Music Appreciation

Ben has always been all about music which thrills us, especially considering that he could be all about TV. A couple of weekends ago I had Sam with me putting laundry away while Brian and Ben were hanging out. Did I mention that the amount of laundry a family produces grows exponentially with each child? Anyway, Brian and Ben were in the den with the stereo on listening to Jethro Tull, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and others. Apparently they were trying to find songs/artists that have very clear instrumental parts so Ben could hear the flutes or the drums. You get the picture. The thing that set this listening session apart from all others to date was that they were both lying on their backs on the floor, just listening. Ben was smiling and Brian was singing along. It was a truly perfect father/son moment. Brian then said it reminded him of college...huh? While in his frat house at Stanford it seems that there were a group of guys who would hang out in one room occupied by Mike Funk, a true music lover with a huge sound system to boot. They would just chill with the music. This came to be known as "Music Appreciation."

Ben loves listening to music with Daddy but would rather just play along very loudly with Mommy....I guess I don't have the depth of music knowledge that he needs. He sets up his own drum set using a variety of instruments and goes to town. He even puts out a music book from a kids' music class we took months ago. His favorite artists/songs lately are The BoDeans/Good Things (known to Ben as the drumming song because it's a live version that wrapped up a show), and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers/Free Falling (first heard by Ben during the Super Bowl halftime show this year and a favorite ever since).

Sam on the other hand is mostly about standing up these days, using anything he can as a platform.....like the box for the music stuff.