Honoring a Special Lady This Holidays

Hi all! If you've read my blog before, or even if you've just stumbled upon it, welcome! This year has been a momentous one for me- I started this blog- all about my reflections as a children's artist, as a music teacher, as a former preschool and Kindergarten teacher, and as a parent of a now ten year old. I also released my second children's album and started a YouTube channel (please subscribe)- with music videos of my original songs, music videos for early language learning, and music videos just for fun.

This year I also started studying to become a educational leader- hopefully specializing in arts integration or arts in schools, which leads me to my topic today. I'd like to honor a very special lady who inspired me along a path to education, my recently deceased Great Aunt Bim. Please read her obituary here.

Aunt Bim was a pioneering educational leader in Lansing, MI. She started the gifted and talented program there, and rose from being a Kindergarten teacher to supervising the elementary education program there in a career that spanned over 25 years. I was very lucky to have her in my life.

As a little girl, I had chronic ear infections that led to a severe language delay. I could sense that adults around me were worried and wanted me to work on my speech. I felt bad- like I was doing something wrong, and I didn't know how to fix it.

Aunt Bim was one of those adults that tried to help. Whenever she would visit, she would get me to talk with her in a fun way- in a way that made me feel important, not ashamed. She would read me stories, sing songs with me, get me to share stories with her. She always told me how smart she thought I was and encouraged me in every way.

People like my Aunt Bim are the kind of inspiring, often unsung, leaders that gently nurture children into adulthood. They prepare them to overcome obstacles, think creatively, and develop confidence. They also specialize in preparing others to do so. Aunt Bim inspired me, and I aspire to be as accomplished in helping children as she lived her life to be.

To all those who have found my blog this year- have a Happy Holidays and may 2019 bring more opportunities to nurture our children to find joy and peace!

Thankful

Hi everyone! I'm writing after taking a couple of weeks off- I've been very busy, but incredibly thankful for the new opportunities I've had this autumn. I have a couple of new YouTubes to share today, and in the true spirit of the "blog," I want to let you know what I've been up to.

This school year I started a new teaching position. I'm working as a music teacher in a special education setting, and I'm loving it! Simply put, my students help me understand how music can lift us up. I'm enjoying preparing students for a concert- I think it will be among the best I've taken part in over the years.

I also started taking classes to get a Master's in Educational Leadership. I'm learning about leadership skills and what it means to be a culturally proficient leader- interesting stuff, and the opportunity to contemplate and imagine myself in a position where I could have a positive effect on education is exciting!

Starting in September, I have also been traveling around the country, participating in library performer showcases. I travelled to Oklahoma, Oregon, Delaware, and Texas. I also have the opportunity to do a showcase in Northern California- it will be the first time I've had the opportunity to return there after having moved to Maryland 6 years ago. I can't wait!

I also travelled to Ohio for the Children's Music Network Annual Conference. I got a chance to reconnect with children's performer friends, and to bring my son along. As the star of some of my videos, he was met with fans for the first time. He has always been shy, but I think seeing people respond positively to him has been so helpful to him. For example, he came up with all of the ideas for the kid joke video below. Check it out! (PS- we also got to visit Oberlin, my alma mater- I've got a future Obie for sure!)

Starting my Youtube channel is also something new this fall. The two videos I put up today are in the spirit of Thanksgiving. As ever, I'm thankful for the chance to share my music. I've had a busy year in promoting my album, "I am 4, 5, 6." Hearing it played on the radio, having people listen and respond, working with a distributer and publicist, spending countless hours preparing emails and sending out copies- I'm thankful for all of it!

I've been working pretty hard, as all parents do- driven by the idea that children are our next innovators, problem solvers, and compassionate adults- especially my own. I'm thankful for the opportunity to talk about all of that work to other caring adults through this blog. I've enjoyed connecting with other parents and educators- and as sappy as this sounds- I mean every word- I believe together we can make a difference for our kids. Happy Thanksgiving!

Early Learning on my YouTube Channel

This week I'm writing my blog about the work I am doing on my YouTube channel. Each week I have been releasing new learning videos. Didn't know about that? That's OK- now's your chance to go check it out, AND I'm going to tell you all about it- including what is special about this week's video. I'm putting out a few different kinds of early learning videos on my YouTube channel- sing and sign, early Spanish language learning through song, kid humor, and kid's music videos.

