The Whole Music Experience

Mary Poppins movie, Wikipedia We have many tools to deal with stress when it comes to musical vibration.  One way to deal with stress is to temporary distract ourselves by allowing us some playtime.  As adults we are usually bent out of shape by matters of consequence and matters of no consequence as the Little Prince character once told us.  And recently,  intuitive life coach Sonia Choquette and her daughter reminded us of how important fun and play are for our lives (in a e-newsletter). So with all that in mind, I'm bringing you some childhood music gems from bygone eras.  By the way, you can listen to this music with adults, alone or with children.  You can sing along, whistle or dance to the songs if you prefer.  Whatever you decide, engage with the music beyond just listening to the songs.  And then when you have had your fun listening session that will no doubt keep you surfing YouTube for a good plus hour, write down the physical, em...

Storybook with CD/Children’s Music   Songs from A Journey with a Parrot Lullabies & Nursery Rhymes from Brazil   &Portugal Collected by Magdeleine Lerasle   The Secret Mountain My journey with music consciousness has led me to explore children’s music on occasion.   Perhaps this is because when I was a child I listened to music written for children and this helped greatly with my development.   In the US especially, music programs have been cut out of many public schools which leaves it to parents to bring quality music into the home and expose children to music of varying genres.   The storybook and CD, Songs from A Journey with a Parrot offers parents that opportunity while also giving the parents sophisticated world music for their own listening pleasure.   I don’t have children and I’m enjoying this delightful project. First off the book portion features colorful ethnic illustrations by Aurelia Fronty that pop of...

World / Classical   Joji Hirota   London Metropolitan Orchestra   Japanese Folks Songs II   Arc Music Over the years I have enjoyed listening to a few Japanese traditional songs which I describe as delicate and flowing.   The Japanese folk songs that appear on Joji Hirota’s Japanese Folk Songs II (I liked this CD so much I would like to hear the first volume) remind me of a cultivated garden because the musician methodically arranged each song.   Backed by the strings of the London Metropolitan Orchestra, a Japanese children’s choir on a few of the songs, and embellished with shakuhachi (Japanese flute), Taiko drums and percussion and plucked harp, Hirota provides us with a lush musical canvas that dazzles the senses.     Included on the recorded are two suites (one of children’s songs and another including a lullaby, girl’s handball game song and a ballad), as well as, work songs, love and dance songs from different pr...

  Joshua Leeds Good Night Baby Music to Soothe Your Infant to Sleep Sounds True Jai Uttal Kirtan Kids The Elephant, the Monkey, and The Little Butter Thief Sounds True If adults find the technological era stressful, imagine what children feel, especially the extra-sensitive infant.  Plenty of record labels release recordings for children and I’ve featured a handful on this blog already.  I contacted Putumayo about its children’s compilation series and never received a response, then Sounds True came out with Jai Uttal’s  (famous in the world of yoga kirtans) Kirtan Kids and psycho-acoustic researcher Joshua Leeds’ Good Night Baby (Music to Soothe Your Infant to Sleep) .  While I don’t have any children myself, I feel that music is a healthy non-toxic medicine for stressed out children.  And in the case of Jai Uttal’s recording, he offers an avenue to a higher spiritual source.  A child needs to feel connected to t...

Randall Paskemin Good Night Sweet Dreams to You, I Love You Native American Lullabies and Songs for Children Canyon Records Talibah Navajo Songs for Children Canyon Records Plains Cree Indian and a loving father of several children, Randall Paskemin brings us a collection of gentle songs which can be sung to children at bedtime or anytime. Sung in a round dance style with the calm pulse of the mother earth heartbeat drum, Paskemin sings mainly in English and has provided lyrics to the songs on his album Good Night Sweet Dreams to You, I Love You. While these songs feel sweet and simple enough for a young child to grasp and even sing along, I believe that the tranquility presented in each song could also assist adults in relaxing after a challenging day. Use these songs as de-stressors for the entire family (provided you don’t have teens that rebel against the idea). Therapists of all stripes could also apply this love-felt music to healing the inner child. While the s...

The East Village Community School Songs from the East Village Independent release When I was around 7 or 8 years old my mother bought me my first record player, one of those portable players with the handle on top, mine was orange and white. She also bought me my first collection of 45s which featured old American folk and Disney tunes which my sister and I learned with much enthusiasm. My favorite song was “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” and I could sing that song all day long. And although our school district was a poor one, it provided music programs from 1-12 grades. I imagine that music even brought the community together and I certainly felt more at peace having music in my childhood years. While many grade schools especially have lost their music programs due to budget cuts, many schools find a way to incorporate music into their educational programs despite what the economy is doing or not doing. The East Village Community School in the Lower Eastside of New York City brought...

Oran Etkin Wake up Clarinet! Motema Music Clarinetist Oran Etkin has taken his music to kids. Music not only helps children develop mentally, physically and emotionally, music education teaches children how to appreciate different types of music while preserving various music traditions for future generations. Not to mention that musicians reap rewards from teaching children music appreciation and musical language because they are in essence fostering their future concert goers and record buyers.  His children's album Wake up Clarinet! isn't a run-of-the-mill feel good children's CD, but has some educational components, such as learning about the timbre and range of a clarinet. “You know, everyone talks about music as a language-universal language,“ says Ektin (liner notes), “About five years ago, I started wondering what we are doing to make sure that children grow up to be fully fluent and comfortable inside this powerful language that can enable them to expre...

Rim Banna April Blossoms Kirkelig Kulturverksted Helping children laugh and sing during an era of crisis is a precious commodity. More and more musicians have been doing just that, bringing the power of music, joy and up-liftment to children that have lost their innocence because of war, privation and other human frailties. Palestinian vocalist and songwriter Rim Banna has sent out a powerful message with her latest children's music CD, April Blossoms . Even with the success of Banna's previous internationally-acclaimed recordings, I was unaware that the singer was a Palestinian star of children's music. Joining such women musicians as Navajo-Dine Radmilla Cody ( Precious Friends on Canyon Records) and Sweet Honey in the Rock ( Experience 101 on Appleseed Records), Banna has recorded a sophisticated collection of children's songs that could also appeal to adults. She doesn't talk down to the children, but instead helps them to reclaim their innocenc...