I recently watched a video about arts integration at the Two Rivers Charter School in Washington, D.C. Second graders created giant Jackson Pollock-style paintings while learning about the physics of flight; fourth graders learned about their local rivers by enacting the history of a river through poetry, movement and drama. … Continue reading
It’s great fun to engage children in stories with music and acting. Elsewhere on this blog, you can find posts about my musical versions of stories such as “The Three Little Pigs” and “The Tortoise and the Hare.” Click on “Story Songs” to find several examples. These musical dramas don’t … Continue reading
The story of the Three Bears is a fun way to help children learn about high, medium and low pitches. This idea is not original to me (I’ve referenced some lesson plans below), but I found a way to involve students playing different instruments and repeating lines of the story. … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
“If we inspire you to do anything new at all in your [music] classrooms today, we hope it is this: Tell stories to your students! Read to them, use picture books or just tell them stories from your heart. Children NEED to hear them!” Peter & Mary Alice Amidon of … Continue reading
This is the second in a series of posts about learning through play. I had the opportunity to attend the Massachusetts Music Educators’ Annual conference for the first time this past weekend. This is my first year “officially” to be a music teacher for elementary school students, and I … Continue reading
The Tortoise and the Hare is one of the best known of Aesop’s Fables, stories that are credited to Aesop, a storyteller and slave who lived in ancient Greece. Most children seem to be familiar with the story already; many say they have “seen the movie.” I wrote a song … Continue reading
Even though I’ve always thought the Easter Bunny was kind of a silly concept, bunnies are a perfect topic for spring music time. I like acquainting children with Beatrix Potter and the story of Peter Rabbit. A fair number of kids seem to have seen a video of Peter, but … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
“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 … Continue reading
