Music making

While we have succeeded in brain-washing our daughter in regards to the merits of eating free-range, organic meats, Ethan and I unfortunately have not been able to brain-wash her musical tastes. Her newest favorite music comes from "The Fresh Beat Band," a tv show she has never actually seen, but whose characters perform a song onstage as they dance around in neon jumpsuits at the start of every Nick On Demand show we order. For a basic synopsis of the group, I quote from Wikipedia:

"The Fresh Beat Band (formerly The JumpArounds)^[1] is a children TV show with original pop songs produced for Nick Jr.. The Fresh Beats are Shout, Twist, Marina, and Kiki, described as four best friends in a band who go to music school together and love to sing and dance."

Needless to say, Ethan and I are not huge fans of their music. In all honesty, I have no problem with my children exploring their own musical tastes and listening to things that are different from what I prefer. (However, the fact that the music is so darn bubble-gum poppy and catchy that it's stuck in my head for hours after I hear it is less than ideal.) Julia even acts out "The Fresh Beat Band" now, dancing around on our little art table chairs and showing off her crazy moves as she bellows her heart out in some imitation-pop style. And of course, every time one of their songs comes on before Dora, Diego, Max & Ruby, or any number of shows we order from On Demand, she totally rocks out singing along with them. She was a bit shy once she discovered I was filming her yesterday, but I did manage to capture some of her participation in the music-making:



Madeleine is not yet enamored with The Fresh Beat band, and remains loyal to her old standby songs: Wheels on the Bus, Whera Jacques, Two Little Blackbirds, etc. Speaking of Whera Jacques, Julia recently learned to play it on the piano, much to Madeleine's delight. As Julia sight-read through the music, Madeleine chimed right in with her loud and enthusiastic singing. "Sonnen in my tina, Dog bambooooo?" Here is a video of Julia playing, sans her sister's vocal accompaniment:



Now, if that doesn't make you want some dog bamboo, I'm not sure what will.