Youth Music - BongoClub.org.uk

 

The Wiggles have been entertaining children and parents with their shows for over 16 years. Sam (Yellow), Murray (Red), Jeff (Purple) and Anthony (Blue) and the characters they have created, have been touring around the globe, getting children and parents singing and dancing along to their much-loved shows. Bongo Club talks to Anthony about their current tour in the UK and why it's so important for children to get involved in music.

 

You're about to start off your tour in the UK - are you excited yet?!

We're always very excited to come to England, Ireland and Scotland. The reason I love coming is because the landscape is so different, the people have different accents wherever we go and there's greenery everywhere! I Australia we're in the worst drought we've ever had - you just don't see water! It's like being in a fairy tale here for us - we love driving through the villages and its just great to be here.

 

You all have backgrounds in education - how do you work your knowledge of that into what you do on stage?

It's the whole reason for us being actually. We studied Early Childhood Education at Sydney's Macquarie University. What I loved about the whole course was that it empowers children and the pre-school curriculum was really based more on the individual child. We learnt that whatever we do, there has to be something in it for the child. Giving children challenges is important - we have a song "Can you point your finger, do the twist?". Instead of saying "Point your finger, do the twist", we say "Can you point your finger, do the twist?". Just presenting it like that makes it a challenge. Children learn about music through participation and they own the music if there are actions associated with the music, so a lot of our songs have simple actions. Before we do a song, we subconsciously ask whether the song is for dancing, singing - is it a story song, or an action song? That dictates what you'll put in the song.

 

You seem to have won over quite a few parents with your shows. Was that the intention, or a pleasant surprise?!

Well that goes back to university again - we learnt that a good children's book can be enjoyed by an adult as well. You don't need to dumb anything down - children are different to adults, but they appreciate good things too. We really try and keep the quality up and put everything we can into it. The music we do, we love playing as adults anyway.

 

You've got Leo Sayer dancing around in a video on your website to "You make me feel like dancing"...

We've got a DVD in Australia called "You make me feel like dancing". We've got that song on it but we've also got Duke Ellington's "The Mooche" on it. Usually that has trumpet parts, but we put cats meowing on it, with the same melody to make it easier for the children. Children are often much more open to all types of music than adults. We do rock 'n' rock, folk music, songs in Hebrew, Italian, French - all languages and styles! We really do believe that children are open to many more styles of music than adults.

 

What kind of music do you all listen to when you're not dancing on stage?

Well I'm the one with the most eclectic tastes! I listen to a guy called Carlos Gardel, who was the king of the tango. I also listen to a lots of Irish folk music - I used to be a bagpiper! I still love a lot of folk music and a lot of old music. Murray's really into contemporary music - he saw Coldplay the other night - he knows all the bands!

 

Do you write the material for The Wiggles together as a group?

From the start we decided to share the royalties no matter who came up with the song. A lot of the time we just come up with songs ourselves but we do collaborate a little bit on them. Everyone writes songs though, which is good.

 

How do you feel when Wags, Henry and Dorothy steal the show?!

Well they always do - especially Dorothy! When she comes out on stage it's like Elvis has hit the building - the backing singers just take second place! Of course it's a children's audience so they're going to love Dorothy more than they love the guys. The children's no. 1 favourite amongst us is Jeff because he falls asleep and they get to wake him up! Murray's second because he's got the guitar, then Sam or Greg third and then the blue guy! I make no bones about it - I'm fourth!

 

How important do you think music is for a child's development?

I think music is important for children and teenagers and grown ups. Music is life - it's an expression of every emotion that we have. I think we should encourage children to own music. What I mean by that is that if they love dancing a certain way to music then that's fantastic, if they want to sing to the music - let them participate in the experience.

 

What's next for The Wiggles?

After the UK tour we go home to Australia for two weeks and then onto America. Next year our new Wiggles TV show, starts on January 1st 2009. It's already on in Australia and then Canada, and it's going really, really well - so we're looking forward to bringing it to the UK.

 

Did you ever think The Wiggles would become this popular?!

No! To me its all about the creative process, and being popular means you can still do shows, so I'm happy about that! The circus is my life, that's what I say!