The Sound of Music

I have always wanted to master the art of music. My family had a karaoke machine before it became a trendy outing with friends. I took voice classes in college and rehearsed every night.  When it came time for my evaluation my teacher advised me to go into dance instead.

I once let my guard down and belted out a tune while I was with a girlfriend and she said, “It’s so great to hear you sing because you’re SO bad, it’s funny.” (She said this while I was 6 months pregnant which makes it worse). I get it. I’m not the most musical person in the world.

Like other mothers, you want your child to have a chance to be good at everything. I listened to classical music while I was pregnant in hopes that this will have a positive impact on my future child. Sure enough, it did. My daughter loves anything musical. I mean ANYTHING! If a toy is accompanied with music she will play with it. If Faryl Smith is singing opera on the “Ellen” show she will stop in her tracks to listen. I am convinced she has learned the lyrics to the Black Eyed Peas song “Boom Boom Pow”. The Backyardigans, who’s cute little songs has gotten us through some long road trips, is one of her favorites!  When she hears music she will start bopping and dancing to the beat, not only to the beat but ON beat.

Wanting to expose her to more, I enrolled her in Kindermusic classes. Her teacher, Ms. Sara, sings like an angel. I am convinced birds help her get dressed in the morning like they did in “Cinderella”. My daughter loves the instruments and will play with them all prior to putting them in her mouth, of course. She drums the drum, rings the bell and shakes the maracas like she’s known how to do it the entire nine months of her life.

During her first class, Ms. Sara asked all the parents to sing along.  What?! Why?! All the parents started singing so I tried to slip in a few verses...  I was mortified when I heard myself. I immediately stopped and began lip-syncing hoping the other moms wouldn’t notice. Then I started to listen. One mom sounded like she was classically trained, another mom sounded karaoke-good and another mom sounded like… me! And she was STILL singing. (Actually she could sing just a little better than me). My main reason for stopping was because I didn’t want to have a negative influence on all the great music she was learning.

After class, I asked Ms. Sara if I would taint my daughter’s ability to sing if I kept singing to her. I just didn’t want her to think that my singing was the norm for music. Ms. Sara’s response was “Heavens NO! If anything, singing to her will show Isabella how much mommy loves music and she will love it just as much if not more. As she grows older, she will learn pitch accuracy so seeing how much you enjoy music will only have a positive influence on her.” Ms. Sara explained to me that growing up she thought her mom was the best singer in the world. She sang to her all the time. Recently, she heard her mom sing again and realized her mother’s voice was not nearly as angelic as she remembered. Ms. Sara is obviously still musical which is what I hope for my own daughter.

So get your earplugs ready world because mama’s gonna sing!!!

This is an original LA Moms Blog post. Bernadette not only makes people laugh through her singing but also through her stand-up comedy. Check out future show listings at bernadettelive.com and facebook updates.