The Sound of Music
Written By Rani Arbo
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Second Movement
Arriving at Music Together, we saw a familiar sight: Our young teacher, Carrie, sat cross-legged in a circle of mothers dandling children on their laps. This time, however (and in defiance of statistical odds, since Music Together classes mix ages from birth through 4), the kids were all babies. So this class was quieter and more halting. For starters, the moms were managing babies, not 2-year-olds, so they weren't making such wonderful fools of themselves. And the babies were, well, babies; while Carrie beat her red drumsticks enthusiastically on the floor, the babies mostly sucked on theirs.
As a result, Quinn's attention wandered mightily. He ran around, investigated the pipe organ by the door, climbed on me, and paid no heed to Carrie's choreography. I didn't push him — after all, the whole point of being there was to sidestep that. I let him ignore what didn't interest him (such as repeating tonal and rhythm patterns, dancing in any sort of organized fashion, following directions in general). And I noticed that he always came around for what did interest him: a favorite song, the mountain of free-play instruments, putting the instruments away (which he did with the ritual of a Japanese tea ceremony), and, surprisingly, lying down for the lullaby.
Still, I worried whether Quinn's attention span would last the summer. Luckily, a bewitching 5-year-old with blond ringlets and very pink dresses joined her baby sister in class. Quinn copied her every move.
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