Nature or Nurture?
The original inspiration for this post comes from Matthew's old post in which he discussed the possibility of guiding or grooming your children's musical tastes. He seemed to think it can be accomplished. Of course, he doesn't have children yet.
Oh, I kid, I kid the Toad. Except that I'm serious. Honest to god, as my kids get older, it seems more and more that what they're listening to is the luck of the draw. Well, not exactly luck, but I think other factors have a lot of influence on them, much more than I do. By other factors, I mean friends, TV, marketing, the need to distance oneself from one's parents at all costs, those sorts of things. I should probably add that my children just might be the three most strong-willed people on the planet, a trait which will serve them well as adults but which causes much consternation to me in the present. Needless to say they aren't the most malleable of subjects.
If I were to break it down, I'd say the eldest has the best taste (which is to say, that which aligns most closely with mine), although she has an unusual affinity for 80s music, which might make sense if it were indeed the kind of music I listened to in the 80s, only it's not. Nonetheless, she and I can go on long car trips and enjoy each others' playlists for the most part. In fact, she's introduced me to some bands that I might not have picked up on otherwise, so we seem to be influencing each other. If I had to pick one band that defined her, though, I'd go with Modest Mouse.
Modest Mouse--"Dark Center of the Universe" mp3 off The Moon and Antarctica (buy)
The middle one, my son, is into a much harder rock sound such as Muse, loves classical music (Tchiakovsky at the moment) and also seems to enjoy old-style techno, a la Daft Punk. He also has a thing for anime theme music, which is most definitely not his mommy's music. Sometimes I refer to it as "J-Pop" and in a deadly serious voice he says to me, Don't call it that.
Muse--"City of Delusion" mp3 off Black Holes and Revelations (buy)
The youngest one is very interesting. Not long ago she insisted on buying Tegan and Sara's This Business of Art and she was totally grooving to her sister's Le Tigre, the La's and Weezer, but she's also heavily into Hannah Montana and all those other pop-culture Disney channel types and she loves anything she can dance to, so it's hard to say for sure into which camp she'll fall. In fact, she may end up having the most varied taste of all. We don't call her the hybrid for nothing.
The La's--"There She Goes" mp3 off The La's (buy)
So you see, they've all been exposed to the same basic roster of bands that I've listened to throughout their childhoods--not to mention a large dose of classic rock from their father--yet they're each venturing off into their own domains and my influence doesn't seem to be showing up too strongly in any one kid, save the eldest. I wish when we all climbed in the car together they'd clamber for one of my mix-tapes, or demand some Moonbabies or Broken Social Scene, but let's face it, that ain't never gonna happen.
Perhaps the best thing I can hope they learn from me is simply to love music, whatever kind of music it may be. And I need to remember that their musical tastes are not necessarily a reflection on me--which, in turn, means I can't take credit for them, either.
You sound as if you're doing great with them Marcy. I reckon most kids
would be turned off a band/singer if they thought it was something that
their folks liked.
My sister is 11 years younger than me (she just turned 15) and she recently
made me a list of bands that she knew I had in my library that she wanted
to have in hers and I was quite impressed.
jc--thanks for your words of support! i have to be careful not to be too
much of a music nazi around the house and make sure i share the
stereo/radio/ipod player with them. they do have an uncle who's a musician
but he plays mostly classic rock stuff. that said, it's a great influence
on them because he's multi-talented--sings, plays guitar, flute, piano,
trumpet. hopefully he'll rub off on them too.
Most of my early influences came from my parents - lots of 60s and 70s
stuff. Some of it I liked, lots of it I hated. Especially Van Morrison, my
dad's one great love. I think Van's wonderful now, but I still can't abide
most of my mum's firmly-rooted-in-the-70s obsessions.
I love your tag "delusions of influence." LOL.
agnes--wow, i didn't know you had three siblings--i only knew about
elspeth! i assume she's the one whose taste you admire more! ;-) i think
it's really interesting how differently siblings in the same environment,
under more or less the same influence, can develop such distinct tastes. i
suppose the elder siblings affect the younger ones, almost as much as the
parents do. as you say, though, the thought of one of my children not
listening to music would be horrible! incomprehensible!! perish the
thought!
Elspeth and Agnes are related?!
Hey, MJRC.
james--yes, we need greer's expertise. paging dr. greer!
:) I think the rap vs hip hop question is a thorny one when the experts
debate it. I tend to use them interchangeably but I'm just a humble fan.
ah, well if they're pretty much interchangeable, then i guess we can relax
a little and not worry about terminology. :) labels/genres of music confuse
me anyway. speaking of dancing, i love to dance to music, but only when i'm
alone or drunk! i hope your children don't grow up with those kinds of
inhibitions! :)
don't miss the exclusive 7 inch records modest mouse is releasing at
independent record stores -- they just put out their second one, "Autumn
Beds", and it's rad!
RSS Add-Me
