UPDATE: At eight pounds, and a boy, the royal baby has officially been born.
Suddenly, all of my various social media bits and pieces, and a good deal of my Gmail inbox, are screaming at me that Princess Catherine (Kate, as she's known to most people who have never met her and aren't really on good enough terms to be that informal) is in "labour." Assuming that this doesn't mean she has joined Her Majesty's Opposition on the Parliamentary benches opposite the Conservative government, I take it that the royal baby is, God willing, on the way. As this means that every aspect of childbirth will be pored over by experts and non-experts the world over, let's join in with what really matters--the choice of music.
Not, I hasten to add, music for the birth, itself. Anyone who's ever been there, done that (or been the willing and slightly intimidated partner) will know that a bit of Grieg or Schubert, let alone the seaside sounds or forest murmurs midwives sometimes pop into a CD player, are about as welcome in that moment of joyous crisis as, well, a well-meaning husband making jokes to lighten the atmosphere.
But, in my admittedly limited (twice) experience, babies love music. From the first moment. And while it's true that the theory of Mozart making your child cleverer has been pretty much debunked, it is surely just as true that certain kinds of classical music--with their long-spanned architectures, intricate interplays and sense of harmonic order--can both sooth a wrinkled tot's brow and train a little brain to think in, perhaps, a more linear way. There are limits, of course. I join the many among you who naïvely thought that a midnight scream could be cut short with only your dulcet baritone crooning some Puccini. Only to have your nose clawed in fury with a little fingernail (and doesn't it kill you that even that you find sweet--who's the one who needs programming here?).
However, perhaps it might be useful to our Princess to have my playlist--entirely inexpert, ill-informed and based only on personal experience--as to what music works best for tiny children. Sometimes.
Verdi, "Parmi veder le lagrime" (the Duke's aria, Act III, Rigoletto)
I sung this to our youngest as I cuddled him for the first time. I sung it badly, yet with ardour. His eyes opened wide. Of course, he was new to the Earth in general, so he had a lot to be wide-eyed about. But I like to think it was the music. The nurse was rather wide-eyed, too. Don't all dads sing Verdi to their babies?
Michael Sahl, Tango from the Exiles Café
A declaration of interest, here; my company works with the American pianist Lara Downes. Which was the reason I was playing her new album, Exiles Café, in the house a lot when my baby first came home. And this alluring Michael Sahl track seemed to really calm him down. Perhaps he, too, was thinking wistfully about composers exiled from their homelands...
Brahms, Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Op. 78
Thank the Lord for Brahms. Because this violin sonata was the piece that, for some reason, persuaded the child to drink milk from the bottle. All of a sudden, he would quieten, listen to the music and enjoy the drink. (One to remember, William.)
Sibelius, Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47
The swirling mystery of this piece gives a child a lot to think about. Don't go for a violinist who will play it with fury, go for someone meditative, like Cho-Liang Lin.
John Williams, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial OST
The sense of childlike awe that suffuses this album may sound chords for a newborn. I don't know for sure, he's never told me, but it seems to make sence. And he seems to enjoy it.
So, there you are--add in Mozart's Clarinet Concerto as it's more or less obligatory (and beautiful) and you have a rather decent baby's playlist. Of course, I enjoy all of these pieces too, and I'm not a baby. Maybe it's just that great music works. On us all.
