Everything I Haven't Already Said

Tomorrow, I'll get back to the music, but a few more things I wanted to mention. First, thanks for all the e-mails you've sent and blog comments you've left. I really appreciate all the artist suggestions (some I've heard of, some I haven't), CD submission requests, and compliments on the interview. (I was even somebody's driveway moment!) Please keep them all coming -- even if you don't agree with me, as long as you do it respectfully, I'm not going to delete the comments. Second, thanks to Melissa Block and NPR for asking me to do the interview. It was really lots of fun, and, yes, I realize how lucky I am to have the opportunity. Finally, well, let me start this way...
Nobody understands me, though memmily blitt each day. Nobody understands me, but I guess zooglobble that way. -- from "Nobody Understands Me," by Sandra Boynton and Michael Ford, from Philadelphia Chickens
In my original "Welcome" post from last week, someone left the following comment:
This all confuses me a bit. For me, as a parent, I take pleasure in seeing my child move to and sing with and enjoy music. The idea that I would want to pull my hair out because my child is taking pleasure in music by listening to the same track over and over (music that I perhaps don't enjoy well because, gee-I have 20 years of musical intake on my child) is ridiculous. I have a fear that the current kids music revolution (aka, "you will like it too!") is going to lead to a musically narrow-minded generation. Music programs are being cut across the country, and we have kids listening to hip hop and rock because their parents can't stand music that is really suitable for their ears AND for their development, World instruments, classical instruments, music that allows space to move and express oneself in a way that children should, is all being overshadowed by the notion that parents should like the same music as children who are generations younger than them. Its a silly thought if you ask me. When your child is 20 and listening to music you think is utterly horrible then you can say what you think about their taste. To say you hope to have a kid with better taste in music baffles me. They are kids! Do you also hope they have better taste in fashion? Hairstyle? Coffee? Wine? Let kids be kids and get the basics then develop their tastes. At 4 years old, take pleasure in their pleasure. To do otherwise would be selfish.
Now, when somebody tells you something you agree with (or 90% with) in a tone that suggests that you completely disagree, one wonders if, like Boynton and Ford's narrator, it's the speaker that's the problem. So at the risk of further not being clear, let me state a few things that I might not have previously made clear here (or in the very tightly-edited 5 minutes on NPR). 1) Kids should listen to a broad range of music, including "world instruments, classical instruments, music that allows space to move and express oneself in a way that children should" -- could not agree more. Just because there aren't many reviews of world music or classical music albums on the website should not be construed as a lack of endorsement on my part for those types of music. We play those CDs for our kids, too, and I play violin and piano for my kids. (That's not even getting into singing, which we do constantly, in varying degrees of tunefulness.) I just don't have the critical vocabulary to talk about many of those CDs constructively. So that's why you're more likely to reviews of children's rock, folk, and pop music here. 2) Parents should take pleasure in seeing their children move to and sing with and enjoy music -- could not agree more. It's hard sometimes for me to turn off the CD player in the car or at home and just sing with my kids. But it's just as important to me that they sing and hear me or my wife sing as it is to hear musicians who are really good at it. And watching my daughter master a song (she's almost got "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music) or dance goofily gives me a wonderful feeling. 3) "To say you hope to have a kid with better taste in music baffles me." -- Nowhere have I ever said that I wanted a kid to have better taste in music. In fact, I agree with you 100%, and said so just last week. Trying to cultivate in your child a particular taste in music is a fool's errand, in my opinion (to say nothing of its appropriateness). 4) The one place I would disagree with the author is the implication that the parental enjoyment of the music is irrelevant. I firmly believe that it is possible to find age- and developmentally-appropriate music that both parents and children can enjoy (or, at least, that the children can enjoy and the parents will tolerate for long periods of time). I think I've reviewed a number of those CDs here. And I also believe that it is important that kids see their own parents enjoying their own music. If that means slipping in a Wilco or Matthew Sweet CD into the CD changer, so be it. I mentioned this before, but I do encourage new readers to explore the links on the sidebar to find some different perspectives on children and family music. Devon has similar musical tastes, but has a more pedagogical perspective at Head, Shoulders, Knees, and all that.... Bill also has similar musical tastes, but a much larger CD collection, and plays them on his radio show at Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child. For a slightly more rockist approach, try The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What To Think; for a definitely more rockist approach, try (Sm)All Ages. Plenty of good reading and musical suggestions. *** OK, enough about me. Tomorrow: Dan Zanes.

News: Belle and Sebastian and Erasure and Kids?

