Cover of Snacktime!
This post originally appeared on my music column ‘The Crossroads’ over at Dad-Blogs.com on July 21, 2009.
Personally, I’m not much of a fan of children’s music, which is particularly vexing to my wife as we work on raising our son. When we are home and playing I usually keep some music on the background just to cut through the static and I do my best to make it something mellow. Our current favorite is the Curious George soundtrack that Jack Johnson did a few years ago. Also, I’ll play some selections from ‘Snacktime’ by the Barenaked Ladies because we like their song ‘Pollywog in a Bog‘. Still I find a little to be desired with the bulk of children’s music that is available.
If it were left up to me his musical tastes would be formed at a early age with a discussion of the classics – Zeppelin, Rush, The Beatles. There would be coursework in Jazz – Davis, Coltrane, Marsalis (any of them); Blues – King, Guy, Hooker; and Alternative Rock – Matthews, Harper, Sevendust. However, I’ll probably reserve the more advanced classes like Metal and the thesis on Jam Bands for when he is a little older.
After all, I realized that sending my son to preschool filled with this kind of musical knowledge could stunt his social development. The last thing I want is for him to be the outcast that sits by himself in the corner of class jamming to ‘By-Tor and the Snow Dog‘ while the other kids are dancing around to ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’. I embarked upon a quest to find some kid friendly music that won’t make me pull the hair out of my head after hearing it for the umpteenth time that day.
In the process of researching this topic I stumbled across this blurb in Parents Magazine. And by ’stumbled across’ I mean my wife pointed it out to me. (I didn’t want you thinking I was so hard up for reading material that I actually perused a ‘parenting’ magazine.) From time to time there is some useful information in those otherwise worthless rags and this just happened to be one of those rare occasions. There was an info box on the site Jitterbug.tv that claimed to offer ‘Kindie’ music, basically independent music for kids. Needless to say I was thrilled by this discovery and quickly signed up at their website.
On Jitterbug.tv I found some really cool stuff that we now listen to during playtime. There are some tracks from more well known artists like the Barenaked Ladies and Ziggy Marley, but there was also some songs from other acts like the Dreyer Family Band. If you haven’t heard of them, you should definitely check them out. The first track I played was ‘You Get What You Get’ and when it got rolling I could have sworn I was listening to Dr. John. It was very cool and bluesy sounding. I also really dug their tune ‘Home’, which gave me a Squirrel Nut Zippers swing vibe.
I’m still sorting through all the stuff available on Jitterbug.tv, but thought it would be good information to pass along to any of you that might be looking for a reprieve from the standard musical fare for kids.
Do you have a music question for me? Is there something, or someone, you’d like me to cover? Leave a comment or drop me an email at pj@realmendriveminivans.com so I can work on it for a future article. Also, if you’re new here, consider joining Dad-Blogs and grab the RSS feed so you can get this and all of the other awesome columns delivered fresh directly to you. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the ride!
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