First Time for: Musical Genius

I know every parent thinks their kid’s a genius. But my kid? I’m telling you, she’s a freaking genius.

Early in Roxie’s life, when I was multitasking at my desk, I would put on some internet clips of the Muppets to keep the kiddo entertained. Now I grew up on the Muppets and Sesame Street, and for some reason, I am obsessed with the mumbling characters. Beaker, the Swedish Chef, Animal, the Martians that say “yep yep yep yep yep yep” … all I can say is if all you get in the spectrum of dialogue are unintelligible, monosyllabic grunts and you still make it funny, that's some good writin'. Anyhow, as a result of this obsession, I found two outstanding clips: one is a video of Beaker singing “Ode to Joy,” and the other is a video of Gonzo leading a group of chickens in a rousing rendition of “The Blue Danube.”

Now I have a special place in my heart for “The Blue Danube” and a few other classical pieces because my dad always had a tape of classical music in the console of his 1986 Audi 5000. This tape was mainly used for one purpose: on family trips we would pull up next to people who had their radio turned up loud and car windows open and crank the holy heck out of OUR radio to drown out whatever they were listening to with high volume classical music. Being from the suburbs, we found this hilarious. In fact there was one incident I remember where my dad actually peeled out as we blared “Ride of the Valkyries” at a stop light. Anyhow, I have fond memories of the Blue Danube, and we’ve ended up playing that particular video quite a bit for Roxie.

So here’s where the genius part comes in: after 10,000 or so exposures, the kiddo has now begun to sing these songs to herself … in the voice of Beaker or the chickens respectively. I’ll be in the other room, and all of a sudden, I’ll hear not just singing, but “Meep meep meep meep” to the tune of “Ode to Joy.” If that’s not proof enough of genius – and it clearly is – if you sing the main part of “The Blue Danube” (duh duh da dah daaaaa….) Roxie will finish the phrase (duh duh, duh duh), most often, as a chicken. Are you listening Harvard admissions? Genius, I tell you!

Anyhow, here’s a short piece of video evidence of the kiddo doing her thing. She’s tired, so she’s blabbering rather than clucking, but I defy you to tell me that’s not “The Blue Danube.” Now, if we could only channel this skill into cash without selling her outright to the Disney corporation …