Free Download: “Little Red Apples”
This is one of many counting songs I’ve written, which focuses on counting both up to 5 and down from 5. I created simple apple visual aides (using red construction paper and then laminating) which my students can then manipulate as we count.
Click here to download the mp3 and lyrics/chords.
P.S. If you want access to my entire collection of over 200 songs (mp3, lead sheet, and instrumental track), videos, tutorials, and visual aides, plus ALL new releases from Listen & Learn Music, consider joining me over at Listen & Learn Plus!
Ask Listen & Learn
I get lots of email from Listen & Learn readers. I try to answer each and every question that lands in my inbox, which sometimes takes me hours at a time. So instead of writing the same responses over and over, I thought it might be beneficial to share reader questions and my answers right here for everyone. The first question in my “Ask Listen & Learn” series is as follows:
The children I work with are hospice patients. Our goals center on bonding between mom and patient (not that they have problems bonding, it’s more creating memories) and getting a response from the patient. My patient’s response is declining, due to diagnosis, but the patient still responds to music more so than to other stimulation. AND the patient still communicates…will smile to show pleasure, and pouts when upset — will seriously pout by sticking out lower lip when we give the little sibling too much attention during session (it’s pretty cute) and will also turn head away and roll eyes if doesn’t like something (also very cute). I guess my request is for music that is less teaching a skill and more geared towards significantly lower functioning kids.
As a music therapist who works primarily with children in an educational setting, it is easy for me to get tunnel vision as I write my songs — so many of them do tend to “teach” a skill or concept. However, because many of my students are significantly lower functioning, I often adapt the majority of my songs to suit their abilities.
This being said, I am well aware that as busy therapists, parents and teachers, we don’t always have time to rewrite lyrics to existing songs in order to make them suitable for our own children and students. Here are a few Listen & Learn songs that may be appropriate as-is for this particular reader’s patient:
- The Feelings in My Heart: This reader actually cited this particular song as one that was effective, so I’m sharing it more for everyone else’s sake. It doesn’t necessarily require a response from the child, but if he/she is capable of facial expressions, then the child can respond non-verbally.
- Patrick & Polly Pumpkin: I thought I’d throw in a seasonal song here, too. This song doesn’t require any response at all, but it has a nice theme — friendship and feeling loved.
- On the Disney Channel: Even some of my lowest functioning students, those for whom most skill-based songs are too advanced, light up when I sing this one. The characters and shows are familiar and fun, and the song itself is just for enjoyment.
Another option for this patient is a singable story. This is something that not only you, the therapist, can do with the patient, but it is also an activity the parent and child can share on their own later. My personal favorite is The Story of My Feelings, by Laurie Berkner.
If you have a question you’d like for me to answer here at Listen & Learn, simply send me an email (and be sure to include that you’d like it shared on the blog). I would love for Ask Listen & Learn to become a regular feature!
Let’s Count: Hold Up 10 Fingers
After four years of actively writing songs for children, I’ve lost count of the songs I’ve written about counting (no pun intended, hehe). It’s definitely not for lack of other song topics; it’s just that counting is a skill that every child needs to learn, whether it is through signing or speaking.
My latest counting song employs the use of our fingers. Not only does this give the child something visual and concrete to represent each number, but it also involves fine motor coordination and imitation – two more important areas of development.
Hold up one finger,
Hold up just one,
And wave it around
‘Cause we’re almost done.
La la la la, la la la la.
Hold up one finger,
Hold up just one,
And wave it around
‘Cause we’re almost done.
La la la la, la la la la.
Hold up two fingers,
Yes, hold up two,
I had a wonderful
Time with you.
La la la la, la la la la.
Hold up three fingers,
Yes, hold up three,
Now join right in
And sing with me.
La la la la, la la la la.
Hold up four fingers,
Yes, hold up four,
Wiggle and wiggle
And wiggle some more.
La la la la, la la la la.
