The inaugural artist-in-residence at Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, Malik Johnson, spent months composing an original kid-friendly song for his leave-behind piece with help from the young guests of the museum, debuting Aug. 27.
Johnson said his top priority was creating something that can be enjoyed by all ages, from infants to adults.
“I wanted to make this a song for everybody,” Johnson said. “A catchy melody can be caught by a baby.”
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Johnson headed weekly interactive performances and community conversations at the museum to provide an engaging way for children and families to learn about music. His original composition includes stomps, claps, giggles and vocals from young guests of the museum exploring music for the first time.
“I’m doing the main vocals, but in the music itself, like the beat, I incorporated sounds from some of the sessions that we did with the kids,” Johnson said. “I love it, I can’t lie. It’s very catchy.”
For many kids, Johnson’s weekly performances at Betty Brinn are their first interactions with instruments and exploring sound. His song is a window into the initial moment children experience wonder for something new.
“Seeing kids get excited by the instruments and the activities that we were doing was really awesome,” Johnson said. “To have that view into someone’s first interaction with music was definitely inspiring.”
Johnson has a meaningful tie with the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, having been a visitor there himself as a child.
“Some of my earliest memories are at Betty Brinn,” Johnson said. “They were showing me around and I was like, ‘oh my goodness,’ like this used to be my favorite thing.”
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Johnson is a Grammy-nominated classically trained cellist, composer and music producer known as “99TheProducer” – whose collaborations include artists like John Legend, Stevie Wonder and Kirk Franklin. He is not only a musician but an educator as well; he has been teaching music to youth across Illinois and Southeastern Wisconsin since 2021.
Senior Director of Education Sarah McManus Christie, co-led weekly community conversations alongside Johnson and witnessed the magic that went into the composition process of turning sounds made by babies, toddlers and children of the museum – into music.
“To have someone as talented as Malik be able to compose a song that is unique – not only to Betty Brinn – but is made out of those sounds, it is such a cool bridge in validating why what children do matters,” Sarah McManus Christie said.
Sarah McManus Christie said she’s collaborated with many artists-in-residence over the years, but never with a musician like Johnson.
“I’ve worked in children’s museums for 10 years now, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Sarah McManus Christie said. “I think this is such a cool future historical artifact that will be representative of the amazing things that families get to do when they come to Betty Brinn.”
