In my songwriting life, I’ve become a little obsessed with characters in threes. My initial “Three Piggy Opera” was so much fun that on my next album, Once Upon a Tune, I included my own songs about the Three Bears, Three Billy Goats Gruff and Three Little Kittens. You can…
“When children dramatize, move to, or create music to represent a story, they become actively involved in working with the ideas in the story … As they translate the words to art forms, each story comes to life. Indeed, the act of transforming or translating is fundamental to attaining understanding…
As a follow-up to last week’s post, I’d like to suggest further possibilities with songs that involve sequences. The songs in this post are all drawn from older songs, but have new words. Call it the “folk process.” Call it opportunity. Call it taking a song and making it your…
My music sessions with children often aim to provide a musical basis for understanding the elements of narrative structure, including placing items in a logical sequence. Children’s knowledge of both fictional stories and non-fictional events, such as the growth of a plant, can be enhanced through musical exploration. Fisher and…
Hearing and feeling the natural rhythm of a language is an important part of learning to speak and read fluently. The Spelling City website points out that “syllables play an important role in spoken English, in that they greatly influence the rhythm of the language, its poetic meter and its…
A couple of years ago, some kindergarten teachers asked me to write a song about word families, and I was happy to oblige. The result was a simple song that keeps being rewritten again and again, by children in PreK through First Grade. Making up verses for this song is…
During studies for my master’s degree at Lesley University, I had an opportunity to take a class on early literacy learning with Professor Jean Ciborowsky Fahey. Jean works closely with a group called Reach Out and Read, a non-profit organization that partners with pediatricians’ offices to encourage reading-related activities for…
Little Boy/Girl Is Going to Bed Author unknown – rhyming poem adapted by Liz Buchanan. Make your pointer finger play the part of the child and do the motions for the rhyme with the other hand. Act out a little boy and a little girl. Little boy is going to…
There is a great body of research showing the importance of music in children’s lives. But even if there were no research at all, it’s simply a fact that most kids love music and it’s good for them. For those reasons alone, music should be an essential component of preschool…
Happy New Year! I thought I’d focus my first post of the year on two of my favorite greeting songs. One of my favorites is “Come into the Circle.” You can find it on my CD, Once Upon a Tune. I enjoy singing this song with groups of young children…
