***Purple Burt***

Lemme see if I got this right: There's a kid who's purple but invisible, he eats purple soil to stay on his toes mentally, he's color blind but owns a zillion color TVs, his dad is missing, he's in love with a girl named Do-Re-Mimi, he jumps a hope rope and collects inert gasses ... hold on, here's what we'll do. Get your nearest copy of Purple Burt, press play, listen to the first song, and all (well, almost all) will become clear. The first 3-dimensional CD cover ever? I don't know, but the google eyes on the front of Purple Burt only add to the wonderful oddness of this masterpiece.

In the spirit of Harry Nilsson's The Point, Mitch Friedman presents the story of a boy with unique qualities and an interesting collection of family and friends, told with songs and narration. What began as a single song on The Importance of Sauce, one of Friedman's albums for adults, grew into the title song for and storyline of Purple Burt, his first kids' CD. Friedman gets musical assistance on Purple Burt from XTC's Dave Gregory and Andy Partridge, and DIY pioneer R. Stevie Moore. Not only do many of the songs recall Moore's oddball pop brilliance and XTC's jangly psychedelia, you can hear a hint (intentional or no) of kids' musician extraordinaire Mister Laurence in Friedman's delivery and song structure.

Dig the manic doowop of "Wonder Where", the jump rope percussion in "I Hope", the Ween-like "Try This On for Size", the ukulele tear-jerker "I Miss My Daddy". But the chart-topper, the one to tell your friends to add to their ipods, is "Color Feel", a wistfully beautiful pop song about not being able to see colors, but to feel them, instead. Every song is almost like a lyrical "Where's Waldo", with witty lines hidden within tongue twisters and puns, like "If a fish can sniff through water / Could it smell the guy that caught her?", and "Some sillium, some serious / Boron and curious / Half an itty bitty liter / Of some peterpumpkinether". But what makes this whole thing cool is that you've got a kid dealing with acceptance, jealousy, friendship, loss, schoolboy crushes ... you know, all that crap that comes along when you're about, say, nine or ten ... presented under the guise of a goofy kids record.

This is an adventurous and silly CD for your middle-grade kids, but could just as easily be in high rotation on Jersey City's WFMU. Oh, and check out four more Purple Burt-related songs on Friedman's website, along with a teaser message about the possibility of a second CD that will continue Purple Burt's adventures.

let's talk

Several of you have asked questions in class lately about speech, so I thought I would add a few figures here for your reference. By 18-20 months the average child is saying 15-20 words. Between two and two-and-a-half years old, this will increase to 50+ words and the use of two word sentences. Around her third birthday, she will have an expressive vocabulary of over 300 words, and should be understood by a non-family memeber 75-80% of the time. Please keep in mind that these are guidelines, not rules. Each child is different and learns at their own pace, and most children will focus on one area of development at a time. In other words, if your child is really working hard to learn to walk or crawl, you might not see a lot of interest in communication. As always, if you have concerns about your child's language development, you should dicuss them with your pediatrician or a speech pathologist.

Can you hear me now?

Listening is such an important skill for children to acquire. Among other areas, it plays a vital role in language development, conversation skills, and academic success. When you speak, your baby probably listens intently while studying your face. Allow time for him to respond back. This will help him understand a conversation involves both listening and speaking. In Kindermusik class, we listen to a variety of sounds and label what they are. Focused listening activities like this help children practice tuning out distractions while interpreting and understanding one sound. You can play this game at home too. Take your baby or older child on a sound scavenger hunt. What sounds can you identify? Be sure to try to mimic the sounds for some added language development. I look forward to "hearing" all about the sounds you find!

***Recess Monkey***

With an CD cover like this, you might expect a Beatles-inspired concept album of sorts. Well, you'd be kinda right: the album begins on a "Sgt. Pepper" / "I Am the Walrus" vibe, and includes a "Taxman" clone, with a thread of animal songs (both wild and domestic) running throughout. Sound interesting? It gets better: the tunes on Aminal House are incredibly poptastic, on par with Chris von Sneidern at his best and Jellyfish on a very silly day. Say hi to Recess Monkey!