Hold up five fingers,
Yes, hold up five,
Fly up to the sky,
Then take a dive.
La la la la, la la la la.
Hold up six fingers,
Yes, hold up six,
And tap them like
They’re rhythm sticks.
La la la la, la la la la.
Hold up seven fingers,
Yes, hold up seven,
Down on the ground,
Now up to heaven.
La la la la, la la la la.
Hold up eight fingers,
Yes, hold up eight,
Close them up
Just like a gate.
La la la la, la la la la.
Hold up nine fingers,
Yes, hold up nine,
Climbing up
A great big vine.
La la la la, la la la la.
Hold up ten fingers,
Yes, hold up ten,
And wave goodbye
To all your friends.
La la la la, la la la la.
Before and after singing the song, I invite the children to verbally and manually (with our hands) count to 10. I added lots of movement to this song so that it’s not just about counting. I also designed it as a cool-down song, meant to be sung near the end of the class, music therapy session, or what have you.
Like I mentioned at the beginning this post, I’ve written lots of counting songs. But it’s not all Listen & Learn, all the time, around here. I want to know: what are your favorite songs for teaching kids to count? Which have worked best for your own students and children? Let’s see how many we can round up!
The goal of this week is to educate as many people as possible about music therapy and its many benefits. The Chicago Tribune featured fellow Illinois music therapist Emily Sevcik in an article called Tune In to Music Therapy Week — how cool is that? You can help join us in our efforts just by sharing links to Listen & Learn (you are here!) and the Illinois Association for Music Therapy via email, Facebook, Twitter, and so on. Every week is Music Therapy Week for me, but it’s nice to have an “official” statewide one…especially since I get to spend part of it with my colleagues from all over Illinois (none of whom live near me). I’m sure I’ll have lots to share with you after our event on Saturday. Thanks for your support, and enjoy your weekend! It’s officially here, even though the Midwest is experiencing temperatures in the high 80s to low 90s. We’re also experiencing quite a downpour this morning, which makes me glad to be safe and sound in my little music therapy office :) As sad as I always am to see the summer end, there is so much to look forward to in the fall. I love watching the trees change color, and the cool, crisp air is refreshing after months of heat and humidity. I’m excited about getting out my pumpkin-scented candles, wearing sweaters, and making plans for Thanksgiving (I don’t give much thought to Halloween aside from writing songs about it, because it is my least favorite “holiday”). I’ve written quite a few fall-themed songs, and I’ll share two of those with you today. “Fall into Fall” is one of the first songs I ever recorded (back when I had an extremely primitive recording set-up) so please disregard the not-so-amazing sound quality. Fall into fall, September, October, November, fall is here. Fall into fall, Football, and pumpkins, and hayrack rides abound. Fall into fall, The air is getting colder, the wind is getting strong. Fall into fall, I want to tell you all about autumn, Autumn is a time to change the clocks, CHORUS Autumn is a time for Halloween, CHORUS Autumn is a time for Thanksgiving, CHORUS So there you go: two songs for a brand-new season! Since I sing about the season every day with my students, it’s nice to have two to alternate so that they don’t get too stale. What are your favorite fall-ish songs? Handbells, jingle bells, sleigh bells, and resonator bells are all a part of my instrument collection, which is probably why I have so many songs about bells! (Each word links to a different song.) But last week I decided that I needed a fresh one to accompany my little bell players, so I adapted a traditional folk tune to get the job done. Ring to the music, la la la. The blank spaces in the song are there so that if being used in a group, I can go around the room and address each student: “Ring to the music, Jessica; ring to the music, Jackson” and so on. I can also add these verses to make the activity a little more interesting and challenging: I tried this song out yesterday with my Church Mice group using tone blocks, and I’m happy to report that it was a success :) But really, anytime you ask a child to play an instrument quickly and/or loudly, it will most likely go over well! What are your favorite “bell” songs? My little website has been through a lot over the past 24 months. It started as a wee blogspot blog, and then became a BIG blogspot blog when it was featured as a “Blog of Note” by Blogger last September. But it outgrew its home this summer, and thus found a new one as a self-hosted WordPress site. Now it’s bigger and better than ever, and it’s not done growing yet! Listen & Learn has allowed me so many great opportunities, including having a songbook published, recording a studio album, and meeting hundreds of wonderful readers (both online and in the real world). I