<p>My son had an appreciation for music right from infancy. We’d play classical or Disney music in his room every night before he went to sleep. As he got older he was allowed to pick out which tape (yes, they were cassette tapes at the time) he wanted to hear that night.</p>
<p>When he was about 3yo, his favorite Disney movie was Fantasia. He would stand with his back to the TV facing us and perform the part of the conductor. We suddenly realized he was in near perfect sync with the silhouetted conductor on the screen! We kinda knew it right then and there… This was going to be our musical child.</p>
<p>He started private voice lessons at 8 and now 10 years later, he will be leaving for college this August as a vocal performance major at FSU on a pretty nice scholarship.</p>
<p>I only realized or appreciated that my son was musical this past year and only accepted once he got admitted to conservatories. I know that sounds strange, but I never viewed this particular child as a musical genius or particularly talented with music. Then again I am not very musically inclined. </p>
<p>I do have memories of our son always wanting to drum on things. He loved to make rhythms and clearly rhythm was important to him. This child’s drumming was often stopped by us because his older brother had sensory issues and it bothered him.</p>
<p>When our son took up electric bass at age 13, I figured it would help him bond with his older brother. Their relationship had been troubled due to his brother having a chronic illness for many years. But his older brother was the child I saw as more musically inclined. And I figured the electric bass was just a hobby, that would allow him and his older brother to be angry together playing AC/DC songs. I never imagined it would become serious.</p>
<p>When our son switched to double Bass in the spring of 8th grade, I figured it was a nice hobby and something that would look good on the college resume. When our son started at NEC prep I viewed it as a social thing because his friends and older boys he admired were doing it. And when he went to music camp I was just happy to have him occupied and not bored at home. When our son talked about applying to NEC I figured this too shall pass. I kept waiting for him to hit a wall or get bored or move on to some other interest. When I heard him practice hour and after hour last spring, summer and fall in preparation for his auditions I then realized, that this child was indeed a musician.</p>
<p>I still don’t know if he will stay a musician. But for now it seems that he is determined to become one.</p>
<p>Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz sparked my son’s interest in guitar when he was 7 or 8 years old (at which time there was no mistaking him for a baby).</p>
<p>What a great thread! I had many musical moments with D1, who now wants to be a VP major. First, when I was in grad school and she was 18 months old, I was studying Rite of Spring. I was playing the CD in my car and when I looked in the rearview mirror, I discovered my D moving her head in time with my music - sort of looked like the head banging one sees during “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It made me laugh! But it also made me realize that she had a great sense of rhythm.</p>
<p>Next, when she was 4 at her first dance recital, at intermission, the teacher brought out all the first year tots. One girl was supposed to sing, but then refused after singing one line. When it got to my D’s turn, she pulled on the announcer’s skirt and said, “I want to sing a song.” I was shocked…and to my amazement, she sang all of “A Whole New World” from Aladdin - I didn’t even know she knew the entire song! And she sang it with perfect pitch. Yes, this is on video, thank goodness.</p>
<p>And finally, when she was 5, she came home from Kindergarten one day and said, “Look, Ma, I can sing opera!” And then she sang a very high, beautiful note with as much vibrato as she could produce…and she hasn’t changed much since then, except now she sings with much more control. :)</p>
<p>Thanks for bringing this back up saxlady…I hadn’t seen it before and it was fun to read about all “our” kids here.</p>
<p>We bought a secondhand piano when S was around 8. S immediately began picking out songs by ear on it. </p>
<p>He didn’t do more than that until he was 13 when he decided to play bass because he had drummer and guitarist friends and he wanted to jam with them. He taught himself very quickly, practiced for hours listening and playing songs by ear, working with youtube sometimes. Never got into reading tabs or music, just listened to it and played it.</p>
<p>He is leaving for conservatory (Music Tech/bass guitar) next week. What a long strange trip it’s been…and I suppose will be for some time.</p>
<p>When S was small, say around 5, he’d sing along to the radio in the back seat of the car. But never the melody. He’d always pick up one of the harmonies and sing THAT…perfectly.</p>
<p>Bumping an old favorite thread to lighten the mood in the dreary dead of winter. Also a great place for new members to post as they try to get their post counts up to 15!</p>
<p>My S has Aspergers and we noticed very early that he could mimic anything perfectly - music, voices, sounds. He just needed to hear something once (around age 2- 3) and he could sing the melody back to you perfectly. However, he didn’t talk until 4. Started playing piano at 3, violin at 6 and singing professionally (MT) at 8. Currently pursuing VP admissions. (Funny story: when he was about 8 or 9, we were in London and he became fascinated by the talking “elevator lady” in our hotel. He started standing in the back of the elevator (behind dad) mimicking her voice and actually fooled many people telling them “doors will not be closing. Please exit now” - English accent and all.)</p>
<p>Well, this is a fun thread…D showed her musicality in utero @8 months when, after repeating a section ad nauseum because the Maestro wasn’t pleased with the precision, she began kicking in rhythm to the passage. No joke-you can’t make this stuff up! Then, at 10 months, stuck in her playpen while someone was warming up, she began to mimic little snippets of what was being played with perfect rhythm and pitch. No matter what slight variation was presented, she sang it right back. (these were very simple intervals) She will undoubtedly test out of the 100-level theory courses when she gets to college in the fall…already perfecting melodic and rhythmic dictation at a very tender age-LOL!</p>
<p>Still have my fav DS pic in my head from when he was 15 months old-ish:
Climbing up on chair to reach Dad’s tuba mouthpiece to ‘play’ the tuba.
