Kudos
Chicago Parent
Music - May 2005
Fred
Koch
As parents, we are
literally deluged with music. To my ears, most of it is mediocre at best, so pay
attention to this month’s picks because we only spotlight what we feel is
really worthy of your attention. This month we highlight two of the CD projects
that have found their way into my “got to find time to write about these CDs”
pile.
WE
ALL LAUGH IN THE SAME LANGUAGE, by
Marla Lewis, Plum
Juice Records, $15, www.marlalewis.com;
ages 5-10.
I would recommend
buying this CD if just for the title track. Not that the other songs aren’t
outstanding, because they are. It is simply that “We All Laugh in the Same
Language” is an incredible song.
The song uses a
familiar theme in which children are introduced to other languages by saying
“hello” in each of them. But it is how an artist takes the familiar and makes it
memorable that separates the mediocre from the exceptional. This is exceptional.
I am always in awe of artists who take an overexposed topic and make it fresh.
Marla Lewis has done it here.
(I feel the same
way about Jim Gill’s “Oh Hey, Oh Hi, Hello,” featured on the Chicago Parent
compilation CD, “Singin’ in the City.” I thought all the great “hello” songs
were written until I heard his unique and wonderfully creative take on the
theme.)
Lewis’ song has
quickly become one of my third-grade students’ favorite songs to sing—they want
to feature it in our spring music program for their parents. The chorus has a
very melodic and singable hook. Our favorite part is: “We all cry when we feel
sorrow/ we all love our family/ we all pray for a better tomorrow/ ’round the
world, you and me.”
Even the
legendary folk music icon Pete Seeger says that the title track “is so good I’m
mailing it to Sing Out! Magazine suggesting they contact you and get permission
to print it!”
Sometimes the
best music for children is not easily accessible. But with the Internet, we can
listen to music samples before we buy. So stop by these artists’ Web sites to
check out their marvelous albums.
Fred Koch lives in Lake
Bluff
with his wife and
son and is an award-winning music educator, children’s musician and producer.
His Web site,
www.BestChildrensMusic.com,
helps parents, teachers and librarians select quality children’s music. Please
e-mail notes and comments to
fred@bestchildrensmusic.com.
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