Widely considered to be
the “queen of children’s music,” Laurie Berkner (the New York based, award-winning, best-selling children’s
songwriter, performer and author) is also the queen of cool. The rare
children’s musician who makes music that parents can enjoy, Laurie has a
remarkable talent for transcending generations; and as a mother with a
background in children’s music education, she truly understands how to engage kids
in an energetic and fun way.
On September
28th, Laurie will release “Let’s Hear It for The Laurie Berkner Band!”,
a DVD compilation packed with some of her most
popular tunes and music videos. What’s more, she’s also currently working on a
new DVD with the Two Tomatoes and Razor
& Tie Entertainment that will be boast all new videos, some of which are
for brand new songs, some for songs that have been previously released. Of
course, New York City parents will
be happy to know that Laurie will also make a local stop on her upcoming tour, playing
her “Live Birthday Party Concerts” at Town Hall in New
York City on October 3rd.
The last time we caught up with Laurie was in 2008, when she
graced the cover of our September issue. Now, between all of her upcoming
projects and her busy family, Laurie even made time to catch up with New York
Family last Friday about her musical influences, her experiences raising a daughter in New York City, how she
balances career and motherhood and more.
How do you balance
your career with your home life?
I don’t actually think I do it so well; I’m always reworking
it and I keep making gargantuan mistakes. I decided that started this past
summer I would write new music and start recording the songs for the new DVD
thinking summer—that‘s when there’s free time. Actually, of course as a parent,
especially if your child is in school on a regular full time basis, the summer
is actually when Lucy is around a lot more. She wasn’t quite ready for full day
camp, so I had much less time to work on projects. Having free time also means
that the family would want to go to the beach or the Adirondacks for example, so
I realized how extremely stressful it was to have planned to work heavily on this
project over the course of the summer. That originally was my idea of balance.
It’s a little easier that Lucy is at an age where she is in
school from 8:30-3, so I find that I
do a lot of my work then and after she goes to sleep. I signed up to be a class parent this year,
and it feels good to be connected to what’s happening for her. It could be
really easy for me to not know what’s going on because I get busy, but this way
I have a built-in structure where at least once a month I go to an hour meeting
and listen to what’s going on at the school and meet more people.
How often are you on
the road?
I try not to too much, but it’s difficult. My daughter is a little older now—she just
turned 6—so she’s in school during the week. Working on the weekends is a
little hard because I don’t have time to be with her, especially when I’m doing
things where I have to fly or stay over night. Those are the times I wouldn’t be seeing her so I try not to travel too
much, but that is my job and I try to balance it as much as I can.
What are some of your
musical influences?
I was teaching musical preschool for years, and at the time
when I started writing I listened to a lot of Rolling Stones, Van Morrison,
Neil Young and the 60’s-70’s era. I had
a period where I listened to more Liz Phair, Beck and Aimee Mann, now I’m into
more world music like Hawaiian, a little Brazilian and slack key guitar. Now I feel like since we’ve had Lucy, I’m
lucky if I turn the radio on.
I appreciate the way
your music is geared more towards adults than other children’s artists. You’ve found a perfect way to bridge the
gap.
It’s nice to hear that that is how [my songs] are
experienced. I started writing the songs
basically when I started teaching preschool music. Having written the songs
over many years, it was my hope that I would write music that I liked as well
as the kids, which translated luckily into parents also liking it. I never
thought I could play songs over and over if I didn’t also like them or if they
would drive me insane. There’s been a growth in a lot of different directions,
but the original thing about wanting to connect to kids and parents in a lot a
ways is still there.
How do you integrate
music into your home life?
I used to play a lot of music for Lucy—I’d put on classical
music a lot or the jazz station and I’d play a lot of Hawaiian music when she
was tiny, and as she got older we’d listen to more kid oriented bands. She’s had her favorites over the years, she
really likes Audra Rox, Brady Rymer, and Justin Roberts. I really like ABBA, so
she’s a big Mama Mia fan.
Recently she’s been introduced to Taylor
Swift and Miley Cyrus/ Hannah Montana through friends and babysitters and
that’s been a whole new direction.
Sometimes I’ll ask if she wants me to put music on or if she likes it quieter
and she replies “I like to listen to the rain.” I found that a lot as she was
growing up, I didn’t always put music on. I feel like its fun to dance around to music, and we would do that, and
we would dance to my songs sometimes, but there’s just something about just
being with her that I didn’t always want to put music on. I think there’s
something about it being so much apart of my career that sometimes I just
really like to be quiet, and she really has that side as well, it seems.
How has growing up in
the city influenced your daughter that you can see?
She likes to be inside; if she had to choose the place where
she spends the most of her time, she would stay inside and play with her toys.
I wonder if that is because it’s easy because we don’t have a real flow between
our indoor and outdoor—to go to a park you have to walk—its not far, a block
and a half—but at her age, and also its just her way. It’s something about her,
she likes to sit and do things in a small space and that is what she has! There
is a protected feeling about being in our apartment, because we don’t have a
terrace or anything where you can be outside immediately, and I can’t imagine
that that hasn’t affected her in some way.
But she also loves nature and growing things, she has a real love and
treasures outdoor things. When we are outside, and we see beautiful flowers, or
we’re planting things, she feels there’s preciousness to that. I’ll be
interested to see how that translates, if that’s because there’s less of it
here or because we have to put more effort to get to the park. We have a roof
deck that was just built over the summer; and they put in plants and herbs
growing in different places. She wants to know what they’re called, and which
ones we can eat, and which ones we can smell and cook with. It’s very special
to her—that could just be who she is, or it could be because its not there all
the time for her.
She’s also very comfortable talking to people. The community
aspect of being in the city seems very important. There’s a fried upstairs, there’s
a friend in another building, and walking down the street we always run into people
we know. Having the comfort talking to people and that kind of interaction,
just with our doorman or whatever is definitely a plus about being here.
Do you have any tips
for raising kids in the city?
The thing that was so great and easy about the city is
meeting other parents by just being a regular at a particular playground, and
you end up seeing the same people there. [I would suggest] not being afraid to
introduce yourself, and to trying to make a point of extending the connection
out side the playground. When Lucy was younger, I felt it was much easier to
feel alone. And yet there are so many people here that there are ways to change
that, to be able to talk to other people about the struggles in the early
years. Everything feels so huge, and it
takes up your whole life when kids are quite young that it’s nice to connect
with other people. One of the most wonderful recourses about being in New
York City is how easy it is to get help and support
and find connections with other people and parents.
How are you involved
in the community musically?
I’ve played at Madison Square Kids, and I’ve been involved
in programs where we played a free concert in Central Park
for Earth Day or Summer Stage free concerts. On a smaller level, I try to go
into public schools or small private schools, especially if they have special
needs kids, to do a program with the kids who might never get a chance to go
see a concert. That is a way that I’ve found to give back to the city beyond doing
free things in the city.
