CONNECT - song and dance for children

*STONES HILL SONGS* is a growing resource of original songs for young children, self-published by experienced music teacher/ occupational therapist/ songwriter LIZ CAMPBELL. The goal is to stimulate real-time body-and-voice musical experience in classrooms. Demo-style presentation is simple and easy for teachers to look-listen-copy. They are not suitable as fancy backing tracks! SUBSCRIBE, "LIKE" and SHARE with other interested teachers. Let the SONG and DANCE continue!

Monday, November 25, 2019

Jumping In The Waves

*from STONES HILL SONGS*

This simple action-echo song takes lots of energy, but once going follows its own natural flow, like the waves in the sea.

Combining the singing voice with rhythmical body movement is a natural but powerful sensory integrative activity. Some children may be more comfortable with the singing, others with the movement. Try singing it without the movement - challenging! We are designed to move.

Also try doing the song in sequence without singing - this develops auditory memory as the lines ring in the head.

While having fun, you are helping develop: bodymind literacy; spatial awareness; bilateral motor integration; motor planning; sequential memory and muscle tone. The movement feeds into the speech and language loop, and the singing feeds back into the movement. How marvellously we are designed!

You will get fit teaching your classes this way; be quite comfortable with the moves yourself as the children are born to copy you. Practice on your own first so that you can demonstrate with confidence. Learn each line with its accompanying move, and look for a quality of flow in the moves, suggesting waves.

The moves are partly drawn from a type of dance known as NIA dance (Neuro-muscular Integrative Activity).

End with a decrescendo (musical term meaning gradually softer), and simultaneously let the moves get smaller, fading away.

Follow the sequence, each time adding a new line and returning to the first. You can sing each line more than once - play with the practice of repetition!

I'm jumping in the waves  (always return to this one)
  Hold the nose and go under
Take a tumble, take a tumble
Balance up on a board
Surf a wave into shore
  Watch the waves rolling in, the waves rolling out
Ssshhh! ( sound of waves to end, gradually softer)

Explore the collection of Stones Hill songs-and -dances for children listed below - share them with people whom you know will use and enjoy them. Please acknowledge source and composer if piece is used for public performance - copyright Liz Campbell, Stones Hill songs. Feedback would also be appreciated - how the song works for you, how you may have used it: liz.jessam@gmail.com

https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/11/walking-stopping.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/11/sand-sand-everywhere.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/10/spring-is-sprung_9.htm
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/10/old-macdonald_20.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-ant-house_18.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/10/old-king-glory.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/10/we-need-bees.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/10/my-animal-friends.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/08/plastic-bottle-eco-brick_22.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/09/hand-game_17.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/figure-of-8_26.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/so-many-things-my-body-can-do.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/i-was-walking-along_26.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/come-on-and-dance-like-clown.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/i-have-eyes-to-see.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/one-little-thumb.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/good-morning_26.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/all-join-hands-and-make-circle_26.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/09/come-on-everybody.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/09/my-little-body_26.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/10/choosing_1.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/10/i-have-one_12.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/10/alphabet-bounce_87.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/11/lift-your-voice-and-sing.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/12/farewell-song.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/03/i-went-shopping.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/03/round-garden_48.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/03/creepy-crawly_10.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/05/tree-in-wood_16.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/09/building-up-house_16.html

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Sand sand everywhere

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Walking-Stopping

*from STONES HILL SONGS*

We have all heard about IQ and EQ; well, this song is about developing SQ - sensory intelligence. I also call it BODYMIND awareness - the ability to read the body with accuracy and discernment.

So while the children are enjoying this simple, fun song, they will be developing essential BODYMIND skills in coordination, spatial awareness, bilateral integration, laterality, balance, praxia (motor planning), language and more. Action songs accomplish so much, so easily in young children!

NB: BEFORE commencing, demonstrate HOW to walk randomly in a group without bumping or knocking anyone; be clear about this as it's important that children learn how to move amongst each other without treading on toes. It's like driving a car: watch where you're going. Establish your own class behaviour rules.

