I was very surprised last night to see/hear the reaction BOTH of these kids had to a particular piece of music. Of course, we all know that well written, well performed music can evoke an emotional response. Actually, any music can evoke an emotional response I guess. But I always thought that had a lot to do with our experiences while we listen to some music. And how many movies we have seen.

I'm not just talking about whether a piece of music is pleasurable or not, but an actual emotional upwelling. OK, so what am I talking about? Last night I got home with the kids, and as I was preparing dinner, the kids were coloring and playing with Matchbox firetrucks. I pulled up a podcast from one of my favorite shows, called Radiolab, out of WNYC. This show happened to be about Wagner's Ring opera. They started talking about the second part, Die Walküre. And up comes this most famous piece of music, Ride of the Walkures, or Valkyries in English. Well bith kids stopped, and looked at me. Isabelle says, "Daddy, what's happening?" with a very concerned look on her face. "What's the matter?" David, sensing he's not alone in this feeling, says, "I don't like that! What is that?"
Followed by Isabelle," Daddy? Daddy, what's happening?"

So I turned it down, and I told them it was just a piece of music, and some prettier music would be on soon. I had to catch myself before I went into this diatribe about what was happening in the opera, and who the Walküre are, and thousands of years of Norse myth and so on. But I was also very happy that they were in fact, listening to the music too. And I was kinda amazed that it would have elicited the response it did in them. I mean, we've all seen What's Opera, Doc?  And I saw Apocalypse Now! in the theatre, one with the best surround sound of the day, maybe 15 years ago. And after that, 'Ride of the Walküres', and 'the End' will always have a slightly more powerful impression on me. But these kids have never seen, and thankfully never experienced, anything like that, but the music still raised the hair on the back of their necks. How cool is that?

Now I have to look for music lessons. Hmmm. Piano? Guitar? Kazoo?