Children's music

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Children's music or kids' music is music composed and performed 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

folk songs, but there is a whole genre of educational music
that has become increasingly popular.

History

Early published music

The growth of the popular music publishing industry, associated with New York's

School Days' (1907) by Gus Edwards and Will Cobb.[1] Perhaps the best remembered now is "Teddy Bears' Picnic", with lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy in 1932 and the tune by British composer John William Bratton was from 1907.[2]

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 1860 by

Au Clair de la Lune". 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 children. Such companies as

Buena Vista Records. 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, Jeanette MacDonald, Roy Rogers, Fanny Brice, William Boyd ("Hopalong Cassidy"), Ingrid Bergman, Danny Kaye, and Fredric March
.

The role of Disney in children's cinema from the 1930s meant that it gained a unique place in the production of children's music. The first popular Disney song was 'Minnie's Yoo Hoo' (1930) the theme song from a

Some Day My Prince Will Come" and "Heigh-Ho", the mould for a combination of animation, fairy tale and distinctive songs was set that would carry through to the 1970s with songs from films such as Pinocchio (1940) and Song of the South (1946).[3]

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.

The Chipmunks, were among the most commercially successful music ventures of the time ("The Chipmunk Song" was a No. 1 hit single in 1958). TV personality Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo) recorded several children's albums, as did Shari Lewis
.

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.

Children's Television Workshop in the U.S. launched Sesame Street. The quality of Sesame Street's children's music, much of it created by noted composers Joe Raposo and Jeff Moss, has dominated the children's music landscape to this day - the show has won 11 Grammy Awards
.

Children's music gained an even wider audience in the 1970s when musical features such as

Raffi, coincided with the rise of children's music as a distinct music industry genre. Musical duo Greg & Steve have focused on the positive reaction children have to music. And former Limeliter Red Grammer
has performed his children's music in every state as well as 22 other countries.

Disney also re-entered the market for animated musical features, beginning with

Oscar for best song.[3] This was followed by successful features including Beauty and the Beast (1991) Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994), the last of which had music by British singer Elton John and Tim Rice, and Pocahontas (1995), all of which were awarded best song Oscars.[3]

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, the Kidz Bop series, and the Curious George film soundtrack.[4] Most albums targeted nationally to children are soundtracks for motion pictures or symbiotic marketing projects involving mass-marketed acts such as The Wiggles or VeggieTales (Christian).

The 21st century has also seen an increase in the number of independent children's music artists, with acts like

synthpop duo, made a successful crossover from performing children's events into touring with adult rock and punk bands such as Reel Big Fish and Frank Turner. In Canada, artists such as The Kerplunks and The Oot n' Oots have paved modern pathways to the genre following in the footsteps of Raffi, Fred Penner and Sharon, Lois & Bram
.

Sanitized versions of earthy songs like Harry McClintock's "

Big Rock Candy Mountain
" have regularly been adapted for younger audiences. The 2008 version by Gil McLachlan re-tells the story as a child's dream, the last stanza being:

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains you're going on a holiday
Your birthday comes around once a week and it's Christmas every day
You never have to clean your room or put your toys away
There's a little white horse you can ride of course
You can jump so high you can touch the sky
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

Many children's stores and sometimes music outlets sell covers of pop songs, performed by adults for children, especially Christmas songs. These were especially popular during the early 2000s.

The use of children's music, to educate, as well as entertain, continued to grow, as evidenced in February 2009, when Bobby Susser's young children's series surpassed five million CD sales.[5] In September 2016, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label acquired the Bobby Susser series, to further the exposure of children's music that teaches as well as entertains, throughout the world.[6]

As more children are using smartphones, tablets, laptops and smart TVs, kids' songs have entered the on-demand streaming content era. On YouTube, some children's songs have surpassed 1 billion views, easily becoming some of the most viewed YouTube videos of all time.

See also

References

  1. ^ E. C. Axford, Song Sheets to Software: A Guide to Print Music, Software, and Web Sites for Musicians (Scarecrow Press, 2004), p. 18.
  2. ^ van der Merwe, Peter. Roots of the Classical: The Popular Origins of Western Music (Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 436.
  3. ^ a b c d D. A. Jasen, Tin Pan Alley: An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song (Taylor & Francis, 2003), p. 111-13.
  4. ^ "Billboard News". Billboard. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  5. ^ Educational Dealer magazine, April 2009, Industry news section, page 34.
  6. Huff Post
    . Retrieved 22 December 2017.

Further reading