Harmony's First Music CDs

When we ride in the car, the classical station is usually turned on, us being classical musicians and all since we were eight years old. Side note: YIKES I AM OLD. Moving on. Harmony can take about ten or fifteen minutes of this. The classical music, I mean. Soon she starts to whine. There's something about being strapped into a car seat, I guess, that makes her uninterested in listening to non-vocal music for long periods of time (a captive audience?). At home we generally keep the local classical station (or a similar Pandora channel) playing quite a bit, and she seems fine with it then. So I end up either singing to her or trying to find a station playing a (not inappropriate) song I can sing along to. If I sing, she's happy.

Or I'll put on a CD. But she doesn't like super loud music, hard rock, super fast music, or anything opera-like for more than about forty minutes. Yes, forty. I timed it on our last road trip. Chris and I like to sing along to the first half of Handel's Messiah or other things like that, in English or Latin, and Harmony will only stand it for a set amount of time. Heh.

Soooooo our CD choices are limited, considering that 90% of them are of classical music.

We have a few kid's CDs with nursery rhymes, but I tried those and almost went bonkers. I also vetoed any kid's stations on Pandora after trying that out. The only musical groups specifically for children that I have enjoyed so far are G.T. and the Halo Express and Rain for Roots, which we currently do not own (they are going on the wish list for Harmony's birthday!), so yeah. Oh, and the Wee Sing albums are great, but they're also going on the wish list.

Do you have any suggestions for other non-annoying, non-nasally-sounding, non-pull-your-hair-out-this-is-so-boring music for kids? I know there has to be more out there!

It was time to make mixed CDs of adult AND child acceptable songs where we can ALL sing along : )


Happy Harmony Mixed CD

The Wall ~ Kansas {Because epicness.}

Tom Sawyer ~ Rush {Because double epicness.}

The Fox ~ Nickel Creek {All kids love this fun folk song!}

Go Home, Girl! ~ Gaelic Storm {Chris likes singing this and playing his bodhran.}

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) ~ The Proclaimers {An old favorite of ours.}

Brave ~ Sarah Bareilles {I appreciate the message in the lyrics.}

This Good Day ~ Fernando Ortega {One of my favorite singers, and he's a great person! I knew him when I was a kid. This song never fails to put me in a better mood.}

Green and Blue Lady's Song* ~ ? {See below... help! It came on a mixed soundtrack from one of Chris's friends years ago, and we have no idea who it is.}

Wild Child ~ Enya {Who doesn't love Enya? Harmony is our wild child!}

Creation Song ~ Fernando Ortega {Another favorite.}

When You Come Back Down ~ Nickel Creek {I always melt when I hear this sweet song. I will be singing it to all my children as they grow up!}

The Neglected Garden ~ Cecile Corbel {The gorgeous theme song from the Miyazaki movie "The Secret World of Arrietty". Someday I'd love to have the entire soundtrack from this movie.}



Chillin' Harmony Mixed CD

Kisses from the Sky ~ The Green Children {My current favorite band.}

Sailor ~ The Green Children {Harmony's current favorite song; we sing it every day.}

Mourning Into Dancing ~ The Crossing (Celtic band)  {Beautiful Celtic melody and lyrics.}

Dream a Little Dream of Me ~ ? (not sure who the artist is here) {An old favorite first sung to me by a friend and musician at a concert years ago.}

Friendly Jas ~ Cool Hand Luke (band, not movie)  {A favorite since I was sixteen years old!}

Lord of Eternity ~ Fernando Ortega {One of my favorites that he performed in concert.}

Kite ~ Copeland {A special favorite that I used to sing to my sister when she was little.}

Staring Down the Stars ~ Nickel Creek {Beautiful melody, sweet words.}

Pilgrim ~ Enya {Love this one! Just have to finish memorizing all the words.}

Hide and Seek ~ Imogen Heap {Weird lyrics, but one of my favorite pop pieces of all time.}

Throwback to almost a year ago! Craziness!

*Please help me find out what song this is! Haven't had any success looking up lyrics on Google. Here are the lyrics of the first few verses and the chorus:

My cousin and his young bride left home a year ago
they sailed to Regal, England, for the little town of Norfolk
and found a thatched-roof home
now I get a post-card every month or so

They tell me it's endearing though it rains most every day
they're attending a cathedral built in 1528
and afternoons at three
they take a cup of tea or two

They write, "dear cousin, how are you,
is life exciting? what is new?"
"Well, last night I baked a cake."
What more can I say?

We're doin' fine here in lovely scenic Springfield, USA
Having quite a time here, in lovely scenic Springfield, USA