22 - The Australian Children’s TV Music Phenomenon

Summary

This chapter explores two important interlinked strands in relation to Australian children’s music—children’s music informed by music education philosophy and pedagogy and children’s music informed by popular music. The chapter focuses on music for young children made by adults rather than music that children independently create for themselves. It also centres on television as a medium for engaging children with music. We begin with a social and cultural exploration of the main influencer of this genre, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) children’s television program Play School. We position this icon of Australian children’s culture as a leader in the development of children’s music, specifically linked to an educational agenda. We then explore the ways children’s music and the music industry intersect with a focus on two other popular Australian children’s television programs: Bluey and the variety of television series produced by children entertainers The Wiggles. Finally, we turn to how these programs represent race and otherness through song and ask questions about how these children’s programs attempt to empower both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children to sing, think and embody positive understandings about race in Australia.