Giggles and Ribbits

Our group was a little bigger this week than last which made singing together all the more merry! We kept up with our songs that involve sign language, like the Hello Song, the Rooster Song and Clean-O. Our Instrument of the Week was a big hit with our three differently-sized frogs. I'm glad others enjoy the frogs because they are definitely my absolute favourite instruments to play with at Rainbow SongsFoundation! We did the song Little Green Frog, and giggled as we stuck our tongues out and sang our "la di da di da."

Worth It at Robertson House!

Unfortunately we started class a tad bit late this week due to low attendance but we were able to round up some families to sing and got to work!

I reviewed some Halloween Week material (I Shut The Door, Pumpkin Pumpkin, Five Little Pumpkins, and I'm Dressing Up For Halloween). I also taught them a funny version of The Itsy Bitsy Spider that is sung in the voice of Count Dracula, The Very Scary Spider.We then sang some animals songs together, Listen To The Water, Little Green Frog, Baby Shark, Six Little Ducks, and Elephants Marching.

At this point in time we had several people going in and out of the class so I tried to keep things focused by Rolling the Ball, which helped slightly, but ultimately decided that jamming would be a better way of getting the group to sing together, rather than bringing out theinstrument of the week. We sang Stand By Me, Three Little Birds and I Feel Good. Luckily my plan worked and by the end all the moms were singing and dancing! Whew! Sometimes it can be a lot of work to get them there but it’s always worth it in the end.

Small and Mighty at Massey

We had fun singing songs we had already learned, as well as some new ones. It is great seeing how well the participants (and in some cases the young baby!) remembered the songs we had done before. Even though they are sometimes shy to sing, the actions give them a way to participate as they gain more confidence in singing. The baby we had with us loves lap rides and being lifted into the air, so we concluded several animal songs with some animal lap rides and chances to fly! Using the chime bars, the participants jammed along with new songs as well as familiar songs using patterns they had been taught or their own rhythmic ideas. This was a great introduction to playing pitched musical instruments as a group.

Birkdale Dog Pile!

Well, no hugs today, even though the kids were happy to see me. And they must have been telling their friends, because by the end of the class there were 26 parents and children there. It made for a delightfully crowded rug as 17 of them were children. Of that group, 10 had been once before, and three had been all three weeks. There were also five parents who were back for their second week, and one who had attended all three classes.

The singing was again very spirited as BINGO, Allouette, Mama Don' Allow (with appropriate warnings), Corner Grocery Store, and Sleeping Bunnies had the room ringing. Parents and children enjoyed getting the Cabasa to makes its "ch-ch-ch-ch" sound.

 With the kids having enjoyed themselves so much, I figured I'd be in for lots of "high-fives".  WRONG.  Instead I got buried by a massive group hug.

First Day Back at Jessie's

I had a very warm welcome back to Jessie's Centre today after a lengthy hiatus over the summer. It was wonderful to see the staff at Jessie's again and hear their excitement for Rainbow Songs Foundation! We also have a whole new group of young women and babies and toddlers to get to know! We spent some time this week going over songs with sign language so that the moms and babies can start using sign language in their everyday lives. It was a great start to what is certain to be a great fall!

New songs at Robertson House

It was a busy week at Roberton House as I began preparing the class for a special theme week known as Halloween Week.

With a small, yet active, group of participants we set off learning some new songs: I Shut the Door, Pumpkin Pumpkin, Five Little Pumpkins, and I'm Dressing Up For Halloween. We were also able to review some familiar tunes: Roly Poly, I Wake Up My Hands, Horsey Horsey, Old MacDonald and The Itsy Bitsy Spider. I also made sure to give everyone a chance Rolling the Ball, hoping that it would encourage the little ones to share with one another.

When I brought out the instrument bag I made sure to review all the rules and also went over how to play the Clave Sticks as ourinstrument of the week. We sang All De' Children Like Bananas, singing a verse to each child which always creates a special moment. I also sang to the grownups as this is a great way for them to feel comfortable. We finished with Stand By Me, which is a great song that encourages participation as many people know most, if not all, the words. We ended with the parachute and one mom exclaimed, "I remember doing this when I was a little girl!" It was nice to hear that she could have a child-like moment once more and bond with her little one at the same time.

Brand New Faces at Robertson!

What an amazing class at Robertson House today! Lots of brand new faces who seemed excited about taking their "first" music class with RSF.

After the Hello Song, I decided to teach a couple of tunes to the group to get us in the spirit for Halloween Week. I Shut The Door, Pumpkin Pumpkin, and Five Little Pumpkins are some of my favourites, and although doing three new songs back-to-back is a bit risky I was able to keep the group completely engaged and praised the grownups for their participation. I also made sure to teach them some songs off of the RSF CD and corresponding lyric sheet (I Wake Up My Hands, Sticky Sticky Bubblegum, If You're Happy and You Know It, Wheels on the Bus, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and Zoom Zoom Zoom). 

For the instrument of the week I demonstrated how to play the Clave Sticks while singing along to All De' Nations Like Bananas. To get to know the children's names a bit better I changed the lyrics to All The Children/Grownups Like Bananas, and many people seemed to like having their name sung aloud.

Jamming with a new group of people for the first time is always a cool experience. Sometimes people are shy while other times they surprise you with their excitement and energy. I led them through I Feel Good and Three Little Birds, and luckily these song choices seemed to compliment the group nicely as they sung loud and clear!

Overall it was a great "start" to the session with a great group of families, and I hope to keep the momentum going next week!

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.