Tina and Mark first met at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, she with a passion for opera and classical, he with a penchant for world music and jazz. The styles came to influence both. In their 20’s, they spent seven months swept up in the musicality of Paris- the language, the French song, embracing the melodies of culture and craft that so many artists flocked to the city to be part of. From there they went to Japan for two years, teaching English, immersed in a whole different culture where friendships were formed.

Opportunities came up along the way to teach and Tina said they jumped on them.

“I was made the children's coordinator at the school I was teaching at, so I was teaching little kids English and as part of that singing a lot of nursery rhymes and songs and I really liked that.”

“I think that teaching experience working with the kids, working with that conversational class, it started to plant a seed, an idea I think of what we would do when we came back.”

Mark too got busy teaching English and immersed himself in the Japanese lifestyle, all of which he enjoyed but by the end of that almost two years, he had a missing.

“I started to realise just how much I had missed playing and I kind of went back with this vision to dive fully back into music and I've never left it ever since. I was lucky because when I got back to Australia I pretty much joined the James Morrison sextet straight away and then, the jazz ensemble Monsieur Camembert after that.”

“I got into show bands and my life just changed and I got really excited by music and I've stuck to it like glue ever since.”

Back in Australia, Tina and Mark had their first child, Lily.

Tina had hankerings to get back to music and performing too but her life had changed so much.

“A lot of mums feel it when they have kids and life kind of does this seismic shift and you have a different kind of idea of who you are and what you want to do with this next stage of your life.”

One of Tina’s friend’s, Kate, suggested she teach early childhood music classes. Tina went and did retraining and they opened their first music school. It was so successful they opened a second.

The new beginnings in children’s music fully launched when Tina asked Mark to come along and play some songs with his double bass. They families loved it.

One of the mums suggested they should do a live show.

They hired out the foyer of the Seymour Centre.

“The actual foyer, not the theatre,” clarifies Tina, “and I pitched it to them and I said, ‘I'd like to put like a baby's prom style show in the foyer and make it really accessible for young families to come along and sing and dance and I'll do it in the school holidays’- and I think I said 21 shows or something crazy.”

The thing that happened next set wheels in motion.

Families came along for the 10am show, they loved it, they would go out, buy tickets and come back and see shows back-to-back.

Lah-Lah’s took off, connecting with children in a profound way- with wonder and joy, excitement and intrigue.

They started to get creative with Mark’s Camembert bandmates. 

“Let's bring this flavour of world music. And like gypsy jazz and you know, like jazz jazz and, you know, New York style sort of jazz to a kid’s band and just make the lyrics more aligned to the themes that kids are into. And that was really the genesis of the style.”

The idea wasn’t to make music purely for kids ears- the idea was to make really good music, with the kids in mind.

“Just exposing your child to music, having music play, taking them to concerts. I mean, that's one of the best things you can do- go and see a show, go and take your little one to go and see some music live because listening to music and being there in a performance is a completely different experience,” said Tina.

“And by no means does that concert or experience need to be children's music,” said Mark.

“We like children's music. It's colourful. The themes are aligned to what kids are into. But really, kids just love good music of any kind of literally.”

For decades now they have performed as the kids act Lah-Lah’s Big Live Band, touring all over Australia. They have amassed millions of views on YouTube and a regular feature of ABC Kids.

Through Lah-Lah they have introduced children to instruments and different sound possibilities.

“I think in this modern world we are bathed in music, in esoteric terms, constantly coming through the ceiling in the shopping centre, on the radio, everywhere you walk and every screen you use, there's music everywhere- but the connection that's not made is where that music comes from and it comes from people using these amazing tools called instruments to make them.”

As Tina and Mark have travelled quite a bit in their lives, they have had moments where the language of music far exceeds their need for words. In a street in Venice, they jammed with a young band, Mark taking to the bass and their daughter to the mic. They sang with Italians over dinner. They watch in awe at an opera performed on a European stage. Through music they have conveyed and found humour, love and something beyond explanation in various musical interactions.

It is something omnipresent and yet unique, when captured by a musical moment.

Mark said that the benefits of music for children’s development is well known but he also notes the profound way it nurtures our social development. It brings people together and when people are engaged and connecting, the benefits are manifold.

“There are just so many cross pollinations.”

The brain lights up in musical play- you see in in older people when they hear a song from their younger years, with toddlers as they begin to move to the beat. Children so often sing before they speak. They form melodies and play with sound. It really is the additional language of our lives, activating the sensory part of us. It is a part of our expression, a part of our communication and ongoing learning.

“I think that early childhood music education or music awareness is kind of the biggest gift any parent can give to their child,” said Tina.

Hear more of Tina and Mark’s story on the podcast, For the Love of Play.

Article by Sinead Halliday
Images Courtesy of Tina and Mark Harris