Babies, Babies, Babies!

Mothers and babies were big in attendance again this week at Beatrice House. I think we had a total of five

newborns as well as the usual gang of older kids. We started off the class with movement based songs like

Johnny Works with One Hammer, Shake Your Sillies Out, and Hokey Pokey, before moving into more lullaby based

songs for the mothers who had babies in their arms. Lullaby songs included Dona Nobis, Frere Jacques, and

Nina Nana. After that it was time to move again with a series of transportation songs, like Wheels on the Bus, Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, and Row Your Boat. The class ended with a big jam, again featuring Michael on the Bongos. He definitely loves those drums, and is getting better from week to week!

A Rising Star!

We had a much smaller group this week, which was nice as it allowed me to connect with more of the children. One child, named Michael, really stood out this week with his amazing drumming skills. He spent the jam session banging away in perfect time as well as adding beautiful drum fills whenever an opening presented itself. I was completely amazed at how accurate his timing was and how creative he was on the instrument. I made sure to tell him and his older sister (the mother was working) how talented I thought he was and how this talent should be nurtured. The sister didn't know he possessed any musical talent and was excited to tell their mom. It's moments like these that make this type of work so fullfiling. I will definitely encourage him to play more drums, both inside and outside of class. He clearly demonstrates a real talent for drumming and I hope we can work with him to achieve his musical goals!

Another Great Week at Birkdale

There's nothing like walking into the room and having several children rush over to give you a hug.  And as a group, they were just as enthusiastic as the first week.  As with the first week, there were 11 children, with six of them being repeat partyers.  The five moms were almost as many as the eight we had in the first week, and three of this group were present the first week.

The counting in Clap Your Hands, Now Sing 1-2-3, and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 was done with gusto.  And we did Six Little Ducks concert style, with everyone giving a loud 'quack, quack, quack' when it was time.  We also had fun visiting the Corner Grocery Store, and everyone knew their colours when we sang What Are You Wearing?  Everyone, including the moms, enjoyed learning about and trying out the Kalimba, our instrument of the week.  A good time was had by all.

Small and Sweet at Massey

Today's class included both a mom who had attended several classes already, and a mom who was participating in her very first class with her baby. It was lovely to see both the mom who had previously attended gaining mastery over the material and now singing familiar songs to her baby with confidence, and also the mom who was new to the class trying out new songs and fully engaging with her baby, despite not knowing all the words. One of my favourite moments was seeing one of the moms holding her baby and looking into her eyes and singing right to her - I  could tell she didn't know all the words to the song but she was still taking that moment to be close with her baby and sing to her with the words she did know. One of the moms received her CD as this was her third class. It felt great to know that not only are they learning songs and movement in class with me, but that they also will have many of these songs brought in to their own homes through the CD.

First Week Back at Birkdale

ENTHUSIASM!!  That word best describes my return to Birkdale Residence.  The children sang and laughed through Johnny Didn't Have Any Breakfast, Apples and Bananas, I Shut the Door, Little Green Frog, and BINGO, among others. Things were racheted up to screaming level during Sleeping Bunnies. The mothers had just as much fun watching their children go crazy, especially during parachutetime. Looking forward to another great time next week.

Magic Moments at Robertson House

Our numbers were small again this week at Robertson House, but as always magical moments happen when you least expect them!

As I was setting up the room, three curious faces peeked around the corner. I invited them in and noticed that there were dressed in uniforms. The youngest child asked, "Can we come to music class or are we too old?" I laughed and said, "Of course! As you can see, I am bit lonely today so you guys would actually be helping me out by staying and singing along." I got to know them a bit better, and after realizing that they were ages 7-10 I frantically began brainstorming ideas that would be age appropriate.

I decided to start the class by introducing them to the guitar. I showed them the tuning pegs, neck, bridge and body of the guitar. The older boy seemed very interested in learning how to strum so I gave him my guitar pick and strapped the guitar around him, while I sat beside him and acted as his "left-hand" accompaniment. I began by playing simple chords, and immediately all three of their faces lit up as the songs came to life. I realized this was something they had never experienced before, so I gave them each a turn.

Then I prepared them for the rest of the class by saying that some of the songs we were going to sing may seem too young for them, but that the goal was to be able to teach a younger child at the residence at a later time during the week. This hooked them enough to participate and still have fun without making them feel like babies.

We started by learning the sign language for vowels A, E, I, O and U to accompany one of my favourite songs, Apples and Bananas. We continued singing about food for Corner Grocery Store, and got messy with Sticky Sticky Bubblegum. Sleeping Bunnies and The Ants Go Marching were both big hits due in part to the fact that animal songs seem to go over well with most age groups.

After we sat down I took some time to go through each instrument in the bag (mainly the drum, maraca and tambourine). I made a game out of the whole thing and asked them to start listing their favourite instruments aloud. When they named one I had in my bag I brought it out and demonstrated how to use it properly. Then I gave them each a different instrument and corresponding rhythms to play while we sang The Lion Sleeps Tonight, acapella. Then I brought out the guitar and we pretended to be a funk band and played to an "audience" (with some minor choreography), singing I Feel Good, made famous by James Brown.

Overall it was an amazing experience to have a slightly older demographic respond so positively to the Rainbow Songs "magic"! One boy has decided he would like to get his very own drum so he can practice during the week, and the oldest girl was quite taken with strumming the guitar, so who knows, we may have some future RSF instructors on our hands!

Back at Robertson House!

