A Musical Family

The transition from being a regular attendee of rock gigs and festivals to becoming a parent had quite an impact on the music I listen to on a day to day basis. Many a week goes by when the gentle beats of Iron Maiden are missing from my life. I have always used listening to music as an escape from the normality of everyday life.  Whether it be listening to some rock n roll to remind me of those great nights out or singing along to the Skyline gang with my girls and reminiscing the holidays we’ve had at Butlins, it seems that music has a strong association with the emotions it creates for me.

I was reading an article recently titled “The impact of sound on the brain”, which made me stop and think about how my two girls’ emotions are effected by the music they listen to, as they say that music is the most universal way to convey an emotion.

Just so you know, when we drive as a family anywhere the girls are given control of what music we listen to in the car.  Hubby and I are not making a rod for our own backs, it’s just that our CD collection doesn’t contain anything very child friendly.  We currently have a USB stick in the car containing all the girl’s favourite CD’s, such as Moshi Monster’s, Teen Beach Movie, Bin Weevils (to name but a few).  Most of the music we listen to tends to be uplifting and makes you want to get up dance.  It seems that this early exposure to music and meeting people who work in the entertainment industry has influenced Elizabeth to the point where she wants to become a singer when she’s older. Our recent discovery of Lucky Voice along with many holidays watching people singing and dancing on stage has given her the confidence to do the same herself.

One year (whilst six months pregnant with Alison!) I attended the Download Festival. To this day I wonder whether any of the music we heard over that weekend was picked up by Alison whilst tucked up in my belly. Did listening to Slipknots “Jump the f**k up” give her the obsession with bouncing on my bed? or did “Rollin, Rollin, Rollin” by Limp Bizkit give her the joy of rolling in the mud? Maybe Pendulums “Tarantula” gave her the fear of spiders and I dread to think what Prodigy’s “smack the ***** up” did to her. This is exactly why we no longer listen to our music round little ears however occasionally they are asleep in the car whilst I listen to Team Rock Radio and it was on one of these occasions that they heard what has now become their favourite song. Green Jelly Rocks!