Rain sticks are a fun instrument for creating the sounds of rain and flowing water. Most of the rain sticks I own were made in different countries of South America. One internet source says their origin is with the Mapuche people of the southern part of the continent, who used…
Have fun creating and decorating shakers using a variety of things you can find around your house, especially the recycling bin. I like this video about making a maraca out of a small plastic water bottle and an empty toilet paper roll. Experiment with different fillings, from beans to rice…
My friend and fellow early childhood musician Susan Salidor of Chicago recently posted “Five Rules of the Subversive Preschool Music Specialist” (copied in full at the end of this post). She encouraged her fellow music teachers not to shy away from singing about social justice and to encourage self-respect, kindness…
It was an eventful year in 2019. Here are some highlights! In the first half of the year … A big highlight of my year was singing a South African song with children at the Children’s Own School (a Montessori primary school in Winchester, MA) in the Spring of 2019….
October can be a month of opposites. Where I live, sometimes the weather is warm in October, and sometimes it feels quite cold. Sometimes the wind blows softly and sometimes it’s loud, whipping and whistling through the trees. Sometimes the leaves move fast, dancing and whirling, and sometimes they float…
Introducing children to musical opposites is a great way to introduce basic musical concepts such as tempo, dynamics and pitch. It’s also a good way generally to introduce the concept of opposites. Children can learn about the concept of opposites with my song, “The Opposite Game,” which is on my…
This is for all the music teachers who have endured a “bad day,” especially at the start of the school year. I have been teaching music for young children for more than twenty years, and those days still happen to me. One of them was today. But upon reflection, most…
The days are ticking down to the beginning of school. I hope all teachers of young children are excited to get everyone learning right away with … SONGS! If anyone needs a reminder about the value of music in early learning, here’s why music is an ideal tool, especially for…
Singing songs from Africa deepens cultural understanding as children learn that the continent of Africa is not a monolithic place but home to 54 countries, widely diverse cultures and perhaps as many as 2,000 languages. Many African songs are also just fun to sing, often carrying special energy and joy!…
What better way to celebrate spring than with singing? Well, frolicking in the great outdoors, of course, but singing is great fun, too! I wrote my “Song of Spring” with four-year-old children at a Boston area school. We talked about things we like to do in the spring and used…
