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Coronavirus Spurs Collaboration, Diversity in Children’s Music
During the pandemic, many children’s musicians began streaming concerts for their young, homebound fans to fill the void in live performances. The technology also showcased the ease with which diverse artists could work together from great distances, leading to an unprecedented number of collaborations in the past 18 months.
Kymberly Stewart, a Los Angeles music educator, released her first children’s CD, “Giggles and Curls,” in March 2020 just before coronavirus restrictions sent the country into quarantine. “Nobody really knew how dire the situation would be,” Stewart says.
Stewart recalls seeing other recording artists presenting concerts through Facebook Live and other platforms. “All my pre-school classes switched to Zoom and that was totally new to me,” she explains. “I didn’t know about Zoom before the pandemic started, because I didn’t do online teaching, I was always in person.”
New York children’s musician Joanie Leeds faced a similar situation with the March 2020 release of “All the Ladies.” A deeply personal album produced by and featuring all female performers, the CD (her ninth recording for families)…
