With so many music therapists, teachers, and educators utilizing digital resources right now, I’ve been making my materials as accessible as possible so that they can be used in a variety of ways. That includes creating videos to accompany my songs, the latest of which comes right in time for Halloween.
Last year, we started entertaining the idea of a Halloween-themed Disney cruise thanks to my son Parker’s love for this particular holiday, and this fall, we made it happen. The best part was that the entire trip was a complete surprise to the kids!
Halloween is coming, and we are ready! So of course we had to dedicate an entire episode to how we celebrate this special day at home — including decorations, our family’s costumes, and favorite traditions — and at work — the songs we sing, how we integrate Halloween into our groups and sessions, and ways we get festive in our workplaces.
One of the best things about fall is all of the fun holidays, and is there anything better than the spookiness of Halloween? I love hearing my clients’ and students’ excitement as they tell me about their costumes and listen to best impressions of what a ghost sounds like; their anticipation makes this time of the year even sweeter.
It was my during my music therapy internship that I realized I would have to get over my grudge against Halloween. If I wanted to work with kids, I needed to just accept October 31st as a day that is, to them, right up there with Christmas.
Even as a child, I wasn’t a fan of Halloween. I didn’t like the creepy decorations, the pressure to choose a costume, or going door-to-door asking for candy (although I didn’t mind eating it later). But as an adult, I put my personal feelings aside and wrote numerous songs devoted to Halloween.
Over the last 10 years, I’ve sung about orange and black, all the candy we’ll eat, and jack-o-lanterns with conviction, and I bet none of my students ever guessed that I didn’t love Halloween just as much as they did.
By the time October 31st rolled around, I completely lost count of how many times Parker had already worn his Elmo costume. My mother-in-law bought it at the beginning of September, and every time Parker saw that red fur, he’d beg for it. Needless to say, we didn’t have to twist his arm to participate in a little pre-Halloween photo shoot with Zach’s cousin Matt.
On the afternoon of Halloween, Zach and Parker met up with our friend Jose Carlos and his twin boys to do a little indoor trick-or-treating. Thank goodness they had that option, because we decided it was too cold to go visit our neighbors like we had originally planned.
Zach treated Parker to his first taste of Halloween candy, and that little bit of sugar really got him going (as evidenced by his feat of strength below). All in all, Parker’s 2nd Halloween was a big success for everyone — he slept reeeeally well that night :)
With Halloween just a week away, I’ve been getting lots of use out of my own collection of songs on this topic AND looking around the web for some new inspiration. Since you’re probably doing the same, I thought I would share the tunes I’ve written and/or adapted to sing at Halloween time.
Black cats are the iconic Halloween animals, and this particular black cat has the starring role in my echo song, which I wrote with the objective of repeating after me and singing with me.
This song takes you through the trick-or-treating process step by step, including how to do so safely and politely.
I love singing this song every year and updating it with the latest “cool” costumes. The original version was written a few years back, so some of the costumes mentioned in the songs might be considered “vintage” now ;)
Candy is the best part of Halloween, right?! So of course there I have a song specifically dedicated to the goodies.
Anytime I can sing about colors in association to a holiday, I take full advantage of the opportunity. Halloween is perfect for that, since orange and black are THE colors.
A sweet little tune about two pumpkin pals in a patch. You’ll have to listen to the song to hear the full story and how it turns out for good ‘ol Patrick and Polly.
This is one of the first Halloween songs I ever wrote. It’s an overview of Halloween and the things we see around us at this time of year, set in a minor key to match the tone of the big day.
Far and away, the most frequently sung and requested Halloween song in my repertoire. It’s a great one for working on body part recognition and identification.
Next week I’ll share a fun Halloween song and activity that one of my students’ moms actually found on Pinterest and passed along to me. In the meantime, I hope these songs provide some spooky inspiration as we enter the final countdown to Halloween day!
The inspiration for the song “Halloween Stew” goes back over twenty years to my elementary school days. My music teacher introduced us to “Witches’ Brew” by Hap Palmer, and it has stuck in my head ever since. I first adapted his original song a few years ago, here’s a video I made of my version.
