by Rachel | Listen & Learn Music
The first time I sing this song with a group of kids, it catches them off guard — which is exactly what I was going for when I wrote it. There they are, all ready to wiggle their fingers/toes/knees/etc. and BOOM! I drop the “W” bomb on them.
No child likes to wait, but learning to be patient is an important skill even at an early age. So is listening carefully, which are two goals for the song Ready, Set, Wait. The other include body part identification, motor skills, and following directions.
Once my students get used to hearing “wait” before it’s time to wiggle, I like to change it up on them and skip right to “go”. This is an excellent way to test their listening skills (and give them a good giggle).
I included this song in our current early childhood music class session, and it’s been an earworm around our studio these last couple of weeks. As annoying as that can get, it’s also the sign of an effective song…especially where kids are concerned!
P.S. Did you know that you can gain instant access to a vast collection of over 200 songs (mp3, lead sheet, and instrumental track), videos, tutorials, and visual aides, plus ALL new releases from Listen & Learn Music?
by Rachel | Listen & Learn Music
During a brainstorming session for an upcoming early childhood class, my partner Katey mentioned that she had written a song about monkey sounds. She suggested picking up some cute stuffed monkeys to use as props, which sparked the idea for this song.
I’ve been a longtime fan of the book Eight Silly Monkeys ever since adding it to my singable story collection during my internship. So I took the tune I use for that book and changed up the words, which resulted in a fun new instrument song for our younger kiddos.
Since our early childhood classes have more than five children in them, we usually up the number of monkeys in the song to reflect our class size. I took a quick video of Katey putting this song into action last night:
The monkeys are a huge hit, if you couldn’t tell from the video! We ordered them here, and we use our Remo Gathering Drum (though I think it’s time to invest in an even bigger one!).
P.S. Did you know that you can gain instant access to a vast collection of over 200 songs (mp3, lead sheet, and instrumental track), videos, tutorials, and visual aides, plus ALL new releases from Listen & Learn Music?
by Rachel | Listen & Learn Music
Sometimes I come across a song I wrote YEARS ago that just needs a little facelift. Bells are for Shaking is definitely one of those songs, because it’s such an effective one for hitting so many different targeted objectives.
When I sing this song with my kiddos, I’m working on following directions, motor skills, identification of left and right hands, and attention to task. As far as they are concerned, they’re just playing bells and having fun (isn’t this the case so often in music therapy!?).
I dug this song out of my archives for the latest session of Listen & Learn for Little Ones, my early childhood music class, which necessitated a new recording to include on the class CD.
Much better than my 2009 version, if I do say so myself! Out of all the “bell” songs I’ve written, this one is probably my favorite…and I’m pretty sure my students feel the same way. Hope you can get some good use out of it, too.
by Rachel | Listen & Learn Music
This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned what a HUGE fan I am of the movement props created by Bear Paw Creek. Their stretchy bands and connect-a-bands are both staples in my collection, and I just recently added their bean bags as well.
There are so many ways to incorporate bean bags into my music therapy sessions and early childhood music classes, but I knew exactly how I wanted to introduce them for the first time — with a brand new song, of course :)
I wrote “I Have a Bean Bag” with several goals in mind: listening skills, body part identification, and imitation. An added bonus skill this song addresses is balancing, which is funny to watch my kiddos try to do once they’ve placed the bean bag on the correct body part.
Although this song was written with bean bags in mind, I’ve already adapted it for scarves in bigger groups where I don’t have enough bean bags to go around (yet!).
A special thanks goes to Janet Stephens, owner and creator of the products at Bear Paw Creek, for her support of Listen & Learn Music. Everything in her shop is made right here in the U.S.A. and is of the utmost quality. Please check out her movement props and other resources if you haven’t already!
by Rachel | Resources & Tips
The fall session of Church Mice, the early childhood music class I’ve been leading since way back when I was in grad school, ended last week. I’m always a little bummed when it’s over, because it is a big highlight of my week. I love that it’s super casual — anyone can drop in and it’s totally free, no registration required.
The class is designed for children ages 0-4, though we always have older siblings joining in. That makes for an interesting but super fun dynamic! I love watching the tiny kiddos interact with the big kids, and vice versa.
We play lots of instruments in both structured and non-structured ways. I think it’s so important to give little ones the opportunity to be creative with their music-making. I get some good ideas from them, in all honesty.
Some of the kids in the group stay close to their grown-up, while others would much rather jump into the middle of the circle. Many children will hang back for the first few weeks, and then by the last week, will be front and center getting into the action.
My mom brings my little boy, Parker, to class each week. He loves my guitar and would much rather be playing it as opposed to any of the other instruments I offer him (naturally).
A huge thank you to Matt Larison, an extremely talented photographer here in Springfield, who so beautifully captured these moments at last week’s class.
