Mr. Mike's Family Notes: Meet The Desai Family

“As Soon as Rahil Sings, Niam Dances”

Meet Lisa Desai, her husband Ravi, and their two boys, Rahil and Niam. Lisa was looking for a music community and discovered our Saturday morning classes in NoMa with Ms. Libby. She wanted a place where her boys could get familiar with instruments, make a few friends, and grow socially and emotionally. That is a good and practical reason to sign up. But families often stay for completely different reasons.

Lisa says that both boys are crazy about their teacher, Ms. Libby. They love her so much that Rahil asked about her every single day while the family was away on vacation. The teachers and I love hearing stories from enthusiastic families and how they cope being away from us. It’s also a verification that we’ve created an environment where children feel safe and seen. Everything else grows out of this safe space.

There are a couple of moments that stick out when Lisa thinks of our classes. One is Rahil during the lullaby, lighting up as he blows the pretend lights out and back on again. The other is Niam working the room, walking up to classmates, both old and young and handing out high fives. One boy is leaning into the quiet, focused end of the music. The other is busy turning class into a neighborhood. It's the same space, but two wonderfully different ways of belonging in it.

Then there is what happens at home, which is my favorite thing in all of Lisa's answers.

Rahil and Niam are close in age and both still little. What is it like having them in this together, and does the music show up at home between the two of them?

Having them both in this class is such a great learning experience for all of us, and it is so amazing seeing them both grow with this class and Ms. Libby. The songs from Music Together show up often between the two of them at home. Rahil will start singing Don Alfredo pretty much daily, and as soon as Rahil starts singing, Niam breaks out into dance. It is absolutely heart warming to watch the music build a strong bond between them.

Rahil also asks for Mary Wore a Red Dress and Great Big Stars. Niam lights up the moment he hears Don Alfredo or Ha Ha This Way. Lisa has her own favorite too, which is Tiny Tim. So the songs are not just landing with the kids. They are landing with her.

It's such a great scene to imagine. The big brother starts a song he learned on a Saturday, and his little brother answers it with his whole body. Nobody taught them to do that. It is just what music does when it families participate in music regularly instead of coming out of simply being comsumers.

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

I don't recall a specific song from childhood, but my parents and grandparents played a lot of religious Hindu music, and I very vividly remember my aunt playing Rocky Mountain High in the car when we were really young and doing road trips!

I love that answer, because it is the whole idea in miniature. Lisa did not grow up with one particular song so much as with music simply being around. The devotional music her parents and grandparents played, and John Denver coming through the car speakers on a road trip with her aunt. Like singing in the shower, road trip music is always sung without inhibition. Nobody sat her down to teach any of it. It was just part of the air she grew up breathing. That is exactly what Rahil and Niam are getting now, from both their parents. Don Alfredo in the car, a song at home that pulls a little brother onto his feet, music that belongs to the family because it lives where the family lives.

That is the whole thing, really. The music was never meant to stay in class. It was meant to ride home in the car with you, and then to keep going, from one person to the next, from one generation to the next.

There is room for your family. Come see what a Saturday sounds like.