KEARNEY — Expect to get on your feet when Jammin’ Randy performs at the Kearney Public Library.
“I perform music for children and families,” he said from his home in Hays, Kansas. “The show is very interactive. I keep the kids involved by having them do actions and dance with the songs. I also do some sing-along songs.”
Known as Randy Sauer when he’s not on stage, the musician uses mostly his own songs in his shows, programs he designs for use in libraries. He writes in many genres.
“One thing I like about children’s music is that I can use a variety of different styles,” Sauer said.
He writes music in the styles of rock, jazz, folk, country, hip-hop and blues.
“This summer’s theme is ‘Oceans of Possibilities’ so I’m performing songs that talk about the oceans,” Sauer said. “My set is called ‘Beach Ball Party by the Ocean.’ We’ll go to beaches along some of these oceans and we’ll do some dances and talk about the music. One of the songs I do is called ‘Squishy Squishy Flip Flops.’”
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Jammin’ Randy will perform at 10:30 a.m. July 7 at Kearney Public Library. Admission to the event is free.
In his real life, Sauer teaches K-6 music in Kansas. The Northwest Kansas Music Educators Association acknowledge his accomplishments by selecting him as the 2013-14 Outstanding Elementary Music Teacher.
“Music reaches something inside of children,” Sauer said. “They can get a feeling from the music, something that they can enjoy and connect with. It often makes them want to get up and move. I taught music for quite a few years and I really believe in actions and movements with the songs because I think it helps them remember the music more.”
As an educator, Sauer understands a connection between a sense of rhythm and the early reading abilities in children.
“I’ve presented workshops in Boston and in Wisconsin where I talk about how the rhythm of music is a precursor to being able to tell if young kids will be successful at reading,” he said. “There’s a strong connection between reading and keeping a beat. They say if kids can keep a beat, like the beat of the music, it will help them read. Reading has a natural rhythm to it.”
Music can also connect on an emotional level.
“Many times a song will bring back a lot of memories of things that happened in the past,” Sauer said. “It’s pretty powerful.”
When he sits down to write a song, Sauer tries to keep it simple.
“When I first started writing children’s music, I wrote primarily for my elementary music classes,” he said. “I would pick out a skill that the song would help teach. I thought a lot of the music in the curriculum was kind of boring and I wanted to write something that would connect better with the kids. So I would write fun music that would still teach an idea.”
He also wrote songs just for the fun of it.
“One of the songs I perform at my shows was inspired by some eighth grade kids I was working with at the time,” Sauer said. “They knew I wrote children’s music so they said, ‘You should try to write a song about dinosaur chicken nuggets because we just love those dinosaur chicken nuggets.’ I took it as a challenge.”
A couple weeks later he came back with a song about the nuggets.
“It’s become a pretty popular song for me because every kid loves those nuggets,” Sauer said. “So I do that song and I wear a little garden hat type of thing that says ‘Dinosaur Chicken Nuggets’ on it. They kids think that’s pretty cool.”
As a trained musician, Sauer can write complex music, but he knows the best way to connect with children is through music that keeps a beat and sounds familiar.
“Keeping it simple is important,” he said. “It needs to be easy to remember and have some repetition. I like to do repeat-after-me-songs. I have a song called ‘I Like to Dance.’ Things like that are helpful in writing children’s music.”
When he first started out writing music for children, Sauer also played in a country band. Sauer heard a piece of advice from a fellow musician.
“He was a good producer and good guitar player,” Sauer said. “I played him one of my songs and he goes, ‘Hey, you’re making this way too complicated.’ Since then I took his advice. As much as I’d love to ‘fancy stuff up’ sometimes, kids enjoy the simplicity of music.”
Sometimes he finds inspiration from everyday life.
“One time I was in Walmart with my wife and we were walking by the toy isle,” Sauer said. “I heard this little girl with her grandma say, ‘You know Grandma, I just can’t stop looking at toys.’ I looked at my wife and said, ‘There’s a song there.’ I wrote a song after that called ‘I Can’t Stop Looking at Toys.’ I play that one around Christmas time.”
Sauer also looks to the music of Raffi as an inspiration.
“I play a couple of his songs in my show,” Sauer said. “He’s one of those musicians that I really enjoy.”