These three teachers from Seattle who call themselves Recess Monkey released their first CD, Welcome to Monkey Town, back in 2005. Their second is a brilliant mix of melodicism, akin to The Quiet Two (formerly The Quiet Ones); science facts, much like Teacher and the Rockbots; and all-around jollity, a la Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

Aminal House kicks off with a massive string of great tunes, each one better than the last. I mean, just check out the choruses of "Aquarium" and "Zoo Zoo Zoo"; the "Taxman" verse of "KC (He's a Fine Dog)"; the softshoe cabaret of "Fred (The Tabby Cat)" ... just wait 'till the chorus hits and you can totally picture a thousand kids on a hilltop singing, "Meow, Meow!"

The album continues with, among others, the beautiful "Butterfly", the powerpop of "Littlest Monkey", the quiet/loud pastoral "The Rabbits", the piano anthem "Grey Zebra", a little surf rock with "Pet Shark", and the Todd Rundgren-y "Cookie". Throw in a few short, silly skits and some general rowdiness with the Monkey Town characters, and you've got yerself a great presentation!

Incredibly hooky chord changes and sophisticated arrangements elevate this CD far above yer average kids' album; and the spacious, in-the-same-room production is extremely well done. It's hard to believe this is an independent release! and a kids' album, at that! by three silly teachers!

Lots of goofiness, lots of awesome songs, lots of fun. Recess time!

Pajama Story Time

Please join us as we welcome all of our F.R.I.E.N.D.S. for a very special pajamarama storytime event for and about children with Down Syndrome. Meet at Barnes and Noble in Brandon on Thursday, February 8, 2007 at 6:30 p.m. Wear your jammies and fuzzy slippers, bring your teddy bear, relax and enjoy stories about some very special children. Musical entertainment to be provided by Mrs. Aimee from Delightful Sounds!

***Park Slope Parents: The Album (Vol. 1)***

With such an unbelievable wealth of talent in one Borough, what else was one to do but release a benefit CD containing contributions from some of Brooklyn's (and the world's) biggest names in kids' music. From Dan Zanes to David Weinstone, from Michael Leyden to Audra Rox, from Astrograss to The Deedle Deedle Dees, from Suzi Shelton to Daniel Schorr, Park Slope Parents presents a great collection of songs loosely based on life in Park Slope and its environs, all to support the operation and upkeep of the Park Slope Parents website.

One of the great things about the album is the treasure trove of "unreleased" stuff: The Quiet Two's "When I Dream", Sign-a-Song's "Friends", and Astrograss' version of "Drunken Sailor" (with help from Audra Rox's band) can only be found here. Both Courtney Kaiser (from KaiserCartel) and Audra Rox wrote songs specifically for this project, and The Deedle Deedle Dees' "Major Deegan" is from an as-yet-unreleased album. And Brooklyn's Mo Willems illustrates the whole package ... cool!

But lookyhere, you better go out and get one fast: the Park Slope Parents organization is only pressing 5,000 copies, and Brooklyn might be a long walk for some of you (psst, don't worry, CD Baby is selling them, too!). Lots o' links to check out on the website, so get to clickin'!

What do you think?

I read a comment in an online paper yesterday that I found troubling. The article stated that young children who are enrolled in enrichment programs, musical or otherwise, do not benefit from them. Baffling... Obviously this person had never been in a Kindermusik classroom. I have seen such amazing benefits in my own children and those that I teach. Early exposure to music can enrich so many areas in the life of a child, such as increased math and science skills, stonger language development, and greater creativity. I was curious to know what my readers thought about this. What benefits have you seen in the programs you've chosen to enroll in?

Don't count your chickens...

Yesterday, we went out to feed the chickens and spied a small pair of eyes peeking out of Cotton Ball's feathers. Upon further inspection, we found that two chicks had hatched that morning. She will stay on the nest for a couple of days now to allow the other eggs some time to hatch. She had gathered up 11 eggs, but later decided to share some with Baby, our red hen who had joined her in the nest. There's no telling how many will actually hatch. That will have to be a future post!