Emergency musical intervention

I sewed these up for us to wear for the 4th from 2 tees!

Have you been having a lovely summer?  We were - and still are, except for an unwelcome visitor this week in the form of a cold for the poor 1 year old Dude.  I had to come home from a play group this  morning because of his hysterics - and it was just across the street!

When we got home, I knew I had one of two choices - turn on Nick Jr. or try to find something he wouldn't scream at.  I got out my trusty laptop and opened this page I'd pinned into my Kid-y board on Pinterest (are you on Pinterest??  I want to follow you!!!):

http://counting-on-me.blogspot.com/2011/05/101-things-to-do-with-your-toddler.html

While he rolled on the floor screaming, I scrolled down as fast as I could and spotted this gem:

36. Bang on Pots and Pans with a spoon

I ran to the pantry, grabbed some pots and utensils, put them in the living room and waited.  It was about 3 seconds until the air was filled with a cacophony I far prefer to tantrums.

I grabbed some utensils of different materials and watched them experiment with the sounds.

Then they got clever and tried some of their own...

What about a truck, or a train whistle?

What about 3 different spoons they use regularly? (WonderGirl grabbed these from the drawer on her own!)

What about a hippo flashlight?

Or a puppy?  (the nose is plastic so that was a neat surprise for the Dude)

What about just using your hands?

WG put them in order of smallest to largest and tested out the pitches that way.

What about stomping with your feet??  (I only let that fly for a minute or so :)

And magically - I finally saw this again:

book review: unplugged play

Unplugged Play: No Batteries. No Plugs. Pure Fun.

Hello summer!!  Do you ever have days where you are scrambling for ideas?  You want to play with the kids but you are just too frazzled to come up with an answer?  Unplugged Play is my lifesaver!  The ideas are great and short - when I'm sitting in the living room and feeling lost, I can literally reach for this book and within 30 seconds be playing a fabulous game that the kids are gaga for.  And with the handy index in the back, you can find dozens of musical play or singing games.  The book says it's for ages 1-10, but I'm an old thirty-something that has a ball with them too.  The book was a gift from my mom (of course!) and not a day goes by that I don't thank my lucky stars for it.  Do you have any go-to parenting books?

Blue's Clues - Blue's Big Musical Movie

After our 15+ hour drive with the kids, I am even more thankful for modern technology, MP3 players and portable DVD players.  Technological manna, people.  We have a great collection of kid movies for road trips, and a big favorite for both kids is Blue's Big Music Movie.  It has all the fun problem-solving features of a Blue's Clues episode as the usual crew gets ready to put on a big music show - BUT - it also has a segment on composing with none other than Ray Charles as "G-Clef!"  Mr. Charles gives Steve directions as he dances on a huge staff and a piano, playing around with pitches until he finds the melody that works the best.  It's fantastic!

I love this movie because it's long - 78 minutes, which is fabulous for a long car ride - and engaging.  It never fails to entertain, and I love hearing my kids shouting answers to questions on the show.  If you are gearing up for summer road trips, I highly recommend adding this to your playlists.  What are your must-have movies and music for travel? 

Nursery Rhyme Jazz : Baby Loves Jazz

One gem about visiting my mom is all of her awesome teaching materials.  Besides all the things she accumulated from teaching elementary music for years, she's also a book junkie and collects absolute keepers.  Baby Loves Jazz is a part of the Baby Loves Music franchise which also runs the Baby Loves Disco events.  And are held no where near me, humph.

The company has so many books and CDs out it's overwhelming, so I'm just going to go with Nursery Rhyme Jazz for now.  The board book is bright, fun and engaging for even my spastic one year old.  The real treat is the accompanying CD that has jazz versions of Hey Diddle Diddle, the Itsy Bitsy Spider and others - and they are actually really good.;  Not your typical kiddie music that makes us parents slightly nauseous but we play it anyway because our kids enjoy it - this is something all ages can enjoy.  We played it in the car for days and sang along the whole time (so I'm including this under the Living Room Dance Party tag... those can happen in cars too!).  We also especially enjoyed Ella Elephant Scats Like That and I'll get around to a review at some point.  Check out the whole line, and tell me what your favorite is!

Ode to Joy, by my Sunshine!

She did it!! She practiced it about 20 times yesterday (I did not... obviously:) - I was a little nervous because she's used to playing on a keyboard and a real piano needs much more pressure to play the keys, but she didn't miss a beat. Woohoo!!

E is so easy!

5 down, 19 to go!

D D D D D D D D!

