so i know that everyone to some extent, feels their child is a genius. whether it's memorizing numbers, speaking early or walking early it always seems to be something. i've tried to not get too overly excited when caleb does something i particularly think is amazing but just enjoy how much fun he is & watch him grow. but i had to ask other parents about something, just because i was curious.
caleb has always LOVED music. as a few-wk old infant, beethoven, mozart & other classical music was the only thing that would stop his incessant screaming. every night ben & i would rock him & sing songs to him before he went to sleep. at 26 mos old i counted that he had over 35 songs memorized. at 2 1/2 he's up to over 50, not including all of the verses to the songs. that includes the basics like the 'itsy bitsy spider' & basic primary songsup to 3 verses of 'come thou fount of every blessing,' joni mitchell, jack johnson, james taylor, and of course a little bit of bob dylan thanks to ben.
he's constantly singing & is making up songs all the time. in nursey his teachers have commented on how well he knows the songs but have remarked that what they can't believe is that he's actually on tune. then we we were flying back utah in dec. he started singing "ode to joy" on pitch and 3 people asked me when we were getting off the plane how old he was. when i told them 2 1/2, one man called him a "prodigy." i was pretty cynical about the whole thing...thought it was nice but chalked it up to the man having some jet lag.
today i started singing a jack johnson song he loves from the 'curious george' movie soundtrack. he started singing along in tune & after a minute, i switched the pitch of the song, wondering if he would follow my voice or keep singing. he sang a couple of notes, then paused and started back up again changing his tune to match my pitch. i switched it again & so did he i tried it on other songs & he kept following my voice. i've also heard him singing harmony parts to some songs but thought it was because he just couldn't tell the difference between the melody & harmony.
so just be honest....is this normal? if other kids do this around his age then i want to hear about it. i'm not about to call disney or anything (sorry carmella!) but if he does have some sort of talent in this area then i want to be able to help him get better at it.
Monday, February 11, 2008
just the norm or prodigy?
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17 comments:
Prodigy or not, that's pretty impressive. I would get some instruments for him and encourage him while he still has some innate sense of joy for it. Better than letting him get too old and lose interest.
I agree with that girl. I thinks it pretty impressive! He sounds like such a sweetie!
wowzer! Obviously we have no musical abilities, but thats pretty impressive to me. I don't even know the difference between melody and harmony (should I be admitting that??)
Aim and I saw Riverdance this weekend, and while the gals sang incredibly high, I thought of you and lauren. You're the only people I know in real life who can sing like that.
so- Caleb has it in his jeans to be musically gifted. Go ahead- give Disney a call. Better yet, post a video on you tube for all of us.
Forwarding to 2022......
And the next American Idol is.....
Caleb Strader
I will buy his CD!!! That is awesome! Send a video of him singing to Ellen! :)
Granted I don't have kids, but I have watched my 8 nephews on just my side of the family grow and we are pleaseed if they are capable of not breaking a body part by 2 1/2 let alone having any music ability. Seriously. I think you got something special there.
You are allowed to think he's a genius regardless...I think my children are out of this world at everything they do! That singing is real talent though and as a music teacher, I would say keep going!! It's also a great predicter of doing really well mathematically etc.!
Let me tell you a little something. I will be 30 yrs old this year and I honestly can't carry a tune or follow any music. I think that's amazing what Caleb can do.
I think that man on the plane deserves a smack on the face...how dare he call little Caleb a prodigy. Obviosly he's much more than that a maestro,genius,phenomenon,sensation,marvel! And I'm not just saying that.He's been given a talent...develop it girl!
Lyns, my kids love to sing and know a lot of songs, but not like that! That's awesome. It's actually something I've thought about a few times when you've mentioned him singing on your blog. That is so great! There's nothing more fun than watching your kids sing songs when they have no idea of the meaning. I heartily agree with previous commentators, you need to post some video!
Caleb definitely has a unique gift for music but that's never been surprising to me because you and Ben are both very musically talented. I definitely think, as a mother, that one of our greatest jobs is to recognize our children's gifts and give them the tools to develop them as often and early as possible. Everyone here is right - get him some musical instruments, get him into lessons and don't ever feel lame for bragging about your sweet, intelligent, amazing little boy. That's what blogs are for!
PS - you suck for alphabetizing your "fellow bloggers" links - I'm way down in the middle now!!! I was so proud to be right at the top, like the queen of the list. I want my name to be "AAAAAAA" so that I'm always your #1 fellow blogger. :)
Lyns- wow that is awesome that he is soooo good at music- especially songs that a 2 year old wouldn't really know "Ode to Joy" etc. Brady knows tons of songs by heart too but I'm way impressed with what you said about Caleb's ability to change pitch etc. Brady also sings in tune with the music and knows all verses but it sounds like Caleb really does have a natural gift for music! Let us know how he progresses if you choose to "channel" this! He could be a young singing or instrumental "prodigy!" Has he ever played the piano or seemed interested in other instruments?
I'm sorry, I just stumbled across your blog. I LOVE your layout!!! Could you tellme where you got it? And, would you mind if I used it too???
Impressive music talent!!!!
Thanks for responding...I never know if people will just think I'm a weirdo-hahaha!
We live in Rexburg, in Hyde Park apartments, right below the Temple. Yeah, I see you are friends with Kristen Harker, we are friends too. I can't believe you have family in AK and friends from Spokane, how funny! Isn't it so crazy how many things we all have in common without ever meeting eachother?
Definitly NOT normal. He's amazing. He's got major natural talent. Very exciting.
I think it's totally natural for most kids to love to learn music and try and match tones but to actually do it is the key. Eden loves to sing,always has, I used to put her to bed with classical music too but she has some pitch issues I must admit, but it totally sounds like Caleb has a natural gift for music. That is awesome, and it is totally okay for you to brag about your little genius we all do it :)
So I see you've met my friend Katie, she's so fun.
I've already told you that caleb is super smart and talented. Like when you came out to visit us, he was singing the alphabet song with the fridge magnet thing. I say ener him in the cute and talented baby contests. You could be millionaires. =) I am serious though about him being talented. He just sounds so smart. Probably gets it from his parents.
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