Let’s Celebrate! 10 Years of Kids Rhythm and Rock

It’s hard to believe, but ten years ago this weekend, I launched Kids Rhythm and Rock! At the time, I was the Head of Youth Services in a suburb about 45 miles west of Chicago. I’d been writing AV reviews for School Library Journal (SLJ) for over a decade and had transitioned into a new role overseeing all things relating to music (coordinating reviewers and submissions, editing reviews, writing my own, and doing occasional interviews with artists) for a new section in the magazine called ClefNotes. And for some reason that I don’t remember now, I decided to start a children’s music blog.

 

I’ve always loved writing, and having the chance to combine that along with my passion for music, was a natural fit. However, putting myself online – aside from vacation photos on FB – was completely new to me. Being a librarian, I researched the best books to use to learn how to build a blog. I brainstormed lists of possible blog names, did all the things necessary to obtain the domain name, secure a web host, and dove in to create Kids Rhythm and Rock. I knew that I was going to need a graphic for a header. I wanted something that wouldn’t look dated after a couple of years so I decided to give a photo a try. At the time, my library was hosting a tremendous program called Fun with Music and we had a bin of all kinds of small handheld instruments. I took several photos of that bin and that is what became the header.

 

At the same time that I was working on all of the technical aspects of the blog, I also reached out to all of the PR folks who had been submitting CDs for SLJ to alert them to the fact that I was starting a children’s music blog as well. Beth Blenz-Clucas immediately reached out to me and asked to chat. That phone call made all the difference. We talked about my vision for the blog, she gave me a few tips, and a lot of encouragement.

Finally, I was ready. On August 1, 2016, I posted to Kids Rhythm and Rock for the very first time. It was a short introductory paragraph. Just text, no images (can you imagine??). I also made the very unrealistic, yet very idealistic promise, that I would be posting twice a week. In all the excitement regarding this new venture, I clearly forgot that I also had a job and life outside of music and the library!

My second post, on August 2, 2016 featured reviews of albums from Tim Kubart, Lori Henriques, and José-Luis Orozco. Looking back now, I can definitely see the influence that writing for SLJ had on those early reviews. They were a little more structured and a lot more formulaic. From the beginning though, one of my guiding principles has been to never post a negative review. Is there children’s music out there that isn’t top-notch? Of course. Do children’s musicians who are already grinding away performing in parks and libraries while also creating and promoting new music need my negative review to live forever online? Of course not. In a world filled with non-stop information, my goal has always been to help lift up and support those whose music needs to be heard. For this same reason, I never do a “Top 10” list at the end of the year. Instead, I prefer to highlight as much of the wonderful music that has come out during the year as possible in an end of year roundup.

When I started this journey (ha! I’ve been watching too much reality TV), I thought I knew all I needed to know to be successful. What I’ve learned is that I had a lot to learn.

 

Things that have changed/Lessons I’ve learned from the past 10 years:

• Do not name your blog something that you cannot spell! “Rhythm” still regularly trips me up. How many “h”s are there?? Where does the “y” go???
• I used to stress about not posting very often, or as often as I would like. I learned to give myself grace. I don’t monetize my writing, I just do it because I love it. 
• When I began, I only posted album reviews. With the change in how music is released, I now write about individual songs and videos. On occasion, I’ll also post about books released by children’s musicians as well.
• In the past couple of years, rather than writing about the next album(s) on my list, I’ve found myself writing around common themes.
• My writing has gone from the more formulaic tone of SLJ to being more my voice.
• Social media will never be my thing. I know it’s needed and my reach would be much larger if I was better at it, but I just don’t have the drive (or the time) to take it where it needs to be.
• My passion for children’s music has only increased as my knowledge of the music and the people who make it has grown.

To prepare for this celebration, I went back and took a look at the posts from the past 10 years. I am awed by all of the amazing music that I have had the privilege of writing about for a decade. While looking back, I realized that I first wrote about Fyutch and Miss Jessica’s World back in 2021. That I tried a special feature about album cover art where I proclaimed that the end of physical CDs was going to be very slow in coming and that I did interviews with GRAMMY nominees in 2023 with the intention of carrying on that tradition (it only lasted one year!). Along the way, I’ve shone a spotlight on a diversity of musical genres, cultures, and languages, highlighting the importance of love and acceptance for all. I’ve written about Pride, Juneteenth, and Covid. During the pandemic, with the help of my PR friends, I even posted interviews about the impact that the disease was having on children’s musicians. Justin Roberts, Marsha Goodman, and Andy Furgeson were incredibly gracious and answered all of my questions during such a tumultuous time. 

 

And that brings me to the most important thing that I’ve learned since 2016 – that the folks in the children’s music community are the kindest, most supportive, most loving group of people. Over the years I’ve had the extreme pleasure of meeting artists in LA at the GRAMMY nominee benefit concert in 2017, in NYC at the GRAMMY nominee concert and lunch in 2018, and the Children’s Music Network conferences in 2023 and 2024. I’ve come to call many of the folks that I have admired for so long friends. In August 2020, I wrote a post of gratitude to everyone in my life who had supported my love of music. In re-reading it, I wouldn’t change a single word. I have so much love and gratitude for everyone in the children’s music community – musicians and PR folks (Beth, Regina, Elizabeth, and Stephanie) who have supported me in this venture,  many from the very beginning. Thank you! I love you! And I look forward to spreading the love of music together for years to come!!