The latest experiment has been to leave musical instruments around to see what O will do with them. His favourite is still the piano and he's realised now that he's tall enough to reach it all by himself - he can get up on his tippy toes and bang away at the keys, even cruise up and down the keyboard all by himself. Who needs mum, anyways?! Last week I took the snare out of my drum set, put it on the ground, put the drumsticks next to it, and sat back to enjoy the show. Sure enough, as soon as O came into the studio, he made a beeline straight for the snare, stopping only to pick up the drum sticks! Granted, he's had plenty of practise upstairs with wooden spoons and every toy under the sun (my favourite is when he tries to figure out what kind of sound mum makes when you hit her with a wooden spoon...), but the snare is substantially louder than a couple plastic trucks and some cardboard blocks. Better bounce, too. In no time he was keeping a decent enough beat, and even got in a drum roll or two! Next thing I know, isn't he singing along... He spent a good half an hour moving between drums and piano before he got bored.
Banging two things together is most definitely a baby favourite. Cymbals, on the other hand, not so much! O isn't so fond of the hi-hat, something about the timbre of it doesn't sit well with his little ears. Other cymbals are tolerable, but nothing beats a good drum. The bass drum is easy for him to get to as well, and he gives it a pat or two every time he comes into the studio. He'll sit there waiting for me to play something exciting, and then he goes to town on the bass drum. Or, come over to the piano and "accompany me" by playing all the lowest notes he can reach. So helpful.
All this got me thinking about babies and rhythm. Does O really have rhythm, or am I just interpreting what he's playing as rhythmically viable? The short answer is yes, he really does have rhythm! Psychology is hard at work figuring out the links between music and infant brains; there are so many studies that suggest music in infancy promotes brain function, and certainly helps with related math skills, but as with all human trials, it's correlational data. One particular study synopsis that I found interesting regarding infant perceptions of rhythm is in the Music Matters section of Psychology Today, exploring the question "do newborn infants have a sense of rhythm?". They found that two day old babies knew something was up when the music they listened to skipped a beat.
I guess that explains the looks O gives me when I'm working on a passage in a new piece - I never get the rhythm right on the first try!
Banging two things together is most definitely a baby favourite. Cymbals, on the other hand, not so much! O isn't so fond of the hi-hat, something about the timbre of it doesn't sit well with his little ears. Other cymbals are tolerable, but nothing beats a good drum. The bass drum is easy for him to get to as well, and he gives it a pat or two every time he comes into the studio. He'll sit there waiting for me to play something exciting, and then he goes to town on the bass drum. Or, come over to the piano and "accompany me" by playing all the lowest notes he can reach. So helpful.
All this got me thinking about babies and rhythm. Does O really have rhythm, or am I just interpreting what he's playing as rhythmically viable? The short answer is yes, he really does have rhythm! Psychology is hard at work figuring out the links between music and infant brains; there are so many studies that suggest music in infancy promotes brain function, and certainly helps with related math skills, but as with all human trials, it's correlational data. One particular study synopsis that I found interesting regarding infant perceptions of rhythm is in the Music Matters section of Psychology Today, exploring the question "do newborn infants have a sense of rhythm?". They found that two day old babies knew something was up when the music they listened to skipped a beat.
I guess that explains the looks O gives me when I'm working on a passage in a new piece - I never get the rhythm right on the first try!