DJ Jules
14-07-2009, 07:12 AM
The thread last night on the 18th Birthday party got me thinking about how you'd broadly categorise the musical interests of different age groups. These are just my thoughts (I don't think that there's a right or wrong answer - I'm just basing the below on my experiences to date) and I'm really interested to see if people agree or disagree:
0-2yrs old
Kiddy tunes, anything from Cbeebies, basic action songs (Wheels on the bus, etc). Be prepared to sit them down in a ring with their mummies and know all the actions
3yrs old
Still largely in the kiddy tunes and easier party dances (Hokey Cokey, etc). Will now follow instructions unaided so you can do basic party games like Musical bumps/statues. Don't make the mistake of trying to do any complicated action games!
4yrs old
Musically intersted in anything which "sounds fun" (Stick to Cheesy and light hearted - Steps, S Club, Five, Bob the builder, etc). Still largely unaware of current music and names of songs/artists. Party games can start to get a bit more involved, but still keep it simple or you'll quickly lose them.
5-7yrs old
Starting to become more aware of current chart music/trends and names of songs/artists (especially the girls). Now respond quickly to the more complex party games and also to instructions if you try and introduce them to new games/songs/dances. Musically anything which "sounds fun" is still in, but you'll start to get requests by song name/artist.
8-10yrs old
Good awareness of current musical trends, they'll probably know a lot of the music from the current chart (including the words). Will now be well in to the Party dances and games and will really go for anything new you can think up (because they'll have had 4yrs of the Cha Cha slide and Musical Bumps by now...)
11-13yrs old
They'll know the chart better than you, and probably have next weeks chart on their iPod. Still into party dances and games, but the older end of this bracket will be just starting to feel that they're too old for it all. An extremely flighty age group who will be on and off the dance floor as they hear their favourite tracks. Note that at this stage their tastes will be mostly trend led, with only a few having any appreciation for anything before or outside of the current chart.
14-18yrs old
Now developed their own strong sense of musical taste so will typically individually have an appreciation for quite a narrow genre, but may draw on a wide range of artists over an extended period to satisfy their tastes (e.g. they won't neccessarily be tied to the current chart - they'll have worked out what style suits them and then gone looking for radio stations, podcasts, downloads, etc to get what they like). Parties get interesting with some groups as you might find you have a very broad range of musical tastes in the room with little or no appreciation for genre's outside of what each individual likes - or you might have a very versatile group who'll get up and dance to anything which has a beat.
I'll let someone else fill in 19+ ;)
Julian
0-2yrs old
Kiddy tunes, anything from Cbeebies, basic action songs (Wheels on the bus, etc). Be prepared to sit them down in a ring with their mummies and know all the actions
3yrs old
Still largely in the kiddy tunes and easier party dances (Hokey Cokey, etc). Will now follow instructions unaided so you can do basic party games like Musical bumps/statues. Don't make the mistake of trying to do any complicated action games!
4yrs old
Musically intersted in anything which "sounds fun" (Stick to Cheesy and light hearted - Steps, S Club, Five, Bob the builder, etc). Still largely unaware of current music and names of songs/artists. Party games can start to get a bit more involved, but still keep it simple or you'll quickly lose them.
5-7yrs old
Starting to become more aware of current chart music/trends and names of songs/artists (especially the girls). Now respond quickly to the more complex party games and also to instructions if you try and introduce them to new games/songs/dances. Musically anything which "sounds fun" is still in, but you'll start to get requests by song name/artist.
8-10yrs old
Good awareness of current musical trends, they'll probably know a lot of the music from the current chart (including the words). Will now be well in to the Party dances and games and will really go for anything new you can think up (because they'll have had 4yrs of the Cha Cha slide and Musical Bumps by now...)
11-13yrs old
They'll know the chart better than you, and probably have next weeks chart on their iPod. Still into party dances and games, but the older end of this bracket will be just starting to feel that they're too old for it all. An extremely flighty age group who will be on and off the dance floor as they hear their favourite tracks. Note that at this stage their tastes will be mostly trend led, with only a few having any appreciation for anything before or outside of the current chart.
14-18yrs old
Now developed their own strong sense of musical taste so will typically individually have an appreciation for quite a narrow genre, but may draw on a wide range of artists over an extended period to satisfy their tastes (e.g. they won't neccessarily be tied to the current chart - they'll have worked out what style suits them and then gone looking for radio stations, podcasts, downloads, etc to get what they like). Parties get interesting with some groups as you might find you have a very broad range of musical tastes in the room with little or no appreciation for genre's outside of what each individual likes - or you might have a very versatile group who'll get up and dance to anything which has a beat.
I'll let someone else fill in 19+ ;)
Julian