Ever since Charlie came into this world, he's been musical. He loved music the first time he heard it and hasn't stopped dancing and singing since.
I still think it's all the music concerts we went to whilst I was pregnant, all that loud music with lots of bass throbbing through my body straight to him as he bopped along in the amniotic fluid.
Whenever we put any cd's on he's right there, ready to get groovy. He sat entranced by Baby Beethoven on YouTube at 8 months old, and has now learnt the theme songs to all his favourite tv shows. He requests songs from cd's whilst we're in the car, and they're not kids music, it's adults music he loves best.
He sings from the minute he wakes up till the moment he reluctantly goes to sleep. He is constantly moving as if the rhythm of life flows in his blood and he can't help but dance to it.
This kid has the most amazing musical memory and if you ask he can sing any of the 50 or so nursery rhymes from his books. WORD PERFECT.
I gave birth to a freak.
I mean that in the most loving way. And if he's going to be a freak, at least he's a musical freak.
That could mean big money one day.
So me, not being overly musical, except for loving to sing though unfortunately not too well, decided that I was probably not the best person to develop whatever there is to develop in a mini musical maestro.
Today marked the first step in his musical career (the one in my mind anyway) and I took Charlie to music school.
He sang, danced and played instruments and LOVED IT! It was such a good decision to take him along. The main issue I had was keeping him still long enough to listen to the teacher's instructions, Charlie just didn't want to stop dancing.
Whenever the music was turned off momentarily, he would bold as brass walk up to his new teacher and politely ask for the music to "turn on pleeeeaaaaase".
At the end of class all the children got to have a turn playing around on the teachers piano. Now Charlie has never played the piano before all we have is a small keyboard that he's played with. All the kids crowded around the piano, banging their little hands on the keys making a lovely racket, and there is Charlie standing amoungst them carefully picking out each key to play and trying to actually play it. Not just banging it randomly. WOW.
After the other kids left, I stayed on to chat to the teacher for a few moments, while Charlie continued to play at the piano. We showed him that one end has high notes and one end has low, and each time we asked him to play high or low he got it right. I was so proud.
I continued talking to the teacher some more, then glanced over to see Charlie had pulled the stool back up to the piano, climbed on it and was calmly playing high and low notes then picking out a few specific key to play a little tune of his own making, as if he'd being doing it for years. Even the teacher was impressed.
I know Beethoven composed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at age 5, but I think my boy can better that.
Just you wait and see.
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
My Motown Experience - Part Two
For part one of this story click here.
Amazingly I was still awake as the taxi pulled up to the hotel. I hurriedly zipped my fabulous but totally impractical boots back on, and jumped out the taxi as if I did this all the time.
Get dressed up, go to a concert, catch a taxi to a hotel at 11 at night to hang out with famous people. Umm, yeah, I do this all the time.
Del and I walked into the hotel bar expectantly, looked around and saw........
NOBODY!
Except for a few guys having a quiet drink to one side. So what did we do?
Headed over to the bar of course!
(Turns out those 'few guys having a quiet drink' were actually a band called Shine Down, an American hard rock band in town for a few days . We got talking to them for a while, trading stories about escaping turtles and advising them of the best place to swim with sharks. Nice guys, even with the dreadlocks and facial jewelery. They had a laugh that Del actually knew who they were! Del had recently bought their latest album "The Sound of Madness" by mistake, thinking it was by one of his all time favourite UK groups Madness!).
So there we were, sipping our drinks, trying not to look out of place as we sat in a near empty bar, late in the evening, in a hotel weren't even staying at. Like I said earlier, we errr....do this sort of thing all the time.... yeah.
An hour or so later, after a few drinks and a few phone calls from my dad back at home, wondering what we were up to (Two not so young and carefree, sleep deprived parents out past midnight? What were we thinking?!), a bus pulls up out the front of the hotel.
BTW - we were the only people from the concert to actually go to the hotel. We couldn't believe we were the only ones with stalker potential out of the whole crowd!
So while Del headed for the door to get some autographs, I tried to look as cool and unstalker-like as possible, lounging casually in my chair sipping my alcohol free mocktail.
As Martha Reeves alights from the bus (OMG!) Del politely relieves her of the plate of food she was carrying and substitutes it with a piece of paper and charmingly asks for an autograph. How could she say no? Especially while he was holding her dinner to ransom.
She graciously signed it, asked if we were going to join them all for an 'after-glow' at the bar, and off she went to her room to freshen up.
Forgetting her plate of food in Del's hand.
After contemplating keeping it and selling it on Ebay to the highest bidder, he thought better of it and handed it to one of Martha's followers instead.
After that we retired to the bar area for another 'after-glow', and who should walk by but Charles Davis from the Contours, who was the MC for the night. Again Del introduced himself, and Charles happily gave us his autograph and invited us to join his group for a drink.
Umm, can we think about it? Oh, sure. Why not.
So that was how we found ourselves at way past midnight, having drinks and hanging out with our new best friends - a group of Motown legends.
