This is a fun look at the musical sensibilities of children and how they might be formed.
Guardian Unlimited Arts | | Please dad, not the Crazy Frog
I can proudly say that for most of her third and fourth year my daughter would matter of factly state that her favorite singer was Stevie Wonder. She still gets in the car and wants “the Motown CD.”
Yes. I feel pretty strongly that children in general are capable of appreciating and enjoying far more interesting music than adults typically give them credit for (in our own house this is one reason we have never taken our daughter to a “baby and me” music class).
I abhor the cultural tendency to “dumb it down” for kids, and I especially abhor the well-meaning folks who try to capitalize on what they perceive as kids’ dumbness by releasing dumb-music-for-kids CDs (Dan Zanes, I’m looking at you). If you learn to enjoy bad music at an early age, chances are you’re going to stick with bad music through adulthood. And given the state of music in this country, that’s pretty sad.
In our house, just about everyday is baby and me music class, but it mostly consists of the kids banging along with whatever music I am listening to.
I did take my daughter to a music class when she had just turned 5. It was 4 kids, each accompanied by a parent, and a teacher. They used the Alfred Music for Little Mozarts curriculum and it was great. They learned about rhythm and pitch and didn’t get too hung up on dots witht he little kids. They danced and clapped and sang, and learned some stuff with out noticing. She’s on to regulr piano lessons now, but that hasn’t stopped her from banging away for fun either.