Musician Steve Roslonek wasn’t always singing to 9-year-olds.
“I had always been into music as a hobby, and performed professionally during college with a band,” said Roslonek, better known as SteveSongs. “Then I worked as a business consultant for five years.”
» Where: Gordon Center for Performing Arts, 3506 Gwynnbrook Ave., Owings Mills
» When: 3 p.m. Sunday
» Tickets: $7 to $9
» Info: www.gordoncenter.com
When his brother, a first-grade teacher, asked Roslonek to pen a couple of age-appropriate tunes that would teach lessons to some of his students, Roslonek jumped in with both feet.
Now, 10 years later, Roslonek’s burning up the kids charts with his unique and quirky lyrics and melodies. With five CDs and a DVD already available, Roslonek is constantly on the move, performing at schools and concert halls all over the nation. Last May, Roslonek took on a new role as co-host of the PBS Kids morning block, performing his original interactive songs.
What did you listen to as a kid?
As far as kids music, I watched “Sesame Street,” and one of my favorites was “Schoolhouse Rock.” It’s amazing — that’s what we aspire to, just try to make great music that have great content. You don’t have to make it really simple to make it accessible to kids. In fact, what we’ve learned is that kids can really latch onto quite a lot of stuff that’s musically complex. That’s what the writers from “Schoolhouse Rock” did, the songs weren’t just like, kind of put together, they were crafted.
Was it easy to make the transition from adult music to children’s?
For me, [writing children’s music] made a whole lot more sense. There was a purpose from the onset. A lot of times with my “grown-up” music, it was more stream-of-consciousness, what I was feeling at the time, and it was tougher to latch into a whole concept. With the kids songs, it was a lot simpler. I knew there needed to be a clear lesson in the song, because there was a purpose for the listener. And it really helped me with my “grown-up” songwriting.
Where does your songwriting inspiration come from? Do you mostly write what the record company wants, or do you have your own ideas?
We’ve done it both ways — if I’m visiting a school, something a kid says will trigger an idea, and then also with my work with PBS, we’re given specific topics to write songs about. I think about songwriting a lot. I have thousands of ideas. Luckily for the public, I don’t expound on all of those ideas [laughs.] But I’m thinking about it all the time.
