Why Laurie Berkner Shows Win Over Every Age
Laurie Berkner is a pioneering children’s singer-songwriter, author, and live performer with over 25 years of family music and over 1.7 billion streams. Her many accolades include being the first recording artist to appear in a music video in the Noggin and Nick Jr. stratospheres, developing a Universal Kids series, and authoring books for Simon & Schuster.
Throughout high school and college, Berkner sang in choirs and performed in bands and musical theater. After graduating from Rutgers University, she spent a decade as a preschool music specialist in New York City, learning the rhythms of real kids in real rooms. She didn’t plan to make children’s records, but she was inspired by her time with them, and it became the perfect way to use her talents for something she felt was important and rewarding. She says, “I wanted to create songs that matter for children.”
That intent threads throughout her albums, picture books, Off-Broadway children’s musicals, TV shows, and audio projects.
Inside the Laurie Berkner Show
Berkner doesn’t just play a set — she builds a friendly world where families can sing, stomp, and have a blast. When you go to one of her shows, you might see a sparkly drum kit, egg shakers, and her guitar waiting at the center. You may see holiday lights. Whatever the setup is, the stage is always bright and welcoming.
Berkner comes out in sneakers, waves like she’s greeting old friends, and starts to strum. The room shifts from watching to doing. Her motions are big and expressive, capturing the attention of kids (and adults) in the audience. Berkner’s band keeps a happy beat that invites all to bounce, march, and move.
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One of the songs you’re sure to hear is “The Goldfish (Let’s Go Swimming),” an adorable tune about fish who have to keep reminding themselves that they’re fish. It usually has kids jumping and dancing as it cues the sounds of strokes and splashes. The audience becomes a gentle ocean — parents do lazy breaststrokes, babies flap starfish hands — then the punchline drops and laughter erupts from everyone in attendance.
The show keeps folding kids into the action. For “Pig on Her Head,” she wears a plushie as a hat and looks out into the crowd to joyously converse with kids about what plushies they’ve brought to the show. She then incorporates their little buddies into her song. “We Are the Dinosaurs” builds a mini parade where kids “march, march, march” and let out a huge communal roar that even too-cool older siblings can’t resist.
Between songs, Berkner interacts with the crowd the way a teacher chats with kids during circle time: quick call-and-response, eye contact that reaches every row, and improv when a kid blurts out something extraordinary. If a little one gets overwhelmed, Laurie can soften the sound and slip into a lullaby moment like “Moon, Moon, Moon,” a beautiful song that she sings in a high octave with her bandmates, which relaxes the whole room.
Audiences don’t just watch Laurie Berkner; they become part of her delightful, family-friendly band. You can experience her energetic, interactive show during one of her upcoming New York performances:
November 8:
Adler Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 West 64th St., Manhattan
December 6:
The Paramount, 370 New York Ave., Huntington, Long Island
December 7:
Tarrytown Music Hall, 13 Main St., Floor 2, Tarrytown
Visit laurieberkner.com to learn more.
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