have so many more plans for L&L — it feels like I’ve just gotten started! I continue to be inspired by those of you who read, comment, and benefit from Listen & Learn, so I hope you’ll keep doing all of those things. I can’t wait to share what I have up my sleeve in the coming weeks, months, and years. Thank you so much for your support, and for helping me celebrate! Scared that I wouldn’t be taken seriously (I wasn’t, at first). Scared that I wouldn’t know what I was doing (I didn’t, at first). Scared that this place would be too much for me (it was, at first). But time passed. As I got more comfortable, I became a better therapist; as I became a better therapist, my colleagues began to understand — and even enjoy — this music therapy thing. They saw the positive effects it had on our students, which was all that really mattered. There are still lots of people who don’t “get” music therapy, who question its validity. I’m lucky to have been able to educate so many people simply by doing my job, but my work is not done yet. (Check out Kimberly Sena Moore’s video What is Music Therapy? for more on this topic, as well as a recent podcast episode I co-hosted where we explore this question in depth.) No easy feat, right? I was a nervous wreck that first year, not knowing how my students would react to such a huge crowd (let alone singing into microphones with spotlights shining on them). But as it turns out, I was the only one who was nervous — the students certainly weren’t! I have learned that if you give kids the chance to shine, they will take full advantage of that opportunity (in a good way). That was apparent during the Celebrity Chef performances, when my piano students competed in Festival, each time I invite a child to sing a “solo” during a music class or therapy group, and countless others. Those feelings of inhibition and self-consciousness we feel as adults? Yea, most kids are lucky enough not to have them. There’s no better feeling than the rush of performing for a captive audience, except maybe the applause and words of praise that follow. My students have experienced that before, and are looking forward to doing it once again tomorrow night. This time I’m keeping my nerves at bay…I can’t wait to watch them shine. You’ve probably noticed that if you sign up for my email newsletter, you get my “Weather” album completely free as a welcome gift. Those are the same weather songs I use with my students every day in the classroom and during music therapy, but there is another weather song that isn’t on that album. “What Else Do I Need?” is a song that lists the extra things we need to wear in certain kinds of weather, like when it’s sunny, chilly, raining, or cold. I sing this right after My Clothes & Shoes (another daily fixture). I have a laminated visual aide for each type of weather which displays a picture illustrating the weather, the actual word, and the extra items of clothing or protection needed for that type of weather. So my bonus onus to you is this: both the mp3 of “What Else Do I Need?” along with a pdf containing the sheet music & visual aides I use to go with it. The downloads will begin as soon as you click the links. Free Download: Audio MP3 and Sheet Music + Visual Aide I hope you enjoy and get as much use out of this song as I do! If so, you might think about joining Listen & Learn Plus, where I share downloads such as these (along with more cool stuff) every week. Mr. Alligator here is part of a set of animal puppets I received as a Christmas present a few years ago. (I owe my family members big time for helping me grow my music therapy instrument and prop collection when I first started my career!) They are quite an eclectic bunch (the puppets, not my family members) and don’t have a whole lot in common, so I’ve struggled in the past with coming up for good uses with them. Here they are in their little drawer: a lamb, parrot, rabbit, bear, mouse, and alligator. See what I mean when I said eclectic? They all live in different environments, so I couldn’t do a “forest” or “jungle” song…or could I? That’s when I got the idea to combine all of those different environments into 1 song, using one of my personal favorites as a template. Here’s my animal puppet version of “In the Jungle” — which can easily be adapted to include any puppets or stuffed animals you have lying around! In the jungle, the mighty jungle In the jungle, the mighty jungle In the swamp, the mighty swamp In the forest, the might forest In the farm, the mighty farm In the backyard, the mighty backyard In the house, the mighty house My students get such a kick out of making their puppet “sing” when it’s his or her turn during the song…but probably not as the kick my pup Sadie got out of Mr. Bear: I can get away with a gratuitous picture of my dog because this post is animal-related, right? Ha! I’m curious: how do you get musical with puppets and animals? I’m looking for more ways to incorporate them, just because they are always such a hit. Do share!
