If you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, it’ll come as no surprise that I love music. As a closet Broadway star, I’ll belt out anything from a tune from Wicked to the Itsy Bitsy Spider.
I think imparting a love of music in our kids is important, and I think the gift of music is a great one.
I first stumbled upon Name Your Tune long before I had kids of my own. I used to get these wonderful Sweet Nothings in my email inbox from the now-defunct Sweetspot.ca and one of them introduced me to this personalized music CD. This was before personalization became ubiquitous. I bought it for a couple of kids as birthday gifts that year.
Then along came The K Man and when he was about eight weeks old, we went to the BabyTime Show. Name Your Tune was a vendor there and I was excited to see that my baby boy’s unique name was available in the Volume 1 collection. Four years later, the nice people at Name Your Tune sent me Volume 2 for my daughter.
THE GOOD
If you purchase either volume of the Name Your Tune CD (instead of the digital album), it 
comes with a custom-printed sticker on the CD itself. So you can write something like, “Happy birthday, Annie! Love, Mommy and Daddy.” Even when your child is no longer into The Wheels on the Bus, she’ll cherish this special gift that you can save in her memory box. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.
Your kid will hear his name more than 80 times on each volume. Seriously, what kid won’t love that? They’re just the most precious little narcissists.
For the most part, your child’s name is seamlessly integrated into each song, and it sounds like the CD was made just for you.
The songs are well-known, beloved children’s classics. You’re probably going to know the words to just about every song the first time you listen. Maybe your kid will think you’re a bit of a rock star. It could happen.
You may recognize one or two of the featured vocalists: Erica Ehm or Jennifer Valentyne ring any bells? And, guess what: they’re good! There’s even a Juno Award-nominated musician on the CD, among some other really talented artists.
There are more than 5,400 names available in the Name Your Tune database. Chances are, even if you gave your kid an “interesting” name (to which Grandma said, “You’re not really going to call her that, are you?”), it’s in there. My kids definitely don’t have common names and they were both available. But what happens if you want a CD for little Zanthe (a friend’s baby’s name that isn’t in Name Your Tune’s vast list)? Just add it to the list and eventually Name Your Tune will record it and let you know it’s available.
Name Your Tune is, deservedly, PTPA-approved.
The company donates a portion from its CD sales to support Hear Here, a non-profit charitable organization that buys kids’ hearing aids for families who can’t afford them. Giving back is cool.
THE GAFFE
I find this totally bizarre. One song on volume 1 and another song on volume 2 both pronounce my kids’ names incorrectly. All of the other 23 songs (with words) between both CDs are fine. Let’s say my son’s name is Ryan; we know that it’s pronounced “RY-in,” right? But in one song, it’s sung “Ry-ANNE.” It happens with my daughter’s name, too, on the second volume. It’s weird.
It really is amazing how seamless the vocals are considering they must be so pieced together to personalize them for 5,400 names (and growing). But on volume 2, the song Friend of Mine has a very audible “cut-in.” I don’t know if this is a real term in the music-production industry. After all, I’m a closet star, people. Not a closet engineer. What I mean is that throughout this particular song, I can tell where one line has been cut in the production room to be connected with the next. It sounds choppy and unnatural. I might be crazy (highly likely), but I notice it every single time we hear it in the rotation.
Volume 2’s ABCs and 123s sings our letter “Z” as “zee” versus “zed.” What the what? This drives me absolutely batty. This is a Canadian production. This is for young children who are learning the alphabet. Please, PLEASE, re-record this correctly. If you’re trying to appeal to a U.S. market, you’re doing it at great risk of alienating your Canadian customers who care about teaching their kids proper pronunciation of their ABCs. I basically want to skip this song every time it comes on.
THE GEARS
4/5
So…where can you buy it?
- Directly from Name Your Tune
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