Hello,

Wondering if anyone has any recommendations for children's music styles. I've found a few that work, but, would love to know if people are finding success with any particular styles, Real or Midi.


Thanks!

It depends, quite a bit, on age and culture.
A few years back I had a class of 11 & 12 year olds who loved Baby Metal and they learnt their song about bullying.
A couple of years back I had a class who wrote a collab rap about standing up to bullies.
My last full time teaching year the class wrote their own graduation song - a rocker called I'm A Teenage Zombie..as they were moving from 12 to 13 and primary to high school.
Songs like I'm a Little Aeroplane go down well with 6-8 and they'll hold on to it through to their teens.
What matters is a simple, short melody, strong rhythm and a narrative that is either easy to relate to or absolutely silly.
That said repetition is very important as is humor.

I haven't attempted to write anything aimed at children. The question is.... what is the target age group? Younger kids and toddlers are going to respond best to very simple melodies. Older kids can appreciate a more adventurous melody and structure but for children, it's always best to stay on the simple side of the equation.

Having had 2 daughters and now we have a grand neice around the house occasionally, I've had the opportunity to listen to a lot of kiddy music.

The things I have observed is as follows.

1. Keep it short
2. Use the A A A song format
3. Use no more than a 1 4 5 chord progression...
4. Keep the words simple
5. Repetition is very important. Repeat the melody.

A song with a verse only format and using only 1 and 5 chords will work well for a childs song. Recall the song about the wheels on the bus as an example.

The Barney song and such standards as Twinkle Twinkle little star use 3 chords and are very close to the AAA format. Verses and sometimes a short refrain.

You'll probably not find any styles for that in BB. However... it's super easy to write a verse and then copy and paste.

The ukulele styles might work. They have that "kid song" sound.

I used one of them here:

http://www.floydjane.com/Songs/PerfectFriends.htm

These were the RTs used:

Key=C , Tempo 195, Length (m:s)=2:52

Style is _UKES140.STY (Folk Swing with Ukulele (140 RS))

RealTracks in style: ~1137:Bass, Acoustic-Guitar, FolkSwing Sw 140
RealTracks in style: ~1143:Ukulele, Strumming FolkSwing Sw 140
RealTracks in song: ~1098:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm JazzSwingFreddie Sw 190
RealDrums in style: NashvilleBrushesHillbillySwing: a: Sidestick, Brushesb: Brushes, Stick

Thanks!

I"m an old fart, but have memories of learning Uke at the age of 8 and playing simple chords to music that I had listened to and remembered the words to the songs. My grandfather then sat down with me and worked out the chords and the progressions...it's still with me. Get kids to sing songs they like and can remember then progress with that to an instrument.

Just a thought.

I’m a jazz composer, and I’ve noticed smaller kids seem to love to dancing to my jazz waltz tunes. BIAB has several great styles in this genre.