Coltrane? Thelonious Monk?
Alternatively, Berlioz? Chopin?
Onto what you trying to turn him?
I’m thinking a 6 year-old would LOVE “Wake Me Up before You Go-Go.”
I don’t know that you can really force/trick him into liking anything in particular. I think it’s more important to instill a love of music in general. My dad is a music fanatic, and has always had an incredible music collection. He always encouraged me to listen to whatever I was into (within reason). When I was your nephew’s age, I remember my dad had me really into the Beatles, Marvin Gaye, Elvis, Sam Cooke, and the Beach Boys. Oh, and Bob Marley. ALL kids love Bob Marley.
When I got older, he used to just find out what I was listening to and then suggest music he thought I would like based on that. When I was around 11/12, was when Green Day, Rancid, and Sublime were really popular. So he gave me the Clash, the Ramones, the Specials, the Who, and Cheap Trick; all bands that I still love. He did this for every band/artist that I liked, and I learned to love some really great music. He’s going to like what he’s going to like, so maybe just try to find something that’s somehow similar that you think is better/more appropriate, and hope he likes that too.
This makes me very sad. 
The best way to kill someone’s enthusiasm for something is by telling them the stuff they like isn’t any good.
I imagine it’s more that she didn’t want to have to explain to a six-year-old what a ménage à trois is…or explain to someone else why he’s singing about one. I will throw my cred aside to say that I actually rather like the song I quoted above, but it’s not something I’d put on a little kid’s playlist. I can’t speak to the rest of her songs, as that’s the only one I’ve heard.
In general, I agree that the best option is to expose kids to lots of different music, figure out what they like, and help them find more of it.
Ledzepkid (now 13) was about that age when he first became a Led Zepplin fan. In fact he was reminiscing about the first time he ever heard Stairway to Heaven, “I think I was in first grade and I wanted to know who was playing guitar? Do you remember that, Mom?”
They’re never too young to start on the good stuff.
This. I remember when Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” came out and how scandalous it was. So much 'splaining to do. I remember my (younger) brother belting it out at some point and me scoffing saying “I bet you don’t even know what that means!” He of course turned to my mom who in turn turned to me and said “Why don’t YOU explain it?”
Currently, in following the Bieber paternity scandal, I’ve seen quite a few comments on media articles along the lines of “Well, I’m not a fan of his but this is obviously absurd and I wish him the best. That having been said I’d rather not have had to explain to my 11 year-old daughter what a “paternity test” is.”
…I like you.
When I was a 6 year old, I was totally brainwashed by the parents. I listened to Fleetwood Mac, the Beach Boys, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Eric Clapton, Cat Stevens… After an embarrassing period of self discovery (it involved Good Charlotte), I finally realized in my late teens that my parents had been right all along and now I’m rediscovering all the music they played me as a kid. I highly recommend the Beatles for kids that age, as well as just about anything from the 60s. Some of the themes will be a little over their head but there’s very little they might get in trouble for repeating.
One of my new favorites is Kina Grannis’s In Your Arms. The video is amazing and there’s nothing objectionable for even a six year old.
Set the little bugger up with a pandora account, seeded with artists you and he likes. Show him how to use the bookmark artist button and check in on what he favorites. He’ll find a world of music easily that way. Insist on stations from many differing styles.
The “Natural Born Killers” soundtrack – that’s how I started appreciating music. (of course, I was quite a bit older than 6…)
When my kids were younger, I played huge variety of music in their presence and they made their tastes pretty clear -
- **The Beach Boys **- get a greatest hit compilation; I Get Around, Dance Dance Dance, Fun Fun Fun, Good Vibrations - kid goodness, right there.
- **The Ramones **- same thing; the kids love chanting “hey ho - let’s go”
- **Chuck Berry **and/or other 50’s rock classics - Tutti Frutti by **Little Richard **went over very big
- **The Sweet **- Ballroom Blitz and Fox on the Run - I was only a passing fan, but Fox got played once randomly and my kids glommed onto it. It was all we played for about a month.