Recently I decided to revamp it again, but this time around I opted for an alphabet theme. It’s a great opportunity to help my students practice identifying letters of the alphabet and naming objects that start with those letters. Of course, I had to create a visual to go with the song; the illustration gives you an idea of what it looks like.
I recorded this year’s version on the fly and included only the letters A through D, while the visual aide goes up to the letter H. It’s intended to be more of a starter resource for you to take and adapt on your own or with your students. The mp3, lead sheet and visual aide is available to members of Listen & Learn Plus! for download.
Get immediate access to this, plus over 100 other songs, lead sheets, visual aides, and valuable resources for only $9.99 per month…learn more about becoming a member or just subscribe below. You won’t be disappointed!
The inspiration for the song “Halloween Stew” goes back over twenty years to my elementary school days. My music teacher introduced us to “Witches’ Brew” by Hap Palmer, and it has stuck in my head ever since. I first adapted his original song a few years ago, here’s a video I made of my version.
Recently I decided to revamp it again, but this time around I opted for an alphabet theme. It’s a great opportunity to help my students practice identifying letters of the alphabet and naming objects that start with those letters. Of course, I had to create a visual to go along with the song, and the illustration gives you an idea of what it looks like.
I recorded this year’s version on the fly and included only the letters A through D, while the visual aide goes up to the letter H. It’s intended to be more of a starter resource for you to take and adapt on your own or with your students.
Download: Halloween Stew (Visual + MP3 + Lead Sheet)
Next year maybe I’ll get around to creating pages for every letter of the alphabet, in which case I will of course share them with you. In the meantime, I’ll continue letting my students use their creativity to add their own ingredients to our Halloween stew.
Happy Halloween! It’s a brisk but beautiful October day where I live — perfect trick-or-treating weather, for sure. I had a chance to see lots of cute kiddos in their costumes over the weekend, and can’t wait for all the Facebook pics to start appearing on my news feed this evening.
I’ve written lots of Halloween posts throughout the years here at Listen & Learn, and also made quite a few videos featuring Halloween tunes. So I thought a fun way to celebrate would be to round up all those videos and share them with you right here.
My adaptation of a Hap Palmer classic!
One of my (surprisingly) most-watched videos ever.
Just one of the many ways I’ve adapted this great Cathy Bollinger tune.
A recent video of one of my oldest songs. Still a fave :)
I sang this song over the weekend with some kids in extremely creative costumes.
Ukulele + classic tune = Happy Halloween!
Did you make it through all the videos? If so, WOW! (And my apologies for the morning distraction.) Whatever your plans may be for this Halloween day, I hope it is a spook-tacular one. See you back here in November!
Halloween is still a week away, which gives you plenty of time to share a few spooky (and not-so-spooky) tunes with your students or even your own children.
I’ve gotten plenty of use out of my Halloween song collection throughout the month of October, and wanted to make it readily available to you — which is why it’s now on sale for $5. Take a listen to the songs below:
To take advantage of the Halloween Week discount, just click “Buy” and pay securely using PayPal or a credit card. You can bet I’ll be singing these songs like crazy over the next seven days, before it’s tune to bust out the turkey tunes!
The title of this post is a bit deceiving, because as I’ve stated — oh, a thousand times or so — I don’t really like Halloween at all! But I put on a happy face for my students this time of year, and sing “I Like Halloween” with plenty of (believable) enthusiasm.
Lisa Casciola, MT-BC (owner of Kids Sing Studio) is my former internship supervisor who turned me on to this song and Cathy Bollinger’s music in general. Cathy was a huge inspiration to me as I began songwriting, and even responded to an email I sent her a couple of years ago asking for some advice. Her words of encouragement went a long way, and now my music is listed right alongside hers on Songs For Teaching. Pretty amazing!
Anyway, getting back to this song. I love its versatility, not to mention that it’s short, memorable, and catchy. A nice one to have in your bag of tricks, for sure. I’ve learned all kinds of new things about my students through this song, and I now know what each of them are planning to dress up as for Halloween and what kind of candy they are hoping to receive. So much Halloween fun, so little time…only one more week until we move on to Thanksgiving. Thank goodness!
