Music for Babies #1: Baby & The Beat
“Music For Babies” is a collection of interviews exploring how music can strengthen the bond between Parents and their babies.
Folayan Knight is a music industry veteran and founder of Baby and The Beat, a company that aims to produce music-related merchandise that both children and parents can enjoy together…
Folayan and her sons, Rebel and Maverick.
What is the background, mission and history of Baby & The Beat?
Baby & The Beat was born out my desire to find children’s products that were more interesting to me.
I didn’t like the idea of parents having to be totally immersed in a “Babyworld” that completely ignored their likes and interests.
I mean, excluding paleontologists, how many parents do you know with an intense interest in dinosaurs?
I felt parents - and especially music-loving parents - should be able to share their interests with their children from the very beginning.
So our mission at Baby & The Beat is to create music-themed products that both children and parents can enjoy together.
Can you tell us a bit more about you and your little family?
I LOVE MUSIC. It’s been one of my joys for as long as I can remember. I loved it so much that it was my major at university and, ultimately, became my career.
I’ve worked in the music industry for over 20 years for companies like Def Jam and Ruff Ryders and independently with some extremely talented artists, producers and songwriters.
Somewhere between chasing artists and producers around, I got married and eventually gave birth to two awesome boys, Rebel and Maverick. Those two really keep me on my toes.
How did you incorporate music into your daily routine with your newborn?
Music was everything! We had a wake-up playlist of songs for our morning nursing sessions.
When it was time to get dressed, I put on a playlist of clips from Sesame Street songs I had compiled. (Our American version of the show frequently features music artists and actors performing original songs created for the show.)
We would listen to music whenever we were in the car. We had a different playlist of soothing songs for nap time. The nap time playlist eventually created a Pavlovian response in the family. As soon as it would come on, my son (and husband) would immediately yawn…lol. And of course, we had a bedtime playlist.
Do you remember your baby's first favorite songs?
Definitely! When pregnant with my first child, I would play, hum and sing “Where I Sleep” by British artist Emeli Sandé. I changed the words to “where WE sleep” but whenever he was upset (until he was at least three-years-old), he would immediately calm down and just listen if I put that song on.
My second child’s favorite song is interesting. It was “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. When I was pregnant with him, I introduced my oldest child to the song and we played it a lot in the car. As soon as the second one could talk, he would ask for “baby” whenever he wanted to hear it because of the cover image (a baby underwater).
Did you use music or sounds to put your baby to sleep?
I absolutely used music to put my children to sleep. They were each very reactive to music but had their own, individual “process” which was fascinating to me.
My first child required soft, calming music. I pretty much put the same playlist on every night. It was largely made up of classical music and other soothing instrumentals.
With my second child, I had to change the music based on his mood at the time. For a week or so, it had to be one particular song on repeat, but the next week, that song wouldn’t help and I’d have to change to something else. I cycled through about 6 different songs and various playlist combinations of those songs. He was also more partial to music that had a little more tempo and vocals. They both prefer to have music on when they go to bed at night to this very day.