Singin' Away Winter Blues

The nursery that we gather in at Jessie's Centre has a number of windows that let in a great deal of warm sunshine. However, today's gloomy weather brought us no sun. We certainly didn't let that get us down, though! Perhaps because we had some really lovely and engaged mamas, or perhaps because it's Valentine's Day and there was a little extra love felt in the room, our class today was anything but cold and blue; it was ripe with warmth and decorated with Valentine love!

Our group was fairly small today due to a number of babies who were napping, but we sang with gusto just the same! The young women in our circle were eager to sing and play, use sign language, and get down with some wonderful rhythms. We learned how to use claves today and our moms were instant experts in manipulating the claves to provide a sharp, vibrant, beat to go along with the song Some Like it Hot. We also worked a lot on sign language for some animals: rooster, cow, cat and pig. This was especially helpful while singing The Rooster Song. All in all, today's class was one of our most active and exciting. Looking forward to doing more with rhythms and sign language next week!

Going to the Zoo!

It was a special week at Robertson House as we celebrated Animal Week! This is a special theme week devoted to singing all of our favourite animal songs.

There are many to choose from so I decided to keep things simple and start of with The Turtle Song and Old MacDonald which allowed us to review some familiar song material while warming up our voices. I was working with a very excited, yet focused, group of participants today, so we were able to cover a lot of songs, some of which were new, including Johnny Didn't Have Any Breakfast, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Six Little Ducks, Sleeping Bunnies, and The Ants Go Marching.

We also Rolled The Ball and followed that activity with Passing The Bean Bag. It was a real delight to see how each child could pass the bean bag and attempt to keep the beat WHILE sharing with their neighbor. Quite the multi-tasking activity!

I brought along three Wooden Frogs from Thailand for the Instrument of the Week and demonstrated how to use the instrument by rubbing the mallet along the spine to make a ribbit sound. It was fun to illustrate that as the frog shrinks in size the pitch changes, going up higher and higher. The baby frog was clearly the favourite as it made its way around the room pausing at each child for longer than the last.

After putting the frogs back in the pond, we went to the zoo (Going To The Zoo) for the jam session and saw all sorts of animals there including crocodiles, elephants, ducks, owls, bats, monkeys and black bears. We also went Down In The Valley taking all the instruments high up above our heads on the line "Rise, Sally Rise."

We finished off with the parachute, and once we put it away someone from the staff yelled out "Ohhhh, are we done ALREADY?!" I laughed out loud and thought it was fabulous that the newest staff resident enjoyed the class so much. He assured me that he would return the next week and encourage more moms to attend with their little ones. I loved this enthusiasm and hope to see him and all my friends again next week for another amazing class!

Josh visits Jessie's Centre

Most of the group was made up of newcomers to the RSF music program. We started with a quick explanation of what to expect and how to participate. Then we jumped right in with some singing and moving. I brought out my turtle puppet as well as the wooden frog which was passed around and accompanied by frog songs. We finished off with a rockin' jam session and sang You are my sunshine as the great snow fell outside.

Animal Week at Birkdale

At RSF we had a farm -- lots of wildness at Birkdale, and that's not counting the animals. Six adults and eight children sang, laughed, danced, and clapped to a variety of songs on a trip through the animal kingdom, including, "Poor Little Bug on the Wall," "Two Little Blackbirds," "BINGO,"  "Six Little Ducks," "Five Little Monkeys," and "Sleeping Bunnies".  A great benefit was to see how singing animal songs got the children talking about their favourite animals. Also, having two new adults and one new child at the session was wonderful. On the other end, three children have been there every week, and two adults have been there four of the five weeks. Finally, after not wanting anything to do with me last week, my hugger was back at it this week at the end of class. This time though, the child returned to their mother more easily. Children. Go figure.

Singing Makes You Hungry

This week I was excited to see some familiar faces and catch up with some residents from the previous session. They explained that they haven't attended class this session because they have been busy preparing their families to move out in the coming weeks. Even though I will be sad to see them go, I realize that this is part of the journey as an RSF teacher. I also met a new resident who seemed quite nervous and shy. I noticed that her young boy was upset and crying so, after introducing myself, I showed him a turtle puppet that I had brought along. I showed him how to hide the turtle deep inside his shell and peek-a-boo on the count of 1... 2... 3... “Peek-A-Boo!” It was nice to see him smile. Other children seemed curious about my animal friend so after The Hello Song I began the class with The Turtle Song.

I kept the animal theme going with a review of Johnny Didn't Have Any Breakfast and afterwards took an animal-themed boat ride with Row Row Row Row Your Boat, seeing crocodiles and tigers along the way. Keeping things moving with The Wheels On The Bus, I Wake Up My Hands, Shake Your Sillies Out and Zoom Zoom Zoom took some effort on my part, due to the lack of participation and discipline from the grownups (who seemed slightly distracted today,) but I was able to get everyone refocused with one of my favourite activities, Rolling The Ball. They did such a good job that I then brought out the Bean Bag and we practiced keeping the beat as we shared with our neighbour.

It was time for the instrument of the week, and I brought out the Gong with much fanfare. I found an amazing recording of the Chinese Orchestra that I used as background music to set the mood. As we passed the instrument around I had one mom exclaim, "This is so relaxing!" It was music to my ears! After a couple over-zealous gong players decided that it would be a good idea to play the gong as loud as possible, we put it away and brought out the big bag of instruments.

