There's a DJ school for babies in Brooklyn

by Mark Teo

Photo: Vice.com

Good news, parents—if you’re tired of hearing Raffi, “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” or the same six nursery rhymes, we have the solution: Enrol your bundle of joy in DJ school.

Because yes, it exists. The only catch? You and your tot might need to travel to New York to sign up for the apt-titled Baby DJ School, a program run by Natalie Elizabeth Weiss, a musician who’s performed with LCD Soundsystem, Butthole Surfers and the Dirty Projectors. (Of course, she has also DJed, too.) Weiss has developed a $200 eight-week program specifically for wee ones, and it all takes place in—where else?—Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Of course, don’t expect little Skylar to start glazing over eyes in Ibiza, Avicii-style. They are babies, after all, and DJing requires motor skills (and usually, potty training). But Weiss’s classes, meant for kids younger than three, will teach the basics: MIDI, EQ, and the difference between decks A and B.

“The most important thing about being a DJ is being a selector,” she said, in a press release. “If you don’t match one beat, if you don’t run it through one effect, if you don’t drop one well-placed air horn, but you have cool tracks, that’s all you need.”

So, kids will be mashing buttons on MIDI triggers and doing rudimentary beat-matching, all to encouraging coos of Weiss. (Sample encouragement: “”Wow, do you hear that bubbly texture? I feel bubbles in my arms. Do you hear the bubbles? Where are the bubbles in the song?”) But most importantly, it’s meant to be interactive fun for kids and parents.

New York magazine the Village Voice was on hand to witness the class, and it seems incredible: There are toddlers crouching next to Roland SP404 synthesizers; there are samples from “I’m Gonna Get You Baby”; and there are blankets laid down everywhere, meant to “a warm, loving relationship with these pieces of technical equipment.”

And it’s not just for show: Weiss claims she’s seen a child beatmatch with surprising competency. “It’s just like their toys at home, but they’re doing it in a group setting and hearing music at the same time, which I think is good anyway,” Weiss told the Village Voice. “People think we’re trying to make kids cool by teaching them how to DJ when that’s not the case. It’s an amazing class.”

Check the VICE video below for a closer look into the class.