Being a children's songwriter and storyteller I recently decided to delve into what music for children age 4 - 9 years is currently available. It's not something I've done in a while as my kids are now grown up and passed the age of needing me to find music for them to listen to. When younger my kids, along with the expected nursery rhymes, listened to a diverse range of music, and as they’ve grown they in turn have broadened and influenced my listening.
As many parents would probably agree that (some) of our children's favourite tv programme's theme music can evoke a great sense of nostalgia in us as years pass. I still get a warm feeling inside when I hear the theme songs from #LittleBill #PowerRangers #MaxandRuby #64zooLane #CharlieandLola #BenandHolly
I think over the years aspects of theme songs, nursery rhymes and their favourite music as they've grown has influenced my songwriting.
When it came to the narrative influences on my storytelling and songwriting, I think through my interaction with my own kids and my work with children in schools and nurseries I instinctively wrote from the perspective of the child, be it the freedom of imagination, the joy of the simplest things, making sense of the world around us as we grow or interactions with others. In hindsight I think I became quite in touch subconsciously with my own inner child, it's been and still is quite cathartic for me, sometimes touching on difficult times I experienced as a child. Also as a storyteller and writer it was natural for me to create characters and storylines that express life through the eyes of a child.
My quest to find what other children's music reacquainted me with some wonderful artists such as #Raffi and the wonderful #Ellie Jenkins. On #Spotify ( a great platform i think, for kids to discover a huge library of music) there are #playlistforkids covering folk, latin, classical, lullabies etc. as well as all the Disney movie soundtracks. Also there have been some great artists who have made albums for kids like #ZiggyMarley #Andre3000, #BarenakedLadies .
On youtube though, there just seems a lot of very generic music for little ones, and again the Disney hits and #Kidzbop which is cover versions of chart hits. As much as these all seem really popular from the view count, it's not a route I've found myself taking with my music.
So after my search I do believe that there is a place for the Debisongsandstories project and for work I do with #OrenMarshall.
Also have a listen to some of my releases
and please subscribe and join my chat forum and let me know how you feel about the content your children love.
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