Sing Sing Sing; the CD

Sing Sing Sing, is an exciting, engaging and educational musical experience for young children, their parents and educators! Brian has crafted a CD that combines traditional and original songs that will help develop literacy, mathematics, cognitive, motor and social skills.

Sing Sing Sing embraces many musical genres including reggae, pop, Celtic, blues, funk, rockabilly, folk and more, providing a diverse and interesting listening experience.

Study after study has demonstrated that exposure to the arts is incredibly important in early childhood development. Susan Morcombe, a Psychological Associate with a Masters degree in developmental psychology, and Brian worked closely to ensure that core developmental skills such as cognitive, motor, language, social, memory and attention skills were emphasized throughout the CD. A few examples include:

o Sing Sing Sing (rock genre) demonstrates the difference between high and low sounds, and encourages creative movement while exposing the children to linguistic concepts.

o Jump Up (pop genre) encourages the development of gross motor and social interaction skills through activities such as dancing, jumping, reaching, sleeping, stretching and playing.

o Zoo Time Boogie (funk genre) stresses gross motor coordination and dramatic interpretation while encouraging children to imitate animals. Zoo Time Boogie also encourages memory skills, symbolic communication, and creative thinking.

o Funny Monkeys (folk genre) emphasizes social reciprocity (i.e., turn-taking), and gross motor skills. Repetition of verses and the chorus introduces children to the concept of musical form, and promotes active memory skills.

o Hey Diddle Diddle (Celtic genre) reinforces relative size concepts (i.e., big versus small, short versus tall), and the concept of circularity. Gross motor, language and social interaction skills are encouraged through this song.

o I Like Trains (blues genre) emphasizes language concepts (i.e., rhyming words), introduces rhythm, and promotes memory development.

The result is a CD that young children and parents truly enjoy and educators can appreciate as a teaching tool.

About Brian

Brian has studied music in one fashion or another for more than 25 years. Although Brian was accepted to York University’s music program in 1992, circumstances required that he pursue a degree in accounting at the University of Guelph and Wilfrid Laurier University. After 12 years of practicing accounting and tax, Brian has reintroducing himself to the music industry in a manner he never would have expected!

Fast forward to 2006. It was a beautiful summer’s day. Brian and his wife were preparing to take their two young boys to a park near their home in Ontario. Brian’s youngest son was protesting because he wanted “music time,” a daily ritual that involves Brian playing guitar and singing songs while his two sons dance, sing and play percussion instruments. Brian compromised by grabbing his guitar as they headed out the door to the park. During a much needed rest from a lot of sliding, swinging and running, Brian pulled out his guitar and began playing Wheels on the Bus. By the second verse, a group of 30 or more children and their parents had gathered around Brian and everyone was singing, dancing, laughing and requesting songs. Music with BRIAN was born.

Soon thereafter Brian was invited to perform at a local library and, in the short time that has followed, Brian has gone on to perform for childcare centres, schools, festivals, hospitals, fundraisers and libraries throughout Ontario.

At the suggestion of audience members, friends and family, Brian began working on Sing Sing Sing in January of 2008.

CM Magazine Review of Sing Sing Sing

4 stars out of 4

Brian's 30 years of music experience shines through in his debut CD. Some are traditional tunes that kids would readily recognize like "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" and "Five Little Ducks" and others are original ones like "Taking a Trip" and "Like a Bird."

His animated voice is warm and soothing. His original songs are fun and witty and cross many genres. For example, "Jump Up" is pop, "Zoo Time Boogie" is funk, and "Hey Diddle Diddle" is Celtic music. So there is something for everyone… Within each song, there tends to be numerous repetition of verses, sometimes with an alteration of a word or two, and so it is not too difficult to learn them after at least a couple of listens. Furthermore, I must warn you that regardless of whether you are a kid or an adult, his songs make it so easy for you to start bobbing your head up and down and get dancing. Another thing I like about [Brian]’s CD is his interpretations of old and familiar songs. They are quite catchy. My personal favourite is "The Hokey Pokey." The lyrics and underlying tune are recognizable, but how the vocals and instruments are arranged and performed give it a fresh and even brighter feel to it. I could not stop myself from getting up and actually doing the hokey pokey!
Simply listening to the songs is not an option!
I highly recommend this CD to kids and their parents. Be prepared to boogie on down and smile a big smile!

Highly Recommended
Min So is an on-call librarian in Vancouver, BC.