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Hyaluronic Acid – Newest Celebrity Beauty Secret?
We can always count on celebrities to serve as guinea pigs for the latest cosmetic and beauty treatments. During the Botox ™ craze, even director Martin Scorsese commented that he couldn’t find actresses who could frown anymore! Perhaps actors,...
Leather Jewelry - a touch of Forbidden (and Friendship)
Most people will agree that leather jewelry is great. Whether it's a wristband or an ankle bracelet - it has a touch of style. Even though it's often a small detail - it's always very noticeable on anyone who wears it. Short skirts, shorts, bikini,...
Losing Your Voice
This past weekend I lost my voice. I wasn't sick. Rather, I
experienced "severe voice strain" from yelling quite loudly and
in a panic-stricken manner at our two large dogs, who were
having a violent fight over a tennis ball.
At first I was...
Rock’s Oddball Celebrity News
Rock’s Oddball Celebrity News By Rocky Ramsey According to an interview with Madonna on 20/20, she wants to change her name to Esther, because it’s a good Biblical name. Paris Hilton’s infamous Internet video has been released on DVD. It’s...
Top Model Ashton Gray Launches Live Video Chat Site
Montreal (PRWEB) May 26, 2004 -– A busy 12 months for Canuck model Ashton Gray culminated recently with her new venture: www.ashtongrayslivemodels.com, a web site featuring Gray and other models in a live video chat environment. In the year before...
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Young Children Need Their Own Music
With the increasing popularity of MP3 players and the "custom listening experience" (not to mention music theft from peer-to-peer file sharing), the music industry is losing much of its grip on the American consciousness. While the big-name artists are still supported by the celebrity media culture, there's also a trend toward more recognition of independent recording artists (or "indies"). And indies have more ability than ever to connect to potential fans, thanks to the power of the internet.
One of the musical genres that is being helped the most is children's music. With the fading presence of programming for young children on television... and especially music programming for that age group, there are just a handful of artists left who have achieved national or international fame in the field of kids music.
And yet, there are many hundreds...even thousands of artists who write and perform music for young children. Relatively few can make a living at it, yet they still travel to school, churches, festivals, camps... pretty much any available venue... to try to bring joy and educational value to kids. They know that kids need to be kids, and that they need their own songs... not sanitized versions of teen pop hits. They know that kids music provides more than entertainment (although that would be justification enough!). It can teach very young children coordinated movement, it can help commit important facts to rote memory, and it can help illustrate concepts in unique and creative ways.
Take some time to discover some of these indie artists. Many of them offer some of their music for free as a way to introduce you to what they do. When you find someone you especially like, buy their music (CDs or
individual MP3 downloads), go see them in concert when they are in your area...or even sponsor them in concert at your children's school or an area community festival.
More and more children's music artists are endeavoring to write music that parents can listen to along with their kids. This has often been hard to do with some of the hyper-simplistic kids music of the past). Today's music for children is more muscular: the lyrics are better-written, the melodies are catchier and the production values are first-class. And many of the artists are trending away from clownishness and more toward hipness... although both can connect really well with young children.
Help support independent children's music! We all remember songs from our childhood that really stuck with us as we grew up. And it not only brings great immediate benefits... it also becomes a shared experience that can be passed down from generation to generation.
About the author:
Chuck Brown is the webmaster of the Free Music Group (including FreeKidsMusic.com and FreeChildrensMusic.com, where indie children's artists offer some of their music as free MP3 downloads). He also created and maintains KidsMusicWeb.com, the web's largest directory of kids music artists and bands. In addition, he's recorded an album of his own original compositions for kids under the moniker Chuck Brown & The Chuckleberries.
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