In todays Guardian, Alexis Petridis wrote an article concerning fostering music taste in his young daughter, Esme. He explains that he used to believe moulding musical tastes by forcing ones own tastes on that of their children was not only arrogant but also stifling. His philosophy changed, though, when Esme began listening to music and requesting (screaming for) her CDs be played (constantly) in the car. In Petridis words:
Of course, it was easy to crow about my laissez-faire attitude before Esme started taking an interest in music, which she expressed by screaming until one of her CDs was played on every car journey. And, as I learned, there is no escaping the fact that most children’s music is awful badly written, poorly made, infected with an insulting sense of “this’ll do, it’s just for kids”.
He couldnt be more right. Much of todays music geared specifically toward children is drivel, and its been that way for awhile. So when Petridis had all he could take, he turned his daughters musical interests to disco, which he felt was better than the childrens music and attractive enough for his daughter. He then inched her away from disco by exposing her to pop music.
He no longer had to listen to childrens music, but he did find a flaw in his plan. At 3 years old, Esme would become quite fond of one track in particular and Petridis would be forced to listen to the track over and over again! He probably could use a good pair of sound blocking earplugs, as would anyone having to listen to the same song repeatedly. I wish I could have told him about my approach to this dilemma before he ran into this problem.
As you all know, Im a big music fan and my children also love music. I have very diverse taste in music, so my children have been exposed to everything from Metallica to Keith Urban to Yo-Yo Ma. What they were never exposed to was the boppy little childrens tunes. I have friends who seemingly have no choice but to listen to their childs music in the car, but I guess I never made this an option. Baby Beluga loses its charm quickly! As well, I also avoided some of those childrens shows with annoying little ditties (such as a certain overly cheery purple dinosaur!).
The result was children who appreciate my musical taste, yet they explore their own tastes as well; none of which, Im happy to report, have anything to do with kiddy music. My daughter loves Japanese pop and my son seems to be going more towards hard rock and heavy metal. So, rather than noise blocking earplugs, we are able to use childrens musicians earplugs and enjoy the music together without damaging our hearing.
My best wishes to Mr. Petridis and Esme. Though the repetitive nature of Esmes tastes are a bit annoying now, shes blessed to have music in her life and for her fathers efforts at making the music REAL music!
Cheers!
Meghan