WERS 88.9 fm - artist interview: nina music

By Jake Sorgen
7.13.10

An hour after a powerhouse thunderstorm moved through Boston, Nina Music, in her light green capri's and bright orange shirt, brought a little light into WERS studios. Performing the title track off her first children's album, Shake, Shake, Shake, and the album's second track, "Pickle," Nina proved to be a new and unique voice in children's performance. And it is performance. Nina says, "what makes me different from other children's musicians, is how I have incorporated music into teaching other things, like sign language." Her website explains how music can be a "way to reinforce the broader concepts that your child is learning: like rhyming, counting, focus, following directions and even positive self-image." Nina thinks sign language is a great skill to teach children, as many of the hand motions are easy enough for even the youngest children to learn, and promotes coordination and following directions.

Nina's passions for music and teaching are both natural and homegrown. The youngest of eight children, Nina grew up watching her brother Eric (who helped produce the album) play for the family. After gravitating toward music at a young age, Nina went to Penn State University in the hopes of becoming a high school English teacher (though began performing in the local folk scene, releasing the album New York Daydream in the early 2000s). When the idea of dealing with high schoolers was no longer appealing, and the folk music scene did not jive with her personality—as Nina explains, "I could never do folk, I'm just not that sad I guess"— she moved to a younger crowd, teaching preschool and playing music for her sixteen nieces and nephews.

"I don't know what inspired me to get into children's music, I just realized that I like doing this more than anything else," she says with an animated smile, while tuning up for "Pickle," a mandolin driven tune preaching her grandmother's advice to never put a pickle in a pie. "Shake, Shake, Shake" may follow a simple chord progression, but lyrically demonstrates Nina's use of music as a two-way interactive experience for her young audience. The song's dynamics and picking style rise and swell with the lyrics as she invites her audience to shake, clap, wave, jump, and even sit still—presumably a hit with parents at Nina Music shows.

Nina has taken some time off from teaching and is focusing mainly on performance and presentation of her musical message these days. Her ultimate goal is to combine the musical, visual, and educational tools she has created into a show on Nick Jr. Whether you consider her a teacher with a guitar or a musician with a message, Nina Music is sure to get high marks as her artistry and audience grow.