# Pre-poll data collection: first exposure to music **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 26, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-collection-first-exposure-to-music/691693 "2014-06-26T14:20:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-collection-first-exposure-to-music/691693/21 "2014-06-27T14:35:44Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Birdsong? Absolutely! I’ve been giving this some serious thought and it has occurred to me that some of those earliest-remembered sounds, while not quite _music_ by typical definitions, probably influence our abilities to relate to lyrics such as [I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry](http://www.metrolyrics.com/im-so-lonesome-i-could-cry-lyrics-hank-williams.html) (my all-time favorite Country song). Train sounds, whistles and the rhythm of the tracks, especially at a distance and just barely audible. Waterfalls. Lawn mowers. It won’t hurt this thread’s purpose to list such things as they might trigger others to associate actual “early music” with them. Y’all are doing great with ideas! More! ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-collection-first-exposure-to-music/691693/22 "2014-06-27T14:55:21Z")
Despite being a musician, I come from a family of relatively unmusical people. Despite the latter, I couldn’t say what my first impression was. Any or all of these: - lullabyes and kids songs my mother would sing or teach us (Twinkle Twinkle, How Much is that Doggie in the Window, Tell Me Why) - a song we’d sing in the car on car trips - Christmas records - a few other records, including Chubby Checkers, Mantovani’s theme songs from movies (Magnificent 7, Ebb Tide, Never on Sunday, Exodus, etc.), one or two broadway musicals like Hello Dolly - TV - hymns I see those are all covered in your list already (except children’s ditties). I’d have a hard time picking just one. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-collection-first-exposure-to-music/691693/23 "2014-06-27T14:57:04Z")
Sibling playing the piano while danced in my mother’s uterus. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-collection-first-exposure-to-music/691693/24 "2014-06-27T14:59:40Z")
Wait. “Aware of” as in in remember it now? I don’t. But apparently I enjoyed that song after I was born. ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-collection-first-exposure-to-music/691693/25 "2014-06-27T15:02:41Z")
Mom singing My tiny piano Mom’s records The neighbors’ records TV show theme songs Ice cream truck ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-collection-first-exposure-to-music/691693/26 "2014-06-27T15:26:48Z")
I am told both parents and Gramma sang to me as a baby but my first memory is of the radio. We didn’t get a television until I was in Junior High, as I recall, and the radio was almost always on to a mixture of news and music. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-poll-data-collection-first-exposure-to-music/691693.md?page=1)