Korean Children's Book and Ocean Songs

One of the wonderful things about social media is finding wonderfully inclusive children's literature. JoJos Book Club is one of my favorite pages on instagram. I appreciate the honest and straightforward reviews and have found some really beautiful inclusive books there.  A couple days ago I found The Ocean Calls which is very new- just published in August 2020. Written by Asian American Tino Cho and illustrated by Asian Canadian Jess Snow this is a beautifully told and illustrated story of a South Korean island community of haenyeo - deep-sea divers. Grandma and her fellow divers, all older women, dive without oxygen deep into the ocean to gather abalone, sea urchins, and other treasures. Granddaughter Dayeon wants to be a haenyeo like her "treasure hunting Grandma" but she’s scared. Grandma shows patience as she listens then says, “Can’t you hear what the waves are saying? They’re calling to us to come home.”

The book can be used as a jumping off point to connect culture in so many ways.

Here are several links and song images.

Songs of the Haenyeo divers

Video Documentary of 12 year old novice diver

Korean Dragonfly Song

Ganggangsullae, Korean dance music of the full moon

Enjoy!!!

 

Make an Ocean Drum and Ocean Canon

My most lovely friend and fellow Orff teacher, Crystal Pridmore, shared  a beautiful ocean canon on the facebook group, The Singing Space. Most of you know I am originally from Maine and have a pretty serious love affair with all things ocean.  When I heard this lovely canon, I loved it for it's simplicity, but also for the orchestration and minor key tonality. Beautiful! Crystal so kindly gave me permission to share the song and also the activity she sent to her students remotely on making an ocean drum.
Originally pitched in a minor, I have written it in d minor as that would work for children's voices. Hope you enjoy listening and find a way to incorporate this into lessons with students as school ends or as a beginning of the year activity or anytime next year.

Make An Ocean Drum

By the Beach Canon

Have a wonderful day! 

Vamos a la mar

Let's go to the sea!  I love the ocean - I recently did a video on my facebook site - @ofortunaorff with the ocean in the background while I sang a beach song and used cockle shells!
This is a lovely song from Guatemala and has a rhythm activity where small groups create rhythms using ocean animals. You can choose to have the students create the contrasting sections in Spanish or English and there are four different "sets" of rhythmic building blocks - colored, black and white, with rhythms, and without.
Consider adding ocean drums and rainsticks.  This is also a good one for ukulele - F and C7!
Email me for the full pdf - musicquilt@hotmail.com.
Now make plans to go to the beach!

Sing a Song of the Sea

As the end of the school year is in sight, why not take your students on a few "vacations"!  Musical ones, of course! 
First up is the beach.  This shot is from Maine, my home state. Our beaches are more rocky than sandy, but incredibly scenic with lobster boats, rocks, lighthouses and sea roses (pink flowers at bottom left of pic).

 

 

Some of the children we teach may never have experienced a beach before; mix some salt in water and give them a smell or have them dip their fingers in to taste the salt water.  Bring in a variety of sea shells but you will definitely need some ridged ones today; these are called cockles.  Yes, like the song "Cockles and Mussels".  They look like this:

Here are a few song suggestions for your trip:

The Waves

This is a lovely song by Lynn Kleiner from "Songs of the Sea" book.  My kids love to sing this with a stretchy band; up, down, in, out.  On "out" we pull back as faaaaar as we can!  Beautiful song, you will get the idea here, although with preschoolers using scarves.

Aquarium

This is an idea developed by my friend Laurie and I. Buy a bunch of colored Dollar Tree paper plates! Cheap and colorful! Ask your art teacher to have the kiddos cut these into spirals or do this yourself.  Hold the middle part and let the rest of the spiral fall. Use Carnival of the Animals "Aquarium" music. Tell the students you are going to take a trip today under the ocean; share pictures of octopus, coral, whales, jellyfish, etc. Tell them today they are going to be a jellyfish; ask them how jellyfish move; can they move their hand like a jellys? Legs like jellys, head like jellys, bodies like jellys?

