Brigid: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Brigid Bergen from the WNYC and Gothamist Newsroom. Now, listeners, we'll invite you to share what makes up the sounds scape of your homes which we're going to do on two tracks. If you're a parent, how did you introduce your favorite music to your children and what did you play for them? What music did you, or are you playing at home? When do you play it? What's your go-to playlist for long car rides? What do you put on when it's time to do chores as a family?

Tweet at Brian Lehrer or give us a call now at 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. Here's another angle. If you grew up in a household that had music on in the background, what was playing on the speakers? Do certain jazz records or a radio show bring back any memories? Maybe the soundscape of your childhood was baseball games on the radio or maybe you were around before televisions were popular in people's homes. What did you listen to then? 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692.

Joining me now to talk about music in the home and how it can be used to expand a sense of belonging and to take some of your calls is Kathryn Jezer-Morton, writer of New York Magazine's The Cut's Brooding Newsletter. Kathryn, welcome to WNYC.

Kathryn: Hi, thanks for having me.

Brigid: In your recent piece for Brooding the Cut's biweekly newsletter on modern family life, you write about how you don't keep a diary but you do make a playlist for every season and those playlists are your archive of emotions. Can you tell us a little bit more about that and what's on your playlist right now?

Kathryn: Sure. This fall, I've gotten really into Harry Styles, his latest album which I never have listened to as music before so I'm really a late-comer fan. That's a departure for me. I listen to a lot of music from the '70s, sort of old man music is how I think of it. My kids were pretty surprised to hear Harry Styles in the kitchen. They were like, "Mom, what's going on?" I think it was a good late summer into fall feeling that holding onto the last bit of summer.

Brigid: When I read your piece, it reminded me I had a very deep Jason Isbell phase for his first album and second album. I just couldn't stop listening to them, like I needed them at various points of the day when I was doing dishes, when I was cleaning in my kitchen, and the way you described your connection to that Harry Styles album felt it really resonated with that experience. Listeners, we want to bring you into this conversation. If you're from another country, do you play your native music to your family members and when?

If your parents are immigrants, maybe you grew up listening to their favorite music genre like mambo or turbo-folk or dancehall. Did those songs call to your mind a certain feeling or memory? Let us know at 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. You said you played a lot of Harry Styles this summer but when you do play music in your home, are you the prime DJ or does anyone else get control of the playlist in the house?

Kathryn: It's pretty much me in the house. My husband, Gray, really loves music too and we like a lot of the same music but I'm the one who puts it on and my mood determines the mood of the house. In the car, the kids get to choose more. I basically don't let them play music in public spaces in the house because I'm just like, "This is my sound zone," but the car is where I let them. They'll put on the Beastie Boys which they really love and Dr. Dre and stuff. We each have our separate territories.

Brigid: You write that the advent of the AirPods is ideal for many dimensions of media consumption but don't neglect your speakers. How come?

Kathryn: I see a lot of people wearing their AirPods all the time and using them as a way of listening to your podcast while you're tidying up and I totally get that but I do think that it neglects the common soundscape of the house. I think that it's a way of creating a sense of this is our culture in this household by sharing music. I think kids especially when they're younger, they'll just listen to whatever's on and it starts to be something that they associate with their family. One of my favorite things that happens is if I'm listening to something that I would not assume that my kids would like, like some Mulian string music and I listen to it over and over again while I'm doing the dishes.

Then, one day, my kid wanders into the kitchen and he's like, "I love this song." I'm like, "How did that happen?" I think it's just repeated exposure and he probably just associates it with being at home and I feel that is for me, like a really great victory as a parent.

Brigid: Gary in Highland Park, New Jersey. Welcome to WNYC.

Gary: Hey, long-time listener, first-time caller. I was raised by a folkie and jazz. I benefited it from getting all their records. Brubeck, Take Five was played; and the Mamas and the Papas, Woody Guthrie. I was a child of the '60s music and '70s so I raised my 10-year-old son on The Beatles, The Stones, and The Who, and then moved on to some harder things when-- even Ozzy and things like that. He were all fans in the house of '80s and '90s music. He's pretty much heard everything.

Brigid: Wow.

Gary: I did lay him in with the British invasion and I'm a musician too so he's also watched me play my whole life.

Brigid: Wow, Gary, that's so great so you've shared your music both by performing it and the curation of what you play around the house and in the car, it sounds like.

Gary: He started with The Beatles probably.

Brigid: That's a good jumping-off point. Gary, thanks so much for calling. Let's go to Nadine in Warwick, New York. Nadine, welcome to WNYC.

Nadine: Thank you so much. It's so nice to be here. I'm a big fan of Brian Lehrer Show and every show on your station.

Brigid: I'm so glad you listen.