We have a Daddy, and a drum set and a stuffed dog. Let the D video commence!  It was awesome having Daddy as a guest star, and as much as our home and its inhabitants can resemble an insane asylum at times, I feel so amazingly blessed that this is my family :)

Let's Sing Together video #2

It  has been a while since the first Let's Sing Together video - for a variety of reasons, but mostly because the Dude's approach to singing time is that of excited audience member.  It concerned me for a bit, because what parent doesn't want to have the most interactive kid at library story time??  Plus the only other child I've parented has the memory of an elephant and can sing you just about every song she's ever heard.... but I'm having a change of heart - because though our singing time usually consists of me singing to him, he is a VERY appreciative recipient of the music.  So what if he doesn't want to parrot out the actions with me?  It's obvious he's a human sponge.

This is an adorable fingerplay song called Open Shut Them that I learned with WonderGirl in her early library storytime days.  I've heard it with music, or just chanted, but either way it's a winner.  We're only doing the first 4 lines because I'm trying to focus on the "Open" and "Shut" parts of the song.  I can get him to open his hand, but when we shut them he starts giggling and it stalls things.  Not that I'm complaining - it's flippin' adorable.  Here are the actual wordy words:

Open, Shut Them

Open, shut them; Open, shut them,
Give a little clap,
Open, shut them; Open, shut them,
Lay them in your lap.
Creep them; creep them,
Slowly Creep them; creep them,
Right up to your chin,
Open wide your little mouth
But do not put them in. 

Open, shut them; Open, shut them,
To your shoulder fly
Let them, like the little birdies Flutter to the sky.
Falling, falling, downward falling
Almost to the ground,
Quickly raising all your fingers
Twirl them 'round and 'round and 'round

Valentine-y

It's so cold and miserable here in the Midwest that I have gained a new appreciation for Valentines Day.  ANYthing that involves chocolate and red things is a welcome distraction during this time of year!  So why not add some sweet songs to the mix?  I realized I had never taught WonderGirl Skidda Marinka Dinky Dink, which is almost as much of a travesty as my spelling of its title, so that's my goal for the weekend.  Maybe for the big day I'll manage to get a video of us singing it - but I think just by our singing it with each other will lift our sagging snowed-in spirits.


Here's a cute video I found of a bunch of school children singing it for Mother's Day:



Sing it with your wee one this Valentines Day!


Skinny marinky dinky dink
Skinny marinky doo
I love you

Skinny marinky dinky dink
Skinny marinky do
I love you

I love you in the morning
and in the afternoon.
I love you in the evening
and underneath the moon

Skinny marinky dinky dink
Skinny marinky doo
I love you!

3-armed singing

Sometimes, when a violin student is having problems with notes, the teacher will let them focus on their left hand by playing the bow for them.  Piano teachers do this too by playing one hand so their student can pay attention to their other hand.  This got me to thinking - the teacher and student become one musician, kind of like 2 people running a 3-legged race.  So WonderGirl and I tried this out with some hand motion songs - the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Do A I'm Doing.  It took a lot more concentration than you'd think, but it is now one of our favorite activities to do together.  Especially since it combines two of her favorite pastimes - snuggling and singing.  Give it a try!

Wee Sing and Lean ABC

I LOVE this book and CD!  Besides the obvious awesomeness of another ABC book, this also showcases a TON of instruments.  From "Abe the alligator plays the accordion" to "Zelda the zebra plays the zither" it covers just about every animal and instrument there are.  It's a large board book so it's easy for small hands to manage and there a lots of neat details for a older kid.  The CD has a short song about each letter and plays its accompanying instrument.  Great for shorter attention spans, and an awesome CD for the car.  It sparks lots of discussions about how each instrument is played, plus it's easy to sing along with.  You can find Wee Sing & Learn ABC book and CD here on Amazon.

A is the letter of the day!

We've been hit by the Midwest weather insanity (or as one friend called it, the Bass Clef Of Doom ) so we started playing around.  The Dude doesn't know his alphabet yet, but he loves movies AND music, so WonderGirl and I combined the two and wrote a song about the letter A this afternoon. Maybe we'll even get around to the other letters!  But this was a fun start. I hope the Dude likes it!

Living Room Dance Party #3

Anna mentioned to me that finding the right kind of classical dance-around-like-mad music can be tricky.  I completely agree - and for my next installment for the Living Room Dance Party, I picked a rip-roarin' good time!

Who doesn't like Aaron Copland?  Is that even possible??  Everything he wrote - and I mean everything - makes my spirit sing.  Both of these ballet scores are must-haves.  Your kid won't recognize the Hoedown suite as the "Beef - it's what's for dinner" theme, they'll just love jumping around with the huge dynamic changes from super quiet to WOWEE LOUD.

One of my favorites is the Buckaroo Holiday from Rodeo.  I found a video on Youtube of the Indiana University's working and dress rehearsals of it, and it's pretty neat to see the actual ballet moves.  I personally think they could benefit from some of our living room choreography, but it's impressive nonetheless :)



I grew up listening to this recording from Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony that gave me an early love and appreciation for Copland.  Another great recording is the Leonard Bernstein Copland collection - I heartily approve his tempi and style.