Fold your hands, child, indeed. As I've said before, I have no shame when it comes to referring to old news when it's new news to me. This June 2005 article titled "Preschool of Rock" (ha, ha, that's funny, because there was that movie, with Jack Black, about these kids... oh, never mind) from the British paper The Guardian says nothing that every other article about rockers making kids' music hasn't said. But it's an entertaining piece and contains this one little piece of info that's news to me.
Erasure plan to release a record for children, while Scots indie band Belle and Sebastian are curating a compilation of kids' songs. Rumours suggest they have solicited contributions from such unlikely sources as Franz Ferdinand, Scissor Sisters, Primal Scream and cerebral post-rockers Four Tet.
Erasure? '80s synth-pop? I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Erasure (I love "A Little Respect"), and so I think that could be not a little bit of fun, should it move out of the realm of rumor and into the realm of my CD rack. Belle and Sebastian? Twee-pop "curated" album? What is this, a museum or an album? I know Belle and Sebastian disdain the "twee-pop" label, and I admit their new album has considerably more muscle than their past work, but I'm a little more dubious about the idea of bands like Franz Ferdinand recording music for kids. Don't get me wrong, I have and enjoy both of Franz's CDs, but I'm not convinced of their ability to simplify their angular post-punk melodies and change their lyrical approach. Could be worse, I suppose -- Pete Doherty could be one of the contributors. (Hat tip to Dadbloggit for the original article.)

Who's This Blog For Anyway?

A couple posts worth reading: 1. Mrs. Davis' thoughts on this article from New York magazine. 2. Devon's thoughts on this article from the New York Times Magazine. (Registration required) Before you begin, I warn you that both articles are very long -- the summaries in the blog posts are enough to give you a good taste of the whole thing. Having said that, let's tackle the Wiggles first, then move on to the adults. You've not found any Wiggles reviews in this blog, and you never will. Not because I dislike them -- I remember a Wiggles video we checked out of the library a few years ago. It didn't really interest my daughter, and it didn't really interest me. (It wasn't supposed to, I knew at the time.) And I can so totally see why they appeal to toddlers and pre-schoolers, my daughter notwithstanding. The simple colors, the simple songs. As Devon points out, the Wiggles are targeting the kids, not the adults, to the Wiggles' credit. I'd put Laurie Berkner in the exact same category (only on rare occasion does she slip in a lyrical snippet to amuse the adults). I think that's the case with most music targeted at toddlers and preschoolers. But when music is targeted at "kids and parents," that's usually just marketing hoo-hah designed to get parents to buy the CD. Only the most talented artists can create music that can engage a 4-year-old and a 34-year-old. As for the adults, the "Grups," short for grown-ups, as the author calls them, well, I guess I don't feel all that warm and fuzzy about them. As I read the article, part of me thought "well, OK, this is just a New York-centric view of the world." And the rest of me thought, "you only think your (my) generation is different from all the rest." It's not. The Neal Pollack quotations are scary, though I've read enough Pollack to know that you can't take anything he says totally seriously. So leaving him aside, let's move on to a more reasoned quotation from another mid-30s parent: "The point isn’t to raise cool kids. We want passionate kids. And I think that by us doing the things that we love to do, that models that passion for our kids.” This is somehow different from what previous generations wanted? My parents were happy letting me sit in the corner with a stick and a rock? Maybe there is a difference with the current generation, maybe it's exactly that -- some parents do want to raise cool kids, to raise little versions of themselves. But that's painting an entire generation with a broad brush when the characterization only applies to a handful of parents across the country. Most of the parents I know wear T-shirts on the weekends, maybe drink craft-brewed beer, and are working all different types of jobs. Maybe some of the music snobs listen to Bloc Party or the Arcade Fire. (Raises hand.) But we're living normal lives, making our way. And if we want to listen to music, we just want something that isn't going to drive us up the wall as we listen to the same CD driving to the library or to Grandma's or to preschool or to swim lessons or while we're sitting in the family room drawing with crayons. We're not trying to craft a child's musical background -- we're too tired and don't have the time. I write this blog, reviewing songs because I listen to these children's music CDs a lot, almost as much as I listen to my Bloc Party and Arcade Fire CDs. Maybe I slip in the latest Spoon or Shins CD. But usually 3 or 4 of the other songs are Justin Roberts or Dan Zanes or Raffi. So this blog is for you, the sedan (or minivan-)driving parents of America. You have control of the CD changer. Use it wisely.

Dan Zanes in DC

Devon links to an article on Dan Zanes in a New York state newspaper this past week. Devon's comments (and Zanes', too) are spot-on. In that article and in this one from the Fresno Bee (sorry, registration required), Zanes outlines his philosophy, such as it is, regarding the music he's recording, which he calls "all ages." In the Fresno Bee article, Zanes says: "I think when people talk about kids' music or children's music — music that's really particular to the experience of kids learning to count or eat with a fork — that's good, but that's never what I was interested in... I was interested in music that was a shared experience, that kids and grown-ups can listen to.... It helps people with the idea that they can hang around the house and do their own songs." Zanes is the main reason I subtitled this blog "Children and Family Music Reviews" rather than just "Children's Music Reviews." By removing most music revolving around notions of romantic love from the equation, Zanes sounds very retro, but also opens himself up to a broad spectrum of thematic and musical choices that can appeal to all family members simultaneously. I can enjoy songs about learning to count or reciting the alphabet, if they're done well, but Zanes' approach is complementary. (I also whole-heartedly endorse Zanes' notion that people should sing on their own more.) So here is a press release from Americans for the Arts Arts Advocacy Day, at which Zanes performed. No word on whether "Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 Ragtime" will appear on Catch That Train!.