They were all so friendly, musical and........ effortlessly cool.
One person would spontaneously break into song, any song, at any given moment, and then a few more would join in, giving us a personal medley of Motown hits. I could of happily sat with my eyes closed, listening to them all night.
Except for the danger that I might fall asleep, it being past my bedtime and all.
Everywhere we looked, there was another Motown legend. I had to pinch myself meeting Mary Wilson from The Supremes, and frantically try to think of something cool to say.
I think I failed.
I got hugs, kisses and compliments on my retro look dress and boots (made the pain worth it). At one point Theo Peoples from The Four Tops, asked me what I had thought of the concert.
I told him that I hadn't stopped dancing the whole time.
His reply : "And you would of looked good doing it too, baby." Said in a deep, smooth, musical voice that made me shiver in delight. Sigh.
We even received a private dance lesson from Lawrence Payton Jr of The Four Tops, as he tried to teach us how to 'catch the beat'. Unfortunately Del and I, having been born without any rythym, couldn't 'catch the beat'. AT ALL. But it was nice of him to try.
It was at this point, about 1.45am, that I received a phone call from Kaiden, our 14 year old.
"Mum, where are you? It's late. You should be home by now".
I hung my head, and mumbled "Yes Dad. I'm leaving now".
And we did.
Leaving our new best friends to continue the party without us.
(Sorry for the lack of photos in this post. You would of thought we would have lots of us posing with famous people, but we had such a great time talking to them, we forgot!)
Amazingly I was still awake as the taxi pulled up to the hotel. I hurriedly zipped my fabulous but totally impractical boots back on, and jumped out the taxi as if I did this all the time.
Get dressed up, go to a concert, catch a taxi to a hotel at 11 at night to hang out with famous people. Umm, yeah, I do this all the time.
Del and I walked into the hotel bar expectantly, looked around and saw........
NOBODY!
Except for a few guys having a quiet drink to one side. So what did we do?
Headed over to the bar of course!
(Turns out those 'few guys having a quiet drink' were actually a band called Shine Down, an American hard rock band in town for a few days . We got talking to them for a while, trading stories about escaping turtles and advising them of the best place to swim with sharks. Nice guys, even with the dreadlocks and facial jewelery. They had a laugh that Del actually knew who they were! Del had recently bought their latest album "The Sound of Madness" by mistake, thinking it was by one of his all time favourite UK groups Madness!).
So there we were, sipping our drinks, trying not to look out of place as we sat in a near empty bar, late in the evening, in a hotel weren't even staying at. Like I said earlier, we errr....do this sort of thing all the time.... yeah.
An hour or so later, after a few drinks and a few phone calls from my dad back at home, wondering what we were up to (Two not so young and carefree, sleep deprived parents out past midnight? What were we thinking?!), a bus pulls up out the front of the hotel.
BTW - we were the only people from the concert to actually go to the hotel. We couldn't believe we were the only ones with stalker potential out of the whole crowd!
So while Del headed for the door to get some autographs, I tried to look as cool and unstalker-like as possible, lounging casually in my chair sipping my alcohol free mocktail.
As Martha Reeves alights from the bus (OMG!) Del politely relieves her of the plate of food she was carrying and substitutes it with a piece of paper and charmingly asks for an autograph. How could she say no? Especially while he was holding her dinner to ransom.
She graciously signed it, asked if we were going to join them all for an 'after-glow' at the bar, and off she went to her room to freshen up.
Forgetting her plate of food in Del's hand.
After contemplating keeping it and selling it on Ebay to the highest bidder, he thought better of it and handed it to one of Martha's followers instead.
After that we retired to the bar area for another 'after-glow', and who should walk by but Charles Davis from the Contours, who was the MC for the night. Again Del introduced himself, and Charles happily gave us his autograph and invited us to join his group for a drink.
Umm, can we think about it? Oh, sure. Why not.
So that was how we found ourselves at way past midnight, having drinks and hanging out with our new best friends - a group of Motown legends.
They were all so friendly, musical and........ effortlessly cool.
One person would spontaneously break into song, any song, at any given moment, and then a few more would join in, giving us a personal medley of Motown hits. I could of happily sat with my eyes closed, listening to them all night.
Except for the danger that I might fall asleep, it being past my bedtime and all.
Everywhere we looked, there was another Motown legend. I had to pinch myself meeting Mary Wilson from The Supremes, and frantically try to think of something cool to say.
I think I failed.
I got hugs, kisses and compliments on my retro look dress and boots (made the pain worth it). At one point Theo Peoples from The Four Tops, asked me what I had thought of the concert.
I told him that I hadn't stopped dancing the whole time.
His reply : "And you would of looked good doing it too, baby." Said in a deep, smooth, musical voice that made me shiver in delight. Sigh.
We even received a private dance lesson from Lawrence Payton Jr of The Four Tops, as he tried to teach us how to 'catch the beat'. Unfortunately Del and I, having been born without any rythym, couldn't 'catch the beat'. AT ALL. But it was nice of him to try.
