🎵Apple Music Playlist Collections🎵
As it is for many people, music is an integral part of my day. In fact. had both of my biological parents not been musicians working and performing together, I may very well have failed to come into existence (however, don’t ask me to sight-read anything, some things are far from genetic). I have always made sure to offer a wide array of music to all of the children I come into contact with— in my classes, at the museum, in my home, in their homes… one winter, I even composed an entire soundtrack for a special course one of my partners was teaching on baseball, for several international students who were unable to travel home during their winter break!
In fact, one of the first things I set in place with any child I will be caring for on a consistent basis is a series of musical cues. These may be vocal, they may be rhythmic and very often, they may simply be a specific playlist, often curated especially for your child based on the rhythms of their days, wake windows, preferences and your family’s home or target languages. It’s as much an act of kindness for myself and the other adults in your child’s life. I have always found myself deeply, deeply offended by what I considered mediocre, pandering music for children. This has held true for so long that it was true even when I was a small child! I made my very first independent decision about the music I wanted to listen to on the evening of my 7th Christmas. My parents had been given a new alarm clock radio by our Uncle John for Christmas, and summarily, I had been given the old one (having been deemed a suitable age to take responsibility for waking on my own each morning). That was the night I discovered Classical WFMT, the sister station to Chicago’s PBS affiliate, WTTW. In the ensuing 35 years, there has not been a single night (or day) of my life that has come to a close without a little classical music. For the last 25 years, I’ve tried to make sure that the same holds true for the children I am fortunate enough to provide long-term care for.
At some point, I decided that instead of reinventing the wheel (or recollecting the playlist) every time I began to care for a child, it would be much more prudent and time-efficient to simply save some of the amazing lists I’d been collecting. I’ve put more hours than I can conceive of into all of these lists of wonderful, diverse children’s music and they span the gamut of languages from English to Cree and sample a myriad of genres ranging from “real” children’s by Ella Jenkins, to a jazzy rendition of “Old Macdonald Had a Farm” by Ella Fitzgerald!
The entire collection of playlists under the heading “Hey, Black Child” are a particular point of pride for me: every single song in all of these lists is written, composed, performed or played by one or many Black musicians. As with many things in the world, the children’s music that is most readily available can often feel very homogenously white and male or it moves along at the speed of chipmunks on meth, and sounds the same, too. I particularly wanted to be able to give Black parents and parents of Black children the opportunity to hear their own voices, voices that remind them of their titis, uncles, big mommas, moms, dads and other community members. Each of these lists is arranged as a group of songs following a specific theme (nature and ecology, school readiness, quality time with family and friends, etc). There’s also a much smaller collection of Spanish language children’s music (all under the !Muy…” heading) following a similar guideline.
I hope your family will be able to enjoy listening to one or many of these playlists together as much as I enjoyed making and listening to them (sometimes alone)!
Hey, Black Child!
Children's Songs en Español
Songs in Many Languages
Brain and Body Children's Songs
Themed Children's Songs