Opera Voices in the Kitchen

Things never get dull around here, but somehow we Nields-Duffys live in the fear that they might. Perhaps that is what caused Tom to employ Opera Voices one night.

“From now on, I only understand commands in Opera,” he sang, bouncing around the scale in a not unmusical way as he fielded dinner requests from Lila and Johnny.

“What is opera?” Lila sang back, not missing a beat, no pun intended.

“Opera is when you go see a show and the actors are really singers,” I sang back, ever the teacher. “Not one word is spoken. Except occasionally they sing like this, all on one or two notes. That part is called ‘recitative.’ If you get tired of Daddy’s little exercise, you can sing recitative.” This last I demonstrated in recitative of course, though somewhat sotto voce.

Opera Voices has been an occasional diversion ever since. Then this week, Lila and I decided to bring the game to HooteNanny Singers, our new “Big Kid HooteNanny,” for kids aged 4-10. We did a version of “As Big As…” in which everyone had to sing their share. “As big as a kitten,” one girl sang. “As big as a Piatnitzkysaurus,” sang another. “As big as me,” sang one little boy.

This morning as Tom was taking a shower and Johnny was hanging out in the bathroom, I heard this:

Tom: Oh, Johnny is a beautiful boy!
Johnny: BAH!!!
Tom: I said, Johnny is a beautiful boy!
Johnny: BAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Tom: Johnny loves cars and trucks!
Johnny: BAAAHHHH!!!!!

Every bit as delightful to this mama’s ears as The Magic Flute.