Off in his own little world, humming contentedly. Three year old grandson Lincoln and I were at the Burlington Kentucky Library. While he enjoyed participating in the semi-structured Storytime activities with other “littles”, for him the real fun came afterwards. That’s when he could scurry around the play area, choosing to be puppeteer, artist, construction worker, chef or rescue worker.
On one particular visit in 2018, Lincoln became part of a tag team. A brother and sister about his age were weaving their way between the drawing table, the Lego tower, and the train track. When they tagged him, he hopped up to join their fun game of tag.
Afterwards he returned to his imaginary world. As his police car zoomed past the foot of my chair in hot pursuit of a villain, I picked up a bit of the tunes he was humming. Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Beethoven’s Fur Elise, and Grieg’s Morning Mood. What?!
Chuckling, I recalled that some episodes of Little Einsteins we’d watched had been playing these compositions by the Great Composers in the background. While Lincoln was absorbed in the adventures that the team of children were having, Rocket was navigating him into music appreciation. 🎻🎷🎹
Kind of like when my Mom played the classics on our record player as background music. She subscribed to the Longines Symphonette Recording Society. Each month her excitement was palpable as she opened the package that was larger than our mailbox. Sometimes I was the first to discover it stuck between the screen and our front door when I got home from school.
While she knew what collection she had requested, it was always a special experience for me to be with her as she unwrapped a “journey into another world”. There was something almost sacred about watching Mom gently place the vinyl on the turntable and hearing the melodies fill up our home.
Whether it was titled Treasury of Favorite Waltzes, Romance with an Italian Accent, Sing Along with Mitch Miller, The Best Songs of Henry Mancini, Marches of All Nations, The Roaring 20’s, or Joy of Christmas, she shared her love of all types of music with us.
When my high school band marched to a Tribute to the Classics and when I took a Music Appreciation class in college, many of the tunes were already familiar because of Mom’s exposing me to them as a child.
Most of these albums became a part of her music collection that followed Dad and her from my childhood home into their cabin in the woods of North Carolina to their senior living home and finally to her assisted living apartment.
My daily visits there often included playing her musical requests. While the volume was up so high that I had to wear ear plugs, it gave me such joy to see the smile on Mom’s face as familiarity brought her pleasure and peace.
Sharing that part of her life with me through the years resulted in MORE than music appreciation, and reminiscing about it in this moment reminds me of that.
It was something that connected Mom and me in a unique-to-us experience through the years, and prepared a way for me to connect around music with other generations of family. 🎵💏
Who knows where Lincoln’s 3 year old humming will lead in his appreciation of music and of life?! (He’s almost 8 now…and LOVES to listen to and sing all types of music!)
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