I know October has only just begun, but I’m making a concerted effort to get into the Halloween spirit this year. Those of you that have read this blog for awhile or who know me in real life are aware that I am not a fan of this particular “holiday”. But almost every child is, including my own students, so my efforts are for their sake :) We’ll see how this goes…
“Halloween Stew” is a good way to ease into the Halloween season, because it brings back so many great memories of music class with Mrs. Goodhart in the basement of Butler Elementary. Every October, we’d look forward to listening to the recording of “Witches’ Brew” by Hap Palmer; I’d sing it so frequently at home that even my little brother knew all the words!
One way to make this an interactive activity with my students is to have them help me write new verses to the song. What kinds of things would they put in their own Halloween Stew? I might even have them draw their own pictures, and add them to the “pot” as they are mentioned in the song. The greatest part is that there is no wrong answer (unless they suggest inappropriate items, which, if you work with older children especially, you know that happens from time to time).
There are probably about a hundred other ways to incorporate this song into a lesson, music therapy session, or just for fun. Got any others? Let’s hear them!
Coming down with the flu can really set a girl back, you know? I’ve spent the last two days catching up on the work I should have been doing on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, when instead, I was laying in bed with a fever, cough, and headache. But thankfully, I am all better now and ready to take on this busy weekend!
And that includes, of course, HALLOWEEN. So in celebration of the spookiest day of the year, today’s Friday Fave is dedicated to dressing up, trick-or-treating, and scarfing down candy. I will be doing all of the above tomorrow at a friend’s costume party…what about you? Do you have any big Halloween day plans?
Oh, I also have to tell you that two of my students won our paper’s local costume contest and were featured on the front page of the State Journal-Register today! Take a look at these cute little slices of pizza:
Adorable, right? The girls’ mom made those costumes, and their win was well-deserved :) What are your little ones going as? I had so much fun looking at all of my students’ costumes at school today, from cheerleaders to jailbirds and everything in between.
Enjoy your Halloween; stay safe and have fun! Here’s a little tune to hum as you go to door-to-door with your little ghost or goblin.
Do you know about a day
That’s not so very far away
Everywhere there’s orange and black
And chills are running up your back.
Jack-o-lanterns and ghosts and bats,
Witches and goblins and big black cats
Spooky spooks come out to play
On the thirty-first, Halloween Day.
Let’s pick a costume we can wear
And all the neighbors, we will scare
When at their door we trick or treat
And they will give us something sweet.
Jack-o-lanterns and ghosts and bats,
Witches and goblins and big black cats
Spooky spooks come out to play
On the thirty-first, Halloween Day.
Greetings, and happy Halloween! Because it is a special day, Friday Faves has been postponed until next week (sorry!). You probably know by now that this isn’t exactly my favorite “holiday,” but that hasn’t stopped me yet from writing and sharing my collection of sometimes spooky but mostly silly Halloween songs. Today’s song leans a little bit more towards the spooky side, but don’t worry – it is appropriate for all ages and stages of development.
Do you know about a day
That’s not so very far away
Everywhere there’s orange and black
And chills are running up your back.
Jack-o-lanterns and ghosts and bats,
Witches and goblins and big black cats
Spooky spooks come out to play
On the thirty-first, Halloween Day.
Let’s pick a costume we can wear
And all the neighbors, we will scare
When at their door we trick or treat
And they will give us something sweet.
Jack-o-lanterns and ghosts and bats,
Witches and goblins and big black cats
Spooky spooks come out to play
On the thirty-first, Halloween Day.
Today is a super busy day at school, but in between trick-or-treating throughout the building, visiting the “haunted hallway” complete with a “graveyard”, and celebrating at a huge party in the gym this afternoon, we’ll find some time to squeeze in music therapy.
Though my feelings toward Halloween are lukewarm at best, I am trying my best to get into the spirit for the sake of those who enjoy this spooktacular day. Tonight, Zach (my husband) and I are going to attend a Halloween party dressed as a certain singing duo…any guesses?? (Hint: if only I had an autoharp, my costume would be perfect.)
I hope you enjoyed today’s installment of Listen & Learn Music. Have a great day, and I’ll see you this weekend as we kick off November in style.