“Meanwhile, it has been revealed playing music to premature tots numbs any pain. Doctors found it reduced the discomfort they suffered from injections and blood tests. And it helped tots to feed better. Music also reduced pain in full-term babies having minor ops.” How cool is that?!
Here’s a low-tech experiment that you can do on the cheap that will keep kids fascinated for hours.It’s sad to say that the era of cassette decks is just about over. Replaced first by CDs and then by the purely digital form of music, those of us who grew up with the soothing hiss of magnetic tape in our Walkman headphones can’t help but feel a little old. The upside of this is that tape decks are as cheap as the dickens now, and with two or more of them you can show your kid something really cool.
Borrow or yard sale a few cassette players – this can be a fun group activity with your neighbors, if you want to get them digging in their closets for old stereo equipment. Make sure at least one has a microphone – many portable ones have built-in microphones or a jack to plug one in. You’ll also need a number of answering machine tapes – the kind used for outgoing messages. You can get them at Radio Shack or extremely cheap on the Internet. These tapes are a little different from ordinary cassettes in that they are constructed as a continuous loop – put them in a player and they’ll run forever, repeating the same 30 seconds over and over again. Lastly, you’ll need a stopwatch.
Take a blank answering machine tape, put it in the player with the microphone, and get a kid ready. Tell them to make any noise they want into the microphone when you say GO! Say it, hit Record, and start the stopwatch. Stop at 30 seconds (or however long the outgoing message tape is) and put the tape in another player. Hit Play and you’ve got a loop going. Do another tape with a different kid and repeat until you’ve built a glorious cacophony of pre-digital bliss.
P.S. There’s still time to enter to win the new Rockabye Baby! CD, Lullaby Renditions of Queen!
Like its sister program The Muppet Show, Sesame Street has attracted an astounding array of performers from all over the world of music. Starting with legends like Lena Horne when the show debuted and spreading out into rock, R&B, country and pretty much every other branch of musical expression, a guest spot on Sesame Street was proof positive that you’d made it. Here is the first installment my favorites from the show’s history, facilitated by the kindliness of YouTube.
It’s a great performance of a classic tune by one of R&B’s most famous showmen, but what really puts this one over the top is the backing band – Ernie on drums and Bert on guitar. They take solos, sing a little scat and generally make this a jam that I can listen to over and over again.
Feist – Counting To Four
Canadian indie songstress Feist once roomed with filthy electro queen Peaches, who we don’t see showing up on Sesame Street anytime soon (unless they need a song about not shaving your armpits). But “Counting To Four” is a rare modern Sesame Street song that stands with the classics, with an insanely infectious melody and quirky lyrics in the classically absurdist mode.
Paul Simon – Me & Julio
If there’s any one clip that illustrates the magic of Sesame Street, it’s this one – a young Paul Simon sitting on the stoop playing his hit “Me & Julio” is unexpectedly interrupted by the little girl sitting next to her, who starts freestyling her own lyrics. Throw in some robot dancing kids breaking it down to the whole deal and you have a priceless TV moment.
P.S. Don’t forget to enter to win our new Lullaby Renditions of Queen CD!
Like its sister program The Muppet Show, Sesame Street has attracted an astounding array of performers from all over the world of music. Starting with legends like Lena Horne when the show debuted and spreading out into rock, R&B, country and pretty much every other branch of musical expression, a guest spot on Sesame Street was proof positive that you’d made it. Here is the first installment my favorites from the show’s history, facilitated by the kindliness of YouTube.
Johnny Cash – Nasty Dan
The Man In Black sings a little tune about a no-good dude, his lousy wife and their crummy kid to a very appreciative Oscar The Grouch. Really shows how the program used to be a lot funkier and more emotionally complex than it is now.
Yo Yo Ma – Quartet for Honkers, Dinger and Cello
Virtuoso cellist Yo Yo Ma has performed alongside all sorts of musicians, but the weirdest have to be his puppet compatriots in the Sesame Street Chamber Music Society. Starting off with some gentle wordplay, sparks really start to fly when the group gets going.
Little Richard – Rubber Duckie
What’s better than Little Richard wearing a leopard-print jacket sitting in a bathtub? All of the aforementioned knocking out Ernie’s bathtub anthem. A few points taken off for the dismal 80s synthesized backing band aren’t enough to dislodge it from my list.
Listen My Brother – Count To Twenty
The late Luther Vandross (in the pink shirt) anchored this New York theater group, which appeared twice on the 1969 season of Sesame Street. This track is a great Stax/Motown breakdown from start to finish, culminating in an awesome fire escape raveup at the end.
P.S. Don’t forget to enter to win our new Lullaby Renditions of Queen CD!
What with all the excitement over the release of Lullaby Renditions Of Queen, I thought I’d share a left-field pick for those of you who can’t get enough of the legendary glam quartet.
New York cartoonist Mike Dawson’s 2008 memoir Freddie & Me traces his life as an immigrant to the United States in the 70s from England, with a soundtrack from Queen, who he was obsessed with. It’s a funny, quirky tale that will teach you more about Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon than you’d ever thought you’d know.
Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on the island of Zanzibar.
When he was ten, Freddie became a table tennis champion at his boarding school.
