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“Shake, Shake, Shake” is the first children’s cd from singer/songwriter and performer, Nina Music. The cd features a collection of simple, upbeat and engaging tunes that contain strong educational elements like rhyming and counting in addition to positive self-image messages.
Nina encourages kids to participate by adding a visual element to some of the songs. For example, a sign language adaptation of her song “Up There” is on her website for parents and children to view and learn. The song has been specifically interpreted so that young children can imitate the movements easily and quickly for immediate involvement.
In addition, the title track, “Shake, Shake, Shake”, which was a semi-finalist in this year’s International Songwriting Competition, has been used in many classrooms as a fun way to teach kids how to follow directions.
Nina found a lot of inspiration for her songs from a tiger-striped kitten that she “rescued” and named Scrappy. Nina incorporates the characteristics of her cat as a strong, loving and independent personality into her songs as a way of re-enforcing positive self-images in children. For that reason, a Scrappy logo has become a signature trademark of Nina Music. On the website, Nina likes to show pictures of kids, cats, dogs and all other types of pets to share her love of animals and music, since both can play an important part in our lives.
She is the youngest of eight children and grew up in close-knit family in the Pocono Mountains. Music has always been a large part of their family gatherings with sing-a-longs and dancing. So, when Nina decided that she was going to put together a cd of children’s music, she wanted to get her family involved. They contributed songs, lyrics, poems and feedback: sister Beth wrote the song “Fishing Hole”; brother Mark wrote the lyrics for “Pickle” and acted the part of the Ringmaster in “Circus”; brother Eric played drums, bass, sang and helped produce the cd; and niece Jillian wrote the poem that became the basis for “Rat, Cat and Cow Blues” when she was only 5 years old…and of course, she made all of her brothers and sisters listen to the songs and give their thoughts and suggestions.
After being inspired by her older brother, Nina taught herself how to play guitar at the age of 13. She earned her degree in secondary English education at Penn State, but soon after graduation, Nina decided that she wanted a career in music. She has played professionally in clubs and festivals with a variety of bands. However, she found her true calling when she started playing and writing for kids. Nina says, “Kids are such a wonderful audience because they’re thrilled to participate. They want to run around and be silly, and by happy coincidence, so do I!”
Nina started writing her own children’s songs after training to be a Kindermusik instructor. In writing her own songs, Nina was allowed the freedom to let her imagination run wild to come up with vivid and unusual settings that would be intriguing to kids. Having a strong education background, though, reinforced the goal of making songs that could be educational and fun for kids. However, she knows that parents are listening, too. “I definitely write for young children,” Nina says, “but I do try to put little gems in the lyrics in hopes that a parent might say, ‘Huh, well that was unexpected’”.
When Nina’s not writing gem-filled songs or practicing her guitar in her New Jersey home studio, you can find her performing in the tri-state area or on the Internet.
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