Thinking that your child may have the gift of rock? Well maybe you should look into sending them to school to be trained by real rock musicians. Rock Stars in Training is a school based in Los Angeles that gives children a chance to learn music from recording artists and performers. Songs from all decades are covered and your kids get to play along with talented artists.
The classes are for children 0-4 and the kids will learn the basics of tone and pitch by singing along. Instruments such as guitar, banjo, keyboards, percussion and more are introduced to the class. Kids will have a chance play along with the lessons.
Twin sisters Lauren and Dana, who are in the band Malibu Storm, started the school. Lauren’s husband Dr. Marc Milstein, along with the twins, created and developed the educational enrichment program. Check out a video of their band here.
There is even the option to pull together a group of kids and have the classes come to you. Online enrollment is available at here. They’re available for birthday parties, which can be tailored to 6-11 year olds as well.
Chris Ballew is a name that most wouldn’t be able to identify immediately, unless you saw this video. Yes, it’s the singer/bassist from the Presidents of the United States of America, and yes that song will be in your head all day now. For some time now, Ballew has been recording and performing kids music under the moniker Caspar Babypants. His third album in 24 months, This Is Fun!, will be released this November and will feature vocals by Ballew’s son and a plethora of other guests, including Charlie Hope and Elizabeth Mitchell. Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic also joined the group for one track on the album, a cover of the classic grunge track “Sliver.”
To hear a new track title “Happy Heart” and for more information on shows and older material, check out www.babypantsmusic.com.
The internet is full of music, lots good and lots bad, but kids music seems to be overlooked online. Gooney Bird Kids means to change this by streaming kids’ tunes 24 hours a day to children around the world.
In August 2006, Gwyneth and her two kids were sitting around on a rainy day in Atlanta when she thought up the idea for Gooney Bird Kids. Now four years later, they’re going strong. There are themed days of music, as well as the latest in kids tunes. GBK also post a lot of music videos and concert reviews of kid bands. There’s even a huge list of kids’ bands and musicians on the site that links to each groups’ tunes.
Recently GBK posted a link to Zoogobble’s radio station, another great kids music resource, so check that out as well! Overall, lots of great info and, of course, great music. Visit today!
As the story goes, Stephan Shepherd’s wife was asked to edit the newsletter for her parenting group. At one point, she asked her hubby to add some reviews of kids’ music. Months later, ZooGlobble emerged from the “internets” as one of the best kids’ music blogs out there.
Taking a quick jump over to ZooGlobble yields a plethora of kids bands and some great snippets of their tunes. The blog is very well set up, even breaking down each post by age-appropriateness, from 0-double digits. There’s a lot of great polls, even tour reports (SXSW has a kids band stage?), and some great industry news overall.
Word also has it that Shepherd does a bit of promoting and gets some good bands to come to his hometown of Phoenix. Grab your kid and log on to ZooGlobble now for the latest and greatest in the world of kids’ tunes.
We are excited to announce our first Rockabye Baby collection featuring our best-loved lullaby renditions of baby’s favorite rock bands – plus an exclusive bonus track! This special album is available exclusively in participating Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada now through 4/19/2010.
Great coffee for you, sleepy-time songs for baby. What could be better?
So you want to expose your kid to live music but you don’t want to have to sit through cheesy kid’s music concerts with songs about balloons and happy places. You can’t take them to most rock shows because, let’s face it, the sound is way too loud, the crowd too rowdy, and the second-hand smoke just may give them a second-hand high as well. What to do? Check out Kidrockers, which puts on all-ages indie rock shows that are kid friendly as well as cool. From their site: “These all ages shows are designed to bring families together to experience some of the most engaging and vital artists in indie music and comedy.” But be warned, childless music lovers: all adults must be accompanied by a kid (and vice versa)!
Past shows have included performances by Silversun Pickups (doing an acoustic set with kids storming the stage), Neon Indian and Nada Surf. There are upcoming shows in Chicago on March 13, Los Angeles on March 14 and New York on March 21. It’s a chance to introduce your kid to some great indie music about to go mainstream. You’ll enjoy it just as much as your children.
Teachers complain that most teenagers today rely on Spell Check instead of learning proper spelling, but I would argue that the true culprit is Prince. Born Prince Rogers Nelson in 1958, the man is responsible for some of the greatest pop music of the last 30 years. He’s given us “Purple Rain,” “Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry.” He also wrote “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “I Would Die 4 U.” For some reason Prince does not like to spell things out.
It began with his 1982 album 1999, with a track called “All The Critics Love U in New York.” Since then it has gone downhill, even calling his 1999 album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. The worst example of Prince reworking the English language was probably his latest album in 2009 which he called LOtUSFLOW3R. At this point it seems Prince has given up on letters altogether and is attempting to spell using numbers. Prince’s reach has spilled over to the next generation as Fall Out Boy took it to another level when they released “Thnks fr th Mmrs” off their 2007 album, Infinity on High. That doesn’t even sound correct.
It is safe to say that no other musical performer alive today is able to make a guitar do what Prince can make it do and for that reason alone it’s worth letting your kids hear his awesome music (but make sure it’s the clean songs.) Just try and keep them away from the track listings and album covers when listening to UR music.
In what has to be one of the most exciting children’s albums of the year, L.A.’s own Los Lobos put on mouse ears to take on classic Disney songs in their inimitable, Latin-flavored, guitar-driven style. Check out this great video of Los Lobos rockin’ Epcot Center with the Seven Dwarves! Grumpy’s having so much fun, he’ll have to change his name.
Have you ever wanted a good way to get your kids more involved with music? We think we may have found just the thing: Learn to Speak Music: A Guide to Creating, Performing, and Promoting Your Songs, written by the singer-songwriter John Crossingham of the popular Canadian indie band Broken Social Scene. “Learn to Speak Music helps kids learn the simplicity of this universal language by exposing every nook and cranny of how music is made.” Playlists are listed throughout the book to offer examples of musical elements such as dynamics, lyrics, classic live performances, and to demonstrate the difference between lo-fi and hi-fi. We are also eager to see the tips in the margin from musical artists (and fellow Broken Social Scene members) such as Feist, Emily Haines and Kevin Drew. Pick up a copy of the book and help your children discover the exciting world of music!
p.s. Help out with the learning process by creating a mixtape of the songs from each playlists then sit down with your kids and explore them together.
