Dorian has a simple CD player in his room and a case filled with CDs. Like many, I rarely use CDs anymore, but I’m keen for him to have the freedom to listen to music without help or supervision. Tangible discs seem to make more sense to him, anyway. Whenever he and I search playlists on the computer, he always wants the albums without artwork or else makes completely random requests. Flipping through his CD holder, he can link the color and design of each disc with his memory of its musical content and make a choice. At bedtime, choosing and listening to music is as much a part of Dorian’s nightime ritual as brushing teeth or haggling over the number of books to be read. He will often choose the same CD for days, even weeks, on end, and I have learnt not to interfere. Dorian’s tastes are somewhat eclectic and somewhat random – a function of being comprised of Kelly’s favorites growing up and my acquisitions in the seven years since moving to the US. Somehow he’s been drawn to Bob Dylan’s Love and Theft; an album from Celtic band, Anam; the soundtrack to The Phantom of the Opera; “Daddy’s Band”; A Morrissey offering from the late ’90s; Debussy; and an untitled Thelonious Monk CD (left in my brother-in-law’s car by joyriders when they fled, along with Celine Dion and The Best of the Village People. Oakland is many things, but predictable is not one of them). When he chooses a single song, it’s invariable XTC’s “Senses Working Overtime” or “Pumped Up Kids”, a four-year-old’s interpretation of “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People. Lurking amid his collection – which I now realize needs more thought – are several CDs aimed squarely at children…
Continue reading “Children’s Music – Why Bother?” »

…with sharp nails hopping from a hair-cutting place to his birthday party where there’s a cake with six candles because he’s six.” Dorian and I made a volume wave puppet show (see 
