Light It Up Blue: Music Is Her Jam

Every April, I dedicate a post to Autism Awareness Month to help promote awareness and understanding of the disorder which now affects one in 54 children in the U.S. My daughter, who I refer to as Middle Child on this blog, was formally diagnosed at age five, nearly 25 years ago. In past posts, I've focused on her struggles with friendships, school & community college, and finding the right job, as well as her successes. This year, I'm going to tell you about her favorite hobby.

We noticed her love of music before she turned one, and by 18 months, she could sing a few songs on key, such as Baa Baa Black Sheep. She had even memorized the ABC song by that age, which is really remarkable. At that time, her favorite TV show was Barney, and when she'd hear the first note of the theme song, she would bounce excitedly on her bottom or begin a dance of tapping one foot while twirling in a circle. I would often play classical music for her, and her favorite was Tchaikovsky's Russian Dance.

As soon as she was old enough, I signed her up for Kindermusik. It's a wonderful program that combines singing, movement, and hands on activities. It was also a good fit for her because the parent stayed and participated with the child. She had severe stranger and separation anxiety, which lasted many years. Besides the usual toddler/preschool instruments, each student was given a glockenspiel, and she really took to it, 'composing' her own little songs by age 5.

When she aged out of the program, I decided to enroll her in music therapy. She had a wonderful therapist who believed Middle Child was fully capable of piano lessons, so we bought a keyboard and her journey began. 

Her first recital, playing My Scooter by Edwin Mclean.

She continued taking piano lessons through middle school and added voice lessons when she joined women's and madrigal choirs in high school. She went to 'contest' all four years of high school, earning a 1 rating in 3 out of the 4 years for singing songs like O Danny Boy and Italian arias. She even applied and was admitted to the Tri-M Music Honorary Society, which to this day, is one of her proudest accomplishments.

Since high school, she has continued her weekly piano and voice lessons, and it has been a wonderful outlet and form of expression for her. Due to the pandemic, her current instructor has done the lessons over Zoom. While not ideal, it has worked out fine and has given me a break from driving her to and from her lessons. Over the weekend, she finally had another recital, after a three year hiatus.

Middle Child performing Mozart's Sonata in C Major.

This is only the ending of her performance, as Blogger would not allow me to upload the entire piece, which is over four minutes long. But I'm happy and proud to share this little bit with you.

Wishing everyone a blessed and beautiful Easter Weekend!