Rock Shic: Music for Kids

03/05/2017

#796 You Gotta Mix the Sweet with the Sour – Lemonade by Justin Roberts

Picking up my little man from preschool in Naples, where he would instantly say, "I want to hear the Lemonade song!" (He also consistently asks for Starbucks Madeleines, shown here, but that's another story). #Momlife #AlldayErrrday

Now that we’ve been living like a Floridian for over two months (OMG!), I must say that there has been some fundamental shifts in our routine. Apart from the obvious (nice weather every day, driving places as opposed to walking, more space than you know what to do with...), one of the key attributes that’s changed is that my son and I listen to tunes together all day long whenever we go anywhere.

It’s no surprise that my oldest is a huge music fan (see past posts on music lessons in Manhattan and right here in Naples), I’d like to think that it all began with Baby Blanket Music back when he was just a wee little thing. Nowadays, however, our car is basically playing Justin Roberts’ songs on repeat – so much so that both hubs and I basically know all of the words to his album.

Apart from being incredibly talented (Justin Roberts is a twice-Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter), I also love the fact that his songs are perfectly geared toward boys my son’s age. The contents range from skipping out on Dodgeball (something his father would never allow him to get away with! Apparently my husband loved dodgeball growing up in New Zealand, who knew?!), to enjoying Valentine’s day as a boy ("I don’t want to be yours, and you don’t want to be mine"). Since we just celebrated all of the Valentine processions you can possibly think of in this household, you best believe that this particular song was on repeat both morning and night!

Oh, and let’s not forget the cover song “Lemonade,” which my boy would instantly request pretty much every day when I pick him up from preschool. The song, much like Roberts' entire album, is backed up by all acoustics (think ukuleles, banjos, percussion, and the like), and makes for easy-listening for both mummy and son! Win win!!

You can check out more info about Justin Roberts here. I highly recommend his stuff!

Oh, and also check out this article covering Justin’s music back in 2010 in the New York Times. “I FELL for Justin even before I had kids,” comments the author. That sounds like pretty high praise to me, though I can’t say that I’m terribly surprised given how intimately appreciative we all are of Roberts' Lemonade album in this household.

Now, we just need to get some more Justin Roberts songs to mix things up a little.

Related:

Bizet in the Upper East Side

Seashells by the Seashore -- Music Together

Baby Blanket -- Music Compositions and Lullabies for Little Ones

Posted on 03/05/2017 at 09:38 PM in Gulfcoast Living, Music for Kids | Permalink | Comments (3)

03/15/2014

#495 Bizet on the Upper East Side

Happy Saturday! It’s the weekend at last, which also means some good ol’ family fun with Rockshic Baby.

Today, we ventured uptown to attend a baby music class offered by TLB Music (located on 266 East 78^th street). The great thing about living in Manhattan is the accessibility to music and the arts, and this is no less true for little kiddos. Case in point, my son is still six months old and already he’s jamming to Bizet’s “Carmen!” Which – by the way, is one of mommy’s favorite operas of all time (I’m partial to the Plácido Domingo version but I loved our college production just the same!).

… who said that boring nursery rhymes are the only way to go?

What I loved most about our TLB Music session was the intimacy and personalized style of the class – your child gets direct attention due to the small size, and also get customized tunes & face time! How cool is that!! I was equally impressed with the fastidiously well-kept nature of the classrooms. This is the kind of environment where I don’t mind little Nukie picking up something and putting it in his mouth because I know that it’s been properly sanitized, which is certainly not something one takes for granted in this city!

If you have time, I also highly recommend checking out the downstairs TLB playroom, which is MASSIVE (at least via the lens of this city gal). Hubs and I thought that we’d only swing by for 15 minutes tops and wound up playing for an hour! It was well stocked with goodies and toys, and had the added benefit of being extremely chill and relaxed (a major plus in my book!). They even had the Decemberists playing in the background, which is definitely not something one observes everyday for a playdate.

One thing is for sure – we’ll definitely be back. This go around, both mommy and daddy worked out quite the appetite, which was subsequently sated at the Mark on nearby 78^th street and Madison after class. Next time, we’ll definitely have to squeeze in some additional cultural time at the Whitney Museum just down the road! It just goes to show – it’s never too early to introduce your little bon-bons to the arts!