Santa Cruz's Zunzun makes music with children, not just for them

Zunzun performs at the Santa Cruz Library (Photo: SW)

The children sit in rapt attention, joy and amazement on their faces. Their bodies twitch and giggle, then jump up in unison.

No, they're not watching an exciting movie or playing a video game -- they're taking part in the timeless magic of music, as led by Zunzun.

Zunzun is Stephen Synder and Gwynne Snyder Cropsey, husband and wife and parents of two children. But their musical adventure, and their interest in reaching children as their primary audience, pre-dates their parenthood.

"We met through a music friend," Cropsey remembers. "It was uncanny how many things we both agreed on that we liked. As soon as we met, we started dating and within a couple of months we went on a tour from here to Argentina."

At the time, they both had day jobs and an interest in working with kids, and after playing music together for a while, Cropsey says, they asked each other, "Wouldn't it be wild and wacky to try to make a living at this?"

Any local parent who's caught Zunzun in action knows that their approach is something different. It's not just inclusive of the kids in the audience -- the kids are the music. "What is key is that both of us understand is that it's not us, it's the kids," Cropsey explains. "The specialness is having the kids come up and doing everything and we're just there to facilitate that."

Their shows incorporate education (where a song is from, which animals live there, which instruments are used there, which language is spoken there) and physical involvement (asking the kids to do movements and play instruments, and asking the parents to do things while the kids watch). "It's appealing to the 7 intelligences," says Cropsey. "Visual, musical, physical -- every time we create a segment for kids that's our base."

Zunzun became a family affair eleven years ago with the birth of their son, and a daughter followed two years ago. Cropsey says that parenthood has definitely changed their approach. "Our firstborn went on tour with us -- we drove with him in the car. As he got older we stopped touring as much."

Since narrowing their touring base, they have broadened their horizons, not just offering straight music programs, but incorporating their musical approach into environmental education.

Zunzun now offers educational programs about the watershed at any school they can make a daytrip to, and sometimes beyond. Cropsey says that their family life comes first, so they try to create a schedule that allows them to be together every day as a family.

Working in schools, she says, has opened new horizons for them. "Each school is such a special place it feels like such a blessing to be there. It's so exciting that we get to be the good news. Seeing kids with their families doing these things is really nice."

They also take part in musical series such as the Santa Cruz Public Libraries Summer Reading Program, the Santa Cruz Symphony Family Concert, and the Cabrillo Music Festival. Their travels show them all aspects of family life in this diverse state. "They had us play at the Disney concert hall," Cropsey says. "But also family concerts that happen in rundown libraries in communities that don't have a lot of money but the families are there together."

No matter what kind of program they perform, Cropsey says that their emphasis is on the joy of taking part in music, not on their skills as performers. "I feel like we live in an era right now when things like American Idol and Hannah Montana are given to kids so they think music has to be some really nerve wracking solo act," she explains. "That's not what music is, and it's the not the spirit of it at all."

Their approach has won them fans who return again and again to their concerts. Shamim Formoso says her granddaughter never forgot her first Zunzun encounter. "Maya, who was five at the time, was completely mesmerized by the sounds of the birds, wind, water, and more... through music. She attempted to mimic those sounds and relived the songs and stories for days."

Cropsey says that they are pleased at the way their career has shaped up, and their creative approach keeps them in demand even as funding for schools and programs has been cut.

"There's that saying in Spanish: cada quien su locura," Cropsey says.

Everyone has their own craziness -- Zunzun packages theirs as a gift to children.