Set the pace and hold the tempo; start moderate, but with each walking verse it's fun to vary the tempo - a little quicker, a little slower. Adapt.

Make a big deal about the STOP! A dramatic pause is effective. This is a good moment to take a slow look around and practice leisurely observation or add a couple of moves. Use a slightly 'ad lib' style here. Add your own further ideas:

make it big -- make it small
make it high --- make it low
yawn and stretch! OR shake a shoulder OR shake an elbow

Perhaps you can build up a sequence of moves between the walking verse, adding on a new one each time. Up to you!

I do this one unaccompanied with a class; they learn to read and copy my body and voice, being great imitators at this age.

We are walking x3 then we STOP! Turn around ......take a look
We are marching x3...then se STOP! Balance up.........take a look
On our tiptoes x3......then we STOP! Make it big........make it small
etc
This is the rough sketch of the song; add to it as you feel inclined.

Explore the collection of Stones Hill songs-and -dances for children listed below - share them with people whom you know will use and enjoy them. Please acknowledge source and composer if piece is used for public performance - copyright Liz Campbell, Stones Hill songs. Feedback would also be appreciated - how the song works for you, how you may have used it: liz.jessam@gmail.com

https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/10/spring-is-sprung_9.htm
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/10/old-macdonald_20.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-ant-house_18.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/10/old-king-glory.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/10/we-need-bees.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/10/my-animal-friends.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/08/plastic-bottle-eco-brick_22.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/09/hand-game_17.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/figure-of-8_26.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/so-many-things-my-body-can-do.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/i-was-walking-along_26.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/come-on-and-dance-like-clown.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/i-have-eyes-to-see.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/one-little-thumb.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/good-morning_26.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/08/all-join-hands-and-make-circle_26.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/09/come-on-everybody.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/09/my-little-body_26.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/10/choosing_1.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/10/i-have-one_12.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/10/alphabet-bounce_87.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/11/lift-your-voice-and-sing.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2018/12/farewell-song.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/03/i-went-shopping.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/03/round-garden_48.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/03/creepy-crawly_10.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/05/tree-in-wood_16.html
https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/09/building-up-house_16.html

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Farewell blessing

*from STONES HILL SONGS*

This song is suitable when the need arises (as it frequently does) to bid farewell to leavers from a school community. The words are borrowed and patched together from two well known blessings, one Irish and the other Swahili. Sung with feeling, it provides for both the tenderness, nostalgia and reflection associated with such an occasion.

I wrote it when dear friends of mine - both accomplished musicians - left town and country to move far away. It suited the swan-song sadness of our parting ways and will always be dedicated as my 'farewell to Mariel Ilusorio'.

It is best suited to young soprano voices which split in the last few bars, alternating their parts - go in peace - life is a journey (or life is a blessing). The piano part is written in its simplest form and is entirely open to further embellishment at the player's discretion and pleasure! Chords are included for those who read chord sheets.

As a communal song, this one should sit comfortably with people from different cultures, creeds and backgrounds with its inclusive text.

The demo-video is intended for teachers who want to learn the song; it helps to hear it, so here it is, plain and clear and in my home-recorded voice that does not belong in public arenas! Use it to get the gist of how it goes; I assure you, it will sound a whole lot better sung by young voices. The photos of tracks and roads are taken from around the wilds of the Eastern Cape where I live, and Zimbabwe.

G C
May the road rise up before you
G C G
May the wind be always at your back
Am7 F#m7 F#m7/B
May the sun shine warm upon your face until we meet again
Em A7/C# Dmaj7 Gmaj7
May the rain fall soft upon your fields until we meet again
C#m7 C#m7/F# Eb Eb7
And may God hold you in the palm of the hand
Abm Db7
Go in peace life is a journey/ blessing x3
Bdim/Bb Eb
and may God give you peace/ grace

substitute JOURNEY for BLESSING

The voice in the cupboard

*from STONES HILL STORIES*

This one is especially for my piano pupils who have as part of their standard repertoire this most famous minuet in G by JS Bach. It has been played down the ages by learners and is one of those perennial favourites that never grows tired.