It was at this point, about 1.45am, that I received a phone call from Kaiden, our 14 year old.
"Mum, where are you? It's late. You should be home by now".
I hung my head, and mumbled "Yes Dad. I'm leaving now".
And we did.
Leaving our new best friends to continue the party without us.
(Sorry for the lack of photos in this post. You would of thought we would have lots of us posing with famous people, but we had such a great time talking to them, we forgot!)
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
My Motown Experience - Part One
This is Del and I on Sunday. Being a young and carefree couple, out for a night of fun.
(Photo courtesy of friendly drunk guy dancing behind us)
Except we're not.
Carefree, that is.
Or that young really.
Which is why it's Tuesday and I'm still recovering.
We managed to escape on our own for the night and go to a Motown music event held at a nearby winery. And boy, what a night.
We danced like crazy under the full moon, listening to the greatest Motown songs, sung by a plethora of famous, no make that legendary, Motown performers.
Let me reel off this list of names with accompanying songs for your your listening pleasure :
The Temptations
Mary Wilson from the Supremes
The Four Tops
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
The Miracles
Oh my, what a night! I would have said that even if our night had ended when the concert finished.
But it didn't end there. Oh, no it didn't.
We got a personal invitation to the after party. Well, along with every other person in the crowd.
You see, the MC, who just happened to be Charles Davis from the Contours, gave an open invite to go back to his hotel room after the show to continue the party.
AND OMG - HE GAVE THE NAME OF THE HOTEL!!!
Del and I looked at each other, and instantly there was no doubt in either of our minds. We had to get to that hotel.
Forget about my Dad and stepmother Mela sitting at our house, supervising Kaiden our 14 year old who was given babysitting duties for the evening.
Forget that Charlie wakes up at 5am every morning. Which means I have to get up at 5am every morning.
Forget that I'm a sleep deprived, 30-something mother, with extremely sore feet from dancing for the past 3 hours in totally unsuitable footwear (my high heel retro looking boots were the only ones that looked right with my blue and green retro mini dress - I was going for the 60's look alright).
The mere chance of being in the same hotel as these legends, let alone the chance of maybe even meeting some of them, was just too much to resist. As soon as the music ended for the night, we rushed it to the exit to wave down the first taxi we could find.
Except, if truth be told, Del rushed, I limped.
And eventually I had to take off my fabulous but totally impractical boots. I could then rush, barefoot through the dirt and grass. Very classy.
In the back of the taxi I was trying hard to ignore my body's desire to fall asleep (it was 10.30 pm after all), willing myself to stay awake long enough to see where this night would go. Once upon a time I could party all night, every night. Surely now I would be able to manage just one night. Surely.
(to be continued)
(Photo courtesy of friendly drunk guy dancing behind us)
Except we're not.
Carefree, that is.
Or that young really.
Which is why it's Tuesday and I'm still recovering.
We managed to escape on our own for the night and go to a Motown music event held at a nearby winery. And boy, what a night.
We danced like crazy under the full moon, listening to the greatest Motown songs, sung by a plethora of famous, no make that legendary, Motown performers.
Let me reel off this list of names with accompanying songs for your your listening pleasure :
The Temptations
Mary Wilson from the Supremes
The Four Tops
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
The Miracles
Oh my, what a night! I would have said that even if our night had ended when the concert finished.
But it didn't end there. Oh, no it didn't.
We got a personal invitation to the after party. Well, along with every other person in the crowd.
You see, the MC, who just happened to be Charles Davis from the Contours, gave an open invite to go back to his hotel room after the show to continue the party.
AND OMG - HE GAVE THE NAME OF THE HOTEL!!!
Del and I looked at each other, and instantly there was no doubt in either of our minds. We had to get to that hotel.
Forget about my Dad and stepmother Mela sitting at our house, supervising Kaiden our 14 year old who was given babysitting duties for the evening.
Forget that Charlie wakes up at 5am every morning. Which means I have to get up at 5am every morning.
Forget that I'm a sleep deprived, 30-something mother, with extremely sore feet from dancing for the past 3 hours in totally unsuitable footwear (my high heel retro looking boots were the only ones that looked right with my blue and green retro mini dress - I was going for the 60's look alright).
The mere chance of being in the same hotel as these legends, let alone the chance of maybe even meeting some of them, was just too much to resist. As soon as the music ended for the night, we rushed it to the exit to wave down the first taxi we could find.
Except, if truth be told, Del rushed, I limped.
And eventually I had to take off my fabulous but totally impractical boots. I could then rush, barefoot through the dirt and grass. Very classy.
In the back of the taxi I was trying hard to ignore my body's desire to fall asleep (it was 10.30 pm after all), willing myself to stay awake long enough to see where this night would go. Once upon a time I could party all night, every night. Surely now I would be able to manage just one night. Surely.
(to be continued)
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