Beth Blenz-Clucas blogs about music for kids that grownups will love too
A new parent’s re-introduction to children’s music usually occurs at baby’s bedtime. The most useful form of children’s music, a lullaby is also the most ancient. Parents have been lulling infants to sleep with song since our vocal chords became distinctly human. Every culture has its own tuneful ways to solve the same problem of how to quiet a caterwauling kid.
Luckily, tired 21st century parents have oodles of songs and recordings at their disposal. To fill your child’s nursery with absolutely gorgeous vocal sound, try Renee and Jeremy. This L.A-based duo has quietly built a reputation for elegant music, and their lullaby “It’s a Big World” should work wonders to calm the kids. You can download the song for free from their site and enjoy their colorfully animated video, too:
Beth Blenz-Clucas blogs about music for kids that grownups will love too
This is the time of year to measure, count and reflect. As December rolls through, we’re fairly inundated with reviews of the year’s milestones and tabulations of the “best of” everything. It’s fun and occasionally instructive to go back through the past 12 months to see how we’ve all marked the time.
One of the most poignant songs ever written about measurement and time is Frank Loesser’s kid-friendly song “Inchworm.” Danny Kaye sang the definitive version in the 1952′s Hans Christian Andersen. It’s a deceptively simple song that can be sung as a round, which has made it a staple of children’s recordings and choir recitals ever since.
A few months ago, a kindie lullaby album called Sing Me To Sleepfeatured The Leisure Society’s lovely performance “Inchworm.” Here they are performing it live. Read more...
Beth Blenz-Clucas blogs about music for kids that grownups will love too
Why is it that this time of year, people want to hear the same old songs and stories? You’d think we’d have had our fill by now: Burl Ives and Rudolf, Charlie Brown and his scrawny Christmas tree, poor little Tiny Tim and his “Merry Christmas to us all!” Ah, but there’s something comforting and joyful in the repetition. We feel a tingle of familiarity from the old Christmas carols, and even “The Nutcracker” never seems to get stale.
This week, I rediscovered the Alvin and the Chipmunks “Christmas Don’t Be Late” song and just couldn’t stop listening. No doubt, I heard this song repeatedly as a kid. And now, at least once each day since December 15th, I’ve been irresistibly drawn to play this song several times a day. What is it about Alvin’s plaintive “Please, I want a hula hoop?” that sends me? Read more...
Beth Blenz-Clucas blogs about kid tracks grownups will love and grown-up tracks kids will love
With war, famine, environmental disaster and general bad news permeating our consciousness right now, it’s hard to relax and remember the bright and happy things that are happening in the world. As the holidays approach, it may be helpful to imagine the lives of children in other places around the world. A new song called “Just Like You” by acclaimed kindie artist Jim Cosgrove (also known to his legions of fans as Mr. Stinky Feet) is getting lots of attention and radio play. The song highlights Cosgrove’s award-winning Swimming in Noodles CD.
You can see Jim’s rousing, interactive performance of “Just Like You” and the genuine way he interacts with his young fans in this video.
“You’re a lot like them, and they’re a lot like you” seems like a happy refrain and food for thought at this time of year. Read more...
Beth Blenz-Clucas blogs about kid tracks grownups will love and grown-up tracks kids will love
Chanukah or Hanukkah, no matter how you spell it, it’s a holiday worth celebrating. Even if you’re not Jewish, you can appreciate the wonders of candles, latkes, dreidels and singing during this eight-night festival of lights. Everyone’s familiar with Adam Sandler’s hysterical Hanukkah song, so we won’t belabor it. Instead, we spied a delightfully simple Brooklyn, New York-style “Light the Menorah” by Lloyd Miller of the indie kids’ band, The Deedle Deedle Dees. It seems perfect for anyone who wants to learn how to sing along.
(Kudos to Stefan of Zooglobble for pointing this one out!)
If you want to explore Jewish music with your kids, check out The Klezmatics. Dance around to their “Spin Dreydl Spin” as you fry your latkes and light the last two candles on the menorah. Read more...
Beth Blenz-Clucas blogs about kid tracks grownups will love and grown-up tracks kids will love
They’re dropping like flies. Only it’s not from the flies, it’s the flu. Already, two people I know have suffered through pneumonia, and we’re only just finishing off November.
Having kids means working your way through dozens of sick days. Just remember what our hippie pediatrician in California always told us: Don’t fear the fever! It means the immune system is working! Yeah, right. Tell that to your moaning child next time you’re cooling her down at 2 a.m.
What might help you through flu season is a little humor and a little singing. Trout Fishing in America, the zany duo who created such memorable kid songs as “My Hair Had a Party Last Night” and “Eighteen Wheels on a Big Rig,” also wrote a song that defines the moment when you realize that your immune response is truly working. It’s called, simply, “Alien in My Nose.” Read more...
Beth Blenz-Clucas blogs about kid tracks grownups will love and grown-up tracks kids will love
When I was a kid, the holidays brought on two things: boisterous family dinners with my 13 Irish cousins and their families, and several photo sessions where every single grandpa, aunt, uncle, kid and dog had to be lined up and photographed in any number of decorative arrangements. The process could take an hour and felt like a day. After a few seasons of this, my next-eldest cousin and I discovered a good way to get ourselves kicked out of these interminable sessions. We would wait and smile patiently until just before the Brownie bulb flash before screwing up our faces, sticking out our tongues and generally turning ourselves into little trolls. When the slides and prints came back from developing, there we’d be, for all eternity, with our faces squashed in extremely amusing positions. Read more...
