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Music News: Spring and Summer 2015
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908-654-5899
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Sing A Song students will have imaginative fun in every class singing, dancing, learning about music, playing percussion instruments, and so much more!
We believe passionately that every child is unique and special, so each child will always star when they participate in our music enrichment classes.
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Spring and Summer Fun
Our Spring themes included instrument families, patriotic marches and songs, and planting. Our Sing A Song Summer curriculum includes numerous songs and activities about this season of outdoor fun, especially fun at the beach. What child doesn't love sand castles and dipping their toes in the ocean?
Some of our summer songs include Under the Deep Blue Sea, Waves at the Beach, Strawberry Patch, Fish in the Sea, Five Little Shells, and Fruits and Vegetables I Need to Eat.
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MUSIC & MOVEMENT - BENEFITS FOR ALL SEASONS
 Summer Fun
The Summer season is here. It's time to pump up the music and run through the sprinkler, splash in the pool, and dig out the sand toys for a trip to the shore. Whatever the season, the benefits of music and movement for young children cannot be overstated.
The primary function of the ear is to develop coordination and balance within the body. When we pace activities with a musical beat, children learn to be more coordinated.
Studies indicate that music and movement:
1) Nourish and "wire" the brain while positively affecting all areas of development.
2) Strengthen listening, motor skills, language, problem solving, spatial-temporal performance and literacy
3) Help develop critical listening skills
4) Create space for emotional well-being
5) Provide opportunities to practice social skills
6) Support phonemic awareness
7) Instill acts of kindness and cooperation
8) Calm and focus the mind
9) Encourage interaction in non-threatening ways
10) Develop multi-cultural awareness through exposure to world music
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INSTRUMENT FAMILIES
This Spring students learned about instrument families, including the brass, woodwind, percussion, and string families. We viewed pictures of these instruments and listened to music featuring many of the instruments from these groups.
We also created our own band. In I WANT TO LEAD A BAND, the children sing, "I want to lead a band with a baton in my hand. I want to make sweet music high and low. Now first I'll beat the drum with a rhythmic tum-tum-tum, and then I'll play the bells a ting-a-ling-a-ling." We also pretended to play the flute and the violin as we led our merry band. We listened to patriotic songs and marches, including You're a Grand Old Flag and Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue.
SING A SONG INTRODUCED A NEW PERCUSSION INSTRUMENT TO OUR STUDENTS - THE GLOCKENSPIEL.
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. The glockenspiel is struck with a hard or soft mallet to produce a sharp or muted sound. The colorful keys on the popular children's version is more generally known as a xylophone.
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SUMMER SONGS OF SUN AND FUN
WAVES AT THE BEACH is sung to the tune of WHEELS ON THE BUS. Movements we will act out include the waves going up and down, the crabs crawling back and forth, and lobsters going snap, snap, snap. The clams open and shut, and the jelly fish go wibble, wobble, wibble.
In our FIVE LITTLE SHELLS finger play, we will count down from five to one. "Five little shells lying on the shore. Crash went the waves. Then there were four. Four little shells down by the sea. Crash went the waves. Then there were three."
For FISH IN THE SEA, the children will sing and act out fish swimming, lobsters pinching (no real pinching, of course!), an octopus wiggling, and the crabs clicking.
Our original UNDER THE DEEP BLUE SEA presents students with an imaginative undersea adventure. "Swimming, swimming under the deep blue sea. Swimming, swimming, the dolphins, fish and me. Sometimes I dive down deep and then I jump up high. But mostly I just swim along beneath a sunny sky." Lyrics include seeing an eel and an octopus, and even hearing a mermaid sing. The song ends with, "Okay, I'm just pretending. I'm really in my pool. But when I think about the sea, I think it's really cool!"
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FRUITS AND VEGETABLES I NEED TO EAT
(Our original song to encourage healthy eating)
| "Celery, broccoli, spinach, and zucchini. REPEAT 2X Green, green vegetables I like to eat. Well, maybe not so much. But Mom says I must try. Because they're good for me. And that's the reason why. |
Oranges, blueberries, apples, and bananas.
REPEAT 2X
All the yummy fruits I like to eat.
Well, maybe not so much.
But Mom says I must try.
Because they're good for me.
And that's the reason why."
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FRUIT SALAD ROCK AND ROLL
Fruit Salad Rock and Roll was one of the first songs written for the Sing a Song curriculum and is still popular today with our students. You can hear it on our Sing A Song CD.
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| Partial lyrics to Fruit Salad Rock and Roll: "One banana (Echo one banana.) Slice it up. (Echo slice it up.) Two apples. (Echo.} Peel and chop. (Echo.) Three juicy oranges perfect and sweet. These are what I like to eat. Put it all together and what have you got. Fruit salad boppity bop!" |
STRAWBERRY PATCH - Sung to the tune of
the traditional children's song, Paw Paw Patch.
All of the children are in the strawberry patch, picking strawberries, putting them in the basket, taking them home and washing them, and helping mom slice them up to make a delicious pie.
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