Songs to Play to Children
Looking for suggestions for songs to play to young children, please. So far I have "Puff the Magic Dragon" and "Nellie the Elephant", but could use a few more. Thanks.
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Songs for Children
Children always seem to love "Moonshadow" by Cat Stevens
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Check out the duo "Trout Fishing in America". They have some great original kids music.
Here are a few: Lullaby: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctvhTtjjPz0 The Window: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNoXs...eature=related An Alien in my Nose: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ21a...eature=related Also "Tennesee Stud", (my neices and nephews still request this one now that they are in their 20's): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5c1k949Zn4 |
The ants go marching
She'll be coming round the mountain Ol Macdonald La Bamba Yellow submarine Jimmy crack corn Let me drive your car(Woody Guthrie). Octopus's garden Life goes on(Beatles) Ghost riders in the sky(yes-they like it!) Make up your own simple songs with some contemporary words, simple D-A-G progressions. Have fun! |
"Oh, Susanna!" is a great one, particularly if you learn a few more of the verses (most people only ever learn the first verse.)
There's a zillion more, but naturally none are coming to mind this instant, and I have to leave. I'll think on it some more and come back later with more. whm |
Kids like cowboy songs. At least that's been my experience. I think it's because a lot of them are about animals and they relate to that well. They don't understand love songs, but they like to hear about horses and nature. Just a thought
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A personal favorite, and my wife and nieces like it too, is Kitty Starr, written by Dennis Linde...
"A Texas rodeo, can turn a boy to smilin'..." Phil |
My son, when a young 'un, used to love "Daddy, What's A Train". It's a Utah Philips song I learned from my friend Jim Ringer ages ago.
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Return to Pooh Corner by Kenny Loggins is always popular for me.
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My kids love to sing along to You are my Sunshine. I was suprised to find several verses to the song and to learn how popular the song was a few decades ago.
Also Grandma's feather bed by John Denver is very fun Don't overlook current top 40 songs. My 2 year olds favorite song at the moment is Somebody that i used to know by Gotye |
As a kid I remember singing "Happy Trails" at the end of Roy Rodgers show (dating myself now). Kids today love to sing it with me even though they have no idea where the song came from.
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"The Baby Tree" song on a Jefferson Starship album is a great one:
there's an island way out in the sea where the babies they all grow on trees and it's jolly good fun to swing in the sun but ya gotta watch out if you sneeze sneeze ya gotta watch out if you sneeze yeah you gotta watch out if you sneeze while swinging up there in the breeze you're liable to cough you might very well fall off and tumble down flop on your knees knees tumble down flop on your knees when the stormy winds wail and the breezes blow high in a gale there's a curious dropping and flopping and plopping and fat little babies just hail hail the fat little babies just hail and the babies lie there in a pile and the grownups they come after while and they always pass by all the babies that cry and take only babies that smile smile take only babies that smile even triplets and twins if they'll smile..... |
I work with kids every day and their musical tastes can vary as much as adults. It's important not to generalize and assume that certain kinds of music are a better fit for kids. If you find that familiar songs elicit a powerful effect, then go with familiar songs. If you find that rhythmic uptempo songs elicit more spontaneous movement, whether they are familiar or not, then try to incorporate some of those as well.
In general, familiar music with ingrained associations will elicit more of a response than unfamiliar music, no matter how fun or engaging the latter might be performed. So if a 4 year-old loves Back in Black and Enter Sandman because he associates them with his Dad playing guitar, then he might not be too excited by Twinkle Twinkle (unless maybe you perform it in a metal style). The window for the traditional kid repertoire (Twinkle Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old McDonald, Wheels on the Bus, BINGO, This Old Man, Mary Had a Little Lamb, If You're Happy and You Know it, Down by the Bay, etc.) used to be about 6 and under, easily. That window is shrinking a bit, so many more 5 and 6-year olds are perceiving those songs as babyish. In the past year I've worked with 6 year-olds who memorized songs like Who Says by Selena Gomez or Firework by Katy Perry. If you're going to do this long term, then your repertoire will probably need to be updated regularly. I got a lot of mileage out of I Believe I Can Fly when Space Jam came out, but those days are long over. You've Got a Friend in Me from Toy Story continues to be popular, and Here Comes the Sun had a brief surge when Sheryl Crow covered it for Bee Movie. I used to use I'm a Believer from Shrek a lot, but it is now starting to wane. If you don't have the right repertoire, you can always try to make up some songs on the spot - usually, the sillier the better. |
He's Got The Whole World In His Hands, Kum-ba-ya, Michael Row the Boat Ashore
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