Connoisseur

n: an expert judge in matters of taste

Early on, my husband and I gave our son Noah my old iPod Touch, complete with my library of random songs. Mainly, we thought it would help him sleep, playing only instrumental versions of lullabies that we downloaded.

Now that he’s five and a half, he has become choosy in what he listens to as he drifts off. For a while, it was “Let It Go” from Disney’s Frozen on repeat. Eventually, he let us play the entire soundtrack.

He changed his mind after he saw Dreamworks’ Trolls, demanding that we play “Can’t Stop the Feeling” by Justin Timberlake.

And then he started scrolling through the song list on his own. For a while, he just picked songs based on the album cover. One of his favorites was “Straight Up” by Paula Abdul.

My husband and I tried to point him to songs and singers that we liked: Johnny Cash, Meatloaf, Neil Diamond, AC/DC, Outkast. Thankfully, he just likes the beats and he doesn’t much care for the lyrics.

Or so I thought.

In his occasional perusal of YouTube, he somehow stumbled upon the music video for “Gangnam Style” by Psy. I didn’t mind it at first, because I think it’s a catchy tune, too. I showed Noah that the song was also on the iPod and he played it a few more times—on repeat.

Before long, he was singing right along with Psy. Truthfully, I don’t think anyone really knows the words, but Noah sure sounded pretty dang close to imitating all of the sounds. He even tried to imitate some of the dance moves. It was hilarious.

So now Noah’s been playing more and more new songs. And I realize that I will have to be a little vigilant as to what he is choosing to play.

Just today, he had his friend over and they were playing together in his room. I happened to walk by and heard Noah say, “This is a song about girls’ butts.” Pretty sure he was talking about “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mixalot. Oy.

And tonight, he decided he wanted to fall asleep to “Tubthumping” by Chumbawamba. When I put him to bed, I asked him if he was sure that was what he wanted to listen to. He said, “Yup, I like this one.”

Agreed Noah. I like it, too.

Sure, I will definitely need to pay more attention to what he’s listening to. I mean, I do have some songs that come with parental advisories and a handful of F-bombs. But it’s also been really fun to see what kind of music Noah is drawn to. Will he have the same tastes as myself or my husband?

It’s just one example of what I love so much about being a parent. I love that my son is discovering what he likes—all on his own. He’s developing important opinions about food (salami sandwiches are the best), drinks (he prefers fountain beverages without ice), movies (superheroes!), and now music. He’s becoming quite the well-rounded kid.

Noah, my little music connoisseur

The only challenge I see is that once he finds something he likes, he plays it over and over and over again. He’s done it with YouTube videos and now I see him doing it with songs. I will have to prepare myself for that to continue—and hope it doesn’t drive me insane.

To be fair, that was my strategy, too. Back in the day, when I purchased my music on compact discs (CDs for short), I played songs over and over again until I knew all of the lyrics. I can tell Noah subscribes to that same strategy.

Regardless, I am excited to see what tastes Noah develops and how they evolve over the years. Hopefully, he will pick a great soundtrack to take along for the ride.