The following post is based on my recently-delivered workshop on Music and Early Literacy for the Children’s Music Network. Arts education and arts integration (defined below) are both critically important! Musicians and other artists need to be strong advocates for arts in education. We can make our case by offering…
I’ve just posted the “Sleeping Beauty” – Revisited video to my YouTube channel. Here’s more about the background of the song and the video. Early in my music-teaching career, I learned the “Thorna Rosa” circle game that reenacts the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. I probably learned the game at…
I got inspired to write a song about the Three Billy Goats Gruff by a classroom of preschoolers, especially the boys in the class. The classroom copy of the book featured the language that’s in my song, spoken by the third Billy Goat to the troll: “Well, come along, I’ve…
If you’re a parent reading this, I hope these months of the pandemic have given you some opportunities to share extra special experiences with your children. I know it can be pretty tough at times, especially if you are trying to do that other job (the one where you might…
This post recaps earlier posts from this blog about the “Two Little Robins” song and offers some stick-puppet materials! I never tire of singing my version of “Two Little Blackbirds,” which I’ve changed to “Two Little Robins.” You can find a video of my presentation of this song here. My…
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…
