Artist: Various Artists (PLAY music)
Album: PLAY music, Volume 2
Age Range: 1 to 6
Description: When it comes to early childhood music and movement programs, we are (or at least have been) card- (and CD-)carrying members of the Music Together family. And while I've heard a bunch of CDs from other programs, none have quite matched the quality and scope of those MT disks. This album is one of the first early childhood music and movement CDs that I would consider adding to our collection. It's from PLAY music, a Los Angeles-based program. The 43-minute disk doesn't quite approach the breadth of a MT disk in terms of song selection -- it felt slightly more American folk-based and more less "odd" in places (e.g., not so many songs in non-standard time signatures or keys). But the quality of the tracks themselves is top-notch -- it's somewhat more organic than the MT disks, thanks to the production of musician Willie Aron (who worked with Peter Himmelman on his kids music) and the presence of kindie musicians Randy Kaplan and Lucky Diaz on a few tracks. I'm not sure what the market is for music and movement disks outside the context of those classes, but this is a solid collection of folk songs and other songs designed for singing (and dancing and rhythm-sticking) along with your kids. Recommended.
[Note: I received a copy of the album for possible review.]
