www.kidtestedtunes.com
Discography
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Shari Diamond
I was always surrounded by music. The youngest of four children, I did not have a choice about being exposed to a very diverse selection of songs ranging from classical, opera, jazz, 50's rock-n-roll, and was right there for the beginning of a great musical decade, the 60's. I was 6 years old in 1969 and remember (like yesterday) mankind landing on the moon, the Beatles, the music from Hair, the creation of the 747, and the world seeming like it was going to be a harmonious place to live in when I got older. I never forgot that feeling and when I write children's music, this is the place and time I go back to.
I started piano lessons at the age of 8 with the same piano teacher that taught my oldest brother, David. He is now a concert pianist for the Stuttgart Ballet Company in Germany. He was a hard act to follow even though there are 15 years between us. My second oldest brother, Jerry, took guitar lessons so as no to compete with his three-year-older sibling. We liken him to Cat Stevens and Gordon Lightfoot. My sister Nancy took piano lessons and picked up the guitar from her three-year-older brother Jerry. My dad would play piano "by ear" having been around a player piano growing up. He also learned to play a mean harmonica. My mom was the force behind us all and had a true appreciation for music, especially jazz. When we got together for family functions, the whole family would join together in song.
I have to admit that at one point in my life, I wanted to stop taking piano lessons. After moving to a new town and switching piano teachers, I just wasn't seeing the value in being able to play an instrument. It was my third piano teacher, Helen Marcus that tried to find music that I could become part of and for that, I am eternally grateful to her. I had been taking lessons now for 5 years! In one week, I started playing classical pieces from my heart not just my hands.
Writing poems and songs was something I had been doing since I was very small. When I started playing piano, I made up a song but all I can remember was that it was in the key of D. I continued to write little poems, especially for my older siblings who had gone off to college and beyond. It was my brother Jerry that put music to one of my little quips and I guess that got me in the direction of actually writing songs. At the age of 12, I wrote the foundation for the song "Children of the Sun" partly motivated by the Coca-Cola commercial song "I'd Like to Teach the World To Sing". I continued to write what I call "Shari Songs", which were mostly instrumentals based on my fondness for Chopin's classical pieces as well as the dramatic melodies of Broadway shows. My mom liked only a few and wondered what was happening to my musical taste. What she and I didn't realize then that I now understand was that I was creating songs! This is a gift.
Years passed along quickly going to college, getting a job as an Information Systems Auditor (don't ask), and getting married. Then, when I was pregnant with my first child, Adam, something from within possessed me to make up a silly song while in the shower. (If you ask me, most of the world's music is written in the shower.) And I said to my husband, "Wouldn't it be funny if I wrote children's music?" It became my passion and my source of sanity while out on maternity leave in 1993. I would sing to whoever would listen, young and old, and was told by many adults to quit my day job. The writing continued even more so when my second child Andrea was born in 1995. But it wasn't until I attended a songwriter's workshop in 1996 that changed my music and my life. I joined the Island Songwriters Showcase (ISS), which was founded by Harry Chapin in the 1970's, and there I met other songwriters and learned how to craft a better song. I also met the director of the group, Sonny Speed, who convinced me to record my music at his recording site, Son Spot Studio. That's where the magic began. Sonny made the music come alive as he helped arrange, record, mix and master the songs. In 1999, the CD "10 Big Pancakes" was finally pressed. My children's music had existed only in my head and I owe it all to Sonny for making the CD a tangible reality.
All of my songs are written from my heart and are inspired by my children and my childhood. And all songs are kid-tested! Try it! You might like it!
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