Need help SUGGESTING MUSIC TO kids

[andy_tchp]

Always curious how these old threads get dredged up after 5 years of silence.

Frequently spambots, like in this case.

[Zork]

Always curious how these old threads get dredged up after 5 years of silence.

Haha, oh shit! Always good to check the date...

But now I'm curious:

I need to find something that has some stylistic ties to those bands but will help the students begin their recovery.

What did you do and what was the result?

[countertext]

What did you do and what was the result?

I tried a few things with contemporary stuff, but too much of it just sucked. I pretty quickly just told the kids we were going to have a "Musician Of The Week", which technically sometimes happens twice a week. I write up a little blurb about someone to read, tack on a photo to show, and play a recording - a video of a performance when possible. I'm a few years in, now, so here's who I've covered so far. I hear back from parents all the time about kids wanting to listen to this stuff at home after we talk about it, so I know it's working.

Abbey Lincoln
Alice Coltrane
Angélique Kidjo
Aretha Franklin
Astrud Gilberto
Au/Ra
Bessie Smith
Big Mama Thornton
Big Star
Billie Holiday
Björk
Brittany Howard
Can
Carol Kaye
Carole King
Celia Cruz
Cesária Évora
Charles Mingus
Charley Patton
Curtis Mayfield
David Bowie
Delia Derbyshire
Dick Dale
Dolly Parton
Dorothy Ashby
Ella Fitzgerald
Elvis Presley
Esperanza Spalding
Etta James
Fatoumata Diawara
Fela Kuti
Fisk Jubilee Singers
George Gershwin
Georgia Anne Muldrow
Gladys Knight
Guillaume de Machaut
Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard
Heart
Hildegard von Bingen
James Brown
Jean Ritchie
Jelly Roll Morton
Jimi Hendrix
Joan Jett
João Gilberto
Johann Sebastian Bach
John Cage
John Coltrane
Joni Mitchell
Kassia of Constantinople
Kate Bush
Kitty Wells
Koko Taylor
Kraftwerk
Laurie Anderson
Lauryn Hill
Lee “Scratch” Perry
Les Filles de Illighadad
Lightnin’ Hopkins
Little Richard
Lola Beltrán
Loretta Lynn
Ma Rainey
Mahalia Jackson
Mahotella Queens
Mama Sana
Mamie Smith
Marian Anderson
Mary J. Blige
Mary Lou Williams
MC Lyte
Memphis Minnie
Meshell Ndegeocello
Miles Davis
Miriam Makeba
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Missy Elliott
Moondog
Muddy Waters
Nina Simone
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Ornette Coleman
Os Mutantes
Oumou Sangare
Pat Benatar
Patsy Cline
Patti Smith
Pauline Oliveros
Peter Gabriel
Phyllis Dillon
PJ Harvey
Prince
Queen Latifah
Ramones
Robert Johnson
Run-DMC
Ruth Brown
Sade
Sarah Vaughan
Scott Joplin
Sheila E.
Shonen Knife
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Skip James
Sona Jobarteh
Sonic Youth
Staple Singers
Stevie Wonder
Sun Ra
Susana Baca
Talking Heads
Tame Impala
The Allman Brothers Band
The Beach Boys
The Beatles
The Cars
The Carter Family
The Clash
The Go-Go’s
The Meters
The Shangri-Las
The Ventures
The Wailers & The Sonics
Thelonious Monk
Tina Turner
Valerie June
Vasco Rossi
Wanda Jackson
Wendy Carlos
Willie Nelson
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Yellow Magic Orchestra
ZZ Top

[sal paradise]

This is SO cool. Have you thought about pairing the music to other projects & assignments… what were people listening to around WWW2… Music from Hindu India… or what was popular when authors were writing their books… etc.

I’d also love to flip that & get the kids to do a show & tell on a live performance by an artist then or their parents love, or something to do with their family culture.

Anyways, great stuff! Sharing cultural history is like the basis for the human race’s success, it should be part of every child’s education.

[GilmourD]

Get over it granddaddy and let the kids pick what to play. Or you will destroy their lust to play. My two cents.

I agree with this. Use whatever gateway you've got.

That said, my son used to growl along whenever I'd listen to Killswitch Engage.

My best friend is a high school art teacher and she just plays music in class while the kids work. Yesterday was just classic stuff like Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, Led Zep, Skynyrd, etc. Sometimes it's more hip hop. Sometimes it's Lizzo (I don't care what anybody says about her being unhealthy, but you try dancing for two hours in high heels and then rip out a flute solo without being out of breath!).

Most of the music streaming services will let you build a "station" based on an artist. Maybe play them an "Imagine Dragons" station on Spotify or whatnot and see what other stuff pops up.

[epizootics]

Well done for keeping your list of artists gender-balanced, too. My local music scene, like most, is still 80% blokes, and that's 100% because of the way kids are (still) being socialized.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

When I was around 6 years old I inherited an album called Pinky & Perky's Hit Parade (which, amazingly, you can hear on YouTube!!)

The thing was, on the old record deck my mum had there were 4 speeds - 16, 33, 45, 78 - and the slowest speed made them sound uncannily like The Beatles!! I'm guessing this was some kind of subliminal "he'll work it out himself" introduction to psychedelic rock & roll...which worked!

I strongly endorse this approach with your own kids.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

When I was around 6 years old I inherited an album called Pinky & Perky's Hit Parade (which, amazingly, you can hear on YouTube!!)

The thing was, on the old record deck my mum had there were 4 speeds - 16, 33, 45, 78 - and the slowest speed made them sound uncannily like The Beatles!! I'm guessing this was some kind of subliminal "he'll work it out himself" introduction to psychedelic rock & roll...which worked!

I strongly endorse this approach with your own kids.

As a kid I was forever playing records at the wrong speed too. The other treat was whenever we were being shown a film at school (quite common in the 1970s) everyone would plead the teacher to run it backwards once it was finished. And oh how we laughed at those bear cubs sliding uphill rather than down.

[s_mcsleazy]

ok. to use a bit of the vernacular of the youth, i think doing so runs the risk of being very cringe and if i'm being honest, i feel it will help perpetuate a growing issue with modern "rock" culture. see, my big issue with "rock" music at the moment is there's very little new stuff breaking through and what is breaking through is basically a throwback (MGK) to sounds that were popular 10+ years ago.

ok, here's how i've done it. explain to them that a lot of the bands that get really popular are the ones that have a wide array of influences that can figure out a way to make them work. bands/artists that take sounds from both the underground and the mainstream. because i've noticed this band are really popular with kids nowadays, the example i always give is my chemical romance and not just because i seen them very early on.

so their first album was a weird mashup of early 00's post-hardcore (ala thrice, thursday) with horror punk (the misfits) 2nd wave emo (some songs wouldn't sound out of place on a deep elm/jade tree comp). the second album added even more (queen is a good example) and turned up the camp. the third album takes elements from bowie, pink floyd and showtunes (seriously, this album is a fucking romp) it's a fun game to listen to a mcr album and be like "so what were they borrowing from here?"