Little People, Big Words

My grandchildren are in their Star Wars phase, just as their dad and uncle were thirty years ago. And the babes are musicians-in-the-making. Every time we get in the car, they ask me to pull up Star Wars music on my iPhone. (Whenever I have a concert to prepare for, I load the music onto my iPhone to "get it in my ear." The music from Star Wars in Concert is still loaded.)

On Saturday we were driving around, playing Duel of the Fates and the Throne Room & Finale music over and over again. At one point, Boston looked up at me and said, "That's a recapitulation." Huh? Where did an eight-year-old learn about recapitulations in music?

Now, I love music theory. I started studying music theory when I was about five years old. If I had had my act together in College: The Early Years instead of doing college on the twenty-year plan, I would have majored in theory and continued to a doctorate so I could teach theory. I love it! I know that recapitulate means "to repeat an earlier theme of a composition". But I sure didn't know my eight-year-old grandson knew that.

When I asked him where he learned it, he said, "In music class at school."

And to that I say, "Yea for Montessori education!"

(I told this story to my colleagues at the office yesterday. My fellow tech writer said, "He'll never be a technical writer. He likes big words too much." I smiled.)