Is 'kid music' really better for kids than grown-up music?

[eyesroll]

I know that exposure to music at an early age is beneficial for kids...but does it matter what?

My SO has a three-year-old who is a big fan of Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, U2, The Church, Nick Cave...she even likes opera (in a generic sense -- if it comes on as part of a score of a cartoon, she'll point out that it's opera and hum along).

Now, my dad (a retired high-school teacher) has offered to bring up copies of CDs of kids music. It's a nice gesture, but I wonder...

If the kid likes grown-up music...and the grown-ups dislike the kid music...is kid music necessary/beneficial for her development? Are deeper voices and more complex vocabulary going to turn her off of music (we're not playing anything violent or sexual in front of her)? Are high-pitched earworms about puppies and fishies and sillies more appropriate?

Or can we continue to eschew the kid music (which I'm sure she's getting in pre-school anyway) and play the far-less-annoying stuff?

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. My kids love adult music and always have. We have just been choosy about

what the lyrics portray when playing songs for them.

[eyesroll]

5. Indeed -- we're not bothered so much by an occasional "damn," but the last

thing we want is a three-year-old singing songs about murder to her pre-school. :D

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. You know what kids music/stories artist is just awesome is

Willy Claflin. We have his "Wolf Under the Bed" tape and our kids LOVE it.

http://www.willyclaflin.com/

[eyesroll]

15. Thanks for the tip...if I can find anything by Sherban Cira, I'm going to

get it.

He was the very cool music director at an otherwise scary day camp I worked at when I was a teenager...he had a few CDs in limited release.

[Mutley]

2. My niece and nephew have been growing up on adult music

and don't seem any better or worse off than my other niece who listens to mainly kid music. I don't have any kids myself, but it would seem it's just a matter of personal taste.

[Beware the Beast Man]

3. I was a fan of Kiss and the Village People when I was four.

I turned out OK. :freak:

[arwalden]

39. Well, That Certainly Explains A Lot.

:spray: :hi:

[ChoralScholar]

4. As a teacher of singing,

I find that the so-called 'kids music' contains a lot of bad role models for singing. There is nothing intrinsically beneficial about the stuff. Let your kid listen to what he enjoys.

[eyesroll]

7. That's a good point -- some of the stuff is, musically, atrocious.

I'm not a musical expert by any means, so it's good to have backup from someone who is.

[Magrittes Pipe]

6. She seemed to like the Eminem we played for her.

For 2 hours, she wouldn't stop singing "now bleed, bitch, bleed!"

What a precious kid. :loveya:

[eyesroll]

12. "Papa, what's an A-K?"

"It means we're not listening to Ice Cube in the car anymore, sweetie."

[LynneSin]

14. Perhaps you should try some Marilyn Manson for your kid

:eyes:

[Magrittes Pipe]

19. No, we played Em for EYESROLL's kinda-stepkid.

Ruby prefers A.C.

[LynneSin]

Well if I ever need a babysitter for any kids I might have

I'll keep you in mind

:eyes:

[eyesroll]

27. H did end up singing "A Boy Named Sue" at midnight for her mom

I can just picture her going "My name is Sue! How do you do! Now you're gonna die!" much to her mom's outward dismay/inner amusement.

[bbernardini]

8. As a music teacher and a former child...

Do whatever you want. I listened to all kinds of stuff growing up, and I don't recall much of it being "kids music". However, there's some SPECTACULAR kids music out there these days. In particular, Trout Fishing In America, who do music for both kids and adults. (Not that the adult music is "dirty". It's just not about boogers.)

The new "Devo 2.0" is pretty good, too. :)

[LynneSin]

10. "Dear Abby" has been having some major debates about 'baby talk'

there are people out there that believe baby talk is not helpful to infants & toddlers especially when it comes to speech development and there are many child experts who believe that we should talk to our children the way we would talk to anyone else. The results of this are to be better speech development and reasoning.

I'm not trying to force children to grow up faster than normal, but why shouldn't your children learn to appreciate the music you enjoy instead of feeding them baby-talk kids music? My best friend's daughter is only 9 and she's the biggest Doors fan out there (her sister adores the Doors the way I do Led Zeppelin). She's even seen the Doors in concert a few times (yes, I know Jim Morrison is dead; however the remaining members have toured several times of recent with I think the lead singer of the Cult).

I would be a bit selective over the grown-up music I'd allow kids to listen to but sure - go for it

[malta blue]

11. My daughter is 6 and while she is a fan of "kids" music,

I try to expose her to whatever I find that is kid friendly in the lyrics department. She is a fan of Matisyahu. You can't argue on the lyrics, and she likes the reggae beat. By the way - a GREAT kids album is "NO" by They Might Be Giants. It is her favorite CD, we've been through 3 copies now, and it doesn't really hurt our adult sensibilities.

[eyesroll]

13. I think I heard a few cuts off that TMBG album on NPR awhile ago...

I'll have to check it out.

Actually, I think she'd like TMBG in any case.

