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>Just wondering about everyone else’s musical experiences with their >little babes? Anyone want to talk about what they play for their kids, >pre-recorded or played by yourself? Like to sing to the little one? >How about any kids who are learning to play or sing themselves?
Heh heh…you won’t believe this, but my kids love rock & roll, the hard stuff. We tried classical & country at bedtime, thinking soothing music would put him to sleep…he would just squall. Then my husband bought NIN’s "Pretty Hate Machine" The first night we had it, Robert fell asleep midway through the tape. The next night we tried it on purpose…he squalled till we turned on the tape…2 songs later he was happily asleep. <G> My daughter on the other hand, prefers Megadeth, or Matallica, because she loves the beat. She dances to it (she’s 1 yr old now). Robert did finally come to like Classical though…Dvorac <sp> New World Symphony is his favorite. I bought them a little play&learn keyboard last Christmas. We’re on our second set of batteries. Robert actually PLAYS it, at age 3. :*) If Life was a Highway, I’d be in a ditch Bright Blessings Brenda Smeby ICQ#4128184
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Excellent post! Tilly is now 12 mo and is really into music – has been since she was quite young. I have pretty wide taste in music, so she’s been exposed to all sorts, but in pre-recorded music her taste is definitely classical. She especially likes orchestral violins, choral music and soprano voice, I find – I think basically she likes high notes… I sang a lot when I was pregnant and she reacted to my singing voice from being new born – she would go quiet to listen to me singing. I sing every day to her, nursery rhymes mostly, and I was amazed to discover that she recognised tunes at about 9mo – I was once humming "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" without the words and watched as she frowned a little bit, sat thoughtfully and then started "twinkling" her fingers. Awww… Now she has just started talking and is doing that over-extension thing where they take a word and make it apply to all sorts of things. So now if she wants me to sing to her, she says "Baa Baa", for "Baa Baa Black Sheep", which she uses to mean all music. Very sweet! My partner mostly listens to indie/alternative rock, so Tilly gets to listen to that as well, but she doesn’t seem to react much to it at all. She does like to dance though! We let her play with our naff little Yamaha keyboard, which she likes, and we take her to Baby Music classes – not as serious as it sounds, basically a room full of carers and babies, a box of rattles and bells and an enthusiastic leader playing the piano accordion. She loves it, and so do I. My sister, a professional musician (harpsichordist), can’t wait till Tilly is old enough for my sister to teach her the piano! Anna – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >Just wondering about everyone else’s musical experiences with their >little babes? Anyone want to talk about what they play for their kids, >pre-recorded or played by yourself? Like to sing to the little one? >How about any kids who are learning to play or sing themselves?
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This is a really nice thread. My son (now 4) liked Vivaldi, Haydn, Mozart, Chopin, Schubert, Schumann — only the upbeat stuff. I recorded a bunch of pieces and called the tape "Playtime Piano Favorites" and also used the "Parents Magazine Playtime Album" CD. I’d move his arms & legs to the music while he laid on the floor. Some American classic songs served as excellent lullabies, even if the topic was sad. "God Bless the Child," "Crazy," "All of Me," "Our Love is Here to Stay," "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," etc. "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" was for breakfast. Remember Joni Mitchell’s "Morning Morgantown?" Great for preparing to go out in the stroller. As my son got older he started grooving to anything that was on the radio. We’d dance around the house to "Wild Night" or songs by Ace of Base. So I made him a tape of songs culled from my CD collection — again, only the very upbeat ones — e.g. "Conga," "Where’s the Party," "Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)," stuff by the Beatles, etc. –Sharon
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Hi mike My husband is a musician and our daughter is 2.5 she loves music all types and loves to play her daddy’s TAR as she calls it ( I won’t try she will pull it onto her lap and strum and sing for as long as we let her . she is already a pretty good dancer she seems to have pretty good rythem ( didn’t get that from me ) I really hope her intrest in music continues but won’t force her . I think I am going to buy her drums for my mother-in-laws house (PAYBACK) . SHANNON MOMMY OF LAUREN Please excuse any typo’s I think sister-in-law dropped my keyboard while i was on vac
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > This is a really nice thread. > My son (now 4) liked Vivaldi, Haydn, Mozart, Chopin, Schubert, Schumann — > only the upbeat stuff. I recorded a bunch of pieces and called the tape > "Playtime Piano Favorites" and also used the "Parents Magazine Playtime > Album" CD. I’d move his arms & legs to the music while he laid on the > floor. > Some American classic songs served as excellent lullabies, even if the > topic was sad. "God Bless the Child," "Crazy," "All of Me," "Our Love is > Here to Stay," "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," etc. "Oh What a Beautiful > Morning" was for breakfast. Remember Joni Mitchell’s "Morning Morgantown?" > Great for preparing to go out in the stroller. > As my son got older he started grooving to anything that was on the radio. > We’d dance around the house to "Wild Night" or songs by Ace of Base. So I > made him a tape of songs culled from my CD collection — again, only the > very upbeat ones — e.g. "Conga," "Where’s the Party," "Do You Love Me (Now > That I Can Dance)," stuff by the Beatles, etc. > –Sharon
The best music for kids is stuff the parents enjoy. The whole point is to enjoy music and singing and dancing around the house is contagious. My husband grew up with his Mom’s show tunes [she sung briefly in a band before marriage] and our kids grew up with opera — which they have always liked [although there was that brief period when our daughter castigated us for turning her into a hopeless geek because all her friends thought opera was weird] When we used to travel long distances by car we would tape record the kids’ favorite records [music and story stuff] on ONE side of the tape and something we particularly liked on the other. That way there was a sort of ‘turn taking’ when the tape reversed. We didn’t want each kid in their own hermetically sealed world on family trips — we wanted car time to be family time — so we never used walkman tape recorders — so when the tape was on everyone had to listen [whether it was the horrifying 'puppet pals' or opera] As they get older, it is fun to choose books e.g. Hitchhiker’s guide to the Universe was a favorite for everyone. To this day, we always leave the driveway on a family trip with Willie Nelson’s ‘On the Road Again’ blaring from the stereo. Family music — whatever it is — is a great way to create family traditions.