Stand, hold the paper jellyfish (aka spirals) and move to the music; no jellys touching each other because they'll sting each other and die (you, the shark, will tap on their shoulders and they'll sit). Parts of the music have lots of descending passages, demonstrate to the class how to move your jellyfish from high to low. 

Usually I have half the class as part of the ocean (under big blue scarves) or seaweed (green scarves or other green props) or coral (orange/pink scarves).  These students stay grounded on the ocean floor and can't move about.  We play about half the piece of music and then switch jobs and begin again. 

Scuba Diver

 

 Mermaid's Song

I recently came across a beautiful quote and wrote a song around it.  Wish I knew who to contribute the words to.  I don't often write in modes but really wanted something mysterious and dorian was it! 

 

Long Legged Sailor

This is from my book, "Hands to Hands, Too". 

 

Going Over the Sea

Younger children will love this one!  It's an oldie but a goodie.  Song starts at :40.

 

Hole in the Bottom of the Sea:

 4.20 UPDATE with links!!
Here is list of other ocean themed songs and a short list of concepts and skills to work on with each:

At the Bottom of the Sea (Amidons) 6/8, movement, names of children
Baby Beluga (Raffi) picture book, movement, phrasing, expressive qualities
Baby Shark (Camp song)  movement, repetitive melody
Blow the Man Down 3/4, dotted half note, low C for recorder
The Boatman Dance MRD (ending), sixteenths
Cape Cod Girls (AKA Heave Away or We Are Bound for Australia patterns in 4/4, pantomime
Charlie Over the Ocean echo, chase game
The Coast of High Barbary call and response, movement, 6/8 fast tempo, British
Cockles and Mussels 3/4, in key of G easy for recorders to play, Irish
Come All Ye Young Sailormen AKA Blow Ye Winds Westerly, 3/4, dotted quarters
Drunken Sailor (change lyrics to “wobbly pirate” or “silly pirate”) minor, eighths, quarters
Going Over the Sea 6/8, repetitive phrasing, rhyming, sequencing #'s, Canadian 
Highland Laddie (Sea Shanty)  
Humuhumunukunukuapupa'a (Music K8) Hawaiian fish, phrasing 
I Saw a Ship a Sailing 6/8
Ickle Ockle Blue Bottle eighth, quarter, SLM
I’se the Bye 6/8, Newfoundland, clapping game in Hands to Hands, Too
Isle Au Haut (Maine island song) lullaby
 La Vibora de la Mar Mexico
Land of the Silver Birch Native American, eighth, quarter, eighth pattern
The Mermaid dotted half note
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean 3/4 time, dotted quarter, phrasing, Scottish
Octopus AKA Slippery Fish (Charlotte Diamond),cumulative, movement
Old Ark's a Moverin' eighth quarter eighth, spiritual, BAG song/MRD
Once there Was a Pirate (The Silly Pirate Song by JackHartman) cumulative, movement, pantomime
Our Gallant Ship MRD ending, eighth sixteenths
Peg Leg the Pirate ti ta ti, passing and guessing game, solo
Phantom Ship by Patricia Lou Harris (Galliump CD)
Sail Away Ladies Sixteenth, eighths
Sailor on the Sea, MRD, recorders can play BAG, game
A Sailor Went to Sea Sea Sea eighths, sequencing, clapping game
Sea Shell Half notes, Do-Sol, Mi Re Do
Talk Like a Pirate Day (Music K8)
There's a Big Ship Sailing on the Alley-Alley O 6/8, Irish
Three Jolly Fishermen MRD ending
Turn the Glasses Over Double circle game, extended pentatonic; low C/high C
Vamos a la mar SMD, quarters, eighths, rest, Guatemala
 Wishy Washy 6/8, dance, cumulative movement


   

What are your favorites??

 

 

 

 





Stretchy Band Activities

Oh Stretchy Band, oh Stretchy Band, what to do with thee?