[malta blue]

16. TMBG is pretty kid friendly all the way around anyway.

These songs are just sillier than the average TMBG song (is that possible?)

[eyesroll]

18. It's just that they're so damn earwormy.

I spent most of the spring of 2005 with stuff from "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" going through my head and I'd like to avoid a repeat...:D

[malta blue]

20. Thanks, thanks alot!

Now I have the earworm here at work!

[Magrittes Pipe]

23. Not to put too fine a point on it

Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet

[progmom]

17. progspawn has a balanced diet of both kids music and "grown-up" stuff

His favorite song is Joan Jett's "I Love Rock & Roll"; he loves Charlie Parker and Hank Williams. The kids music he digs is actually not too annoying at all - Dan Zanes (of the Del Fuegos) and Laurie Berkner are his two favorites.



Lisa Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell also have some cool kids songs which you can watch here: http://www.noggin.com/shows/movemusic.php

[Magrittes Pipe]

21. Laurie Berkner is earwormy and upsetting.

Dan Zanes' kid stuff is way better than the Del Fuegos (we took Ruby and her friend to see his band in Cleveland).

[progmom]

24. Upsetting?

:rofl:

You funny.

[Magrittes Pipe]

26. My brother's got an elephant on his head

And he keeps it there all day.

:wtf:

[progmom]

28. hahahahahaha - that song has been in my head all morning

[progmom]

22. oh yeah - and They Might Be Giants Here Come the ABCs

:thumbsup:

[WCGreen]

25. I grew up on John Cage and Strakovia....

Opera and modern dance....

They read Balzac and Kerouac to me while in the womb....

And my nursery was peppered with original Lichtenstains and Pollacks...

And yet, I yearned for Happy Days....

Ah, growing up in the East Village was no easy feet for us children of the beats....

[jane_pippin]

29. I don't think it matters. My dad played Tom Waits when I was three or four

and I turned out pretty normal. I think. I thought "Ice Cream Man" was about actual ice cream, so it was ok by me. :D

We never listened to kid music. (Unless you count the tapes that came with Jem dolls--that was it.) We just listened to whatver my dad played and then made up songs when we got bored with that and we got along fine that way.

Maybe you could accept the kid music cds from your dad and he can listen to them with her when he visits.

[eyesroll]

32. Oh, I'll take 'em (I already have a few from his last visit)...

...but don't make me listen to 'em. :D

Tom Waits...hmm...

[jane_pippin]

38. Yeah. I don't know that it was the wisest choice on his part

to play Tom, but my dad's a weirdo so there it is. He played a lot of John Lennon too, so I guess it balances out.

[noonwitch]

30. It depends on what the kid likes

Some kids, especially little girls, love the music made for kids, like the Hillary Duff and Raven CDs Disney makes. My 6 year old neice likes those, but she also likes ballet music and a lot of the electronic funk kind of music I listen to in the car. She likes John Denver and other music that is easy to sing along with.

Kids also like soundtracks to kids' movies. The "Shrek" movies both have good soundtracks-I have one of them because I drive kids around in my car frequently and because I think Jennifer Saunders' cover of "I'm Holding Out For A Hero" is better than the original (which was also on a soundtrack-"Footloose").

[Magrittes Pipe]

31. Do you want me to burn her a compilation?

If nothing else, it should engender creativity and liven up her dreams:

1) John Cale "Fear is a Man's Best Friend"
2) Ice-T "Midnight"
3) Teenage Jesus and the Jerks "Race Mixing"
4) Compulsive Gamblers "Dead Waltz"
5) Mississippi John Hurt "Louis Collins"
6) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds "Mercy"
7) The Gits "A Spear and a Magic Helmet"
8) The Stooges "Dirt"
9) Roxy Music "In Every Dream Home a Heartache"
10) Skip James "Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues"
11) Nico "Frozen Warnings"
12) N.W.A. "100 Miles and Runnin'"
13) Dead Boys "Caught with the Meat in Your Mouth"
14) MC5 "Human Being Lawnmower"
15) Billie Holliday "Strange Fruit"
16) Television "Little Johnny Jewel"
17) The Gun Club "Secret Fires"

[eyesroll]

33. I think she's heard "Dirt" before...

Thankfully, the Cave songs I've heard her sing have been along the lines of "There She Goes, My Beautiful World" and not "O'Malley's Bar." :scared:

[Magrittes Pipe]

With an ashtray as big as a fucking really big brick,

I split his head in half.

[terrya]

34. I think you can eschew the kids music.

I certainly would think twice about exposing your SO's child to rap...but other forms of adult music are ok. It sounds like she (your SO's child) might be interested in classical music...if she hums along to opera. Maybe she'll be interested in some classical stuff.

[eyesroll]

35. Hey, there's plenty of non-violent/ non-sexist/ non-etc. rap out there.

(Granted, none of it is on J's iPod...)

[Magrittes Pipe]

36. (or mine)

:D

[terrya]

37. Admittedly, I'm not that much of an expert on it.

It seems like, though, only the misognistic, violent, homophobic stuff is more noticeable...well, at least to me.