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Best thing is to buy your child their own tape player when they are older…. My First Sony is a good one. Child can choose own tapes to play at bedtime. Durng my pregnancy I went to the theatre alot in my last few months…. barely fit in the seat, but thats another story!! I went to the ballet and to Les Miserable. MY baby danced around in my tummy like BLAZES. At Les Mis.. I was just 1 week before I was due and I thought for sure I was going to have the baby there!! ONce born, I had music on constantly,…. all types… classical, and rock and roll. I think that they respond to any music… and it is such an important part of their growing up. Now my daughter is quite musical… not sure if it is all related or just in her Genes.. certainly not in mine! MJ
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I sang Elvis’s "Love Me Tender" to my daughter as a baby as a lullaby. DOnt know why but that song came into my head when I held her and I just kept it. I sang that to her up till she was 5 yrs old. My daughter now has the Elvis tape with the song on it. She says I’m better!! LOL! MJ
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My favorites for my young kids from the time they were infants are: Kenny Loggins -Return to Pooh Corner… my 4 1/2 year old son asks for this tape often. I never get sick of it. In fact when he was almost one, we took a car trip from NC to Chicago and MI and listened to that one tape the whole trip (really!). Rock-A-Bye Baby Collection I and II….these are the most soothing tapes with the most beautifully crafted songs about babyhood I have ever heard. This was our going to bed music for my son when he was a baby and I still love to listen to them today. Grunsky (his first name escapes me)….this guy has a great voice and wonderful original songs (and some well-known) on several really good tapes. He have his DreamCatcher tape and it is another often requested one. -Suzi in Chapel Hill
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >Excellent post! >Just wondering about everyone else’s musical experiences with their >little babes? Anyone want to talk about what they play for their kids, >pre-recorded or played by yourself? Like to sing to the little one? >How about any kids who are learning to play or sing themselves?
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> Heh heh…you won’t believe this, but my kids love rock & roll, the > hard stuff. We tried classical & country at bedtime, thinking > soothing music would put him to sleep…he would just squall. > Then my husband bought NIN’s "Pretty Hate Machine" > The first night we had it, Robert fell asleep midway through the tape. > The next night we tried it on purpose…he squalled till we turned on > the tape…2 songs later he was happily asleep. <G>
Hehe! I love it; NIN is some of mine and Mia’s favorite "dancing" music (remember, she likes to "dance" to beat-heavy tunes). Mike — From Seattle, WA – Seahawks, cinema, science and more at http://kohary.simplenet.com Seahawks: http://kohary.simplenet.com/hawks.htm Cinema: http://kohary.simplenet.com/movies.htm Science: http://kohary.simplenet.com/science.htm
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> Some American classic songs served as excellent lullabies, even if the > topic was sad.
It’s funny how this works. I said in my original post how I love to play "Someone to Watch Over Me" on the guitar for Mia. The lyrics of the song are nice in that "he" and "she" are interchangable, and can be changed to suit either a man or a woman. But the lyrics are not exactly "appropriate" for a baby, in that they refer more to a love affair than to a caregiver. But they can be interpreted as mainly caregiving, if you take them a bit liberally, and the overall them of a person searching for a mentor is touching. Some of the best lullabies are the sad ones, as they often have such beautiful melodies. Mike — From Seattle, WA – Seahawks, cinema, science and more at http://kohary.simplenet.com Seahawks: http://kohary.simplenet.com/hawks.htm Cinema: http://kohary.simplenet.com/movies.htm Science: http://kohary.simplenet.com/science.htm
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> to a caregiver. But they can be interpreted as mainly caregiving, if > you take them a bit liberally, and the overall them of a person > searching for a mentor is touching.
