I started making music with children almost three decades ago, in the classroom of my daughter’s preschool. I also started co-writing songs with kids in that same room. The very creative teacher, Terri Kelley, offered to transform the classroom’s indoor play structure into whatever the children most wanted. My daughter…
I just made a new video of one of my favorite literacy songs, “Dr. Knickerbocker.” Find it now on my youtube channel, LizBuchananMusic, by clicking here. “Dr. Knickerbocker” is somewhat ubiquitous in kids’ music circles, having been featured on at least two children’s TV shows and in numerous books. It’s…
Ever dream of flying? Not flying on an airplane, though I love that, too. I mean letting your body catch the wind as you rise up into the air, soaring and gliding and seeing the sights far below. The classic Peter Pan fired children’s imaginations about flying. Just a little…
My new CD is here! It’s called “Amazing!” It has a happy, musical dragon on the cover, drawn by my talented artist daughter, Molly Knobloch. The dragon is featured in the song “No Fire, Dragon!” which I wrote 10 years ago while working in a preschool classroom of children aged…
A happy collision of ideas produced a great surprise for one of my classrooms of six- and seven-year-olds – a metaphor! As I have done for several years in the spring, I am working with six classrooms of first grade students at the Condon School in South Boston to write…
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…
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…
In my last blog piece, I talked about getting the creative process going with children through brainstorming – essentially making lists of ideas. Brainstorming is the time for broad-brushing and “all over the map” thinking. But how do all those the brainstorm ideas become a song? The short answer is…
This article first appeared on The Children’s Music Network blog as part of an ongoing series about songwriting with students. There’s a blank white board in front of you. Name your idea – any idea is great. Let’s see how many we can assemble! What a tantalizing invitation, a welcome…
During my ten-week songwriting residency with first graders, I start by introducing students to songs to engage them with different musical styles and subject matter. In the first week this year, we sang songs celebrating nature, including my song “If I Were a Butterfly.” The next week, I told the…
