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Friday Fave: The Next Alicia Keys

The Next Alicia Keys

I can’t help but share the work of my students, because it never ceases to amaze me. You’ve heard from Jayla before (here and here), and while all of her performances are impressive, the recording I’m posting today might be the most impressive of all.

Jayla is not only a talented singer, but she also plays the guitar and writes her own songs. Over the summer, she attended a prestigious camp for songwriters in Los Angeles, and her songwriting has come such a long way in a short time. We’re working on recording some of Jayla’s original music, but in the meantime, here’s the Alicia Keys song that almost seems to be meant for her to sing.

When I played this for my mom, she could hardly believe that Jayla is only 15 years old. She has such a mature sound, something I noticed at her very first lesson. Jayla takes her music very seriously, and if she keeps it up, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear her on the radio in a few years.

Next, I’ll have to introduce you to Gabby, Jayla’s younger and also extremely talented sister. This family has some good musical genes!

The Ballad of Kitty

I’m pretty darn excited about this song. I mentioned last week that I get lots of my ideas from my mother-in-law, who is a special education teacher; well, the other person I can always count on for unique and creative song topics is Rene, who is an elementary teacher and frequent custom song customer.

Her latest commission might very well be my favorite so far. Rene’s classroom adopts a bat every year from Bat World Sanctuary in Mineral Wells, Texas. The bat they adopted this year, Mr. Kitty, has an interesting story — one that she thought would make for a great song.

Rene will also be using this song to work on other state educational standards such as listening and retelling, identifying problem/solution, characters, retelling a story in sequence, decoding words, word families, and short vowel sounds. She and I think alike in that way…we strive to get as much use out of a song as possible :)

There was one more request from Rene: that I use the melody from one of her favorite childhood songs, “Senor Don Gato”. I was unfamiliar with this tune, but quickly learned it and used it as a template for writing my lyrics. I haven’t been able to get the tune out of my head since recording my version, which you can hear below:

And this might be a stretch, but “The Ballad of Miss Kitty” is even a little Halloween-ish…right? After all, it’s about a cat and a bat. But if you like your Halloween songs a little more orange, spooky, and pumpkin-y, you can check out the rest of my collection here. Happy (haunted) listening!

Working Together

When I’m in need of new song topic ideas, my go-to person is my mother-in-law. She teaches in a special education classroom and incorporates music (mostly mine!) into as many lesson plans as possible.

Since I’m in the middle of a huge project — I’ll share the details soon — my brain has been a little fried, so this was a week where I needed Libby’s help. I called her up and asked her what kind of song she could use in her classroom right now, and she wasted no time sharing her suggestions.

One such suggestion was a song about working together on different classroom tasks throughout the day, so I took that idea and ran with it. Oh, and the melody may have been a teensy bit inspired by the song I sang with my church choir over the weekend (I told you my brain was fried!).

I wanted to keep writing additional verses for this song, but reminded myself that all of you wonderful music therapists, educators and parents will adapt the song for your kiddos as needed! I always consider my recording to be just a jumping off point.

Trick or Treat

With Halloween a mere two weeks away, I couldn’t resist writing a new song to add to my already quite full bag o’ spooky day tricks. While it is definitely NOT my most favorite day of the year, all the imagery related to Halloween makes it very easy to write about. Not to mention that many of my kiddos are big fans!

Trick or Treat is all about — no surprises here — trick or treating. The verses detail how it’s done, including the basic rules (only go to houses with porch lights on, don’t eat unwrapped candy, etc.) while the chorus emphasizes the fun of this yearly ritual.

Since the lyrics aren’t necessarily spooky, I Halloween’d it up a bit by going into a minor key for the chorus. Ya know, just to give it that extra kick. Very rarely do I write entire songs in minor keys, but I take advantage of my opportunities to do so.

You can check out the rest of my Halloween song collection here. What spooky (or not-so-spooky) songs will you be dusting the cobwebs off of to use throughout the next two weeks?

Thank You

Last week, a music therapist sent a Facebook message inquiring if I had a song about saying “thank you”. Although I did write a song about saying please a few months back, I realized that I didn’t yet have a song about the OTHER magic words.

First, I recommended that she check out Laurie Berkner’s song, Mahalo — which I have used frequently over the years. Then I got to work writing and recording, and now I can share with her my brand-new song, Thank You.

Laurie Berkner’s “Mahalo” actually inspired the bridge section of my song…and since my husband and I are heading to Maui in December, I thought it would be appropriate to include the Hawaiian way of saying thank you :)

The Alphabet

Sometimes I really have to wrack my brain for new song topics…and other times, I find myself humming a kicked-up version of “The Alphabet Song” for which the lyrics come spilling out.

That is exactly what happened last week as I was working on a completely unrelated project, so I immediately switched gears and took advantage of this inspired moment. What emerged is an alphabet song that supplements the original with info-packed verses (plus a drum beat and kalimba to boot).