Friday Fave: Music Therapy Week in Illinois
This week, we’re celebrating and advocating for music therapy (even more so than usual) in the state of Illinois. The Illinois Association for Music Therapy is holding its annual Fall Meeting and CMTE this Saturday at Illinois State University. I’m especially excited, since as Secretary/Programming Chair, I’ve been planning and preparing for this event over the last few months. The perfect culmination of an entire week devoted to music therapy!
Happy First Day of Fall!
the most colorful season of all.
Orange and gold, red, yellow, and brown,
Leaves are swirling all around.
At the end of December, we know that winter’s near.
the most colorful season of all.
Orange and gold, red, yellow, and brown,
Leaves are swirling all around.
Most of the leaves that were once on trees, are now upon the ground.
the most colorful season of all.
Orange and gold, red, yellow, and brown,
Leaves are swirling all around.
The days are getting shorter, but we keep on singing this song.
the most colorful season of all.
Orange and gold, red, yellow, and brown,
Leaves are swirling all around.
That’s another name for fall.
It begins at the end of September,
When the days are short and the trees are tall.
We fall an hour behind.
We get an extra hour to sleep at night,
‘Cause that’s what happens when we rewind.
Wearing costumes while we trick-or-treat.
Walking around our neighborhood,
Collecting so much candy to eat.
Let’s be thankful for the food on our plate.
And all of the good things in our lives,
With our family, we celebrate.
That’s How We Ring & Sing
Ring to the music, la la la.
Ring to the music, la la la.
Ring to the music, la la la.
Friday Fave: Listen & Learn Turns 2!
They grow up so fast, don’t they? :) This month has been so incredibly busy that I missed Listen & Learn’s actual birthday (September 4, to be exact) but I figured it’s never too late to celebrate! 2 years and 485 posts is worth a little celebration, don’t you think?
Is This Music Therapy Thing For Real?
As I looked at the faces of my colleagues during my first week on the job, I could tell they were all silently asking this question. But really, I couldn’t blame them. Here I was, this 23-year-old kid fresh out of grad school, in my first “real” job, doing something no one around me had ever heard of. I put on a brave face, but I was scared.
Friday Fave: Letting Kids Shine
For the last three years, a group of my students have performed at The Hope Institute’s annual Celebrity Chef event. Tomorrow is the big night — after only two weeks of rehearsal, those kids will get up in front of 300 people and sing their hearts out.
Bonus Onus: Free Sheet Music + Visual Aide
The first Christmas that my husband and I celebrated together, his family introduced me to a new concept. It was the “Bonus Onus” — an extra gift above and beyond what we had already received. I have grown to love that Rambach family tradition (I mean, who wouldn’t?) and today I’m going to give one to you!
“Wimoweh” {Animal Puppet Edition}
The parrot sings tonight,
In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The parrot sings tonight.
The parrot sings tonight,
In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The parrot sings tonight.
The alligator sings tonight,
In the swamp, the mighty swamp
The alligator sings tonight.
The bear sings tonight,
In the forest, the might forest
The bear sings tonight.
The lamb sings tonight,
In the farm, the mighty farm
The lamb sings tonight.
The rabbit sings tonight,
In the backyard, the mighty backyard
The rabbit sings tonight.
The cat sings tonight,
In the house, the mighty house
The cat sings tonight.