Why music?

I will share with you another interesting detail related to my pregnancy. Music was played in our house every day, mostly old rock and pop music. The gramophone was our choice and to me records give a special kind of listening experience. A few months earlier, we had bought tickets to Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood’s concert, and the album was intensely listened to for days and even months. Of course, with all the mood swings a woman goes through during pregnancy, I also had my oscillations, which the baby naturally feels, and I always calmed myself down by listening to that exact record. My son would calm himself down the same way, and I would pat my belly lightly to the rhythm of the song. As time went by, I noticed the baby responding by tapping back after me. At first, of course, I thought it was accidental, but as this happened repetitively, I realized it was not. I was thrilled, thinking what a gift and moment I was able to have with my unborn child, and it is the music that allowed us to make that communication happen. Two days before I gave birth, we went to that concert and I was wondering if the loud sounds would upset the baby, but, on the contrary, he enjoyed it. Ever since his birth, I have kept playing the same album in the apartment. We listened to it together, and when he was tormented by cramps or, for some other reason, he would be upset, a certain song would always calm him down. He loved it when I would wake him up with a tune I know he loves, and I would always get a smile from him in return.

From these examples, I came to some important conclusions that helped me first listen to and recognize the needs of my child. They also helped me in my professional work with children, my students of different ages, especially when trying to channel their affinity for music the right way. Not every child loves the same era of classical music. I say this because of my work in music schools. You need to learn more about the child, listen to music together. Maybe they don’t prefer Bach and cannot express all their musical ability. However, it might happen that through Rachmaninov they are able to do better. Perhaps it’s a modern-day composer who the child feels and understands better than me, his professor. For this reason, music has no boundaries. It provides a unique opportunity for us to fully listen to ourselves and our needs, and, more importantly, it allows the child to have music as their love, desire, and world in which they feel comfortable and safe, and by no means, I repeat, something that he/she must do. Music provides us with something beautiful. It evokes special emotions, and it is not said by chance that music is a language that knows no boundaries.

Write to me, ask questions and I will always happily write back.