The Pinewoods lunchtime playlist

by Jimmy Acevedo, lower elementary assistant teacher

As the elementary lunchtime proctor, I take advantage of our ~10 minutes of ‘chew time’ each day to expose the children to new facets of music. It’s very rewarding to see the children jamming out to a Baroque, harpsichord-heavy, concerto grosso (something that does not see heavy use among the traditional 6-12-year-old market, one imagines) or to some early bebop.

​If you haven’t seen a full 20-piece air-band rocking out to classic power rock, complete with furious air-guitar, celery-stick air-drums, and peanut-butter-and-jelly-sticky-fingered air-keyboards -- well, you should. Hopefully they’ve enjoyed it as much as I have.

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I curate lunchtime music carefully for language and general appropriateness, but artists produce tracks with a wide lyrical variety and many kinds of messages. If your child wants to explore more of the music we’ve shared, you may want to screen ahead of them. I can’t vouch for the appropriateness of any artist’s full corpus of works, but I try to recommend tasteful and positive artists. Those marked with a single asterisk have some other popular/excellent music that is borderline; those marked with multiple asterisks have some other highly inappropriate work. Those without are generally kosher, but exceptions lurk around every corner

If you have any questions about past pieces, or suggestions for future lunchtime music, I’d love to hear it! There’s so much great sound out there to share and so little time to share it in.
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​September:

Oumar Konate
Pearl and the Beard*
Modeste Mussgorsky assorted sonatas
Michael Jackson
Kavinsky
W.A. Mozart’s Requiem
Emmilea
Calexico
Bacilos
Juanes*

October:
Gaby Moreno
Michael Jackson (again)
Carlos Vives
Michael Jackson (...again. The kids love Thriller more than life itself.)
Rodrigo y Romero Concierto de Aranjuez
Billy Joel*
Ratatat
Paul Simon
Zoe Keating
Soul Rising & The Human Experience**
That1guy**
Queen*
Too Many Zooz
Michael Jackson (...)
The Decemberists*
J.S. Bach Cello Suites
Dio - Holy Diver, Rainbow in the Dark**
Sia*
Rokia Traoré
Caravan Palace*
Zola Jesus*
Otis Redding

November:
Bon Iver
Ratatat
Russian music (shared by the Paschal family)
Sa Dingding
The Protomen**
Ella & Count Basie
Golden Earring*
Blue Öyster Cult**
Whitney Houston
Dropkick Murphys**
Ennio Morricone - Soundtrack to The Mission
Grover Williams’ Choice: Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, Ylvis
Andre-Erneste Gretry
Elgar - Cello concertos

December:
Muse**
Black Sabbath**
Red Hot Chili Peppers*****
The Clash**
Michael Jackson (yep.)
Santana
Daft Punk*
Handel’s Messiah -- brief excerpts
Fleet Foxes
Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Movement II
David Bowie*
Glenn Miller In the Christmas Mood II
“Holidays Rule” compilation*
Stan Kenton & The Boston Brass
various: Elvis’ Blue Christmas, Mel Blanc’s Blue Christmas, etc.

January:
Keith Jarrett: The Köln Concert
Jazz Sampler: Art Blakey, Sarah Vaughn, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis
The Talking Heads
Arvo Pärt
Phil Collins