Opus 25 - Beethoven

The babies woke up a little early from their nap this morning (they seem to be doing this a lot lately), so I took them downstairs to play in their bouncers. I decided that, being the music educator I am, I should play the piano for them. I thought about playing Mozart since so many people say it's good for babies to hear Mozart, but I'm not completely sold on the whole "Mozart Effect" thing since the study wasn't all that comprehensive (it only should that the kids who listened to Mozart did better on one specific type of test, so you have to be careful when touting Mozart). Don't get me wrong, I love Mozart and have played it many times for the kids simply because I enjoy the music. And of course I know that music is good for the development of the brain. I just feel there are many other studies out there that are more comprehensive than the Mozart one.

But I digress. I was talking about my decision to play the piano for the babies. I decided Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata would be great - maybe it would help keep the babies calm. I began playing. At first Joshua whined a little, but soon calmed down and focused on his toys. When I was about 3/4 of the way down the 2nd of 3 pages Lissa decided it was time to express herself. She started to do her little yell thing she does when she wants her pacifier. As usual, in the beginning there was just a yell here and there that wasn't too loud. So on I went with Beethoven. By the time I got to the last three or four lines of the song, Lissa's yells were much closer together, higher in pitch, and higher in volume. Determined to finish the song (I didn't want the song stuck in my head the rest of the day due to it's lack of an ending), I picked up the pace a little. Then Joshua kicked in. He figured he should express himself too, since his sister was doing it. So the last two lines were a bit hurried, with a few mistakes as I kept turning to talk to the babies and calm them while I played, and had the addition of my babies' voices. Poor Beethoven, I don't think this was how he intended his beautiful Moonlight Sonata to be.

I think I'll pick a shorter song from now on... But at least I'm trying to expose my kids to great music! :)