The sing and sign videos are the result of my work as a co-teacher for an American Sign Language class for preschool, kindergarten, and first and second grade students. My colleague taught me everything I know- she is a fluent speaker, and as a deaf person, she explained some of the subtleties of communicating through sign. Although I'm definitely still not an expert, we were able to combine our skills a bit to prepare sing and sign experiences for our students- we hope that you'll use them too!

The Spanish language learning songs are songs I learned over the years to combine language learning and music in my early childhood and elementary classes. I have worked as a music teacher in a Spanish language immersion program in a charter school, lived in places where Spanish was the predominant language spoken, and love performing the songs I'm sharing!

The kid humor videos started with my son's stuffed animals. I wrote a song about them, "Make-Believe Zoo." He helped me make a music video for that song, and performed some of the voices of the stuffed animals on the recording. As we were doing this, he started using his snake puppet to tell me jokes, and I thought they were so funny that I asked if we could record them- maybe brighten somebody else's day with a little laughter. He said yes!

The kid's music videos are of my original songs for children. I have two albums- "One and Two is Three," and "I am 4, 5, 6," which was released this year. The first album was the product of having written songs over the years for my students and my family, and the second one was an intensive project to write songs for young children about imagination, creative problem solving, and empathy. 

This week I'm releasing the music video to "From There to Here." It's a song about using your imagination as a young child, how children might experience or think about things in ways that are a bit different than adults. The urge to question and learn about themselves and their surroundings is forefront in the song, as well as rhymes from familiar children's literature.

You can find "From There to Here," as well as several of my other children's songs on my YouTube Channel- my songs, in addition to the sing and sign, Spanish song and kid joke videos, are all a taste of what I do as an educator and performer. Please check them out and share them with some little ones you may know! Here's the link to my YouTube, and here is my new video!

Fall Songs for Early Childhood

As promised, here my favorite songs for fall. A reader also shared one! Videos (where I could find them) again are approximate to the words I provided (the way I do these songs). Enjoy, use, comment, and share!

Gray Squirrel-

Gray Squirrel, gray squirrel, swish your bushy tail
Gray squirrel, gray squirrel, swish your bushy tail
Wrinkle up your little nose, hide a nut between your toes
Gray Squirrel, gray squirrel, swish your bushy tail

Leaves are Falling- (from Music Together)

Leaves are falling softly floating tumbling to the ground
Leaves are falling softly floating tumbling to the ground
Orange, red, brown, yellow, orange, tumbling to the ground
Orange, red, brown, yellow, orange, tumbling to the ground

Way Up High in the Apple Tree-

Way up high in the apple tree
Two little apples were smiling at me
I shook that tree as hard as I could
Down cam the apples- mmmm they were good

5 Little Apples- (shared by Nancy Hershatter)- a fall fingerplay

5 little apples, juicy to the core, 1 tumbled down and then there were 4.
4 little apples, swaying on the tree, 1 tumbled down and then there were 3.
3 little apples, shiny and new, 1 tumbled down and then there were 2.
2 little apples, shining in the sun, 1 tumbled down and then there was 1.
1 little apple ready to roll, let's reach and knock it down with our apple picking pole!

Pumpkin Patch- (solfeggi syllables provided)- can be played as a circle game

Pumpkin patch, the pumpkin patch (sol-sol-mi-la-sol-sol-mi)
I'm looking for a pumpkin in the pumpkin patch (fa-sol-sol-sol-sol-la-la-la-sol-sol-mi)
And I'll find one, that's nice and fat (mi-fa-fa-re-mi-fa-fa-re)
To turn into a jack-o-lantern just like that (re-sol-sol-sol-sol-la-la-la-la-sol-sol-mi)

H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N- (a song from when I was little- I'm not sure who wrote it)!

(Sung to the tune from Dance Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens)

H, A, double L, O, W, double E, N spells Halloween
H, A, double L, O, W, double E, N spells Halloween

verse: (these words are made up by me)
Halloween mean ghosts and goblins
Witches and vampires and spooky bats
Trick or treating, candy eating
Pumpkins with faces and big black cats

Pumpkin BOO!- (I'm also not sure who wrote this one, but the kids LOVE it)!

To scare someone on Halloween
I'll tell you what I'll do
I'll hide behind this pumpkin mask and
Then I'll holler, "BOO!"

Not sure what I'll write about next week- I just attended the Children's Music Network Annual Conference though, so a few ideas are swirling--- stay tuned!!

Counting- V

The leaves are starting to change color here in Maryland- creating a beautiful context in which children can learn. Seasons are a wonderful way to draw from children's awareness of their surroundings to make learning abstract concepts like numbers more relevant. Here are a couple of autumn number songs- one you'll probably know- "5 Little Pumpkins," and one maybe not- "5 Little Leaves."