Young Freddie at School
Freddie, an art school grad, designed Queen’s logo based on the band’s zodiac signs– fairies to represent himself, a Virgo, two lions for Leos Roger and John, and a crab for Brian, a Cancer.
Brian May’s signature guitar, called “Red Special,” was hand built by the young guitarist and his engineer father in 1963.
Brian May, who’d abandoned his doctoral thesis in astrophysics to become a guitarist, finally earned his PhD in 2007, 36 years after he’d started his thesis. In 2008 Dr. May was named Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.
Roger Taylor’s first band was called the “Bubblingover Boys.”
Roger Taylor as a Young Lad
John Deacon hoped to work in electronics when he grew up.
Tell us your best, most personal story about Queen—where you were the first time you heard them or the first time you saw them in concert, why you love them, or tell us about your favorite Queen song—anything personal to you in 200 words or less. Leave it in a comment right here on this post. We’ll pick our ten favorites to win!
Don’t forget, you must submit an email address with your comment to be entered. The deadline to enter is 12:00 pm pst, June 9, 2009.
Have we mentioned how much we love our new album Lullaby Renditions of Queen, which comes out tomorrow? Only a few hundred times? For those still wondering why, check out some selected songs posted here, and read this interview with producer Leo Flynn II, who lets us in on his lullaby-making secrets.
Rockabye Baby! sat down with Leo over a hot cup of Sleepytime tea in our cozy cave. He was nice enough to stop by to share some of his insights into transforming the timeless and challenging songs of Queen, this special album, and the process of creating music that both babies and their parents can love.
Buy the album at your favorite baby boutique or on our website!
Producer Leo Flynn II photographed by Sarah DiCiccio
Rockabye Baby!: How do you go about creating a lullaby album?
Leo Flynn II: Well, it all starts with getting the cutest sounds. We build up a palette of the most gentle lullaby instruments we can find (or craft):xylophones, woodblocks, celestas, glockenspiels, etc.At that point, we have the basic ingredients of our lullaby “band”!
Then we break down the original song, find out what really makes it tick, and bring to life its key elements—melody, guitar riffs, certain rhythms—with the different lullaby instruments.If we do it right, we come up with a really soothing sound for little ones while maintaining some rock attitude—that sense of rebellion or heartache or humor that always draws the grown-up listeners to their favorite songs.
RB!:What kind of things do you do in the studio to keep you focused on making sleepy music? Did you have any special inspiration for this album?
LF: Producers are generally sleep-deprived people, so having them work long hours on lullaby music is a bit sadistic…
Actually, I did keep pictures of two babies in my family, Michael and Avery, asleep, above my keyboard.That helped me to remember my audience and to play everything softly!
RB!:Were there any special challenges to making a lullaby to Queen?
The scope of Queen’s style is massive.The band effortlessly leaped from hard rock to country shuffle to operatic musical theater…sometimes in the same song!I wanted the lullaby versions to be just as dynamic.Like Queen, I wanted to create tracks that were each a world of their own.
RB!:What is your favorite track on the album and why?
LF: I love the way Under Pressure turned out.All the emotions in the original song seem to surface on our little lullaby stage.The song’s whole crescendo plays out—from lamenting this big cruel world to refusing defeat and embracing love despite the odds.All the while, the track stays soft and sweet.
So, perhaps our version is about trying with all your tiny might to speak your first word or take your first step.The world might seem set against us, but we humans—big and small—are a defiant bunch!
RB!: What inspired you to be a musician? How old were you? Did you study music?
LF: Genetics definitely play a big part.When I was a baby, my dad used to bring me to his band’s rehearsals and sit me on his bass amp when he played.Apparently, the thump of the bass made me a very happy little dude!
I picked up my dad’s bass around age 13 or 14, after scattered piano lessons as a kid.My best friends and I put together a band and wrote music constantly throughout high school.That later led to attending Berklee College of Music, where I dove deeply into writing and producing music.
RB!:What are you working on now?
LF: I’m working on some original instrumental material that ranges from classical to pop/rock to funk and dance sounds. I really enjoy blending genres.Rockabye Baby is a treat for me because it combines arranging orchestral instruments with rock songs and rock production techniques.
Next up for me is Lullaby Renditions of Kanye West!I’m really excited to get inside Kanye’s music and see what hip-hop will bring to our lullaby world.
Brooklyn inventor Ranjit Bhatnagar uses all sorts of things to make his homemade instruments – from melting ice to pots and pans with electrical current running through them.
Even better, he provides sound clips of everything so you can listen and learn. It’s a great place for ideas for homemade instruments to make with your kids.
Tuesday is a big day around Lullaby World Headquarters. We’re due! Lullaby Renditions of Queen drops May 19. In honor of our new arrival, all next week is ”Queen Week” on the Rockabye Baby! Blog.
We’ll be giving away CDs (you know you want ‘em) and there are lots of fun Queen-centric features scheduled like an interview with producer Leo Flynn II, plus new print & play activities and more, so stop by.
You can check out “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Under Pressure” here to see why we’re so excited. Give a listen and let us know what you think.
In the meantime, excuse us. We’ve got to prepare for the big day, by which we mean nap. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Morton also writes about a recent and really exciting Canadian study on the benefits of playing music for premature infants:
