Post by Mojo on Nov 2, 2010 11:42:29 GMT -5
As the father of three young kids, I have many responsibilities, one of which is to introduce them to music worth listening to 
So with that in mind, I use different times during the day to play them some music and talk to them about the artists, the genres, the times when the music was created/published, etc...
For example, my kids are hip to my first love, be bop - they listen to Trane, Miles and Bird at least once a week with me and dig it - and recognize Vince Gill from Alan Jackson from George Strait, for example. I also use music to branch into other topics. For example, I'll ask them "What's the common point between Vince Gill, Reba and Tobey Keith beside music?" Answer: they're all from Oklahoma. They'll then be asked to provide the capital of Oklahoma and at least one state that shares a border with it. My kids love those random quizzes, and frankly, I love them too. But I digress.
Today, I decided to introduce them to music from the 90s, even though it is one of the decades I dislike the most. We started with Candlebox - Don't you - moved on to Live and then landed on REM. Then my son asks me "When's the lady gonna start singing?" about a minute into Everybody Hurts. I realized that he was referring to the Corrs' version of that song that I burned on a CD for their mom a while back. He didn't realize that it was a cover, and recognizing the song, was surprised to hear Michael Stipes' voice. I explained to him that this was the original version, and asked him to listen for differences beyond the male/female voice difference. The one difference that struck him the most was the absence of the violin in the REM version compared with the Corrs version. At the end of the song, I played them the Corrs cover - gotta love the iPod.
Anyway, with a complete straight face, my other son goes "When's the man gonna start singing?"
Cracked me right up.
Needless to say, once we were done with that song, and since we had been talking about Michael Stipes, I played the first verse of Hootie and the Blowfish' Let her cry where Darius Rucker sings "Dad's the one she loves the most, and Stipes' not far behind."
They were amused by singers referencing each other in their songs. I couldn't play the rest of the song, because it's not age-appropriate, but the point was made anyway.
Music: bringing generations together with a smile on their faces
So with that in mind, I use different times during the day to play them some music and talk to them about the artists, the genres, the times when the music was created/published, etc...
For example, my kids are hip to my first love, be bop - they listen to Trane, Miles and Bird at least once a week with me and dig it - and recognize Vince Gill from Alan Jackson from George Strait, for example. I also use music to branch into other topics. For example, I'll ask them "What's the common point between Vince Gill, Reba and Tobey Keith beside music?" Answer: they're all from Oklahoma. They'll then be asked to provide the capital of Oklahoma and at least one state that shares a border with it. My kids love those random quizzes, and frankly, I love them too. But I digress.
Today, I decided to introduce them to music from the 90s, even though it is one of the decades I dislike the most. We started with Candlebox - Don't you - moved on to Live and then landed on REM. Then my son asks me "When's the lady gonna start singing?" about a minute into Everybody Hurts. I realized that he was referring to the Corrs' version of that song that I burned on a CD for their mom a while back. He didn't realize that it was a cover, and recognizing the song, was surprised to hear Michael Stipes' voice. I explained to him that this was the original version, and asked him to listen for differences beyond the male/female voice difference. The one difference that struck him the most was the absence of the violin in the REM version compared with the Corrs version. At the end of the song, I played them the Corrs cover - gotta love the iPod.
Anyway, with a complete straight face, my other son goes "When's the man gonna start singing?"
Cracked me right up.
Needless to say, once we were done with that song, and since we had been talking about Michael Stipes, I played the first verse of Hootie and the Blowfish' Let her cry where Darius Rucker sings "Dad's the one she loves the most, and Stipes' not far behind."
They were amused by singers referencing each other in their songs. I couldn't play the rest of the song, because it's not age-appropriate, but the point was made anyway.
Music: bringing generations together with a smile on their faces
- and that's the 2000's, not the 1900's