The Ultimate Laurie Berkner Band Collection, happy, kindie 101

If you do a search for top kindie artists Laurie Berkner is in any top 10 list.  Since 2002 she’s been recording acoustic guitar children’s music to the delight of preschoolers, young children and adults everywhere.  To be a fan of children’s music and not like Laurie Berkner is to say that you like rap, but don’t like Run DMC.  She’s the blueprint of kindie for a reason and The Ultimate Luarie Berkner Band Collection is packed with 22 songs that prove that.

They’re simple songs about collecting bottle caps, friends, playing, being silly, going to sleep and being a kid. After one listen, to my surprise, our 5 year old was hooked on a couple of the songs.  I was surprised because some of the songs are slower, a capella numbers that I thought wouldn’t interest him.  Sensing my shock he kept requesting them each time we got in the car.

His favorite song is The Cookie Bakers of the Night.  It’s the story of baking cookies at night, how they do it and how yummy they are.  It’s silly, tells a story in an upbeat manner, has a nice duel of sorts between the piano and the guitar and it make him happy every time he hears it.

Her music is so pleasant to listen to.  From the adult perspective it is light and a little slow at times.  If the only children’s music in your library now is taken up by costumed characters or puppets this is your next step up.

Did you listen to that song?  It’s upbeat, happy and makes absolutely no sense in the real world, but children love it.  Laurie Berkner succeeds in our Christmas music test.

The musicianship and harmonies are what make Laurie Berkner stick.  It’s also what makes her tolerable.  An hour of simplistic children’s music in lesser hands is what makes people have a bad impression of kindie music.

In listening to The Ultimate Collection one also notices the pacing of the songs.  They’re arranged in such a way that you can listen to the entire release without it getting too repetitive.  A good example of this is Shake Your Body Down, an active, silly, upbeat song to get the kids moving that’s near the later end of the disc.

At her site you can check out the latest news and tour schedule.  They’re on the road quite often and most likely have a three-foot fence for the crowd when they get out of control or nap time is delayed.