It is funny how different things influence our teaching and blogging (not to mention personal lives).  A short while ago the AOSA FB page, someone asked what to do with their stretchy band. I had already begun to write about how to use the stretchy band in the music room and with Christmas and Chinese New Year (see post below) I am finally getting around to finishing this post!
Many teachers I know have a stretchy band and wonder what to do with them. If you don't have one or find the ones with big tubing inside uncomfortable, make one.. or if you're like me, make several!  Get ready- pantyhose time!
Here's a video tutorial I made on how to make stretchy bands.  Best as a summertime project. :)
Update 8.27.17:
Order a box of pantyhose seconds to make bands with here:
You can get defective hose in bulk from:
Nancy Terry
HANESbrands INC.
1904 Clark Road
Clarksville, Arkansas 72830
(P) 479-979-3492 (F) 479-754-5597
nancy.terry@hanes.com
 couple of my bands:

2.22.17 Update! Another fabulous idea from Rob Amchin -

Stretchy Band Song

This simple and cute song includes "bounce to the beat", "up, down", in, out" and is very simple for your younger players. I love the cute accents of the children singing!

Rob Amchin - Color Pitch Matching Game

Perfect pitch matching activity! If you have a band like mine (not colorblocked) have students tie or wrap on colored scarves in front of where they are sitting.

Stretchy with Nutcracker March

Artie Almeida.  Not much more needs to be said. :)

Les Saluts Dance

While not typically a "stretchy band" dance, simple folk dances like this are perfect for stretchy bands.  This is a lovely folk dance, perfect for younger grades and I love the fermata point as it creates a wonderfully magical moment for students to listen keenly to when the music begins again.

 

The Waves - Lynn Kleiner

My kindies and first graders LOVE this song and the fermata again makes this SO much fun. Using the stretchy in a circle, the waves go rolling all about - lift and lower one hand at a time to create waves.  The waves  go up, the waves go down, in and out (pull as far back as you can and walk backwards slooowly). SO fun! This is from Lynn's book, "Sounds of the Sea".  The song is below- different activity, but you'll hear how lovely it is!

 

Classroom Divider

I often use the band as a visual separator in the classroom. When I put instruments out on the floor for an activity (and I want them to stay in a particular setup) I place the band on the floor to separate this space from the “regular classroom”.  Especially effective with younger musicians, this helps them to know when it is appropriate to play (when teacher instructs them to “cross the line” (although I always have them go around).

Illustrating Tritonic SLM Melodies OR Show Melodic Direction

• Holding the band in a circle, T. calls out 4 beat melody using SLM, students echo and show Sol by holding stretchy at chest level, La overhead, and Mi in front of belly button.
• Using a known song, students visually demonstrate melodic direction.

Stretchy Band Assessment

This post from a while ago has some ideas for how to assess students using stretchy bands.

Hope you found some new ideas or revisited some old ones.  Happy January! Stay warm.





Books to Sing, Songs as Books

Picture it:  Inside a _______ bookstore (insert your favorite bookseller), deep in the children's literature section. Soft pitter patter of feet, moms reading quietly to children when suddenly a loud joyous laugh breaks through the (almost) silence.  Yup, that'd be me finding a new song/book book/song.  I love finding these little gems and there have been more and more published in the last decade or so!  Yeeeha!! 
Of course being a musician and music teacher I love songs, especially those "magical" ones that are timeless treasures, and I also love children's books and have a bit of an obsession with them- this is my bookshelf at school with *some* of my picture books.

 I am trying to keep the top shelf as songs which are books or, depending how you look at it, books that are songs.

Good news for me is they keep spilling over. Last year I finally changed how I was organizing them and now have them alphabetically. Phew- I used to have them by author and genre, but that just didn't work for me.
Second shelf has books that I have found or created music lessons to accompany them, with third bookshelf holding seasonal activities and books I have yet to create music for but have ideas. 


Aileen Miracle over at Mrs. Miracle's Music Room has a great post about ten of her favorites, which inspired me to make my own list of favorites. 

1.  I Got Two Dogs available here from Amazon.com. This song is addictive!  I ordered it a couple weeks ago and just played the song with my daughter on the ride home last week and it is hysterical!  "AGAIN, AGAIN", I kept hearing from the back seat! It is highly infectious and another gem from the amazing John Lithgow but I have to say, it's probably my favorite one he has written!

