How Music Vol. 1 Came to Be

I was waving to my husband and my kids as they set off to walk to school, once again listening to the Aladdin soundtrack in Norwegian. Don’t get me wrong, it’s adorable to hear them singing along, even though they’ve never watched the film and the kids don’t actually speak Norwegian.

We usually get stuck listening to one thing on repeat on the way to school for a few weeks and then switch it up. We’ve had phases with "Lollipop" by The Chordettes, "In The Jungle" by The Tokens, "The Fox" by Ylvis, and I’m sure we listened to "The Nutcracker Suite" by Tchaikovsky well into March. While it was quite an eclectic playlist, it made me realize I wanted to expand their musical palates in a more purposeful way.

I had already been doing that with food, making sure they were exposed to different flavors and textures. I mean, I had charts to ensure they were getting all sorts of fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy in different forms, proteins, and combinations of them all. Very OTT! Expanding our musical palates seemed like an exciting next step.

I thought about when we used to go to our favorite little cafe in Harlem, Shut Eye, before we moved down to Miami. We would take our oldest (at that point it was just her and a growing baby bump), and we’d sit in this tiny place listening to jazz, having our respective drinks. A babyccino for her and something foamy, delicious ,and decaf for me. We’d watch people walk past, make conversation with them, and simply enjoy the whole experience. We loved it! Shut Eye always had the best music, and she would sway, jump, or wiggle to the music, captivated.

The memory reminded me of how powerful music can be, how it connects to something inside, and about something I’d heard at some point: that a person had to "train their ears to appreciate jazz". And so, I proposed to myself that I would create something to develop my kids' ears! Not just for jazz, but for music in general. I’d start from "the beginning" and work through the history of music, investigating some of the icons whose music was groundbreaking.

I also wanted a fun project for myself. With a background in art and architecture, I loved the idea of having a new creative outlet. So, I decided to illustrate and research influential artists from different musical eras, compiling my findings into a deck of cards. The kids could pick a card, and we would start exploring. If they wanted to go deeper, we would; if they found another relevant subject (more about the artist, the time, their clothes, why they were so important, etc.), then we would look into that. It would be open-ended, and as deep or as casual as they chose. In the end, we would have listened to so many different kinds of music and artists that it would be an enriching experience no matter what.

With this, I set to work! Initially, this was meant to be a family experiment, but soon it evolved. Friends of all ages showed interest, recognizing some artists and being curious about others. I realized that with arts programs often underfunded or cut, this could be a way to supplement cultural education. And so, Music Vol.1 grew into something bigger and more exciting.

Aranza