Schwartzberg and Armstrong Sound Off About Kids' Music
Thursday August 27, 2009
Joel Schwartzberg, featured blogger for the Newark, NJ-based Star Ledger, wrote a short piece this past Monday about kids' music for NJ.com's parenting blog, Parental Guidance. His article was a response to Lindsay Armstrong's article for Babble.com that included "a master mix of grown-up tunes that your kids will also love, designed with your next car trip in mind."
The two articles continued the never-ending discussion about music for children: does kids' music always have to contain a life lesson? Do tunes for children have to mean anything at all? Check out the articles and feel free to chime in with your thoughts.
Comments
No, for me, it doesn’t always have to be educational. But I can list many other reasons for adding kids’ music to a collection. Some of them include celebrating kids’ joys, appealing to their (childish) sense of humor, entertaining them with imagery that they can embrace.
My simple, dorky, cheeky response is “Let’s just dump all the children’s books too. We’ll read the kids books selected from all that great adult literature that’s available.”
“Every single thing to which you expose your kids needs to be a life-affirming, positive, teachable moment.”
Okay, so I did say celebrating their joys is one reason for listening to kids music, and I suppose it easily falls in the above statement, which Joel is arguing against.
But, why the black and white? I wouldn’t say that “EVERYTHING” I do is life-affirming blah-blah-blah. But if I do care to indulge in it, I’m an idiot? And if I do enjoy some of the music that is targeted to kids’, I’m not hip enough for Joel, I guess. I can live with that
We listen to varied music for varied reasons. (With so many options between the internet and satellite radio, I can choose the music that fits our day.) Sure, some of it may be “affirming,” but there’s more than one station on our dial. I feel no need to block out the “kindie” ones.
I hope that makes more sense.
Perfect sense, Gwyneth. Music is music…be entertained by it, be educated by it, be uplifted by it, be pissed off at it, whatever. Throw a little bit of everything at yer kids and see what they dig. Punk isn’t just for punk rockers, hip hop isn’t just for b-boys, rock isn’t just for metal heads, and kids’ music isn’t just for children.
No one ever said it HAS to be “a life-affirming, positive, teachable moment.” Much of Dan Zanes music is simply fun, danceable music and far from the pedantic. This seems like a non-argument. Play all kinds of music that you listen to WITH your kids. If you enjoy it together, go for it. There is a strong place for those teachable moments and many parents appreciate the “help”, but it’s certainly not a rule.
i like the fact that kids have no preconceived ideas about music – they like what they like. So we can expose them to all styles of music. Give ‘em a taste of disco, punk, hip-hop, bluegrass – but make it fun and interesting. And – even if it’s fun and goofy with no life lessons or educational value, it can still make them think and ask questions. Then they recognize disco or punk when they study about it in music history class down the road. Or when disco comes back!!!
What adult didn’t have some cheesy music tastes as a kid? Most people’s music tastes evolve over the years. Whether it’s kids music or adult music, I like when kids like music for the love of music.
It appears neither author has paid much attention to the diversity in modern kids music. As far as “classic” children’s music, “Really Rosie” is almost a good album except the songs are WAY TOO LONG.
That’s exactly what I was going to say, Tito: seems like most everyone who mentions “Kids’ Music” in their column or blog only knows a couple of well-worn names from the past (Wiggles, Raffi), or a few modern stars (Zanes, Berkner). They have NO IDEA how deep the kids’ music field goes nowadays, and they can’t be bothered to do the research. Spread the word, music lovers!
In 1980 when I began performing for children, it was Michael Jackson who was the best selling childrens recording artist (though his music wasn’t labelled as childrens music). Children are capable of enjoying every style of music we grownups can enjoy. If the lyrics are kid-appropriate, it’s kids music. It doesn’t have to be educational to make it valid kids music. Some of the world’s best childrens music — lyric-free — was created by Beethoven.
Hey Warren….You’re right: the children’s music field is filled with indie artists making all kinds of sounds. It would be helpful if those pundits who reach a wide audience (like you!) would broaden the net a little and tell their readers about those of us out here who have vast local followings but have not been tapped for NOGGIN or DISNEY. You could start by telling your readers about the Children’s Music Network at cmnonline.org, where they can find children’s musicians making music for just about every taste.
Thanks!
Judy