Nadine: Thanks. When my kids were little, we would listen to Laurie Berkner and Dan Zanes but then we would work in our own music. They grew up listening to Black Sabbath and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. We would take them to see Sabbath, the Allman Brothers, Deep Purple, and Van Halen at the open venues like Bethel Woods. There's family sections, like the Art Center down in Jersey so there's a family section when they start to see Black Sabbath a couple of times. We would have these playlists for them driving back and forth to school.

One time, when my kid was in, I think it was pre-K three or four, I got a call from the teacher that my kid was howling in class and I'm like, "Howling? Why is he howling?" Then, I realized he was pretending to David Lee Roth, so he's been howling.

Brigid: Wow.

Nadine: My daughter's favorite song was Fairies Wear Boots from Sabbath which I'm incredibly impressed by.

Brigid: Those are great stories and I had no idea that there was a family section at a Black Sabbath concert. That's an amazing thing that I've learned this morning. I'm wondering about when you write in the piece that you connect the musical soundscape of your home as part of your parenting, I think we were hearing that echoed in some of these callers. Do you think it's more about creating a certain type of environment for kids in the home or exposing them to as these parents have suggested maybe some of the music that they really love?

Kathryn: I think it's really, those are part of the same thing. I think all music can create a desirable environment for kids. I don't think that there's certain kinds of music that's better for kids than others. It's really what people love. I think it's just creating the sense of this is where we do our thing in this family. This is where we get to be ourselves and it's such a nice feeling to cultivate, and especially if you don't have money to like redecorate your home and make it into some a really like a temple or some a special place that way. Music is a way of doing that in more of a-- just in the atmosphere.

Brigid: Since you write a newsletter about the modern family, some parents whose kids are still preteen, younger might be worried about playing certain genres with, say, more explicit lyrics to their kids, pop songs, rap, so on. How do you handle your own reckoning with playing that music for your kids?

Kathryn: With respect to per gore, like I don't care about that at all. Kids are going to encounter a lot of explicit content no matter what happens. Obviously, little kids imitate things they hear a lot, and you might want to be mindful of that but I just assume half kids encounter lyrics that are a little bit iffy in the home where we can talk about it, and we can explain like, "There are certain things that maybe people will say in a song that you wouldn't say in a speech or whatever." I think there was nothing wrong with that.

Brigid: You're listening to The Brian Lehrer Show, I'm Brigid Bergen filling in for Brian today. If you're just joining us, we're talking to Kathryn Jezer-Morton, writer of The Cut's Brooding newsletter, about how music in the home can create a sense of belonging. I want to go to Julia in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Julia, thanks for listening. Thanks for calling.

Julia: Thank you for having me on today. My youngest is 14 and my oldest is 23. When my youngest was born, I just had more time so I would sing lullabies to him. When I say lullabies, I'm talking Bruce Springsteen. He always developed this love of music that my older kids just never kicked into so much so that when we were living in Colorado, when we moved back here, he actually applied and was accepted at Saint Thomas Choir School for Boys in New York City, and he sang with them for five years. His whole musical arc is completely different than anything I would ever have envisioned for him.

He can be like, "Genesis has got too much of this." "That's really good." "I like James Taylor." "Oh, you don't want [unintelligible 00:11:40] Jack." He's 14, and he's got this really extensive musical vocabulary. We have a great time listening to all kinds of music because we will spin through the dial and listen to a song and be like, "Do we stay on the station?" "No, go to [inaudible 00:11:56] and don't ever create." Thank you.

Brigid: Thank you so much. I want to go to really quickly Victoria in Orlando. Victoria, thanks so much for listening and calling. We only have a little bit of time left, but what's your soundscape?

Victoria: It's funny. As I was saying to the screener, I'll just jump straight to it. I'm from Trinidad. My husband is white American. I've always run to my Calypso but at Christmas time in the house, we always play the Parang Soca that Trini Christmas music. Their dad and I are currently separating and so kids are trying to figure out where they're spending Christmas. They want to spend it with dad because he does the presents, and I said to them, "I'm sure he will play. I'm sure he will play the Christmas music."

Because my son was wondering, "Well, will we still get to listen to Parang Soca?" It's become the music-- That's our Christmas music. We listen to the carols as well, but that Trinidad and Soca with the Christmas beat to it, they're looking forward to that. I feel like, "Yes, job well done."

Brigid: Victoria, thank you so much for calling. We're going to have to leave it for there today. My guest has been Kathryn Jezer-Morton, writer of New York Magazine's The Cut's Brooding newsletter. Since you mentioned Harry Styles, we're going to go out in one of his songs, Music for a Sushi Restaurant. Thank you for joining us, Kathryn.

Kathryn: Thanks so much.

Brigid: I'm Brigid Bergen and this is The Brian Lehrer Show in WNYC.

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