Music for Kids

[lillibet]

Things (friends' comments, a video posted, a blog post) have been bringing up this subject at least weekly for the past month or more, so I thought I'd post about it and solicit others' thoughts on the subject.

What music would you play for your little kids?

Alice loves music. She sings morning, noon and night, gleefully makes up her own silly songs about the events of her day and loves to sing along with us anytime. She's doing very well in her music class and has started moving beyond her assigned pieces to improvising her own variations on what she's been learning. She loves to dance--one of the rules around here is that she can play the godawful electronic pop tune on her glowing butterfly wand only if she dances along to it. Every night she goes to sleep listening to one of the albums on the iPod plugged into the speakers in her room.

She's got a variety of music on there--classical, folk, "Here Comes Science" from They Might Be Giants and Schoolhouse Rock and The Barenaked Ladies' "Snacktime" and all of the Music Together CDs and "Peter and the Wolf" and various other things. But we don't give her pop music, per se, and we don't listen to it with her. She has no idea who Katy Perry is (unlike the 5 year old niece of a friend, who requested the current movie as her birthday party) or who Justin Bieber might be (unlike the 7 year old foster daughter of another friend, who was caught kissing his picture on my friend's iPad recently) nor has she ever to my knowledge heard anything by Adele (who's "Rolling in the Deep" is stuck in the head of another friend's 7 or 8 year old). I think she once saw a photo of Lady Gaga (whose "Bad Romance" was being sung by six year olds in the back seat of another friend's car recently) and asked about her, but she wouldn't know any of her music.

I don't recall this being a decision we made. Each of us listens to music fairly sporadically. When I'm alone in the car I listen to NPR until I get weary of bad news and then I hit search until I hear something fun, but I turn it off when Alice is riding with me, because I'd rather talk with her and teach her how to look around herself as we drive. When we're on longer trips we often put in one of her CDs. A few times we've turned on the radio and let her choose what to listen to, but she's never seemed that interested. One time as I was scanning for something good, she said she liked a rap song's beat, but I explained that I don't like the words they're saying and we moved on to something else.

With it coming up so frequently that young kids her age are aware of and into popular music, it's making me think about this. I guess I always figured that she's learn about pop music from her friends, in middle school. Or maybe kindergarten now. Are we depriving Alice of a degree of cultural literacy, or over-protecting her, or simply shielding ourselves from annoying bubblegum and awkward questions?

Thoughts?

Comments

[cz_unit]

Insane Clown Posse

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

And what does Alex have to say about that?

[cz_unit]

We just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. At this point she seems comfortable with my insanity.

C

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

"Five O'Clock World" by The Vogues
"Heading Down to Eden" from Star Trek
"Low" by Flo Rida

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

So sexual, she was flexible Professional, drinkin’ X and ooo Hold up wait a minute, do I see what I think I? Whoa

That's a conversation you wanna have with a five year old?

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

Not really, but I did have a 2 month-old bop to "boots with the fur".

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

I grew up listening to The Beatles. It might work for Alice.

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of suggesting that. They aren't really pop music at this point though, rather they are classics....

As are Simon and Garfunkle and Cat Stevens....

[valadil.livejournal.com]

As long as its appropriate I intend to let Ben listen to whatever he finds interesting. So far he really likes Primus.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Where does he find it?

[valadil.livejournal.com]

He heard me listening. Some stuff makes him cry and some makes him smile. Primus is the most consistent band I've found to make him smile. Maybe it's because he heard a lot of bass playing in the womb.

[ron_newman]

I'd be curious to hear Alice's reaction to the music on WJIB, the station that plays music of your parents' and grandparents' generations.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

I listened to what my parents listened to, for a really long time. Simon and Garfunkel, Ian and Sylvia, Peter Paul and Mary, Judy Collins, the Beatles up as far as "Rubber Soul", vast amounts of 50s and 60s doo-wop and a little Motown, the original Christmas Revels album, and lots and lots and lots of musicals. Jesus Christ Superstar was probably the closest thing we had in the house to actual rock music or to anything my classmates would've called cool.

I was a kid in the 70s and early 80s, when a lot of the goofy dweeby pop music that got played at the grocery store and the dentists' office and all that, was also melodic and fairly harmless. One of my very early memories is the horrified look on my folk-music-loving mom's face when she asked me to sing her something and I came up with Billy Joel's "My Life", which was all over the radio when I was about Alice's age. :)

My brother and volare got me going on classic rock and some metal in my teens, sometime around 1989--Metallica, Guns and Roses, Queen, the Doors, etc. Our parents hated it because it glorified sex and violence and drugs (Mom) and because it was full of pretentious no-talent morons who thought they were better than real people who actually worked for a living (Dad), but, you know? When you're a teenager your parents are supposed to hate the music you like.

