I am talking about music these kids' everyday life. Music is everywhere! Commercials, toys, phones, radios, stereos, ipods, all allow for constant stimulation of music in these kids' lives. What is so fascinating, is the way in which they are impacted by it! Toddlers bounce and move, and even begin to say their first words when they hear a song that they recognize. Their eyes light up and they smile because they can recognize and identify the music. Each family is different, because we all come from different backgrounds. This means each child responds differently to different kinds of music. As a child, I grew up with 80's rock bands like Queen, Rush, the Eagles, Pat Benatar, Chicago. etc. When I hear that music, I feel a connection, and an identity because that is what my ear was trained to listen to. My roommate however, grew up with 90s soft rock and R&B. Whenever she is stressed or worried, she is always listening to that music because it is a familiar place for her. But that is enough about my life.

This first story is not my very first "Epiphany" moment, but it certainly had me laughing. I was babysitting for a family of three. The age range was 0-4, so they were very young kids. I was playing with the oldest child, some action figure game that involved an entourage of spider man, batman, transformers, and power rangers. The middle child was playing in his room down the hall, probably in a fort of some kind meant to keep out snipers. The baby was sitting up, very tired and particularly cranky that day. She started crying so I picked her up and did the usual bouncing and cooing one does to try to calm a baby. Out of no where all I hear  "Go insane, go insane, throw some glitter make it rain. Let me see them hands, let me see them hands" coming from down the hall. Ah yes, the ever popular Keisha song was being screamed out of the two year old, we will call him "jumper" for now, who had emerged form his room. Not only was he enthusiastically belting Keisha down the hall, but proceeded to swish his hips and stomp his feet with so much sass, I thought Beyonce wouldn't stand a chance against this kid. When the baby heard it, she stopped crying, almost immediately and started to laugh. That was a very good thing, since I was absolutely dying with laughter at this point. So there we all were, laughing and crying and playing together. When I asked jumper where he'd heard that song, he looked up at me and said "my mom likes it. she plays it all the time, and we sing it with her". That was so profound to me. Keisha is not particularly an excellent example of musical literature, but she has songs with a beat, that make you move. For this family, it is a way for them to bond, to laugh and to play together, which to me is such an incredible thing.
Do have any songs you sing with your family? or kids? Tell me about it!
-Rosey