This story has no visuals; it is a lie-back-close-the-eyes and invent the movie in your own mind! This is good old-fashioned auditory stimulation, generally lacking in today's screen-bombarded power-point presented world.

The music ends on an imperfect cadence (like a question mark?), leaving you to make up your own end of this tale ... enjoy!

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Old MacDonald

*from STONES HILL SONGS*
This song springboards off an old familiar classic, well-known and -loved by a wide audience. It's always reassuring to feel one knows A BIT of the new song. Between the short refrain, there is scope to play endlessly with the engaging activity of 'reading' farm animals.

This is the start of reading for young children, developing essential pre-literate skills required for this complex task which underpins all subsequent education.
Here are some of the said skills:
continuous eye tracking from left to right, same as on a page
naming in sequence
rhythmic patterning and flow
recognition of shape + name
adjusting to sequential shifts and gaps
crossing the midline

All this is reinforced in a fun, mesmerising way because of the repetitive nature of the game. Learning happens best with repetition, which here is underpinned by the steady 4-beat meter. Those who are a bit slower will be carried by the group. You choose whether to repeat each sequence two or four times, depending on your group. The switches you make will keep attention alert, and removing the animals gives it an extra edge, sounding the words silently in the head. Always start with 4 animals, representing the 4 counting beats holding it together.

I've found it interesting to note that generally domestic and farm animals have fewer syllables than wild animals. Compare: pig, cow, horse, goat with hippopotamus, elephant, rhinoceros, wildebees, impala..... . Of course we aim for a mix of syllables to make the most interesting and musical rhythms, so choose the animals you line up accordingly.

eg sheep rabbit chicken pig

has a good ring to it, mixed up as it is with long and short sounds syllables.

Old MacDonald had a farm e i e i o
Let's go and see what's in his barn e i e i o

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Old king glory

*from STONES HILL SONGS*
This is a favourite action song of mine: it is fun, it is irreverent, it leads to laughter as it makes light nonsense of the status quo. Its delightfully counterintuitive wisdom notices leaders of the day, municipalities, principalities, ministries and governmenties puffing themselves up buffoonishly, only to fall to pieces and tumble down. Like Ozymandias...

It's helpful for children to see, as systems crumble and take a tumble (as they seriously are doing right now in countless ways), what can we do? one approach is to laugh and dance it round and round to find a new way of living. At heart it's quite a revolutionary song: down with the old - bring in the new!

This song has been borrowed and stolen (musicians are said to be thieves, but openly so) from several sources. Old king glory is originally a traditional African-American song/dance from a treasured book of mine, Down in the Valley - singing games for children, and can be traced back to Meg Lippert who learnt it at the Rudolph Steiner school in NYC, where in turn it had been collected from some children in the streets.... What a tale about a tale! Now it's been further patchworked with the 'thumbs out - tootie ta' bit from a song we sang gloriously, with much hilarity, over and over as children, to another refrain. And further bits are added by me to stitch it all together.

As with my much of my other material, this recording is plainly presented for teachers to get a clear idea of tune, moves and sequence. Learn it from the video so that you are comfortable enough to teach it to your classes.

It's a good idea to start the song all solemn and serious: the king in glory and splendour. Keep the sequence of body parts as you add them. Exaggerate the moves. Children love the humour of 'bums out', so have a laugh! You have to be prepared to be a clown yourself, let your hair down and not take yourself seriously to lead this song.

Old king glory on the mountain
the mountain was so high
that it nearly touched the sky
(stretch up tall)
till it tumbled to the ground so they danced it round and round
  (tumbling down motion and dance your way, round and round!)
and they danced it to the left and they danced it to the right
  (it's wonderful to get left and right muddled up - that's the point -
we notice that for most of us it takes a few moments to work out which side is which)
and they danced it through the day and they danced it through the night
and it's one two three follow me... (slow it down here)

Add one by one: thumbs out....elbows out..... knees together.....
toes together...... bums out...
chests out...... chins out...... tongues out
a tootie ta ......   (taking you back to the beginning again)