I wanted to maintain the essence of the alphabet song that everyone already knows, which is why the chorus begins with the same melody and I include the original in its entirety at the end.

Since this is an educational concept that every child needs to learn at some point, I’m all for exposing them to lots of different teaching tools (another is one of my favorite singable stories, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom).

Another reason I wrote this song? Well, this one is purely selfish; I’m just a little tired of singing the same old song I learned as a toddler. I include that old standby in my weekly early childhood music class, so perhaps soon I’ll switch to the new one for a breath of fresh air. I’m sure the parents won’t mind, either!

Friday Fave: Look, I’m on TV!

I freely admit that I have NO SHAME whatsoever when it comes to self promotion, especially where music therapy is involved. In fact, just this week I wrote a guest post about how to attract publicity. Sometimes those efforts pay off, and you get to spread the word about your passion to a big audience like I did yesterday!

I was thrilled when Joe Barlow from WCIA’s afternoon show ciLiving.tv contacted me about doing a story on Music Therapy Connections. A few days later, he was at my studio interviewing me and then filming my early childhood music class. Joe did an amazing job putting the piece together, which you can watch here.

Thanks, Joe and WCIA! The more people who learn about music therapy, the more people can benefit from it. Someday EVERYONE will know how effective it is, but until then, I guess I will just have to keep up with the shameless promotion ;)

Fall, Fall, Fall

As of Saturday, it’s officially fall! My kitchen is stocked with pumpkin waffles and pumpkin spice Coffee Mate, there’s an “autumn leaves” scented candle burning in my office, and I’ve broken out the cold weather cycling gear…yep, summer is over. So it only made sense that this week’s new song is dedicated to the new season.

“Fall, Fall, Fall” is a peppy little number — perfect for a brisk Monday morning, right? I’m pounding the keys and working the drums in my recording, but when I use this song with my students, a simple uke or guitar strum will do just fine. After all, the focus is on the words, which are all about…you guessed it…fall ;)

It will be nice to give my older autumn anthems a little rest as I add this to my repertoire. And while it’s crazy to think that Halloween and Thanksgiving are just around the corner, I’m already getting excited about pulling out the songs that go with them (and of course, writing new ones). Happy fall, y’all!

Boom Tote, Baby!

No lie: I used to store and transport my boomwhackers in a metal trash can. Yes, a TRASH CAN! That trash can now go back to serving its intended purpose, thanks to the Boom Tote.

I have known Michelle Erfurt to be a forward thinker and entrepreneur since the day I “met” her — after all, her inaugural email to me was an offer to publish a songbook based on the Listen & Learn song series. And in the four years since, I have also come to know her as a crafty DIY expert.

So what happens when a music therapist combines business savvy with sewing expertise? The Boom Tote, that’s what! What started out as a small project has now become an indispensable addition to the music therapy equipment I use on a daily basis, thanks to Michelle.

The boom tote recently got some major upgrades. The new features make it better than ever, and in my opinion, any music therapist who uses boomwhackers (and I know there are lots of us!) should have one.

First of all, there are three fabrics to choose from. My paisley tote is so pretty, don’t you think?! But even better is that the totes are sewn in a way that makes them very strong, which is vital since they are no doubt going to be handled by little (and not always so gentle) hands.

Next, the drawstring closure keeps boomwhackers from falling out, which was always a problem with my former boom “tote” (a.k.a. trash can). I can just slip the shoulder strap over my arm and go while still carrying an armload of other instruments and materials.

My most favorite feature of the boom tote is the outside zippered pocket, which Michelle suggests you can use for Octavator caps, business cards, or keys. I almost always use it to store my keys and small wallet, since I don’t like bringing a purse with me to my groups and classes.

You can get the full run-down on the official website and Facebook page. Michelle will have plenty of boom totes on hand at AMTA national conference next month, but I suggest getting yours ASAP!

Meant To Go Together

The title of this song is a bit misleading, because mostly it’s about things that are NOT meant to go together. In fact, Ialmost used a line from the song — “…onions on chocolate ice cream” — as the title. And while that would have no doubt piqued your curiosity, I decided it was a little too random (not to mention that I would never have found an appropriate photo for the album cover!).

I had a few goals for this song as I was writing it: 1) it needed to be silly, 2) it needed to have strong visual references, and 3) it had to have at least some educational value. The first two were a no-brainer, which you’ll see once you listen to the song, but the third didn’t come to me until I was almost finished writing the song. I’ll explain after you listen:

The first two verses are obviously made up of things that don’t go together, which provides the opportunity for kiddos to provide new words so that each line makes sense. I corrected both verses at the end of the song, but for use in an actual music therapy or classroom setting, I think it would be much more fun for students to come up with their own versions.

And of course, the entire song could be rewritten with new funny verses (either by you or kiddos). How fun would that be to see what wacky lines a group of students comes up with? I’m thinking there’s an art project just screaming to go along with this song!