Music to kids' ears
2-minute drill
A quick chat with a Lisle newsmaker
Red hot from having his fifth CD, "Meltdown," selected as the Fids and Kamily poll's Best Kids and Family Album of 2006, Justin Roberts and his Not Ready for Naptime Players will sizzle with music every family member can enjoy.
Two of Roberts' other CDs, "Yellow Bus" and "Not Naptime," each received Parent's Choice Gold Awards. The acclaimed family entertainer sings about dinosaurs, bullies and loose teeth from New York to California. He performs Sunday at Morton Arboretum in Lisle. Here Roberts talks about his creative process.
Q. Do you write all your music?
A. I do. It is all original music.
Q. Do you begin with the lyrics or music?
A. It really is simultaneously. Some songs you construct, but others just come out. Sometimes I can visualize the scene while I write it. I usually just sing while playing chords. Then a little phrase pops out and I think, "Oh, that is what this song can be about." Then I begin to work on the lyrics. I try to write songs I would want to listen to as an adult with lyrics kids can care about.
Q. What do you draw from to write your lyrics?
A. I pick up stories from my preschool teaching experience, from my own childhood as well as what people tell me. For example the lyrics, "Dad wondered who colored crayons on the wall, isn't that a shame, it's in my sister's name." Those came from a friend who had a brother actually carve her name into a Steinway piano.
"Cartwheels and Somersaults" is about having a new baby sister in the family. My sister is much younger than my brother and I, and I can remember distinctly when my parents brought her home and how great that was.
Q. Did you grow up in the Midwest?
A. I grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, went to college in Ohio and lived in Minnesota a few years. There, I worked during the day at a Montessori preschool to afford to play in a band at night. That is where I began writing songs for kids. After the band broke up, I came to Chicago for graduate school at the University of Chicago thinking I'd like to go into education and maybe become a professor.
Q. How did you get into children's music?
A. I put out "Great Big Sun," my first CD, on a whim while in Minnesota. While I was at the university in Chicago, William Davis, who produces all my CDs and plays in the band, and I played a few kid shows for fun and to see how it would go. We got a great response. So I weighed everything, going on to get a Ph.D. or going into music. I knew I would love making a living as a musician, and had professors from the university coming to my kids' concerts but not necessarily to my lectures, so I felt that maybe a career in music was the right thing.
Q. How do you engage both adults and children in one performance?
A. The band is really energetic and we do tons of interactive songs and dances to keep the kids engaged. Our trumpet player wears giant shoes and is quite a character on stage.
Q. How do you decide on a set list?
A. I make a set list for the band, but when you play for kids a set list needs to be pretty flexible. We find kids don't quite understand the distinction between stage and audience that adults obey. Kids will just come up and request a song, or sometime if I look out at the audience and feel that we need something to get them moving, I'll change the set list on a whim. I try to include a variety of songs.
Q. What song will you hear about if you don't play it in concert?
A. "Yellow Bus," "Meltdown" and "When Willy was a Whale" are the current ones. The fun thing is when someone asks for a song we don't play often.
Q. What makes a good family song?
A. I try to write about the human experience. The kids might think, "this is what it is like," and the adults might recall when they were a kid. Hopefully everyone can relate to it and enjoy it.
Q. What are you working on now?
A. A couple of the songs we are working on are about a superhero kid who imagines a lot of amazing things in his backyard. Another is about having a baby-sitter. I remember when (my family) was having our first baby-sitter, my older brother suggested the person was a baby sitter -- quite literally. It struck fear in me at the time. Later, I found out it was a much more pleasant experience with a person who came and played a bunch of games with you.
-- Joan Broz
If you go
What: Jump for Joy with Justin Roberts
When: 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: Morton Arboretum, 4100 Route 53, Lisle
Tickets: $12 in advance for nonmembers, $8 for members; $14 day-of; children under 2 free with an adult; to buy, call (630) 725-2066
Details: bring blanket or folding chairs
Info: (630) 968-0074, mortonarb.org or justinrobertsmusic.com