Introducing a kid to good music

[Yeti]

yeah, less of the crap >>>>>>> stuff please, and less of the quoting and adding nothing new. thanks.

i do agree with the consensus though - don't bother making them listen to your flavour of the week indie bands. stick with the classic rock stuff. its fun to build up a solid knowledge of music history and to always know the answer when a song is on the radio and a friend asks you 'who sang this?'

[turnipmonster]

if I were in your shoes, I would listen to as many types of music as possible with them. rock, bluegrass, sufi chanting music, classical, gamelan, jazz, whatever!

I would also emphasize listening as a completely valid activity to do in and of itself (i.e. put on an album, sit down and listen to it) as opposed to music being a background to other stuff that you're doing. the latter is common everywhere you go, but many people I've met would never dream of doing the former.

[Kimbell175113]

Thanks to everyone who gave serious answers (and keep 'em coming.)

Now excuse me while I waste an hour googling 'gamelan' and browsing related wiki articles instead of doing homework.

[dylan's alias]

I'll chime in again with the Beatles, but I really agree with Turnip. I still remember my high school band conductor saying how his son would march around the house with John Philip Sousa playing. He knew that soon enough it wouldn't be "cool" for his son to be listening to band music, but there was a magical time when he was open to everything.

I'd also push for some folk music. I grew up listening to Pete Seeger, The Weavers, Cisco Houston, etc. because those were the records my dad played. The melodies were easy for a kid to grasp and the choruses really encouraged singing along. Plus, its nice to know that I grew up listening to political music, not just kids songs.

I wonder if my son will have the same experience of discovering music through my collection. My dad had a big enough record collection, but it was probably only about 100 albums. My iTunes library is 140gb and growing. You would need a guide to get through it. My dad's library was like a small boutique. There weren't unlimited choices, so it was easy to browse.


If your pupil is old enough then you should try to explain some of what makes music important to you. What was going on in your life when you first heard that song. What do you think about when you hear it. Is there some story related to the artist that makes it more interesting? Make listening an active process.

[myxomatosized]

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Play them The Beatles.

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[R*R]

Like you, they will discover what good music is to them. For the six-year old let him listen to the fun six year-old stuff- John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. At that age music has to be fun. For the 8 year old starting to broaden things would be cool. I find you can get them going on The Beatles as another poster mentioned. Songs that seem to have a fun side are good ( try Jeramiah Was a Bullfrog by Three Dog Night for example). Also I find girls tend to relate and enjoy female singers. But yeah I agree, music will set you free.

[Marwan]

Would 5 and 8 year-olds really recognize quality music if they were exposed to it? I guess it's different for every kid, I just remember my classmates and I at 8 and I dunno if any of us really had the capacity to develop musical tastes/preferences in the way we would at a later stage in life. (Closer to the stage where kids develop/explore an identity apart from their parents)

At that age I think most kids wouldn't really be able to listen to the Beatles and say they like it more than N'Sync or something. But I could be wrong, and it couldn't hurt so ya I'd go with something like The Beatles, that's as good a start as any.. Also something like Blondie might be good.. catchy, upbeat, fun songs.. subject matter isn't too serious.

[doubLe a tom]

When I was real young (maybe 5-10, im 21 now) my dad would always play The Beatles on long car rides. At the time I thought they sucked. It seemed like all of their songs were 2 minutes long and they just repeated the same words over and over.

Now the Beatles are my absolute .favorite. I guess at the time I just didnt understand what they were all about.

[mikech]

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At that age I think most kids wouldn't really be able to listen to the Beatles and say they like it more than N'Sync or something.

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this is likely true in general.

[ QUOTE ]
When I was real young (maybe 5-10, im 21 now) my dad would always play The Beatles on long car rides. At the time I thought they sucked. It seemed like all of their songs were 2 minutes long and they just repeated the same words over and over.

Now the Beatles are my absolute .favorite. I guess at the time I just didnt understand what they were all about.

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this was kinda the point of my earlier post. a kid might not really like the beatles when he first hears them at a young age, or he might feel indifferent towards them, or he might not even be able to tell them apart from n'sync--yet, years later, when his musical tastes have broadened and developed and matured, that same kid will often re-discover the beatles and come to love their music.

i think a big reason is that their music is extremely accessible, but upon closer inspection contains unexpected degrees of sophistication. so even if you play it for kids that are relatively young, it'll still pay off years down the line.

[jeffnc]

Beatles. They'll figure out where to go from there.