The Smiley Smile Message Board

My daughter is 17 months old, going on 18 months. My wife & I took her to go visit my Aunt in the retirement home where she lives. In the lobby there is a piano. To keep her occupied for a bit, I sat her on the bench right in front. She looked at me, so I hit a middle C on the piano, then went to talk to my aunt. I expected to hear random mashing and atonal racket, and thought it be cute for a lark. Lo and behold, she f*cking plays a C major chord, then proceeds to play the same thing an octave lower, then right back to the middle, then stops, laughs, and starts clapping. My wife's just rolling with laughter, my aunt looks like she's sitting there with her mouth open and her eyes bugging out, and I'm snapping pictures like crazy. She then proceeds to to play single notes, slowly, but it is actually playing a melody, which she starts playing faster. She does that a few times, stops, claps & laughs, climbs down off the bench and toddles over to me to hug my leg. That was the damned thing I have ever seen. Now Dana & I are both songwriters, but haven't owned a keyboard since 3 years before Jaymie was even born. Now, when Jaymie was in the womb, Dana would put headphones up to her stomach, and it usually had things like Pink Floyd  , or the Final Fantasy 9 soundtrack, or Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE . After Jaymie was born, whenever she'd ride in the car with me, she'd be subjected to a good deal of Brian Eno, which she seems to enjoy. I'm about to post a thing on youtube where she babbles (in key, mind you) along to the guitar solo in "Trippin in a Hole in a Paper Heart", which I was singing (bad) karaoke to. So, yeah, it's apparent she loves music. But, here's the thing. I'm tempted to buy a piano come tax time, and see if she really does dig it, or if it was a fluke. And, what if she does? If she turns out to be a child prodigy, would it be wrong to try to cash in? I dunno, it doesn't feel right to me. What would you guys do?

You and her have to fight for success - as a team you'll be unbeatable! And don't forget to tell her to always sing from her heart.

There's a difference between being one of those parents who pushes their child too hard, and one who nurtures their child's talent. Go for it, buy a piano.

Yeah, no doubt. I think I will. We bought her a toy xylophone for Christmas, and she's just loving that. Hell, maybe it's from all the Yo Gabba Gabba she watches!


:lol

More seriously, I agree with what Aegir said. My parents offered me a toy piano when I was 2 or 3, but they didn't "push" me at all: they had noticed I was responsive to music and that I seemed to like it, so they thought offering a piano might be a good idea. I don't know if that's what sparked a greater interest in music, but it certainly didn't have any bad effect.

So yeah, go for it!  :)