Child's Play

Cover art and design by KoderCraft

Why Child's Play?

Being the parents of three small children, we know what it's like when kids decide they like a particular CD, and just have to listen to it again and again. And again and again and again ... If you hate their choice of music, and we usually do, it's torture.

So the idea of Child's Play was to create a CD of kids' music that their parents wouldn't be driven crazy by having to listen to; music that the parents might actually like.

We've done that by using excellent musicians. The arrangements and playing are by Fiona Taylor, who's been a professional flautist for more than a decade (mostly under her maiden name of Fiona Howes), and has a whole string of other musical achievements to her name. Fiona's arrangements on Child's Play include liberal use of the flute, piccolo, ethnic flute, penny whistle and other wind instruments, as well as pianos, synthesisers and percussion.

Most of the vocals are by Ruth Shearing, a singer, actress and dancer who's recently graduated from the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Ruth's a gifted and accomplished singer who can make a song like My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean genuinely moving.

The result is a selection of music that we still listen to ourselves all the time, despite having heard it more times than we care to count (especially while we were mixing!) To help you make up your own mind about Child's Play, we've made a few of the tracks available as MP3 downloads: see the links below.

Track Listing

If You're Happy and You Know It
The Grand Old Duke of York
Old King Cole
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
Sing a Song of Sixpence
Daisy, Daisy
Hush, Little Baby
Lavender Blue
Old McDonald Had a Farm
Oranges and Lemons
The Big Ship Sailed
The Hokey Cokey
What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
The Skye Boat Song
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
I'm a Little Teapot [download]

What They're Saying

``As an amateur musician, I'm rather awestruck. :-)''
         - Sebastian Hammer, software engineer and company director (Copenhagen, Denmark)
``I've just heard the tracks on the Child's Play website, but the rendition of My Bonnie sold me. Unlike those on so many other children's records, the songs on this one are sung beautifully by a woman with a real voice. I'm going to buy several copies of the CD to give to my friends with little kids.''
         - Jane MacDonald, author and editor (Boston, USA)
``Amazing! Brings back a whole by-gone era and allows me to both re-learn the words and teach them to the smallest of adventurers in our household. An excellent production. Keep up the good work!''
         - Andy Kirkham, electrical engineer (London, England)
``I love listening to your CD, it's so sweet. I'd like another one, please.''
         - Jo West, professional musician (London, England)
``I was just wondering if you'd mind sending along another copy of that CD that you made of children's songs. They're really, really good, I love the arrangements.''
         - Ruth O'Gorman, astrophysicist and medical researcher (London, England)
``Just to say we love the CD. Calum, my one-and-a-half year old came up to me at the weekend carrying it and said ``More Happy'' (since If You're Happy and You Know It is the first track). It's his current going-to-sleep music (which has ranged in the past from Beethoven's 7th Symphony to Rumillajta [traditional Bolivian music]). Let me know when the next one's due for release!''
         - Ben Soares, information engineer (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Getting Child's Play

Child's Play costs Ł6 per CD, plus postage and packing of Ł1.50 for the first CD and Ł1 for each additional one. You can order on-line with your credit card, using the well-known and secure PayPal service. (If you don't already have a PayPal account, you'll be guided through the simple set-up process. It's much like the first time you bought something at Amazon.)

Or if you prefer, there's always Boring Old Mail Order: send cheques, made payable to Fiona Taylor, to:

Pipedreaming Music
Oakleigh Farm House
Crooked End
Ruardean
Gloucestershire GL17 9XF
ENGLAND

Whether you use PayPal or mail order, we'll pop your CDs in the post within two days of hearing from you. We're more than happy to dispatch abroad as well as within the UK.