Exploring bird sounds with children

“What does a bird say?”  A lot more than tweet, or chirp.   Most children only consider one sound, but an observant child with more experience in bird sounds might ask, “What kind of bird?” 
Fun vocal play with different bird sounds can open up the world of birds, and sounds, with your child, and can have [...]

Can I Play a Song Now?

The students were so eager to play their songs, when I asked “Who’s next?”, about 5 – 8 hands went up, every time.   How do I choose?  Actually, the girl who led off the Annual Young Child Music Festival is one of my first year students.  
This girl is extremely shy, and I usually have to ASK her [...]

That is why I gave you a 10

Recently, several families completed evaluations of their Kindermusik experience with Music Connections.  I LOVED what they had to say – it warms my heart and makes it even more worthwhile to do what I love.
The comments in this posting will be parents who have responded to the Kindermusik for the Young Child program.  I will start with one [...]

Travel Around the World with Music this Summer

Does your young child (5 – 7 years) want to travel to distant countries this summer?   Yodel from the mountaintops in Germany?  Be treated like Royalty in England?  Communicate with talking drums in Africa?  Join up with a Mariachi band for a fiesta in Mexico?  We can do it ALL in a week, right here in Lakeland, Florida !  [...]

Thanksgiving Games for Family Memories

Thanksgiving Rituals are for making memories, and GAMES are memorable.  NONE of these ideas cost a thing, except a little time.  And to children, love is spelled T-I-M-E.
Thanksgiving Song Writing
Try out this song that is included in “A Year of Fun,  Just for Fives” by Theodosia Spewock.  (This is a fabulous series by the way, [...]

Circle Around with the Native American Culture

 
When people walk into my house and see the hand woven rugs, baskets, art, and more, they wonder how much Native American blood is in my ancestry.  It’s not my blood, nor how I was raised, but since living in Utah amongst red rocks and the Navaho tribes, it IS special places and people carved [...]

An INTRO to African-American music for children

MUCH of our American music was shaped by the African American people.  With their roots in the polyrhythmic beats, and strong emphasis on vocals, and their strong sense of self, music flowed from them wherever they went.  From the fields of slavery, from the depths of their spiritual beliefs, from their longing for something better, from [...]

Blues – learning from each other, not from paper

“People keep asking me where the blues started and all I can say is that when I was a boy we always was singing in the fields. Not real singing you know, just hollerin’, but we made up our songs about things that was happening to us at that time, and I think that’s where [...]

Group improvisation is a fun way to musically interact

You sing a song, and I’ll sing a song, and we’ll all sing a song together!   From Vocal Spirituals to Jazz, an open form of musical interaction, including full improvisation, is a KEY element of African American Music. 
 
“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is a classic standard of Negro Spirituals that has withstood the test of time.  MANY artists, and [...]

Got Spoons? Play them!

To go along with our study of Appalachian music in the Kindermusik for the Young Child class, we had the opportunity to play many instruments today, as well as your average, everyday household spoons.  I demonstrated a LITTLE of what I know about playing the spoons and encouraged several parents to try.  Well, there just [...]