Music for every age

These are suggestions only. I have no formal training in music education or child development. I simply love music, I love children, and I believe that the right music is integral - sine qua non - for most humans to fully live a rich life. These are suggestions and are intended as a launching point and meant to be built on - in other words, you don’t move on from these, you simply add to these selections, until one day, someday, you have a glorious repertoire of beautiful music spanning genres and feelings to enrich your existence.

May your heart sing and your body dance.

Birth through first year

Load up on tons of Vivaldi and Haydn. Seriously. There is nothing to blast off a great morning like twin shots of these two. Then you can segue later in the day to Duke Ellington and Count Basie.

Albums
Antonio Vivaldi -The Four Seasons
The Beatles - Meet the Beatles

Artists & Composers
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johannes Brahms
Count Basie
Duke Ellington
Franz Josef Haydn
Jeremy M. Long
Lanessa Long
Antonio Vivaldi

Songs
Brahms’ Lullaby
Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Mozart)

Ages 2-5

Albums
ABBA - Greatest Hits
The Beatles - Abbey Road
The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour

Artists & Composers
Louis Armstrong
Ludwig Van Beethoven
John Coltrane
Frédéric Chopin
Benny Goodman

Songs
Mamma Mia! (ABBA)
Opus 7 No 2. (Chopin)

Ages 5-9

Albums
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
The Beatles - Revolver
U2 - The Joshua Tree

Artists & Composers
Charlie Parker
Dave Brubeck Quartet
David Bowie
Elton John
Mates of State
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
John Williams

Songs
1812 Overture (Tchaikovsky)
Carnival of the Animals (Camille Saint-Saens)
Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)
Messiah (George Frideric Handel)
The Nutcracker (Tchaikovsky)
Sloop John B (Beach Boys)

Ages 10-13

Albums
The Beatles - White Album
The Clash - London Calling
Led Zeppelin - IV
Radiohead - The Bends
Radiohead - Kid A
The Ramones - The Ramones

Artists
Grandaddy
Miles Davis
Prince

Songs
Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin)

Teens

Albums
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

Artists
Kamasi Washington
Metallica

Songs

College age, olders, and elders

Albums

Artists
Colin Stetson