My Approach to Kids' Music

This blog grew out of a series of articles I wrote for my wife's parenting group newsletter. I enjoy listening to (and playing) music, I have an opinion about a lot of music, and -- most importantly for a newsletter author or blogger -- am fool enough to want to write about it. That was all that necessary to spend a page or two rambling on about kids' music. (Much of this entry is from my first newsletter article.) We own maybe a couple dozen hundred children's CDs and have listened to maybe a dozen fifty more (though both figures are slowly growing). Our daughter is now about 3 1/2 5 1/2 years old and is only now expressing her musical preferences. Of course we want our daughter to listen to music she enjoys, that makes her happy. [Ed.: Things change in a couple years, don't they?] But since you, the parent, will listen to the CDs and tapes almost every time your kids do, I think your (and my) opinion counts nearly as much as the child's. And you're still going to be able to offer your kids new, good stuff, so it's not like you're stuck listening to that [insert name of CD that makes you twitch just thinking about it.] In this blog I'll write about a number of different CDs, spending more time on the good stuff than the bad for two reasons: 1) I'm not nearly catty enough to write enjoyable reviews about bad music, and 2) I want to focus on the good stuff. I should probably explain my beliefs about children's music (for advice on music for the post-toddler set, click here): 1) Good kids' music is enjoyable for adults, too: I think the best kids' music can be enjoyed by kids and parents alike. This is true not only critically -- like Bugs Bunny cartoons, great kids music appeals to multiple generations -- but also practically. If you don't like a kids' CD, you are unlikely to play that CD very often, which probably means your child won't become a fan of it, either. (Or, alternately -- and sadly -- you'll be stuck listening to a painful CD over and over as your child wants to hear the same song over and over and Over and OVER!) In the end, "family music" is probably a better phrase than "kids' music," but sounds sort of dorky and plus Borders and Barnes & Nobles across the country would need to relabel their sections, so I think we're stuck with "kids'" or "children's" music. 2) Not all good adults' music is enjoyable (or even suitable) for kids: I don't think my daughter would like my Nirvana's "Nevermind" CD; even if she did, I wouldn't want her to listen to it for a few years. (Even if I really like the CD, which I do.) No, good kids' music is generally simpler melodically, lyrically, and rhythmically, plus you can usually understand what's being sung. (Clear enunciation was never Kurt Cobain's strong point musically.) Now please don't think I'm saying you should never play "your" music around your kids. You need to play music for yourself, and as I've noted above, some music really is for the entire family. But if you think that your 2-year-old is getting something out of listening to Tool, I think you're wrong. 3) Did I say simple was good?: I've heard CDs which seemed to have been produced by some guy in his basement with a Casio synthesizer with his cousin singing over-emoted versions of simple folk songs. If the song was sung quietly by moms to kids with no accompaniment 100 years ago, it's unlikely a cheesy synthesizer with faux strings will somehow add a layer of meaning or emotion. It's OK to have multiple instruments, but at least make sure they're real. 4) Who are you anyway?: OK, we're at silly, yet oddly accurate, predictors of a CD's quality. (Sort of like all those methods for predicting unborn babies' gender.) The best albums have the participants' names plastered all over the CD, just like "adult" music. I've never listened to a good album in which I didn't know exactly who was responsible. It's as if makers of bad CDs are embarrassed by what they've produced. If you can't see who's singing or playing on the CD, move away. 5) No "Stairway to Heaven": Do you want to listen to 4 minutes of "Old MacDonald Had A Farm"? ("And on this farm he had an ocelot...") I didn't think so. Kids don't have long attention spans, and most classic kids songs don't have much more than 60 seconds of material. So my basic rule is that kids' CDs shouldn't average much more than 2 minutes per song. This rule can be bent for CDs targeted at older kids, whose attention spans are (hopefully) longer, and for lullaby CDs. Finally, I think you should know my personal musical preferences so if they closely match (or are opposed to) yours, you can take that into account in evaluating my recommendations. I particularly enjoy the following artists, among others: Wilco, the Jayhawks, Spoon, REM, They Might Be Giants, Matthew Sweet, U2, Lyle Lovett, Kelly Willis, Patty Griffin, Miles Davis and most classical chamber music. [Ed.: This list is about 5 years old -- see an updated list here.] So there you have it -- my children's music philosophy in a nutshell. I hope you'll visit in the weeks and months to come as review children's music CDs and post some news on childrens' music.