This recording comes in a downloadable MP3 version as well as a regular CD, PLUS it also has Appalachian Spring AND Fanfare For the Common Man, both of which regularly make me weep.  Of course I'm already a seriously weepy person, but they are still absolutely amazing.  I'm saving those tunes for other Living Room Dance Parties as they are their own kind of awesome dance possibilities.  Now go get your rompin' and stompin' on!

Making maestros

3 year old Jonathan conducting to the 4th movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony,
via Rosie (thanks!)


We're not at THIS point yet, but we do love some conducting around here.  Sometimes we quiet the wiggles in church by helping the kids conduct the music from their chairs, and sometimes we conduct to the music on the radio in the car or living room.  It's a great way to get them moving and start learning rhythm.

Every Monday we have family night and open with a song and WonderGirl, ever the drama queen, insists on conducting it.  One week, and we all sang and followed her tempo exactly.  At first, she was amused that suddenly the movement of her arms could be so powerful and she had a ball slowing things down and then speeding them up again.  Sometimes my husband or I take turns conducting and she has to follow our tempo.   The one-year-old Dude has no idea what we're doing, but he finds it, like most things it life, hilarious, and runs around in circles while we sing, laughing hysterically.  Do you have any games that you use to teach tempo?  Share!

Living Room Dance Party #2

Hot Air Balloon by Owl City is magic.  Honestly, it's magic.  From the time the Dude was a teeny tiny baby and acting as such, if I happened to turn on this song, he was suddenly transformed into a wiggling ball of literal happiness.  Something about the xylophone-y goodness is just - magical.



 I dare you to not start dancing by the 10 second point.  When our whole house has the grumps, this song sends them packing.  Enjoy!  What are your favorite blues-banishing tunes?

Let's Sing Together video #1

I have such a fantastic model (the Dude) I thought I'd make videos of some of the nursery rhyme-type songs we sing together.  We learned this at story time a few weeks ago and he laughed so hard you couldn't even hear the librarian!  Ignore my insane just-got-out-of-the-shower hair.

Howard's Screechy Violin

My heart skipped a beat when I saw this book in the store a few years ago.  I not-so-secretly would LOVE my kids to choose to play the violin, and not-so-secretly share my propaganda with them at every occasion, so a book about a kid playing violin (on sale, even)??  I bought this so fast my credit card was a-smokin'.

The story is so fantastic - a boy wants to play the violin and practices at home, but the screeching and squawking drove his family and neighbors crazy.  After a while, they had a family meeting, decided if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and they all picked up an instrument of their own and started a family band.

How awesome is that??  Especially because I also not-so-secretly want to start a band with our whole family and all be rockstars together.  It's published by Fischer Price and is a Grade 3 level book (although WonderGirl does a pretty good job reading it herself, and she's reading around a 1st grade level).  You can find it here on Amazon for a$.01 and up.  Score!

I have LOADS of favorite music-y books to share with y'all (I'm kind of a junkie), but I'd also love to hear what you have.  What music type books do you love to share with your kids?

Living Room Dance Party #1

Hands down, my favorite Living Room Dance Party CD is the San Francisco Symphony & Chorus' recording of Orff's Carmina Burana.  Dramatic, loud, epic, it's fantastic.  If you don't regularly rock out to symphonic music, THIS is the one to try.  I've spent at least half of my life sitting in orchestras, and this is my all time favorite thing to play (and I'm a verra picky player).  There isn't a moment in the entire piece where I ever get bored, and it's perfect to play with kids around, since all 26 movements are around 2 minutes in length, and the longest is only about 4.

The version I adore is the San Fransisco Symphony & Chorus 1991 recording with Herbert Blomstedt.  They nailed it.  (and I've heard some disasters - beware!)

And people - it absolutely lends itself to interpretive dance.  This is the kind of thing that window blinds were made for - go nuts.  Take the first movement here (the first 2 and a half minutes) - it's like the choreography writes itself.



Press play and try some of my sweet moves here:

0 - :22  Clomp around like you are a dinosaur.
:22 -1:36  Pretend like you are sneaking about, searching for lost treasure.
1:37- 2:16: Run around like a maniac (you found the treasure, woohoo!)
2:17 - 2:26 Spin spin spin!
2:27 - 2:30 Try to stand up, fall down on top of each other because you are all crazy dizzy.

Seriously, try it!  When I turn this puppy on, the energy level in the house skyrockets and the kids get absolutely giddy.  Now, when I turn the music on and have to step out for a minute, I come back and both kids are doing all the same moves, every time.  Even the 17 month old!  He especially anticipates the spinning part, he knows exactly where it is, and even sings along with come of the the melodies, too!  These kid-things are like sponges!  WonderGirl, my 4 year old, plays choreographer with following movements and barks out orders ("Now you're frog, looking for flies!  HOP!!").

What are your favorite tunes for Living Room Dance parties??