martinimade

I am not all that musically inclined. I can sing with the radio, mostly on key. I played clarinet in junior high/high school but was really, really bad at it, mostly because I never practiced. I was so bad, in fact, that for four years, a fellow bad clarinetist* and I were engaged in a war** for the last chair in the section. 

The Husband is the musical one. He's a singer, trained and everything. In high school, he belonged to a choir that was good enough to travel to far off lands, like Poland, where they ate aspic.

The Diva takes after her Dad. She's had frighteningly accurate pitch since she was a toddler*** and sings quite well. I don't say this because I'm her mother; I can say with great authority that her brother can't find a pitch when given a compass and a map. Still, he makes up for lack of tone with unflagging enthusiasm.

Eventually, we'll get the girl into formal lessons, since she seems to want to take them. But for now, I'm loving listening to her sing in the backseat when we drive places. She loves the KidzBop**** discs, which none of the adults can stand. We're constantly trying to shift her over to music we want to hear, too. A few years ago, her favorite car CD was The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.***** And, yes, the "erection" song spurred quite a few conversations.

I managed to watch about 20 minutes of that acappella singing reality show. While I didn't dig the competition, it reminded me how much I love Ben Folds, which made me pick up his acappella disc, which has been in constant rotation in the car. It's a hoot to hear the Diva find the harmonies on "Jesusland," which is one of her favorites. And, I've been trying to explain what "Jesusland" means but she doesn't quite have the life experience to get it. Still, we try. 

Effington is the song that we all enjoy. She likes that Folds has his kids sing on it. The Boy likes to sing the rhythm line. And both the spouse and I grin like fools as we drive.

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* Awesome band name alert.

** If you can describe any two people who are that apathetic about their musical development as being in "a war."

*** I also wonder if this has something to do with how quickly she picked up language.

**** Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box has a great KidzBop moment in it.

***** I know. But when your parents met doing theater, listening to quirky musicals is your birthright.