It’s Not Child’s Play

Lois Lilienstein, a household name? Try just plain “Lois” as in “Sharon, Lois & Bram,” and watch preschoolers’ eyes light up from coast to coast.

The three singing superstars from Canada rival that other superstar, Raffi, in the field of children’s music. Their 10 records and two videos are gold, their U.S. concert tours usually sell out and they are seen daily in more than 47 million homes on the Nickelodeon cable channel’s “The Sharon, Lois & Bram Elephant Show.”

Their current U.S. tour will bring them to Santa Barbara’s Arlington Theatre next Saturday, the Wiltern Theatre on Feb. 4, Riverside’s Municipal Auditorium on Feb. 5 and the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Feb. 6.

“Families making music together is part of a renewed tradition,” says Lilienstein, 53. “We’re singing for the whole family.

“We gather songs from the whole world of music--pop, music hall, folk. We believe in Woody Guthrie’s definition of a children’s song: that it’s any song a child likes to sing”--from “The Muffin Man” to “Rock Around the Clock.”

“Kids respond to rhythm, melody, to a feeling,” says Lilienstein.

At the group’s concerts, “the littles dance in the aisles, the older ones sing along. For parents, it’s a nostalgia trip.”

Lilienstein, who has a background in classical and jazz piano, is impatient with those who wonder if she yearns to perform “adult” music.

“This is our first choice,” she insists. “The term ‘kiddie’ music is prehistoric; we are three people who enjoy children and the music we make, and there’s no greater joy than to be part of an audience that loves you.”