GREEN MEANS GO / Real Music For Kids!
It's an unlikely combination - the lead guitarist from an eighties electro-punk band and a children's musician - but that is the pairing behind Green Means Go, a new partnership making music for the under 8's.
Sigue Sigue Sputnik guitarist Neal Whitmore met Caroline Chan at one of Caroline's hugely popular music sessions for pre-school children in north London.
" I was amazed."says Neal. "I had heard it was a fun sing-along for children but was totally unprepared for the scene that I experienced. Both children and parents were singing, clappping, dancing and jumping with wild abandon. There was a real sense of warmth and good feeling filling the room. There was a queue around the block! We were instant devotees."
Caroline started running her MiniBeat music sessions for children after seeing the therapeutic impact of music on her autistic son. She now runs six sessions a week in Hampstead and Kentish Town, London. She has played guitar since childhood and music is a passion touching almost every area of her life.
Neal suggested to Caroline they team up to do some recording together. They found an instant rapport.
Says Caroline, "Neal had been coming to my music groups for over a year with his little boy Jack. He was always so energetic and enthusiastic and brought vitality to the sessions. When he suggested that we should get together and make our own children's cd this sounded like an exciting prospect. I wasn't sure what to expect but I knew it would be fun and I have found it really rewarding working with someone so competent at recording and so creative with arrangements. Ideas seem to spark between us and I think we have more than enough ideas to keep us going for several lifetimes. We both come from different musical backgrounds but both share a real passion /(obsession) for music so it never really feels like work. I am looking forward to the next projects..."
Our first and second releases, "A Day in the Jungle" and "A Day at the Seaside" include new arrangements of old songs and original material written by Neal and Caroline.
The result is very different to most music targeted at children. Offering genuine musical depth and interest, combined with sing-along-ability, the tracks are designed to appeal to parents as much as their offspring.
In time we hope to release a whole series of CDs..... Work has already started on A Day At The Farm and The Wild West Show.......
Caroline Chan has been playing music with children for nearly twenty years.
She began when her second child, Oliver, was diagnosed with autism and she realised how well he responded to music.
She helped found an informal music group with the parents of other autistic children and soon began playing her guitar
and leading sing-alongs at other schools and nurseries in her area.
Caroline, who has three teenaged children, now runs her MiniBeat pre-school music sessions in North london six times a week.
Caroline also works two days a week in Special Needs schools,
playing and singing with children with behavoiur and communication disorders.
Neal Whitmore was a founder member and lead guitarist of Sigue Sigue Sputnik,
the electronic cyperpunk band whose hits and hairstyles topped the charts in the late eighties.
He went on to become a session player, producer and writer with artists across the world.
He was guitarist and musical director for Marc Almond at his critically acclaimed Almeida shows in 2004.
His hair now (almost) under control, Neal lives in London with his partner and two children - Jack, 4, and Natasha, 2.
As a father and professional musician, Neal sees music as a powerful way of stimulating, inspiring and amusing children.GREEN MEANS GO / Real Music For Kids!
Children's Music CDs for Sale
Produced and Performed by Caroline Chan and Neal Whitmorewww.greenmeansgo.co.uk
