Mr. Mike's Family Notes: Meet The Baptiste-Choi Family

 "Songs You Didn't Know They Knew"

Meet Michelle Baptiste-Choi and her children Miles and Michaela. Michelle is one of those families who never misses a week. She's been with us since Miles was small, and when Michaela came along, they kept coming.

I asked Michelle what it's been like watching two children grow up in this, and she had such an interesting answer. She said the drum has been a sort of growth marker. First they're curious about it. Then they grow enough to touch it. Then they're playing it willingly and joyfully. Then they're helping roll the drums away at the end of class. Miles went through all of those stages, and now Michaela is going through the same ones. Michelle said that even though she watched Miles do it first, it still feels new watching Michaela.

I love that. The gathering drum is one of the first things a child notices when they walk into the room, and that's by design. A small child who might be nervous around new adults and new sounds will often come to the drum on their own if I don't push it. As a teacher, often before class I just play, and watch them get curious. It's such a great icebreaker for both adults and children. But I've never heard a parent track that arc the way Michelle did, from curiosity all the way to rolling the drums away. She named something every family in the room has watched without quite seeing it.

The music has traveled deep into their home. At bedtime, Michaela uses the Goodbye Song to say goodnight to her friends, naming every person she can think of. Different friends every night.

When I asked Michelle what keeps her coming back, she told me about a moment that caught her off guard. Michaela started singing the "la la la's" in Mary Wore a Red Dress. Michelle couldn't believe she knew it. Nobody had taught it to her directly. She had just absorbed it from being in the room, week after week, surrounded by the music. Michelle put it simply: "It's amazing to see your kids sing songs that you didn't know they knew."

That line stays with me because it gets at something important about how children learn music. They don't learn it the way we expect. They learn it by being inside it.

I also asked Michelle about herself. She told me she forgot that she used to play the tambourine pretty well. She had one growing up in church, and when she saw it in the pile of instruments at class, something came back. Now, anytime we bring out the instruments, she goes straight for the tambourine. If it's not already taken, that is.

Is there a song from any Music Together collection that has stuck with your family?

They randomly sing the Hello Song and the Goodbye Song. They get giggly singing the Hello Song and pointing to each other going "you and you and you and you" at the end. Our bathtime routine includes songs from any of the collections. It's one of our favorite times of day to see them covered in bubbles and singing along to the songs. At bedtime Michaela likes to say goodbye to her friends and every name she can think of. It's so cute to see which friends she will say goodbye to each time.

Do you remember a song your parents or grandparents sang to you when you were small?

My parents used to always sing Two Little Blackbirds. I'm not sure it's a song or a nursery rhyme but it was always fun to use my fingers as Peter and Paul or Jack and Jill. My kids love to do it now too. It has come full circle and it turned out to be quite the classic.

Two Little Blackbirds, the tambourine from church. The things Michelle carried from her own childhood didn't come back because someone reminded her. They came back because the room made space for them. And now Miles and Michaela are building their own collection of songs, the ones they'll carry forward without even knowing it yet.

There's room for your family. Come see what it sounds like at mistermikesmusic.com.