musicality

In my head I am a really great singer.  I love to sing.  I love to belt out tunes in the car, around the house, anywhere really.  In reality, I cannot sing.  I think my daughter is now facing the exact same situation.  We have been listening to the Glee soundtrack a ton---like every time we are in the car, around the house, anywhere really.  She belts out all the tunes and loves the ballads just as much as Gold Digger and Bad Romance.  When I was getting her up from her nap the other day I stood outside her room and heard her singing, "You and I defying in gravity..." at the top of her lungs, missing all the right notes and barely replicating the tune.  When I came in she said, "Mom, don't I sound just exactly like Rachel?"
"Yes."  I lied.  "I thought Rachel was actually in your room singing with you."
 Bless her poor little tone deaf heart.

I decided not to feel sorry for her because even though she may not be on American Idol someday she can still spend a lifetime loving music and singing to her heart's content.

I grew up in a very musical family--and by musical, I mean we listened to, saw, and sang just about every musical out there.  I remember my parents taking us to see all we could handle:  Grease, Oklahoma, Oliver, Music Man, Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls, way too many to count.  We all went to see Fiddler on the Roof in the movie theater and afterwards we went out to Peaches (remember Peaches?) to buy the album.  (oh, and I don't mean "album" like a generic term for all music collections.  I mean "album" as in the record, lp, on vinyl, remember those?)  We all were just so in love with singing and dancing and acting out scenes and songs from the movie.  Once, while visiting some relatives we thought it would be a great idea to put on a show for them so we donned dishtowels for our head coverings and went into Matchmaker, Matchmaker from Fiddler.  ( I think I was about 5)  Our relatives thought it was adorable but were wondering why we were singing and talking with British accents.  My mom explained that we had purchased Fiddler on the Roof:  the London recording.

I thought every family had a "no singing at the table" rule but as it turns out, we were the only family I know that needed one.  I loved growing up in a house filled with music.  The best part about cleaning the house back in the day was being able to rock out to Linda Ronstadt and Carly Simon while doing it.

Eloise is now loving a variety of music and musicals herself and she has already treated us to some great performances.  We have done Mary Poppins to death and now are into The Sound of Music, and of course, all the Glee songs.  It is hilarious to hear her singing the words that she thinks she is hearing.  I never correct her because it is just too precious to hear her sing "when you see my face, hope it gives you help, hope it gives you help".  I am counting on the fact that most of the lyrics are way over her head.  I am basing this on the fact that I knew and sang all the words to "Tits and Ass" from A Chorus Line when I was four years old and had no idea what they meant until I was about 17.  Still, it is a little unsettling, I'll admit, to hear her singing all the words to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance--I think you know what parts I'm talking about.

So far we have one very happy daughter that can't really hit the right notes but loves to perform, just like her mother.  We are holding out hope that the second daughter will sing more like her father--him with his self proclaimed Perfect Pitch.  In the meantime, we'll just be jamming in the car, around the house, or anywhere really.

this is the "thumbs up" she gives every time a good song comes on

belting out a tune in the car