Living Up To Her Name

Thankfully, Melody seems to have a real love for music.

Of course, she’s only 14 months old. So how can I really know? Well, for one thing, whenever I pick up my acoustic bass and just start messing around, she dances and laughs. Also, whenever Lori’s playing piano and singing, Melody wants to join in (she can now reach the keys). We also take her with us when we do music ministry both at the Springs Rescue Mission as well as at church on Sundays and other special "performances." So she’s quite well exposed to performed music and not just an occasional CD in the car.

But wait! There's more.

This summer (since there’s not a lot on TV), Lori and I have been watching episodes of the 90s series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (which, at about twelve years old, arguably are not all that new). Every time the opening credits run, Melody stops what she’s doing and stares at the screen. Nothing will interupt her attention. While the sci-fi geek in me would like to think that she’s enamored with the concept of Superman, it's obvious that she just really digs the theme music. She will watch it until the music is over and then she'll go back to eating whatever living room candle or remote control she was already gnawing on.

To test this, I've even (at Lori's behest) rewound the opening credits and played them again. It's akin to hypnosis!

Please note that our daughter's name is not Dialogue or Dramatica (although she’s quite the drama princess) so it only makes sense that she's only interested, at least at this point, in the music. As soon as the credits drop out into commercials or even during the bulk of the show, Melody is much more content to pull off her socks and eat them.

On Sunday, Lori and I put in the recent version of "The Phantom of the Opera." Most of the film was largely ignored by Melody (she’s not really sophisticated enough to tap into the idiosyncrasies of musical banter nor does she care about love stories...at least not yet). However, at one point the music became quite bombastic and overtook the film.

And this got Melody’s attention.

Our daughter stood from where she was playing in the living room and proceeded with much haste to Lori’s piano where she apparently intended to pound out the score along with the film.

So we're going to keep an eye on how this love of music evolves into and effects Melody's talents as she grows. She already has several musical toys including a pink miniature grand piano that Lori's parents gave her as well as a new xylophone and a Leap Frog drum that was handed down to her from friends at church.

She plays with these musical toys more than she plays with dolls and stuffed animals.

The musician in me thinks this is just great. I mean, we named her Melody. I'm pleased as punch that she's got a musical bent. But the Disney geek in me doesn’t want her to miss out on her childhood. Surely there's a place in Melody’s heart for Winnie the Pooh too.

I guess it's time to break out the Disney "Sing-Along-Songs."