"5 Little Pumpkins"
5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said, "Oh my it's getting late!"
The second one said, "There are witches in the air!"
The third one said, "But I don't care!"
The fourth one said, "Let's run! Let's run!"
The fifth one said, "It's just Halloween fun!"
Then, "OOOooooooo," went the wind, and out went the light
And 5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

"5 Little Leaves"
5 little leaves, dancing in the tree
5 little leaves, happy as can be!
Along came the wind-
"OOoooooooooo!"
1 leaf came tumbling down.
4 little leaves, dancing in the tree...
(Repeat until you get to- "No little leaves," - I usually do that verse in a whisper).

In these videos, you'll find slight variations on the words above- the way I do these songs. I also do both songs as a chant, except for "'OOoooooooo!' 1 leaf came tumbling down," for which I sing a little minor-sounding melody. I like the way the videos demonstrate movements to do with the songs. I also use a felt board with 5 pumpkins and leaves so children can have a visual way to keep track of the quantity. Stay tuned for next time- I'll have more autumn songs for you- making this the last number song article (for now). Happy autumn!

Counting- IV

Well, I just got back from a music trip out west, (flew there and back in one day!) and I'm feeling fine (relatively)!! So, today I'm going to write about a number song called Dr. Knickerbocker. Here is the way I've done this song with kids:

Dr. Knickerbocker, Knickerbocker, number nine
I just got back and I'm feeling fine.
Let's put the rhythm in our ________.*
*Repeat until you "put the rhythm" in your hands (clap), shoulders (alternate shoulders up and down),  feet (walk in place to the beat), head (nod), and hips (shift hips right and left).

I've always said the words as a rhythmic chant, and kept the movement going until it changes to a different body part. The words were fun to say and made pretty much no sense at all- kids loved to move and say the words! Sometimes children asked- who is Dr. Knickerbocker? I had no clear answer.

After some searching I found out that Knickerbockers are a type of colonial style pants worn just over the knee, and a man wearing this style of pants (Mr. Knickerbocker) was a symbol of New York- (a la the New York Knicks baseball team). And apparently there were nine original New York Knickerbockers (later shortened to Knicks).

Maybe "getting back" means getting back to home plate? I'm still unsure how "Mr. Knickerbocker" got changed to "Dr. Knickerbocker," but the point is- this is a fun song with lots of movement AND there's more!!!

I just discovered that you can practice counting to the number nine with this song, and that is extra exciting because that makes it a great activity for getting those kids with a lot of energy to focus and count with you. To do this, you "put the rhythm" in the "number nine" itself. Here are two examples of this- one from the Wiggles and one from Alina Celeste.

Here is also a new one by Liz Buchanan that is a counting backwards from 9 song.

More fun with number songs next week!

Counting- III

This week I'm ahead of the game time-wise (yay!), and I'd like to share my favorite number song for children with you. It's called "Bye-m, Bye." I learned about it from a compilation called "American Folk Songs for Children," by Ruth Crawford Seeger.

As a music composition student at Oberlin Conservatory, being a "woman" composer was still a "thing." While I surely hope it isn't a "thing" anymore, I bring it up now because Ruth Crawford Seeger was a visionary composer- not just as a woman but in general. I learned about her there, and I admired her. You see, the question was, "Why are there so few women composers (that we know about)?" An answer was, (I kid you not) "Men have more time to focus on music because childcare is less of a concern/expectation for them."

Missing from that conversation was the importance of music for a young child's development, and the role woman have played as innovators and conveyors of that music over time. I think Ruth Crawford Seeger recognized this, and although the way to be "established" as a composer at the time was to produce avant-garde orchestral music (which she also did), she produced her truly one of a kind collections of folk songs for children anyway- all the while raising her own family and most definitely singing the songs from her books to her own children (one of whom was Pete Seeger).

If you are reading this article, you are probably someone who might sing for children- whether as a parent, grandparent, caretaker or teacher. If you are someone who does this, you might know what it feels like when you find a song that just "works." It feels great to sing- it "speaks to you." "Bye-m, Bye" is one of those songs for me, and while I sing it differently than the recording below (as appropriate to the folk tradition), when I sing it, I know I pass that feeling on to young children, comfortably nestling those numbers into their minds and fingers. (One of these days I'll record my version)!

Play the video below to hear what the song sounds like, and stay tuned next week for more number song fun!

Learn more about Ruth Crawford Seeger!