Children's music

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Children's music is music composed and performed by or for children. In European influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has historically held both entertainment and educational functions.

Children's music is often designed to provide an entertaining means of teaching children about their culture, other cultures, good behavior, facts and skills. Many are folk songs, but there is a whole genre of educational music that has become increasingly popular.

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[edit] Music by children

Children have a unique repertoire that they perform among and for themselves in all cultures, though stylistically these genres usually resemble adult music. As with their own music there are songs which adults may find unsuitable for children, such as the clapping game "Miss Suzy"'s near swearing ("and poked her in the - ask me no more questions"). Children may adapt adult music to their needs while adults may appropriate songs from children's genres to use in recordings for children.

[edit] Music by adults for children

[edit] Early recordings for children

Recordings for children were intertwined with recorded music for as long as it has existed as a medium. The first words ever recorded (in 1877 by Thomas Alva Edison) was the first verse of "Mary Had A Little Lamb". In 1888, the first recorded discs (called "plates") offered for sale included Mother Goose nursery rhymes. The earliest record catalogues of several seminal figures in the recording industry such as Edison, Berliner, and Victor all contained separate children's sections.

Throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s record companies continued to produce albums for kids. Such companies as: Walt Disney, RCA Victor, Decca Records, Capitol Records, Warner Brothers and Columbia Records (among others) published albums based on popular cartoons or nursery rhymes. Often the albums were read-alongs that contained booklets that children could follow along with. Many of the biggest names in theater, radio, and motion pictures were featured on these albums, such as: Bing Crosby, Harold Peary ("The Great Gildersleeve"), Orson Welles, Don Doolitle, Jeanette MacDonald, Roy Rogers, Fanny Brice, Bill Boyd, Ingrid Bergman, and Fredric March.

[edit] Growth during the 20th century

The mid-20th century arrival of the baby boomers provided a growing market for children's music as a separate genre. Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Ella Jenkins were among a cadre of politically progressive and socially conscious performers who aimed albums to this group.

During this time, such novelty recordings as "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (a Montgomery Ward jingle that became a book and later a classic children's movie) and the fictional music group "The Chipmunks" were among the most commercially successful music ventures of the time ("The Chipmunk Song" was a #1 hit single in 1958).

In the 1960s, as the baby boomers matured and became more politically aware, they embraced both the substance and politics of folk ("the people's") music. Peter, Paul, and Mary, The Limeliters, and Tom Paxton were acclaimed folk artists who wrote albums for children.

In 1969, Jim Henson launched Sesame Street, a television show for children featuring his famous Muppet characters. Although mostly new Muppets were created for the show, some of the original characters would infrequently make cameo appearances. The program became extremely popular and was cited by many as having a profound effect on American culture since its debut. [1] The quality of Sesame Street's children's music (much of it created by noted composer Jeff Moss) has dominated the children's music landscape to this day - the show has won 11 Grammy Awards. The Muppets have also been featured in several motion pictures.

Children's music gained an even wider audience in the 1970s when musical features such as Schoolhouse Rock! and the original Letter People were featured on network and public television, respectively. These represented an effort to make music that taught specific lessons about Math, History, and English to youngsters through the high-quality, award-winning music. The classic public television children's show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood had music heavily featured as well.

In the late 1970s, Canadian artist Raffi Cavoukian, coincided with the rise of children's music as a distinct music industry genre. In the early 1990s, songwriter and record producer, Bobby Susser, emerged strongly with his easy to learn, award winning young children's songs and series, Bobby Susser Songs For Children that exemplified the use of children's music to educate young children in schools and at home.

In the second-half of the 20th century, there are also many examples of music stars in other genres crossing-over and making successful children's music albums. Though they are sometimes altruistic ventures, many of these records could be seen as vanity type projects with little substance.

[edit] Recent history

In the United States, Children's music continues to be a force in the commercial music industry. At one point in early 2006, the top three albums on the Billboard charts were all children's music: Disney's High School Musical soundtrack, Kidz Bop 9, and the Curious George film soundtrack.[2] Most albums targeted nationally to children are soundtracks for motion pictures or symbiotic marketing projects involving mass-marketed acts such as The Wiggles or Veggie Tales.

The 21st century has also seen an increase in the number of independent children's music artists, with acts like Dan Zanes, Cathy Bollinger, and Laurie Berkner getting wide exposure on cable TV channels targeted to kids. Trout Fishing in America has achieved much acclaim continuing the tradition of merging sophisticated folk music with family-friendly lyrics. Also recently, traditionally rock-oriented acts like They Might Be Giants have released albums marketed directly to children, such as No! and Here Come the ABCs. Jimmy Buffett simply remade his Cheeseburger in Paradise song into children's music with cleaned up lyrics ("Root Beer" instead of "Draft Beer"). His songs were already kid friendly with catchy lyrics and simple melodies punctuated with penny whistles and ship bell sound effects.

Perhaps most commercially successful of all is the Kidz Bop series, which features kids singing popular chart hits. Though not without controversy for including questionable lyrics which some feel are inappropriate for children, the ninth installment of Kidz Bop nonetheless debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 charts in 2006.

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