Discoveries

Our well-used 1997 copy of What to Expect in the First Year (in which the month-by-month developmental milestones were dutifully checked at some point in the past by the parent of some apparently precocious child) curtly announces, at one point, that there are six conditions in which an infant may find herself. Deep sleep - that fleeting promised land - is one; light sleep another; passive wakefulness is a third. But my favorite is alert wakefulness.

The other morning I got to hold Cleo on the porch after she'd woken up and fed, and she was full of energy and curiosity. She's currently learning to hold her head up, and to turn from side to side; at the moment, both are still rather risky undertakings, and as a result she often looks like a drunken spectator at a tennis match as she throws her whole torso into the effort of moving her head. At other times, she recalls Ace Ventura in some of his more energetic moments. In any event, it's quite moving to watch, as she's occasionally thrilled with the results, and occasionally simply frustrated or worn out.

Is there a musical analogy to this process? There must be a few, but the one that comes to my mind - my obviously 1980s-colored mind - is a tune by Rush. Now, I know as well as the next guy who once wore a Distant Early Warning tee-shirt to the bowling alley that it hasn't been fashionable to quote Rush since the first Bush presidency. But, still: do you know the song Discovery? Part of a concept album that describes a dystopic future world from which all music has been banned, the tune describes - in musical and lyrical terms - the moment in which one man stumbles upon a guitar. Picking it up, he strums it; pleased with the sound, he begins to experiment with it. He finds the harmonics; he learns a fifth; he begins to develop chords and to play more agitatedly.

You can look up the rest if you're curious - or, if you're lucky, you can dig out your own dusty copy of 2112. Either way, you'll experience - like me - the vicarious thrill of watching someone make a series of revelatory discoveries.