Hot Patootie, Bless My Soul, I Really Love That Rock 'n Roll
What does music sound like to a fetus? It has to be fairly muffled, like listening to the car radio when you're curled up in the trunk. Sometimes I like to imagine our little girl as a miniature blues singer with a harmonica. Or maybe a Johnny Cash clone, whiling away the time in her hide-out until she can emerge and make her musical mark on the world:
I hear the heart a'beatin,'
It's comin' 'round the bend,
And I ain't seen the sunshine
Since I don't know when.
I'm stuck in Karen's belly,
And time keeps draggin' on . . .
I've heard it's good to sing to the fetus, so I've been doing that at least a couple of times a day. I also play the requisite classical tunes (more Beethoven, less Mozart), as well as a healthy dose of Bjork, Neko Case, The Decemberists, Jeff Buckley, Leadbelly, Tom Waits, and the soundtrack for The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Oh, and I've been playing her a lot of college radio lately so that she can get a good background in some of the lesser-known indie bands. So begins the slow indoctrination into wannabe hipster culture. (Maybe she can get through that insufferably pretentious, just-discovered-Plato's-Allegory-of-the-Cave phase while she's still a toddler. Wouldn't that be awesome?)
So, anybody have any musical recommendations?
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1 Thomas said January 14, 2010 at 9:38 p.m.
Col's not such a music buff so there wasn't a whole lot of music going on. I seem to remember singing a lot of Coltrane and Miles tunes to Christopher while he was in Col's belly. More of the melodic stuff seemed to make him squirm a bit. He also got excited with some old down-home dirty funk (Parliament/Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, James Brown, et. al.) and some jam-bandish stuff (moe., Addison Groove Project...stuff like that). After he was born, I would sing Johnny Hartman tunes to him to soothe him when he was upset/tired which was very effective a lot of times. He now seems to sing along with my mp3 player when we're driving in the car...I usually play it on random (which, as you know, means he could be listening to anything at any given time). He seems to be partial to Ben Harper and Anthony Hamilton (an Neo-Soul singer I really like). I think he has some sort of affinity to those earth-toned-raspy voices for some reason. I should try Tom Waits or Patricia Barber and see how he responds to thier material....maybe Kim Carnes or Brian Adams...we'll see. (WHOA! DUCK!)
He seems to enjoy when I play the piano. I let him bang the keys quite often...he seems to love it. He plays in a very polyphonic free form...very digable. I have some water-whistles for his bathtime that I'll pull out in around Xmas time. I can't wait until he really gets all bang-drum-on-everything-developmental on some of those wierd instruments I have...that will be a lot of fun.
The only recommondation on music that I would have to offer is to listen to as much music of as many different styles as you can possible handle (I know that some music you find untollerable on any circumstance...which is alright...Christopher wasn't getting "The Beer Barrel Polka" thumped into his wrinkling noggin during his gestation period). Take everything in stride and for what it is. I think the most important thing to know is that just because she's not jumping around at "Please Bleed" now, doesn't mean that she isn't going to jump around to it tomorrow!
2 Mary Ann said January 14, 2010 at 9:38 p.m.
Gusbaby loved Tom Waits in and ex utero, and still does, ever so much. The early weeks were saved by Paul Simon's Graceland album--laugh all you want, hipsters, but it made for a sleepy baby, and perhaps a bit of a weepy mama. The Magnetic Fields, Sufan Stevens, and Jens Lekman (Jens was mama's pregnancy crush) have somnolent powers--but also can be fun dance-party music. I'll have to ask Matt to comment, too, as he is the resident music snob and has several cross-indexed playlists with Gus music for every mood and occasion.
3 Thomas said January 14, 2010 at 9:38 p.m.
please edit the last paragraph, 2nd line accordingly...its almost 2am here!
4 Grandma Janelle said January 14, 2010 at 9:38 p.m.
You will also need to introduce Short Stack to classic rock. We need a little Pink Floyd, Moody Blues and any other from the rock era. To really annoy her father, also try some bubblegum music.
5 Karen said January 14, 2010 at 9:38 p.m.
Thanks, everyone!
Mary Ann: As someone who paid an unreasonable amount of money to see Simon & Garfunkel in concert a few years back, I am in absolutely no position to criticize the playing of 'Graceland.' I will give it a go, along with your other suggestions (particularly the dishy Jens Lekman).
Thomas: Ben Harper definitely lowers my blood pressure, so it can't hurt to try it with the little one. Actually, YOU should just come and sing to our baby every day while she's gestating. What do you think? It could be like a fun job without any pay. Oh, and would you also teach her to play the didgeridoo, please? Kthanks.
Grandma J: Pink Floyd is a must. It's one of the first bands I fell completely in love with while growing up. And all that lush psychedelia has to have a soothing effect on the baby, right?
6 Thomas said January 14, 2010 at 9:38 p.m.
HA! I love it. I don't know if it would be very fiscally responsible for me to travel to KS to sing to your belly...and it might be slightly awkward, but hey, what are friends without a little bit of awkwardness?
I'll start to learn Short Stack (I forgot that's what Nick calls her...I love it) on the didjeridoo as soon as possible...you'll have to prep her...maybe start her off on an empty pen casing to get the embouchre correct...we'll start there and see where it ends up.
You are required, though, to introduce the following music to Short Stack:
Jeckyll and Hyde
"Like a morning light/glimmering in red/like crimson bloodshed/shimmering in red (or vice-versa)
and
"So it comes to this/one last final chance that only I can take..."
Big River:
Huck: Jim, Jim, get up! They're after us again! we ain't got a minute to loose!
Jim: But I ain't got all the provisions aboard yet!"
Huck: Forget that! Just shovel out and I'll lay into that pole, Jim!
and finally, the french horn part in "Do You Hear the Poeple Sing"...she won't be no real playa 'less she's hip to dat, you feel me?
7 Karen said January 14, 2010 at 9:38 p.m.
1. Redundant Jekyll & Hyde lyrics....check.
2. Pseudo-folksy dialog from Big River...check.
and of course,
3. (do you) beeeeee BEEEEEEE bee-duh bee-duh bee.
Oh! And how about this?
4. Madame Gaston, can't you just see it? Madame Gaston, his little wife. (kick bucket)
8 Thomas said January 14, 2010 at 9:38 p.m.
I love it....