Coming three months early, my niece, Grace, was merely one pound, four ounces when she was born. Maybe because she was not yet ready to make her appearance, Grace was really fussy in the first eight months of her life. If her mother (my sister) or my mom went to run errands and it was left to me to watch Grace, she sensed it and would cry the entire time they were gone. She wailed as if the world was ending.
Because she was so small when she was born, Grace was always behind other kids her age. It took her months before she smiled — well, maybe she did smile at four months, or it could have just been gas — but when she did, her infectious laughter would make the coldest person break into a grin. She didn't walk until well past 16 months, but once she did, there was no stopping her.
Yet even before she could walk and smile, Grace responded to music: the only thing that could consistently soothe her. She learned early with her toys that played lullaby tunes. She then graduated to a YouTube video of a silly gummy bear that danced around showing his plumber's crack. Eventually she moved onto hour-long YouTube compilations that included songs like "Five Little Speckled Frogs" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." After the third straight hour of listening to these songs, I was grateful for the earplugs I picked up at First Avenue.
At 17 months, Grace is now old enough to remember things she likes, such as brushing her teeth — even though she only likes to suck the toothpaste off her toothbrush — watering the plants, and hiding in my closet so I can "come find her." She cannot yet speak, but I often catch glimpses of intelligence in her eyes before a thought gets lost in her baby brain again.
As soon as Grace grasps new things, she excels, so I wanted to see how she would respond to classical music. Being too small to sit by herself, I sat her in my lap and opened up my laptop to find a piece by Mozart.
Knowing that she responds better to fast-paced pieces, I put on "Piano Sonata No.11 In A, K.331 'Alla Turca': 3. Allegretto." Grace moved in time with the piece, but quickly grew bored because there were no animated animals to accompany the song.
Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker, Op. 71a: II. c. Russian Dance" proved to be a better choice. By this time, she wiggled out of my lap to plop her feet and dance along.
I slowed it down with Mendelssohn's "Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 30: No. 1. Andante Expressivo in E Flat" performed on the piano, but Grace was not impressed, so I moved on to Michael Nyman's soundtrack for The Piano and clicked on the last track: "The Heart Asks Pleasure First/The Promise." The swirling piano piece had her transfixed and swaying along with contentment.
I'm not sure how much Grace absorbed in that sitting, but perhaps it has opened her world to find new music that doesn't exist solely on YouTube — and even set her on the path of taking up the piano and violin as her grandma hopes. In that case, I'm going to buy her a powdered wig, so she can be a little Mozart.
Youa Vang is appreciative of all genres of music — even country. When not writing about music, she can be found working on her standup comedy and cross-stitching mischievous sayings while watching The Simpsons.
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