Ah, Mick. Yer such a softie. It's why we love you.

Margarita--I think that's fascinating about the little girl sitting and listening attentively, but I don't really find it surprising. I do think music provides a completely separate pathway to the brain and might actually bypass some of the damaged part of the road for people with such impairments as autism or ADD. My children's half-brother is severely ADD and dyslexic, and what has been the saving grace in his life has been his connection to music. He can barely sit still for one minute doing school work or just sitting for whatever reason, but if there's music involved, he can sit for much, much longer and be attentive and actually learn a great deal. He's in his early teens now and has learned guitar and sings and is learning bass.

When my children were little, I wanted them to know their full names, addresses and phone numbers, as well as my husband's and my full names (besides "Daddy" and "Mommy"). When I just kept drilling them about it, nothing seemed to stick. But when I made a very rhythmic little song out of it, they learned it in a day. Music not only soothes the savage beast, it provides a back road into our beyootiful brains. ...

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