Prepare to get wild

We started with a small but energetic group, and it gradually grew until we had as many people as last week. Within the group were two new mothers and two new kids. To the returnees - thank-you for your support, especially the one mother who has been there for three weeks in a row. They got ready for Animal Week by learning "Crocky Crocodile," "Little Green Frog," "Poor Little Bug on the Wall," and "Two Little Blackbirds." And, to keep some people happy, we also sang "Sticky Bubblegum." The children did a great job demonstrating how to play the Tingshaw Bells, and they continue to do an excellent job sharing the instruments during the jam session. Next week is Animal Week.  Time to get wild.

Follow Brian!

This week I almost left with more than I came in with...more on that later. First, music again proved to be the international language. A mother, whose twins had attended the previous two sessions, laughed and clapped with her children, and those twins made an effort to put the lessons taught with the instrument of the week to practical use during the jam session while singing "Three Little Birds," and "Jamaica Farewell." The six mothers and ten children also sang "I Wake Up my Hands," "Sticky Bubblegum," "The Tickle Song," and "Baby Shark," among others. A toddler, who wouldn't let his mother out of his sight, was transfixed by the guitar. At the end of the class, hi-fives were exchanged with all the children, except one. That child not only gave me a hug, but didn't want to let me go. I finally managed to return the toddler to his mother and pack up. But, as I was on my way out, the toddler tried to follow me.

Repetition is Key

Even though it was a rainy day, Robertson House was full of energy today. I said hello to some familiar faces and met three new children who where very interested in touching the guitar. I explained they would be able to touch it after class and that it was time to start the Hello Song which meant sitting down on the carpet and placing their hands in their laps. This went over well for two of them, but the third child had to be removed from class when he got a tad overzealous and chose not to listen to his caregiver.

Knowing that I was going to be handing out lyrics sheets after class I made sure to go over a bunch of repertoire which resulted in quite a bit of review. We were able to get through the following tunes: I Wake Up My Hands, Hands Together Hands Apart, Roly Poly, Sticky Sticky Bubblegum, Cleano, Johnny Didn't Have Any Breakfast, Sleeping Bunnies, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels On The Bus, andZoom Zoom Zoom. 

Instrument of the week was the Tambourine and I made sure to have each child try the proper technique by finding the handle with one hand and using the other hand to tap, like one would on a drum. We also practiced this idea standing and used the entire body to Shake Your Sillies Out.

We then brought out the Jam Bag and sang our hearts out to Three Little Birds, De-Oh, and The Lion Sleeps Tonight. It is very rewarding to observe the group week to week. Participants sing more confidently and begin to sound more "musical." This is truly indicative of how repetition is essential in learning musical concepts and behaviors that go along with playing certain instruments (i.e. There was no banging of maracas on the drums! YAY!)  

Stay tuned…next week we visit the islands to learn some clave rhythms!

Lots of New Faces

I was excited to return to Robertson House this week after the previous week’s class was cancelled due to staff shortage. It was a pleasant surprise to be greeted by lots of excited bodies, and after speaking with one of the shelter workers I realized they had been doing quite a bit of promotion during the day to make sure that we had a good number of residents attending. It was a bit chaotic as people were still getting settled and I felt like I was going to have trouble remaining in control, so I decided to try a shorter version of the Hello Song, singing only three verses; one directed at the children, one directed at the grownups and one to myself so that they knew my name.

Starting with a chant like Roly Poly tends to ensure that I have the attention of the majority of the group, however, I was challenged at the beginning of class with some behavioral issues which led to slight chaos among the grownups. Switching gears I tried singing a familiar song, I Wake Up Hands, and had most people singing along. I was encouraged by this and repeated another familiar song from the first week of class, Sticky Sticky Bubblegum. Sensing they could handle a new song, I took them through the actions for Hands Together, Hands Apart and watched as the grownups started to settle in to listening and singing together. We also repeated The Wheels On The Bus and Old MacDonald, yet kept things exciting with a three verse version of The Itsy Bitsy Spider. After some encouragement I was able to get most of the group standing as we marched around the room singing The Ants Go Marching.

Once the group was seated I brought out the maracas and gave a detailed demonstration on how to play them properly, by placing the thumbs on top and flicking the wrist to ensure a crisp, clear sound. I also made sure to mention that we were not to use the maracas to play on other instruments. This took some explaining and as some little ones helped me bring out the big bag of instruments, I felt more comfortable communicating with the large (somewhat chatty) group.

For the jam portion of the class, I had to stop a couple of times to reiterate the maraca lesson,however, it was smooth sailing from here on out as many of the grownups played instruments and sang loudly to De-Oh and The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

I decided to finished the class off with the parachute. First by instructing the grownups to shake up and down fast to a recording of La Bamba, and then demonstrating how to go up and down more slowly so that the children could lie underneath looking up at the rainbow of colors.

Before I sang the Goodbye Song I made sure to tell them I appreciated them all being there. I also explained that by attending each week it will become more routine and even more enjoyable as they become comfortable with the music material. I also held up the RSF CD and explained to them that after three classes they would get their very own copy! After we sang goodbye, I made sure to introduce myself to each mom and learn the names of her children so that I would know them for next week. The staff also held a raffle for the residents at the end of the class and I let them know that it is a great incentive for them to join us each and every week. So, kudos to the staff at Robertson House!

We Almost Doubled!

It was a great second week at the Birkdale family residence. We almost doubled our attendance with 17 mothers and children in attendance. Six of the children and one mother were repeat participants; the other seven children and three adults were new. They all enjoyed singing "The Wheels on the Bus," "Sticky Bubblegum," "Everybody Knows That I Love My Toes," "Six Little Ducks," and, "Old McDonald". The tambourine was the instrument of the week. Like last week, the children did an excellent job of sharing the tambourines, as well as the other instruments, during the jam session. They are proving to be an enthusiastic and fun group to work with.