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…
“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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
I had a chance to present my first music and literacy workshop for children’s librarians yesterday and it was a lot of fun! One thing we discussed was pairing books with songs. I love including books and references to books in my music & literacy sessions with young children. I’ve…
The traditional song “Today is Monday” has become very popular, thanks in part to Eric Carle’s engaging book by the same name, which has a new food for each day of the week. You can help children learn initial consonant sounds by changing the song to name a food that…