2.  Twenty Four Robbers by Audrey Wood, available here. 

OK, technically not a song with a melody (although I do know one to go with it), this skipping rhyme has a wonderful sing-song cadence to it and the illustrations are fabulous!









3.  Sing, available here.

Oh, where do I start?! "Sing! Sing a song. Sing out loud, sing out strong."
The song was first made popular on Sesame Street, then interpreted by a WIDE variety of musicians, from Gloria Estefan to the Dixie Chicks to R.E.M., as well as famous personalities such as Conan O'Brien, Katie Couric, Nathan Lane, and Liam Neeson!  Lively, happy illustrations accompany the book as well as a CD with the music.



4.  I Ain't Gonna Paint No More, available here.

Oh, this is such naughty fun!  My students love to combine this with "Johnny Works with One Hammer", eventually changing the lyrics to "Johnny paints with one paintbrush, etc.", reading/singing the book- oh they love the little mischief maker, then we play Trepak from the Nutcracker while pretending to throw and smear paint.  Finally, we make classroom statues while singing a song about statues and I visit the "museum" where various statues move, giggle, and snicker and "scare" me, while I pretend to be scared of the moving ones. Such wonderful fun!!



5.  If it's Snowy and You Know It, Clap Your Paws, available here.

Yup, "If You're Happy and You Know It" with polar bears, seals, beluga whales and other artic animals!  Sure to delight your kiddos and wonderful to leave with a sub!






6.  Day is Done, available here.

I happened to be wandering through Big Lots one day and found this for $3.00!!

This is Peter Yarrow's beautiful song, “Day Is Done."  As night falls, animal parents tenderly tuck their little raccoons, rabbits, field mice, deer, and child into bed.  Far more than a lullaby, though, this is a wonderful song (and book) to share for Earth Day; "you shall inherit what humankind has done, but all will be well when the day is done (as I am here)".

7.  Conejito, available here.

 

 

This is a folktale from Panama written by Margaret Read MacDonald.  In the back of the book you will find the song that will be sung each time Conejito  goes dancing and leaping (bailando y saltando).  This is a wonderful trickster tale and a few years ago I included a loose interpretation of the story as a program.  Here is the orchestration my students performed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  8.  Catalina Magdalena Hoopensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name. Whew!  What a name!  Available here.

 

If you've seen my blog before, you know how much I love camp songs, especially for the last month of school!  This is one camp song that is also a book! Score!!! Outrageously funny, undeniably one of my students favorites. Ever.

 

  

9.  Take Me Home Country Roads, available here.

 

Really, I love all the John Denver songs that have been made into picture books, including "Sunshine on My Shoulders" available here, and "Grandma's Feather Bed", available here.  Country Roads is probably the one that my kids know best, and they love to croon along with the melody!! A great book to have on hand when you have those 5 minute moments of "I need something else here". All the books come with CD's, bonus!!

 

 

 

10.  Over in the Meadow, Over in the Jungle, Over in the Ocean, Over in the Grasslands, available here.

 I love these as they can all be sung to "Five Little Ducks" and children quickly sing along with the numbers (up to 10). We often break out some instruments and play the numbers.  I really like how the illustrations were created with Over in the Jungle and Over in the Ocean; the artist used polymer clay to create the entire image; incredibly impressive! 

Brand new in September 2016 is Over in the Grasslands: On an African Savanna!

 

Hope you have enjoyed the book tour and have found some new things to buy/ask for/have parents donate to your music rooms! Happy (almost) Friday tomorrow!!!

Time for Camp Songs!

Last year at the end of the school year I started a new tradition of singing camp songs. The kids loved it, I loved it.. win, win! Truly, so much fun and they've already started asking for "Wisconsin Milk", "Found a Peanut" and "Bazooka Bubblegum". See posts from last year for a couple powerpoint slide shows I made to go with Peanut and Bubblegum. If you don't know "Baby Shark".. well, it's a bit gruesome and you can just do the first 5 or 6 and not all of the "verses". If you don't know the song search on youtube and you'll find it. SO fun! My fourth graders sing the WHOLE song and the itty bitties sing up to "Grandpa Shark" which they think is so very funny! Have fun! Happy Camping!

Baby shark from musicquilt