Finding music suitable for children

Featured in the video bar are:

• The Puppini Sisters - 3 women with stacks of style, stage presence and flawless close harmonies
• Bobby McFerrin - eclectic master of improv with an angelic voice
• Ladysmith Black Mambazo - effortless, mellow African acapella.

Children love all of these - you don't have to use "children's" music all the time with children. Look for music that features singing or highlghts one instrument at a time (not too busy). Be open to different genres. I often play something different in the car. The kids will go quiet and listen intently (or not.... depending...).

I do find myself listening with a new ear to the lyrics of my favourite songs. Picking repertoire for the kids' choir is tricky when so much popular material is full of naughty words or adult themes. I really like Kirsty MacColl, but stopped playing her in the car when my three year old started singing "La la la la la, get your rocks off baby".

And here's another thing to think about: a lot of pop music is pitched too low for kids. Kodaly teachers try to encourage children to sing in their "head voice", which elicits more tuneful singing. It is even suggested that men sing falsetto when teaching children. So if you want your kids to learn to sing in tune, have a bit less Nick Cave and a bit more Tiny Tim!

I'm joking, there are lots of other ways to encourage kids to used their head voice. But that's for another post.

Tuning in - you have to learn how

Listening - it's easy, isn't it? Well, only if you have learned what to ignore.

Babies learn language by paying attention to other people who are speaking. To do this, they need to tune into speech sounds and tune out the everyday background noises. This is not easy in our noisy world! Think of a busy supermarket, loud older siblings, a busy preschool or a telly blaring in the background at home.

When my children were very little Mum showed me the book Babytalk. It has lots of ideas for helping your child to develop language. One of the main suggestions is to spend at least a little time each day with your child, in a quiet place away from too much background noise, and simply talk with them.

I know, it's another thing on your "to do" list. But it can easily be incorporated into your day. I used to chat to my baby while I prepared his food, talking about what I was doing. I also used to do a running commentary when I took him out in the pram. Admittedly, people used to walk past and think I was losing it...

It's good just to be aware of the effect that background noise is having on your child. It can be quite a problem later on. Some school-aged kids are so used to tuning out to all the background noise in their life, that they habitually tune out when their teacher talks.

Well, anyway, this is a music blog, so let me relate these ideas to early childhood music. Music classes help children develop and fine-tune their listening skills. Kodaly teachers include lots of activities where children are asked to respond to a musical event with their bodies or voices. Some examples are:

• Noticing the difference between sound and silence (starting and stopping)
• Waiting for a special sound or place in the music
• Hearing the different tone quality of various instruments
• Learning to tell the difference between high and low pitch
• Responding to fast and slow music
• Responding to different parts in the music (eg verses and chorus or AB structure)
• Noticing different elements in the music

There are a lot of things you can do to help your child learn to listen well. Some ideas are:

• Spend one-on-one quiet time with your child.
• Read a book to them or sing a song.
• Go for a bush walk or go into the garden and notice the different sounds.
• Lie down with your child and listen to the noises around your house.
• Turn the telly and the radio off for a bit and savour the quiet.

Pardon me... I didn't knit that for you...

Couldn't resist this....
Click Here - one for singing knitters everywhere.

Top Toys for Music - Carousel

A carousel is a great starting point to introduce songs to small children, and gives them a sense of control as well. It is easy for a small child to bang the top of the carousel and make it spin. Then you can sing about whichever character lands in front of you.

Some carousels have characters such as people or ponies or teddies. Perhaps they are different colours. If so, then you can sing about that (eg, "green, green, green, green, teddy's wearing green today...")

My carousel has four different animals on it. The child presses the top, and I sing a song or say a rhyme about whichever animal stops at the front. There is a horse ("gee up horsey, don't you stop"), a cow ("What can a cow do but moo, moo, moo?) a pig ("this little piggie") and a sheep ("Baa baa white sheep" since it's white).

Another way to play is to simply make the noise of the animal. Encouraging young children to make animal noises helps with their annunciation (that is, it helps them to learn to make the sounds necessary to say words).

If all the characters are the same, you can always resort to "Round and round and round it goes, spinning and turning..."

The carousel pictured is by Tolo. I picked up mine at Learn4Fun which has shops in Tuggerah and Hornsby.

Empire Bay Public School - thanks for a great 2008!

I've had a great time this year with the senior choir at Empire Bay. Thanks to all the choir members. You are a great bunch - quick to learn, always cheerful and willing to try new things. You became masters at counter-melodies this year. Next step - harmonies!

Thanks very much to the wonderful Angie Eastwood for all the organising, advice and collaboration.

This year we performed the following songs:

This Little Light (Sunshine)
Sinje (traditional, zulu)
Lean on Me
Away in a Manger (Silent Night)
Do I Make You Proud

Farewell to the Year 6 choir members - hope you keep singing wherever you go next.

Trio in Studio

Jane, Shona and Kerryn recorded five songs at EastCoast Studios in Coogee last week. We arrived a bit early and began our warm-ups in the courtyard, eliciting rude comments from passers-by. Then Jane did a marathon effort on the guitar tracks, which hurt her fingers a bit. By this time we were all melting as the aircon could only be put on between takes. Billy came to the rescue with ice water.

We had been thinking about having each voice seperately mic'd but in the end we went for one mic and we blended ourselves the low-tech way. This proved a bit tricky when we had the headphones on, which took some getting used to. In the end, we managed to get everything done that we had planned.

Here are the songs:

- Happy Together (The Turtles)
- More Than Words (Extreme)
- You Send Me (Sam Cooke)
- Closer to Fine (Indigo Grls)
- Only Living Boy in New York (Simon & Garfunkle).

I still haven't decided if I'm going to play the results for anyone or give anyone a CD. Will make a decision when it's mixed and fiddled with.

Cake 08

Ising on the Cake recorded some songs at Studios 31 in December and had a fantastic time. The workspace was absolutely beautiful.. The CD will be finished in January and will include songs such as Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights, Queen's Somebody to Love and the Pogues' Fairytale of New York.

With four hours to work with I reckon we did well recording 6 songs. Stuart had planned everything really well, including lots of coffee breaks and everyone brought food (no coconut though, or nuts. They get stuck in your throat...).

CDs will be ready in February. Artwork by the fabulous Val Evans.