Tips only in passing
What constitutes "good music for children" is obviously difficult to grasp. Thomas Hartmann tries in his critical foray "Mama louder!".
Earwig are known: Parrot and Mamagei, Zügle or Without dinner is bed are hits. "14 new children's songs by Swiss bands" is the CD released in 1995 Ohreworm 1 titled. But what does "children's songs" actually mean? Don't adults also sing along? And at what age do our offspring find the songs "uncool"?
Thomas Hartmann is an expert. For almost ten years, the author of the book Mom louder! on the editorial staff of the children's radio station WDR in Cologne. "Clear age recommendations are difficult in children's music," he writes (p. 247). It is apparently also difficult to define good children's music. In the relevant chapter, the author seems to hide behind general principles.
Hartmann points out that a song that is too simple can quickly become annoying and is unlikely to catch on because the parents quickly stop listening to it (and may simply hide the CD). Music that is too complex, on the other hand, leads to distance and, in the worst case, to feelings of hatred. - Such a polar model may be correct from the perspective of the former radio editor. However, anyone who has ever seen how children enjoy experimenting with sound generators in an open and complex way will have their doubts. But that's just in passing.
Given such unstable conditions, Hartmann's critical tone is surprising. Commercialism is targeted, the "business with children's music". Another chapter deals with "artistic aberrations", for example when Nena's hit Just dreaming for math lessons: "I didn't miss anything today because I only dreamed about four. I only saw eight briefly, then it was twelve and then sixteen." (S. 48)
With increasing reading, this - as the subtitle says - "critical foray through an underestimated genre" becomes quite lengthy. Obviously, it is only possible to get to grips with this indeed complex subject area by referring to individual songs or performers. After all sorts of fog and a lot of subjectively colored theory, Hartmann only gives the tips that are crucial for parents at the end in the form of short portraits of selected children's music performers. It would have been nice to have a CD as a supplement. Or should children now listen to the YouTube ads? In any case, it sucks, there's no need to talk about it at length.
On the publisher's website of the same name, numerous artists who make music for children are presented and their latest productions are discussed in detail and, as the author emphasizes, independently. In addition to CDs by individual artists, compilations and music radio plays are also included: a treasure trove! https://www.mama-lauter.de/
Thomas Hartmann: Mama louder! Good music for children. A critical foray through an underrated genre, 296 p., € 24.80, Con Brio, Regensburg 2021, ISBN 978-3-940768-91-9
