Music Fatigue Part II

I might take back what I said about children's songs, at least, the American ones that are so popular. "Wheels on the Bus" isn't bad, because it can be fun even for the adults to make the gestures with their kids (though the melody is gratingly repetitive). Same for "Itsy-Bitsy Spider." But "Old McDonald," "If You're Happy and You Know It," "I'm a Little Teapot" and so forth--they start to get on my nerves if I hear them more than once in a great while.

I can't say the same for some of the French songs I've heard, although the CD I have entitled "French Songs for Children" has many songs which were not created solely for kids. "Frere Jacques" wears out after a few hearings, but "Sur le Pont d'Avignon," in spite of its repetitiveness, holds up over time, at least for me. I find that many French songs have a liveliness, a bounce in their melody, that seems to be missing from the popular American children's tunes.

I know that the big thing in children's music these days is the Putamayo CD series, involving songs written for children from around the world. I've purchased two of these CDs, the one focusing on animals and the French songs CD. They're both not bad, but somehow, I don't find myself returning to these CDs over and over. Although it's obvious that the musicians labored over these songs to make them original and inventive, they're often lacking in one important feature--they're not all that catchy or memorable. However, it should be added that they're miles above the four American children's songs CDs that I've bought so far. Somehow the instrumentation choices alone (often with whiny synthesizers rather than real instruments) are enough to drive me crazy.

Combined with two disappointing musical play-classes he's been to, my son's introduction to music has been all too lackluster so far--except for the musical "instruments" and music-playing devices I've purchased for him: a couple different drums, a five-key "piano," various bells and maraca-type instruments, and a portable music player which plays eight different classical melodies at the touch of a button while lights are flashing--perhaps his all-time favorite toy. He also loves to "play" our piano (the full-sized version). And he loves tapping a metal bowl with a wooden spoon. In other words, he becomes a one-man band at home--and until I find a music class that lets him explore as much as he does on his own, it won't be worth it. And until I find CDs of American children's songs that are not nauseatingly saccharine, I'll probably skip buying them or just sing songs to him myself.