What a terrific piece in New York Magazine by Justin Davidson. A must read, with lots to consider around the issue of “bequeathing musical taste.” Justin sees this as a parent’s job, which is true, of course. However, for the many parents who work two jobs or who are simply not up to that particular job, it falls to the public (and private) schools to provide what Justin is writing about.

It brings me to Sophie, my three-year-old daughter. As I wrote in my blog description, I believe that the arts are inherent to all children–that the arts are part of our DNA. I believe our responsibilities as parents and teachers include providing sustained pathways for children to discover and develop these inherent abilities. I observe it in Sophie all the time, through the songs she makes up, the dances she invents, the little bits of theater that emerge when she reaches into a page of a book we’re reading,  to grab the illustrated banana, rip it out into real life, and hand it to me to eat.

I try to provide all sorts of music for her to listen to, from Reich, to Bach, to Talvin Singh, to Carlene Carter, to you name it. What I find most interesting, is that she can always tell when the music was written for children, as opposed to adults. She will say to me: “daddy, that’s daddy music. Don’t you have some baby music to play?” While I would like to bequeath my music taste, I find it more interesting that at three, she’s already developed musical taste. It will be interesting to see how it develops as she develops.