harmonizing

This morning in the car on the way to preschool, I had on a local college radio station. They were playing a fancy version of "Amazing Grace" with lots of vocal harmonizing and long "ooooh" sounds that go up and down (whatever the term is for that) in the background. E pronounced it a song from her "Number 9 movie" (not sure which one) "because it goes woooo... wooo...." Something like that. You can't argue with her on this song classification thing, so I just said, "You're right, it does have that 'ooooo' part in it!"

So she starts crooning, or whatever you call it, more like howling, going "woooo... hooooooo" in this long drawn-out, almost monotone way that sounds exactly like one of those dogs who "sing" along with their owners.

I start to laugh and look back at her in the back seat, and I see that she's concentrating very carefully and has a serious look on her face. I stop laughing. This is a cool thing she's trying to do. Too bad she didn't get the perfect pitch gene. I don't want to discourage or deflate her. So I start singing myself. I sing the tune, which luckily falls within my narrow range, and I just hum the words I don't know. And we're harmonizing in the car, and to this mother's ears it sounds beautiful. Especially since I usually avoid singing in front of others.

But I wanted to forewarn certain people who may be tempted to laugh out loud or wince visibly when they hear this new trick - please try not to! Assuming she ever does it again, anyway.