It felt good to be back making music with the families at Robertson House! Due to a bad cold/flu going around we had less participants than usual for our first day of the fall session, however, I was encouraged (and rather surprised) to see quite a few moms attend class without their children, as they were either in daycare or school for the day, with the goal of learning some new music!

Some moms were quite shy, while others were more outgoing. In getting to know some of the moms I quickly realized that in this case creating a warm and inviting environment could not be done simply with words and introductions. In situations like this, where there is perhaps some tension or anxiety, smiling and making eye contact is the best way to let someone know that you care about them having fun, and so I did just that. It seemed to do just the trick and as I was showing them the sign language for the Hello song the tension melted away and the smiles grew big as the oldest baby bounced and wiggled her way into all of ours hearts. All of a sudden they were ALL united in the idea that they could bring happiness to this child with just the sound of their voice and off we went!

The little ones that were in attendance were both under one year of age, so I decided to choose repertoire mainly from the baby class curriculum. I taught them some of my favourites: Roly Poly, I Wake Up My Hands, Hands Together Hands Apart, Horsey Horsey (lapride), Old MacDonald, Baby Shark and Zoom Zoom Zoom (movement song). 

Once we were sitting I took some time to introduce them to the djembe drum. After explaining how the drum has different parts (much like the human body), I made sure that they understood the important idea that the only appropriate body part to play the drum with were the HANDS! We jammed to Shake Your Sillies Out and I Feel Good by James Brown. It was fun to see all the moms participating whether it was singing or playing an instrument or BOTH!

After putting our instruments away, I debated bringing out the parachute. With so few children I thought to myself, "Would the grownups just look at me and laugh?!" However, I decided to take the chance and spread it out wide. I heard one mom squeal "OMGOSH! I remember doing this in school!!!" In that moment almost all of the grownups transformed into child-like versions of themselves. The giggles and laughter than ensued was contagious and I realized (happily) that I had made the right decision. One mom was able to lie underneath the parachute with her baby and look up at all the colours while the rest of us took it up and down and all around for Twist And Shout by The Beatles.

 After putting the parachute away, I thanked them for their participation and said "See you next week!" Two moms exclaimed, "You are here every week? This is AWESOME. I am going to bring my child next time!" To that I said, "Please do" and took about 10 minutes to fill them in on EVERYTHING, from how Rainbow Songs had its start as a company to how they can get a free CD. Overall it was a great start to the session. They promised to tell some of their friends and I think we will see our numbers go up for next week just by word of mouth. I am looking forward to it!

Belting out the tunes at Beatrice House!

It was great to be back at Beatrice House! I was happy to meet some new faces, but it was mainly the old gang from last session plus three brand new babies –  all under one month old!  We started the class with one of my favourites, The Little Green Frog andSleeping Bunnies, before taking a journey around the globe. We started off in the Caribbean ocean with Baby Shark, rowed our way to Jamaica for Jamaica Farewell, then took an airplane in I'm a little Airplane to Australia to hang out with a Crocky Crocodile, and finally took a boat to Africa for In the Jungle. The group also had many requests, including Lock the Door, I Hear Thunder, and Itsy Bitsy Spider. I feel like this group knows me well and we have worked out a great flow. They also seem to be incredibly happy to have music back in their lives. The energy was high while the group dynamic was relatively focused. It was a great joy to be singing with all of them again and I look forward to this coming session.

Smiling Faces Making Music at Massey

We had a lot of fun kicking off the Fall session at Massey Centre. The moms seemed eager to learn the songs and involve their babies or toddlers, helping the little ones do the actions and move to the music. All the grownups were attentive and enthusiastic participants, doing the actions with gusto, learning the words to new songs, and even adding some of their own variations and improvisations to the music! Some of the little ones were shy to start, but by the time we brought out the instruments to jam with the babies and the at-first-hesitant toddler were completely comfortable and happy to be making music together. I loved seeing the moms coming up with their own rhythms to jam to along with the songs. A highlight for everyone was parachute time at the end. While the grownups had fun watching the boundless energy of a toddler thrilled to move in, under, and around the moving fabric of the parachute, the babies had wide-eyed smiles as they watched the colours of the parachute dance. We had a great time! Was SO impressed by the moms (and also by the friendly staff!). They were all wonderful participants and I'm looking forward to a great session!

Request Week & Goodbye My Friends...

Another session at Robertson House has come and gone. After getting to know the staff and residents, it is a bittersweet moment when we must say goodbye, and like sessions past, I find myself feeling nostalgic for those first few classes together. I was overwhelmed to see many residents (both past and present) during the last class, and although it was a busy group, we were able to sing a bunch of our favourites. I was able to guide the class with a couple of my own suggestions and the structure lent itself nicely to showing off all we have learned.

Some of the requests were from the CD while others were songs from the various theme weeks. To list a few: Partner Counting, Nothing in the World The Monkey Won't Do, Listen to the Water, Johnny Didn't Have Any Breakfast, All De' Nations, Wheels on the Bus, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Mr. Sun, Trees Need the Sun, Ants Go Marching, Crocky Crocodile, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Turtle Chant, Sleeping Bunnies (Sleeping Fishes), Three Little Birds, Rockin' Robin, One Love, Jamaica Farewell, Roll the Ball, and Pass the Bean Bag.

After we finished the class, I announced that I had a special surprise for each of them. I told them to close their eyes and on the count of 1...2...3 they opened their eyes to see me holding a beautifully designed RSF certificate. I filled out one for each child, and judging by their reaction it was a wonderful way to end our time together. Many of the moms LOVED the idea of having something to remember their RSF experience and when I return in the fall I look forward to meeting some new faces!

Have a wonderful summer everyone!