Music Advice



There is nothing quite so astonishing as hearing your 6-year old sing "hold me all night" or "you make me lose control"! We always thought we were pretty picky about the music we listen to as a family, but obviously not picky enough. One of those phrases came from a Beach Boys CD and the other came from an LDS acapella group that we thought would be perfectly family-appropriate. I guess not. So, .... help! What do you listen to as a family that is fun ... and wholesome? We love music - all different kinds - and we want good music to be a part of our children's lives, but it seems a bit scarce! And, I'll just say now that kid's songs sing-along CD's make me want to jump out the window. Any advice?

8 comments:

Rich said...

Let's see... our top CD collections by use:

Aydan (7)
Anything by Elvis
Poems
Fall asleep music (Enya, Primary songs)
*Aydan has a pretty refined musical taste, always liked classical music etc.

Regan (4)
Pure Funk (especially Brickhouse)
Anything with a girl singer
*Regan is a bit more unpredictable, but she loves a good beat and funny songs

Other
Classical music - especially the Bugs Bunny type songs
Pete Seeger Collection - I love his folk music
Raffi - Baby Beluga, pretty cool stuff
Disney (Parades, Princesses, Collections, Movie Soundtracks)

They also LOVE to get books on CD from the library. They are free and they listen to them all the time. They have some really great selections.

We did have to put away the Millenium Hip Hop CD for a while because they are starting to be able to understand the lyrics. sigh...

Tanya said...

If Hayden likes the Beach Boys, then maybe he'll like this one about Primary. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4377332801854648428
Maybe he's not too old for it. I use it as a wiggle song with my sunbeams. They love it!

chris said...

some show tunes are good: there are good songs on carousel, show boat, oklahoma, west side story, etc., but i don't think even any of those have 100% songs with no suggestive lyrics. also some classical music is interesting and exciting to children: carmen overture, william tell, four seasons.

Megan said...

I swear by "For The Kids." Best CD for children (and their parents) ever made. We also like "They Might Be Giants." My kids get a kick out of their ABC CD. Other favorites are "Mary Had A Little Amp" and "Snack Time" by the Barenaked Ladies. (You can find any of these on Amazon.com.) Also, Pottery Barn Kids puts out some great stuff. My kids LOVE music, but I hate the usual "wheels on the bus" stuff. Thankfully, artists have caught on to this and there are some really great CD's out there now that parents and kids can both go for. Happy shopping! :)

Hester Family said...

Well, we wanted to help hook the children to classical music, so we found these CD's called "Beethoven's Wig" that make funny lyrics to classical music. There's one song on the first CD (there are three CD's- we've only listened to the first 2) that after they asked me what it meant I decided we should skip that one, but they loved them. They also think Haydn's Surprise Symphony is hilarious. We bought a few CD's they really enjoy that are educational called "Singing Smart." Then we have some Italian music- I don't know the lyrics, and if I knew, maybe we wouldn't be listening to them anymore...who knows?! But, we usually save those for road trips and it makes them pretty special. We try out various classical and kids CD's from the library, but most end up being things I wouldn't want to own, so I'm glad we checked them out first. Otherwise, we stick to Primary songs, hymns, "Tim's hits", classical, enya, and Seminary songs...gotta love hearing Holly belt out "I've got to Find out who I am" while unloading the dishwasher!

Alice said...

Thanks for all of the advice! It sounds like there's a lot of good music out there that we didn't know about. Guess our kids will be getting some CD's for Christmas!

Unknown said...

They might be giants have put out some GREAT kids CD's !! The curious george sound track is pretty good (jack johnson). We created a playlist on itunes full of kid appropriate kid friendly songs so that we can have safe music ready on the computer, in the car, on the ipod etc. etc. and one playlist just for Sundays etc.

Good Luck!! :)

Layne and Kelly Nelson said...

Aw man, kids hear, remember, AND REPEAT EVERYTHING! Good luck with that!

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