You ask about whether you're depriving Alice of some level of cultural literacy that will set her apart from her peers. I can offer myself as an example to some extent, which I'm more than willing to discuss with you offline but don't need to spew all over your journal.

p.s. back when I taught at music camp, the same kids who were into rap music (which was banned at camp) went wild for percussion-heavy world music. Putumayo has world music albums geared towards kids, for starters--might be something available through interlibrary loan. An ear for rhythm is an ornament to anyone's musical education. :)

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

Ooh. I second the Putamayo vote.

I have a couple if you want to borrow them....

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

We have several of the Putamayo albums on the iPod, actually--somehow I forgot to mention them, but they're there and reasonably popular with her.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

I grew up listening to almost nothing but classical and John Denver. Yes, my cultural literacy suffered a bit, but Alice has many, many years to catch up and is bright enough to know how to look up anything she might be curious about.

Two advantages I can think of in growing up listening to a lot of classical, jazz, and folk: (1) This type of music, especially the wordless music, encourages the child's imagination to grow in ways pop music does not. (2) She'll gain a better appreciation for a diversity of good music, so that when she discovers more popular styles she'll know how to discern quality music and creative musicians from a lot of the insipid, uninspired stuff on the airwaves. (Or at least she'll be able to tell the difference between stuff she likes, because she's developed her tastes beyond the reach of cultural pressures, and the stuff commercial entities will try to convince her she likes.)

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

I have traditionally made mix CDs as baby shower presents. Here's an example.

My experience has been that children love songs that have their name in it (I loved Jennifer Juniper as a child). You might want to pick up a copy of Jimmy Sturr and his awesome polka band doing "Who the Hell is Alice?"

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

I don't think I have an opinion worth offering on the pop music question as I haven't really thought about what I would do. (FWIW, I grew up on the Beatles and other classic rock, my mother's limited 70s and 80s pop/rock collection, my father's enormous collections of folk and classical music, a goodly bunch of musicals, and occasional bona fide children's music that my dad brought home as presents for us, which always went over like gangbusters -- stuff like "Peter Paul & Mommy" and the musical "Cats.") But I do have a few recommendations to add to your repertoire, although it's possible you know them all already. Specifically, these albums are children's music that I've heard about through children's lit connections over the years, bought for myself, and liked very much.

Natalie Merchant, Leave Your Sleep
The Nields, Rock All Day Rock All Night
Lisa Loeb & Elizabeth Mitchell, Catch the Moon

Sometimes the line between children's music and pop gets blurry -- I'm thinking of Owl City's "Fireflies," which is charming, silly electronic pop. I downloaded it from iTunes after hearing it and liking it on the radio, and only later found out it was considered children's music. There's also things like The Muppets' "The Green Album," which is as much a pop culture phenomenon as a children's album. Which doesn't make it a bad children's album; in fact I think it's a pretty good one.

I'm not listing children's albums by TMBG, Barenaked Ladies or Putamayo since they've all been mentioned above. (Although if you don't have it already, my favorite Putamayo CD is Swing Around The World. Unlike nearly every other CD that I routinely played while working in The Children's Bookshop -- I most remember all the interchangeable Raffi CDs, urgh -- I never tired of that one.)

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Ilana (and I) have enjoyed the following kids' music:

Billy Jonas (www.billyjonas.com)
They Might be Giants (especially their for-kids album "No")
Pete Seeger's children's album that I can't remember the name of right now
She's now into "Weird" Al Yankovic, even though she gets probably 15% of the jokes

Listen to "The Playground" on WERS for more ideas!

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

I love The Playground so much!!

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I wanted to add:

ETA: I can haz reading comprehension? I see that you're also asking about playing mainstream pop music for kids. I have tried to get Ilana into artists I like, but she's just not a folkie (despite her love of Pete Seeger). She listens to what I play in the car and likes some of it. I don't play blatantly inappropriate songs when she's around ("Enormous Penis" by Da Vinci's Notebook comes to mind). She gets exposed to music at school and camp, and she listens to the radio (107.9 Kiss FM, of course). I'm not too uptight about lyrics. Rhianna's "S&M" I didn't really want her listening to (half because it was filthy and half because it was AWFUL). I guess if she got into some songs about killing cops I'd try to discourage that as well.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

The 'popular' music we listen to with K is the popular music we ourselves like. So, maybe not so 'popular', I guess. :) In any case, we certainly don't filter our Jim's Big Ego, or our Kris Delmhorst, or our classical music or our decades old U2 or Depeche Mode. Some of it she likes better than others. When I listen to music I often put on WUMB (NPR folk) as a default station; she often requests that I swap it to classical instead.

