The Sound of Music

It was a beautiful moment for both of us. My three-year-old daughter Jemma came up to me and said, “Dad, can we play that Ring of Fire one again?” We had just been dancing madly around the room to Johnny Cash and she wanted to do it again.
Music has always been a big part of my life and the ability to share it with my kids is a whole new joy.
One of my favourite albums last year was by a Brisbane singer/ songwriter called Jackie Marshall. The title track Ladies Luck is Jemma’s favourite song and it still cracks me up every time she sings along:
I’m eating cherries and I’m drinking whisky,
We don’t have kids and there’s no man listening…
She has also developed an appreciation for The Beatles and will often request Baby You Can Drive My Car as soon as we are strapped in. And I’m developing an appreciation of her music too. (The piano player on Play School can really play!)
There is no doubt that there are some truly awful kids’ albums out there, but we have found a few gems amongst the rubble. Discerning parents should check out a couple of local albums: The Jambu Tree by Rochelle Wright and Rob Shannon, and My Backyard by Spikey and Friends. Also on high rotation at our place was the album by Kasey Chambers and her extended clan called The Little Hillbillies. (In the same way that Pixar and DreamWorx make kids flicks that appeal to adults, Kasey and Bill Chambers nailed it on this album with a bunch of songs that the kids can sing along to, but the parents can appreciate on a different level.)
Now eight-year-old Ruby is right into Kasey Chambers. She’s got three albums on the iPod and is developing a taste for strong and interesting female singers including Aretha Franklin and Emily Lubitz from Tinpan Orange. She doesn’t mind a bit of 70s disco either.
In choosing her own music she is developing her own taste and style and starting to define herself through those choices. And I know at some stage in the not-too-distant future I will probably hate her music and she will hate mine, but there is a brief moment in time, right now, where we can share our discoveries and enjoy them together.
Sometimes (usually when mum’s not home) I will crank the stereo and thrash about the lounge room with the girls to Jesus Built My Hotrod by Ministry, an awesome piece of speed metal from the early 90s. (Now there’s a way to let off some steam before bathtime!)