That would be "the overall *theme* of a person…." Mike :P — From Seattle, WA – Seahawks, cinema, science and more at http://kohary.simplenet.com Seahawks: http://kohary.simplenet.com/hawks.htm Cinema: http://kohary.simplenet.com/movies.htm Science: http://kohary.simplenet.com/science.htm
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>Hehe! I love it; NIN is some of mine and Mia’s favorite "dancing" music >(remember, she likes to "dance" to beat-heavy tunes). >Mike
They must really love the beat. :*) Now-a-days its Megadeth and Metallica. I get a real kick out of watching Robert (3yo) ‘headbanging’ <G> Kelly (1yo) just rocks back and forth and coos. <G> I tried ‘em on Country…neither of them seemed to care for it. They do like Classical though. Just for laughs…we watched Men In Black a few weeks ago, and had to re-run the credits at the end of the movie, because Kelly had a fit when the music was over. <G> If Life was a Highway, I’d be in a ditch Bright Blessings Brenda Smeby ICQ#4128184
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When Riley was a baby, we sang along to Linda Rohnstadt’s "Dedicated to the One I Love" and Kenny Loggins "Pooh Corner" when he was with me, and when he and his daddy were hanging out, they would go in the study and play guitar and listen to heavy metal, which he loved! I think babies just love music, period, and if you enjoy it with them, it’s something fun you can enjoy together. (I also sang to and from work constantly while I was pregnant and still sing him to sleep at 2-yrs!). Marla, Riley’s mom
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Before Jeff (now 6) was born, we frequently listened to a tape called "Transitions", which featured "in-uterus sounds", with a "heartbeat" and "female singing sounds". After he was born, this tape helped him relax and sleep for about three or four years. About three or four years ago, we got a tape "Kid’s Songs for Sleepyheads" by Nancy Cassidy. We’ve worn out two copies of it. — I don’t want to earn $$$$, or see pictures of GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS.
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>Before Jeff (now 6) was born, we frequently listened to a tape called >"Transitions", which featured "in-uterus sounds", with a "heartbeat" and >"female singing sounds". After he was born, this tape helped him relax >and sleep for about three or four years. About three or four years ago, >we got a tape "Kid’s Songs for Sleepyheads" by Nancy Cassidy. We’ve worn >out two copies of it.
My little girl (currently 10 months old) has a couple of CDs that are played for her during Naptime/Bedtime… "Baby’s First Lullabies" "Anticipation: Music for Expecting Women" "Meditation: Classical Relaxation, Vol. 8" "Beethoven at Bedtime" As well as, any other classical music (Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, etc…) She also has 3 CDs from a band a co-worker is in, these 3 CDs I’ve found to be extremely enjoyable and help her "settle-down" for bed. The group’s name is "Siddall" and they are from the local Richmond Area, but their record label is out of the Washington, D.C. area.
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We run public radio all night in the nursery. My wife jokes that the kid will know about about politics and world events than us by the time he talks! — Beast "If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice." See http://www.amotherswork.com for fine handmade items for your baby, nursery, and other rooms of the house. - Using OUI 1.8 Pro from http://www.peaktopeak.com
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Just wondering about everyone else’s musical experiences with their little babes? Anyone want to talk about what they play for their kids, pre-recorded or played by yourself? Like to sing to the little one? How about any kids who are learning to play or sing themselves? I’m a musician myself (not professional, just hobbyist, but I play seriously), and like to pick out a variety of good music for my 8-month-old Mia. I play my guitar for her; soft jazz and folk music, since that kind of music uses clean chords and soft sounds (I’ll rock out for her later 
. She loves it, and loves to touch my guitar as well and play with the strings. For pre-recorded music, I play her lots of stuff. Classical music is great; lots of Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven. I love playing her Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony (6th Symphony), since it’s mostly happy, soft and lulling. I also play her a lot of jazz – John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Bill Evans, and Kenny Eubanks (ex-guitarist on Tonight Show). We have good local jazz and classical radio stations here in Seattle as well, which are great for the car. I also play her good rock music, classic rock mostly. For newer music, Chris Cornell’s "Sunshower" (from the "Great Expectations" soundtrack) is a wonderful and lovely little lullaby that she seems to enjoy. I often dance with her, swaying her in my arms and bouncing her up and down. She particularly enjoys this when we’re doing it to real pulsating music, so I’ll turn on the dance music station or something (no rap; rap is crap without the "c"). Oh man, she laughs so hard when we bounce around the living room to that stuff, even if it isn’t particularly good music. The piano scares her. I find that rather amusing; hopefully she’ll come around on that later. We want her to take up an instrument when she’s older; she will at least have to try a couple out (if she really isn’t into it, we won’t force it, but she must try). We believe that music provides great personal rewards, and also teaches many important things (the pay-offs of perserverance and practice, the humility/exhileration of public performance and the idea that it takes work to become good at something) as well as promotes creativity. My favorite song for her? I love to play a song for her on my guitar, the beautiful "Someone to Watch Over Me", by George and Ira Gershwin. "I’m a little lamb who’s lost in a wood, I know I could, always be good, to one who’ll watch over me". Heck, I sometimes bring myself to tears playing it for her. ;) Mike — From Seattle, WA – Seahawks, cinema, science and more at http://kohary.simplenet.com Seahawks: http://kohary.simplenet.com/hawks.htm Cinema: http://kohary.simplenet.com/movies.htm Science: http://kohary.simplenet.com/science.htm