I don't feel like it is my job to introduce her to whatever pop musician is on the top of the charts. I think she will probably hear it anyway, and be somewhat sensitive when she comes across some pop hit that everyone-knows-except-her, but I think we will try to play catchup when she wants to know why everyone is singing along to song X except her, rather than making sure she is exposed to the right song X's in advance.

[muffyjo]

You've heard me tell the story of Jesus Christ Superstar and me singing it as a 6 year old. I don't think I've been scared for life by it, but then again...

I loved Carol King and James Taylor. Mom played the Tapestry album for me a lot (she loves it too). It's a happy memory that I share that music with her. As is the memory of JCS.

And my grandmother loved Harry Belefonte, which has amazing rhythm and cultural references (it's how I know the words to Hava Nagila). Mambazo Black Ladysmith might be fun for some of the wonderful rhythm and harmonies. Some Dar Williams might be appropriate. Or Cheryl Wheeler?

Maybe Emperor's Norton's album so she can dance? They were dancing to dizzy gillespie when they were here.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Heh. I grew up on JC Superstar and Harry Belfonte and Simon and Garfunkel and Peter, Paul and Mary. Also the Chad Mitchell Trio. And I knew every Beatles song by heart by the time I was eleven.

Didn't I read in many places that listening to classical music helped kids do math better, or something like that?

Also: this might be helpful. It's certainly timely.

(sorry about all the edits; apparently I can't type tonight)

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was one of the inputs that led to this post. Like I say, it seems to be everywhere just at the moment.

[gmpe.livejournal.com]

We grew up listening to the music my parents listened to. (Until late in junior high, when I took control of the radio dial and I listened to the Top 40 countdown each week religiously.)

I recommend having lots of exposure to classical on a regular basis. Even if you aren't hearing the same piece again and again, you will gain familiarity with the most popular ones. More importantly, this is how I learned an innate sense for chord progressions and how they resolve, without any formal training in this. That was really helpful later when I was singing in chorus. (And having that exposure fit in my Renaissance Parenting philosophy.)

We grew up with lots of Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel, so it brings back memories of childhood. My grandmothers loved other music, and that makes me think of them. My high school boyfriend's dad loved music from the 50s, so I learned lots about it from him.

I like blues, my husband likes 80's music, his dad loves ABBA and Neil Diamond. The kids listen to all of these. They listen to whatever else we listen to. We don't worry about lyrics. Unless you have it on repeat, they're not hearing the lyrics anyway. (Our kids are 5&6.) The kids will listen to all of these, and the more kid music you mentioned. They also have patriotic music on their iPads (since it was in our collections and we shared) and they sometimes choose that. (I feel like that is something I definitely want them to know about.)

I am often a proponent of exposing kids to media because I mostly wasn't and it did impact my childhood negatively. However, I don't think it is your job to make sure she knows all the current top hits, though wouldn't shield her from them, unless you are just shielding yourself from something you don't want to hear. Music is to enjoy. Enjoy it. :)

[hilaritea.livejournal.com]

I can't speak as a parent, but as a teacher, I have seen this issue played out on the other side a lot. There will certainly be kids who are listening to pop, rap, hip-hop, etc. that she has never heard before (I had 2 kindergarteners attempt to teach me the Superman dance 5 years ago), but in the earlier grades it's not going to be such a social issue. You're right to think that she'll learn about it from her friends. It seems like the question becomes what do you do if she comes home with an interest in music that you guys think is sending bad messages. Not that this is your style at all, but the only way I have seen this play out poorly is when parents close the door on the conversation. Kids are going to make up their minds about what they like and what they want to listen to. This will be influenced by their families as well as their peers. So long as you're willing to be open to talking about what that means, I don't think it matters one way or the other whether you expose her to the music or not.

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of this.

I find that listening to pop music with my girls (ages 7 and 10) has given us some fun bonding time. We can just be silly together and sing and dance to it in the kitchen if we want. DH does not like pop music at all, so we don't listen to it when daddy is around and it's mostly fine.

I feel like it gives us another thread to connect on and is a possible opening for conversation if my girls want to, but I don't think you need to expose Alice to it if you are not interested.

[bookly.livejournal.com]

If she's like me, she'll learn about it from her friends in middle school (and high school, and college). I think any negative impact I suffered wasn't so much from not knowing about pop music, but rather from not having heard much of anything growing up besides gospel, Christmas, church, and children's music--not a problem Alice has to contend with!