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Groove Kid Nation
Groove Kid Nation is the brainchild of veteran record producer and keyboardist Rodney Lee. With over 20 years of experience in the music business as a touring sideman, record producer, and recording artist, Rodney is applying his talents to the realm of children’s music.
“After the birth of my son (now 3 years old), I began looking for children’s music and was not finding enough of what I wanted to hear. Especially, over and over!” says Lee. “So I rolled up my sleeves, went into the recording studio with a few of LA's top musicians, and created Groove Kid Nation -- a fresh new approach to introducing children to music."
Most parents are well aware of the developmental benefits of music classes for their little ones. However, Lee feels that the majority of conventional music classes for toddlers simply cover the basics of melody and rhythm.
"I think we are missing a great window of opportunity to introduce real musical instruments and more advanced music concepts to our rapidly developing toddlers' ears and brains," explains Lee. "During these formative years our children are learning about all kinds of sounds ranging from the simplicity of a cow's moo to the complexity of speech and language. It is also the perfect time to introduce the sound of various instruments like the saxophone, trumpet, guitar, violin, and many others."
At this age it's really not about learning how to play the instruments, but the basics of how a particular instrument produces sound and its timbre. ( i.e. whether the sound is produced by blowing into the instrument or plucking a string, etc...) These concepts are generally beyond the scope of most conventional toddler music classes.
So how does a parent go about introducing their child to a wide range of real instruments (not the imitations in toys)? You can go to lots of concerts (which I highly recommend), but this can be very expensive. Youtube is cool, but may not be that fun for a toddler. Your own collection of music is great too, but you've got to find age-appropriate themes, and the recordings may not feature instruments in a way that focuses the attention of young ears.
If a parent or close relative happens to be a musician, then that obviously simplifies things, but even Lee had trouble introducing his son to the sounds of instruments that he didn't play such as the trumpet -- especially in a way that was meaningful and fun for a toddler.
By researching early childhood development, Lee discovered that creative play is one of the most important activities for kids under the age of 5. As a a result, Groove Kid Nation strives to enter into that imaginative world via fun groovy characters who also happen to be awesome musicians! By drawing children into the action, kids are exposed to a wide range of instruments and learn quite a bit about them in the process. Combined with the images from the included illustrated booklets, the animations on this website, and the music from the CDs, Groove Kid Nation is proving to be a powerful tool for enhancing the musical journey of children.
About the Musicians
Groove Kid Nation enlists some of the best musicians in Los Angeles to feature on its recordings. These are the type of musicians that keep the music business moving and grooving, and their combined credits include touring/recording work with superstars such as Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Colbie Cailat, Stevie Wonder, Beck, Seal, Joss Stone, Usher, Sting, Patti Labelle, Natalie Cole, Herbie Hancock, and P-Diddy, just to name a few! In addition, some of the musicians are recording artists as well, with solo CDs and performance dates that take them all over the world.
What better way to expose your children to the world of musical instruments than to hear those instruments being played by top professionals?
The Groove Kid Nation CDs are evolving into an educational series that will follow your child into grade school.
"As I watch my son develop, I am constantly in awe of the ways in which he achieves those common milestones from taking the first steps, to jumping, to using words and completing sentences -- but it is his ever evolving relationship to music that really intrigues me. I love playfully testing when he seems to be ready for various music concepts like repeating a rhythm, or blowing into a simple wind instrument like a harmonica. Observing his acquisition of these music concepts directly helps me to produce age-appropriate CDs that nurture and encourage his musical explorations. Hopefully, your child will benefit as well!"
Charity Work
Having a child makes you feel a deeper connection to children everywhere, and that is why Groove Kid Nation will be donating 10% of the wholesale price of this CD to CARE.org. CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting poverty. Please visit Care.org for more information.
Conclusion
Quite simply, Rodney is just a father and musician who set out to make some cool educational music for his son. “If you and your children enjoy it that’s great, and if in the process we can help kids all around the world born into circumstances far less fortunate than our own --- well what could be better than that?!”
For more information on Rodney's other projects please visit the following sites:
rodneylee.net
satelliteorchestra.com
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