After every blow, DS would screech his pleasure while his entire body convulsed with happiness. We had to literally tear him away after 30 minutes…he was clearly exhausted but wouldn’t voluntarily give it up.</p>
<p>He’s now a music teacher with undergrad and grad degrees in music/education who also performs on several instruments. Including tuba.</p>
<p>My daughter, who is so musical, was deaf as a little one. She had a few surgeries and now here she is! Her last surgery, she was 4y4m old. She still was mildly impaired after that. I can still see some issues on her. But wow! She has come a long way.</p>
<p>And I have a 3 year old. He sings. He was born singing. We would take him to DDs orchestra concerts and even at just a couple months old, he sang. He was a September baby, and every single concert, and church service, he was just belting it out there. Of course, it was baby talk-but in a sing, not real words. He still cannot speak. He is severely speech delayed. I would love to know if there is something I should be doing with him! I hate to just ignore this. </p>
<p>My 11 yr old also was very musical. He now has aspergers, which we did not know back then. But, he loved trying to read sheet music and trying to play it on the piano. He would go to speech therapy and as a reward, his teacher would give him sheet music. He was even trying to write sheet music. We never did anything with it. I wonder where he would be now if we had.</p>
<p>We have other children. Those are the only musical ones.</p>
<p>We have a pretty musical family, but my youngest was making up harmonies to all those childhood songs when she was 2-3 years old. That wasn’t something I experienced with my older daughter (cellist/fiddle player/singer).</p>
<p>My DD (now 10) made her tough piano teacher cry by playing “Home on the Range” when she was five, and made her piano teacher cry by playing a simple slow piece when seven, and her cello teacher by playing Marcello’s Adagio.</p>
<p>In first grade my D insisted on entering a talent contest and singing “Take Me Home Country Roads”. She even enlisted a classmate to sing along. But recently I found a first grade writing practice sheet where she scribbled, “I want to be a professional singer”. That blew me away.</p>
<p>At the tender age of 14 months old, our DD was most frequently found sitting on the floor, in front of the stereo speakers, conducting enthusiastically in time with both hands and feet to classical music, which Mom played daily from her birth. </p>
<p>Then, at the age of five years old, upon the arrival of her Nana’s piano into our home, she started picking out Church hymns by ear and then asked for piano lessons! That is how it all started! ;-)</p>
<p>As soon as my S was old enough to go into one of those “hook over the door” bouncy things, he spent at least 2 hours a day bouncing to Amy Grant music videos…the day could not proceed properly without it. When he finally took up the drums, there was no looking back. My D took up violin at 6 after pestering us about it for a year. Prior to that, she was the child who wasn’t interested in toys much…nothing grabbed her until she had a violin in her hand and that was it. She agonized at 7 about what she was going to do with her life (LOL) and then announced after a summer violin program that it would be “violinist”…while we stood by basically saying “uh huh…and tell us something we didn’t already assume”. Fun thread…will add our attitude was if they love music, nurture it, get good teachers, provide the best we can afford and then let them see where they want to go with it…we tried to help them get where they want to be…but not push.</p>
<p>When I was about 7 or 8 months pregnant with D, we went to a performance of the Mississippi Mass Choir. Major kicking action! And she had pretty good time, too, haha!</p>
<p>I love this thread–such great stories! And aren’t we lucky to have gotten to experience our musical kids, especially for those of us parents who don’t have any music gifts ourselves? When my son was still in a stroller, he used to sing to himself to stay entertained during walks. Around age 3, he invented his own musical notation to “preserve” the songs he wrote in his head so he wouldn’t forget them. When he was sad or mad, he’d play his piano pieces in a minor key. He’d come home from elementary school, sit at the piano, and improvise. He wrote a piece for me (the “Mommer Song”) that he has added to and elaborated upon for at least a decade. When I walk into the room, he still plays it for me if he has his viola in his hands. Such wonderful memories…<em>sob</em>…how I’ll miss him when he leaves for college next fall. </p>
She even enlisted a classmate to sing along. But recently I found a first grade writing practice sheet where she scribbled, “I want to be a professional singer”. That blew me away.</p>