Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog for families. My goal is to help you and your kids enjoy and understand music, especially classical music, more than you do now.

In every post, I want to do three things: first, teach you something about music, second, expose you to music you might not know about, third, have fun. 

Writing a blog is great, but when it comes to music, we have to use our ears and listen. I’ll be posting this blog on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook which will allow me to play examples and even demonstrate somethings you might miss with a casual listening.

Lastly, I’ll provide links to the music I highlight on Spotify so you can spend time listening to great recordings and helping out some great artists.

What is music all about?

Music, no matter where or when it comes from, is a tool people use to reflect what is happening around us. 

Most popular music now has words and they reflect what’s going on in our world. Happier by Marshmello is a great example of this. Our world is loud and so many people speak without thinking and it’s easy to regret doing that. “Happier” is a song about just that. Beyond that, the band plays with a lot of synthesizers which is just a name for fancy electronic piano with lots of different sounds.

“Happier,” represents the world today, but what about several years ago? During the 1960s, the United States experienced a lot of turmoil and trial during the civil rights movement so many songs were composed to encourage people to keep fighting for justice and what is morally right.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle wrote the song “Bridge Over Troubled Water” for just this purpose and it became one of the most widely known songs ever. It is frequently re-recorded because some many people can relate to some kind of struggle.

https://open.spotify.com/track/6l8EbYRtQMgKOyc1gcDHF9?si=Ac65kgHnSjaSsj4v8ELSHA

These are just two examples of how music reflects what is going on around the composers. Today I only highlighted rock and pop, but tomorrow I’ll highlight some classical music and explain how it reflects their world, just in different ways. 

I encourage you to share with your kids some contemporary music that has been especially meaningful for you and while you are listening be sure to explain why it is so meaningful. Music affects us all differently and it largely is because of what’s happening when we hear it.

So have fun with these songs. Be sure to follow me on social media so you are notified when I post new content. Also, being a new blog, sharing this with your friends will really help more people discover how they can enjoy music with their kids.