Re-discovering music with Z

One of the most gratifying elements of parenthood so far is the thrill of re-discovery; I still can't get over Z's expression of utter astonishment and delight the first time she ate avocado.

It's like that with music, too. As I've mentioned before, she is quickly marking out her favorites--and believe me, it's obvious when she doesn't care for the disque du jour--but every day or two I'm trying to pull out music that I/we know intimately, but is of course all new sounds to her. So far, her favorite live shows (albeit from a limited roster) were the aforementioned Steve Reich marathon and a Ljova set at Joe's Pub. I think Z finds the viola to be a magical, mysterious vessel of bliss. (Good!)

MMFCC says that he can't wait for Z to hear Cab Calloway, Pictures at an Exhibition (specifically, the Schippers/NY Phil recording, since that was his first record), Led Zeppelin II ("though we might have to wait until Z's a smidge older for that one"), Guys and Dolls, Bob Dylan, Coltrane's version of My Favorite Things, and Beethoven's Seventh Symphony.  (I'm particularly looking forward to introducing her to the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Bach solo cello suites, A Love Supreme, and I'd definitely second the Beethoven 7th.)

This leads me to my question of the day: If you were compiling Baby's First Playlist(s), what would you include? (Epilogue: We did indeed take Z to Toumani Diabate's show last weekend. It was too loud for her; she enjoyed the show much more listening via the lobby speakers than she did while seated inside the hall.)

Comments

[Dennis Kahle]

Ramayana Monkey Cnant; "All Blues," Miles Davis; "Pinball Wizard," The Who; "Fearful Symmetries," John Adams

[Anastasia Tsioulcas]

Oooh, good calls all around--thanks, Dennis! Re the Ramayana Monkey Chant: I wish even more of the Nonesuch Explorer were readily available at the moment to all; it's such a shame that Nonesuch abandoned those reissues not long after the first batch came out of the starting gate. I've made the suggestion to staffers there that they just throw them up on iTunes etc. rather than in huge boxed sets (which clearly didn't fly off store shelves); that way, at least they'd be currently available in *some* format, if not an optimal one. Too bad.