Fun, high-energy music that is easy to bop along and chant to/sing along with - what’s not to love?
Rare? The “You’re so awesome just for being you” song genre has offerings by Katy, Pink (F*ing Perfect), Christina Aguilera (Beautiful), Lady Gaga (Born This Way) & I’m sure others. Alas, they’re late-coming anthems for the “Self-esteem w/o earning self-respect” movement.
That said, while I enjoy Katy- for various reasons, I’m an adult (kinda) & a good part of her work is not 6yo apporpriate IMO.
I say- a sampling of actual classics- Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, then Jazz, Crooners, Swing, early Rock, Beatles, Stones, Zepplin, Jethro Tull, Moody Blues, Kansas, Styx, GoGos, B-52s, Talking Heads, DEVO, whatever. I love The Doors but they may be a bit morose for that age. L
Yeah my six year old cousin went on a drug and alchohol fueled streaking sex bender the first time he heard that song on the radio.
Agree with the idea of really good music in non-standard categories, like Jamaican reggae, and Bach on a harpsichord. What about medieval chants like Hildegard von Bingen, and some rollicking classic blues? We are so lucky to be living in a golden age of musical diversity and access.
Thanks for all the suggestions!
I ended up cutting some details from my original post to keep it short. To clarify, Aiden wanted “Last Friday Night,” which as Balance and others noted isn’t quite meant for a kindergartener. Sis didn’t flat out tell him no, just said not all his songs would fit the player and he’d need to take one off the list. Perry was the only female singer and he’s got a strong preference for “boy singers” so he didn’t think twice about giving her the ax.
He’s got plenty of exposure to mainstream pop and his older cousin is putting something together for him too-he loves Big Time Rush though it might be more about one of the guys having a mohawk than anything about their music. I won’t be replacing his music, I just want to show him there’s a variety.
I’m not good at linking the title to the song on classical music. Can anyone suggest some of the faster, more uptempo pieces?
Depends on the mood, music does.
music to wind you up and get you moving,
or music to wind down with, or transition to
Music as pleasant background while dining ( or too mask the angry chewing )
sometimes silence works too.
Folk bluegrass, rock and roll, Debussy, Mozart …
Yeah, no matter what you do, he will probably hear more different styles of music and a wider range of artists than you have ever heard. I ran across a great article a year or so ago, and this grizzled music writer was at a relation’s wedding. He found himself spending most of the evening involved in what he described as the most wide-ranging and fascinating conversation about music he had ever had - with a 15 year old cousin.
This kid, through the miracle of the Internet, had heard at least as much music as this professional music writer. During the writer’s formative years, getting an album was a significant investment. You could make decisions based on the radio single, but you had no idea of the quality of the rest of the album. Could be one great single and the rest dross, or a terrible cliche single from a great album.
But the kid heard new music, and reading and watching interviews with musicians, listened to their influences - and finding out what influenced the influences, etc. And this wasn’t a just sampling, the kid had worked his way through complete catalogs of various artists and wide swathes of various genres. He was as knowledgeable as any 30 year veteran of the music industry.
So even though radio is ever more insipid with smaller playlists, kids today have access to far more music then their parents ever did.
I do have one suggestion: Instead of “Guitar Hero”, get them a real guitar. Aldi has a crappy acoustic guitar in this weeks ad for $16.95! Have an instrument or two around the house. Maybe they’ll pick it up, maybe not, but unless you have something for them to play, they’ll never find out. And you can learn to play on a shitty guitar - it is motivation to get a better one.
I see amazingly talented kids all the time videotaping School of Rock shows. I have no business connection to the School of Rock other than the fact that I shoot the shows and sell DVDs to parents (and hope that one of these kids will become famous). It’s an after-school program for kids age 7 to 17 that gets them on stage in real venues performing for paying customers. The best kids from each school form a band and gig around town. They compete to be part of the All-Stars who go on regional tour.
++Good
How about Selena Gomez as a replacement for Katie Perry? My little girl has it playing right now on one of her Jumpstart games.