Putting Childhood to Music
Putting Childhood to Music
When he spies young faces watching him shyly, however, he rallies one last game of capture the flag. For Grammer, the best investment of time is sharing it with children.
Among America’s most sought-after children’s performers, this father of two teen-age sons from Chester, N.Y., (pop. 3,377) is a hero in many hometowns besides his own. School communities across the country are discovering the special magic of “Red Days.” Equipped with music that has earned national awards, Grammer arrives determined to help create one-of-a-kind learning experiences every child will feel a part of.
One school took These Are Places in The World (his finger-snapping geographic montage, a much-requested favorite) and learned every location in the lyrics. “That’s several dozen, some of them real tongue-twisters,” Grammer notes. “Then they found them on the map, did reports on them all, and finally had a geography bee during my visit.” Visits such as these are red-letter days for Grammer.
“You can trust children to recognize what’s authentic,” he says. “They seldom receive respect for their youthful innocence and their innate powers of discernment. It’s important to give them something worth their time, that addresses the kinds of things they’re wondering about on the inside, not what popular media wants to sell them.”
The recording artist of family favorites like Teaching Peace creates lively tunes with his wife and co-lyricist, Kathy Grammer, a special-education teacher. CBS News This Morning calls him, “Superstar to the young,” and USA Today selected his Hello World as a Kid Pick.
The Grammers have a knack for addressing tough issues through music that uplifts and inspires audiences, with themes such as how to listen and communicate even when you’re angry, welcoming human diversity, and cultivating happiness.
Their songs also generate laughter, along with learning: Buono Appetito is a sampling of the world’s cuisine designed to make even picky eaters giggle, and We’re All In This Together tours the human body and shows how the “body of humanity” can work together.
Former lead singer for the Limelighters, Grammer moved away from an adult-music career in favor of serving tomorrow’s adults. Plenty of grown-up listeners still enjoy his clear tenor in recordings like Free Falling and the newly released Soul Man in a Techno World.
But music for kids is at the heart of all he does, as Grammer strives to “validate childhood” and empower children to be confident and contributing world citizens.
“I think that media’s increasingly insensitive to what kids really need to be kids,” he says. “They’re being pressured to grow up too fast, act older than they are, are exposed to things they’re too young to handle.”
Grammer observes that children he visits in less-advantaged neighborhoods are often “more able to be present in the moment—to be kids. I think affluence and materialism lull us into a false sense of security,” he says. “I find that communities with the highest incomes often have students least able to respond to music as kids, rather than as pseudo-adults too sophisticated to have fun.
“I want my music to be a balance of wisdom and innocence,” Grammer says. “I also want it to help offset a tendency in our culture to try and take all the hard parts out.”
Grammer tunes, always optimistic, aim to equip kids with ways to face challenges. Shake Your Brain proposes bringing creative ingenuity to bear when a situation doesn’t seem to be working out. When I Get A Feeling encourages paying attention to feelings and making them work for instead of against you.
“Themes like the oneness of the human family, looking for the best in people, and creating a world that’s good and safe for everybody are at the center of our work,” Grammer says.
Whatever the theme—inspiring or silly—the music is always fun to hear. The single most distinctive aspect of Grammer’s performances is that people of all backgrounds, ethnicity, religion—and age—enjoy them.
“Nothing means as much as when a father will come up after a show, look me the eye, and say, ‘Thanks for what you’re doing,’” Grammer says. “That’s what I do this for.”
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