When I am home, I usually like to have music playing. And I am home a lot these days. Edie likes music too, but she reacts much more favorably to some tunes rather than others. Anything too dark or hectic makes her agitated. But she loves kiddie music. I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it with my own eyes, but even at 12 weeks, the cheerful melodies of music made for babies and tots really did make her happy. On the other side of the coin, however, is my sanity. If I fall asleep with "Shake the Sillies Out" in my head one more time, I may keep shaking until my brains leak out. So I've been experimenting with my own music that seems to share enough kid music traits to be amenable to us both. Melodic, not overly complicated or intense, and the presence of a strong lead vocalist all help. Here's what I've come up with:
1. Bare Naked Ladies
2. They Might Be Giants (yes, I love TMBG. Sorry if you thought I was cool.)
3. Dar Williams
4. Phish
5. James Taylor
6. Grateful Dead
Radiohead and Tori Amos do not fit the bill, sadly. Any other suggestions out there?
I found that blues works pretty well, particularly for sleep. It tends to be simple musically and repetitive. TMBG is classic though. They always like the Beatles, Duke Ellington (I don't know why), Tom Waits, Sufjan Stevens and Pink Floyd.
ReplyDeleteI have found, somewhat disturbingly, that the vast majority of my music is inappropriate for children. Hmmm..
Sufjan Stevens - had not thought of him! Bon Iver is good for bed time too. Yes, Beatles of course. Almost all of it will get weird when and if she ever starts really parsing lyrics...
ReplyDeletedang, Beatles was already taken - there's no better way to wake up then "Good Day Sunshine".
ReplyDeleteFrom my parenting experience, Regina Spektor would also be upbeat, and Sigur Ros will surely calm & sooth everyone.
Did you ever get the rock a baby CD's.. my favorite is The Cure.. I have most of them.. and Love them!
ReplyDeleteDo you have pandora on your i-touch? If so, love the School House Rock channel! It's kiddy but educational and I also enjoy it for long periods of time as well. But for adult-type music, Lilly's really into Latin themed music, Barry White (she likes his base voice - We really never listened to Barry White but James read a study saying babies liked it and sure enough! It's a winner!), Fleetwood Mac, and I've noticed her groove out to Abba when it comes on the radio.
ReplyDeletePS - I appreciate everyone else's suggestions! I'll have to go check 'em out!
http://www.kiddierecords.com/
ReplyDeleteI can't get Pandora in Europe :P But I'll try to check it out! I remember Schoolhouse Rock.
ReplyDeleteWe do have the Rockabye Baby album of The Cure songs. It's my fave lullaby music for sure.
For kid stuff that is fun, TMBG does kid albums and John Lithgow (I know, right?) does a really fun big band sounding album.
I will have to try Barry White! That is hilarious!
Maybe Sigur Ros can reach Edie at a deep Icelandic DNA level....
Little E likes the Farmer in the Dell and can listen to it many many times, repeat repeat.
ReplyDelete