Welcome to the inaugural blog of Patricia's Music Musing!

For those of you who are parents or grandparents, you probably already know how important age-specific music is to your family.  You might sing or play songs when riding on car trips, putting little ones to bed, being together at play time, dancing in the kitchen and so on.  Sure, you might sing and dance to YOUR favorite songs; don't we all want to share the music we love?  But there is something very special about songs that are written with a child's particular age, skills and development in mind.  It benefits the child and it may also remind YOU again about the joys of discovery at that age.

But more than this, never more than in childhood will the brain be as receptive, retentive and open to ideas.  It is in childhood where proves the adage "as the twig is bent, so grows the tree."  So it behooves us adults to be careful and mindful about what goes into those little cerebral folds.  We may not be listening to the lyrics, but you can bet on some level kids are.  If the content we expose them to is violent, inane, sexist, demeaning or mean, what are we teaching our children?

Music is such a heart-opener, it can shape attitudes, thoughts, expression and so much more for a person's lifetime.  I know it did exactly that for me.  As a pre-teen my life was forever changed by the music of Dylan, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkle, Judy Collins et al.  I know you might be saying, "But that music was not children's music!"   Well, such a genre didn't really exist when I was very young.  But had I grown up with the messages in the songs of Tom Chapin it would have had the same impact, I just would have gotten it much earlier.

This is a big, deep and wide subject that I'd like to explore further in future musings, so stay tuned--in more ways than one!

Thanks for reading, and I welcome your comments.