Sounds like a shower?

A pleasant, smaller class with great energy at Robertson House this evening. There were four 3-5 year old children attending and one baby so I decided to add in some more advanced material in class like “What Are You Wearing?”. I told the baby’s mom just to sing and clap along and she was happy to do so. I wanted the older children to have a chance to do this fun song and they really enjoyed it. I brought the ocean drum for instrument of the week. I got everyone to lie down on the mats together while I walked around and played it for them - the little pebbles rolling around inside the drum. They watched and listened and I asked what they thought it sounded like. I got the usual reactions like rain, water, and the ocean. My favourite reaction came from a boy and he thought it sounded like a shower - which is true too! No one has suggested that sound in my classes before and I thought it was so imaginative. Next week is the last class of the session and I’m looking forward to handing out certificates of attendance and completion to the moms and children :)

Parachute up and parachute down!

We had a lot of fun at the Gooch centre on June 5th. There were a lot of kids and moms that I recognized but a significant number of new children too. The energy was great--they're really starting to get to know me now so the kids approach me right away; it's nice to be building some relationships. We did "Wake Up My Hands" and "Little Green Frog" to start off because they are starting to get familiar with them, and then they got really excited for "Old MacDonald": I had animal suggestions left, right, and centre! For the IOTW, we did the cowbell which worked out really well. I held one and had the kids come up one at a time (passing around the circle doesn't bode well with this group) to try it, and Rosa (one of the staff members) held the other one. The jam was nice and loud with this group but it was the first time that there were no tears when we were putting away the IOTW and the jam instruments... progress!

Their favourite moment seemed to come with the parachute. They got so excited that every single one of them got under the parachute and it was all grownups on the outside. I played and sang "Shake it Baby, Shake it" while they were under the parachute (I have now decided not to use the CD player for the parachute anymore, as it's too difficult to wade through the crowd to get to the CD player... it breaks up the momentum). They loved it when we shook the parachute to the bottom and the top and cheered every time! Overall a great day at Gooch, not too overwhelming in terms of size, and all of the grownups were really supportive, as usual.

Magical Moments

Due to the end of the school year, there were no babies at Jessie's Centre today. There were, however, 2 young moms sitting in the daycare looking at their phones and so I took a leap of faith and introduced myself. Although they both seemed shy, I kept asking them questions and had a bit of a conversation with Barbara about my job and various things. I was suddenly inspired to bring over my pair of Tibetan Singing Bowls and before I knew it, we were playing the bowls on the bellies of the young mums. It was a magical experience and I was touched by their willingness to overcome what could have been a strange moment. I am a stranger after all! A couple of the staff members were sitting with us as well and so I grabbed my guitar and started playing some songs (Stand By Me, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Hush Little Rooster, Onawa's Waltz). It was incredibly intimate and felt more like a private showcase than any other RSF class I have ever led. Afterwards I taught one of the moms some chords on the guitar and talked a bit about what music she likes and how to incorporate "music-making" into her daily routine when her baby is born at the end of July. Before I left, I made sure to thank everyone for being so warm and open to a new experience and made sure to invite the moms back next week to attend classes when the babies have (hopefully) returned. That being said, I love how RSF creates such interesting opportunities for groups of people to connect through music, whether in a traditional setting or something different.

Hello - Hello

I heard the "Hello Song" being sung as as we were getting ready for class this evening at Robertson - everyone was eager and excited to begin! Moms who returned to class this week were more confident with their participation and the kids as always were all in. "The Freeze Dance" was a big hit today with many giggling and anticipating when the dance would start up again. I brought the kalimba for my special instrument of the week and many thought it had a funny sound. I spiced it up with the parachute today by playing an upbeat Latin song to get everyone dancing and it did the job! Just 2 more classes this session at Robertson, so I reminded the moms to come to the next 2 so that they could get their special certificates.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot!

Counting day today as we sang "Clap Your Hands, Now Sing 1, 2, 3", "6 Little Ducks", "1 and 2 and 3 and 4", and "10 Little Fingers". 5 new adults and 1 child added to the sound produced by the returning 13 children and 1 adult. Lots of heavy hitters produced deep sounds on the Bass Bar. And we celebrated the nice weather during the jam session by singing "You Are My Sunshine" and "Hot, Hot, Hot".

That made my day!

It was a fun day at Jessie's Centre today with a bunch of staff members on hand to participate. Although the babies were young and some a bit sleepy, we were able to sing through a ton of songs before they went down for late afternoon naps. We started by warming up our voices with Roly Poly, The Flea Song, One Button Two Button, and The More We Sing Together. We then woke up all our body parts with I Wake Up My Hands and filled our bellies with Sitting In My Highchair. Afterwards we had Bath Time to clean up our mess and took the bus to school (Wheels On The Bus). We also rowed our boats (Row Row Row Your Boat) and took a lap ride (Little Red Wagon). Standing up gave us a chance to stretch our legs and Zoom Zoom Zoom all the way to the moon!

For IOTW, I brought out a couple of instruments from Brazil (Agogo and Guiro) and gave a demonstration on how to play different rhythms on each. We passed them around the circle singing All The Babies Like Bananas and it was nice to see some of the grownups really enjoying themselves. We jammed to Stand By Me and Three Little Birds and finished with the parachute, with the babies lying down on their backs so they could look up at all the beautiful colours as we sang along to James Brown's I Feel Good and Jamaica Farewell.

As usual the class went by far too quickly and to my delight one of the mom's commented, "That made my day!" Always nice to hear positive feedback. Looking forward to next week!

Feel Good Fun

Such a fun, refreshing class at Robertson this evening! A lot of new faces and a couple returning. Singing was off to a nice start with the "Hello Song" and everyone enjoyed opposites with "Roly Poly" and "Hands Together, Hands Apart" - especially the little dance at the end. There was a new 1 year old with her mom today and she made a lot of happy, excited facial expressions during class. It was so much fun to watch her respond to activities and it brought a smile to everyone's faces. I brought the Chinese gong as my special instrument. The older kids got a huge kick out of hitting it as hard as they could with the mallet; making the loud 'CRASH' sound. Overall, the way the class went today felt really good and I was able to make some good connections with children and moms alike. One girl was quite shy and almost looked scared when she came to class with her mom and siblings, but she participated in her turn to roll the ball and hit the gong - her mom was so happy that her daughter made these strides and both of us applauded her participation.

At the end, I strongly encouraged the moms to return to class in the next few weeks as there are only 3 classes left in the session. I really hope to see them all again. One mom personally thanked me afterwards, saying she had a lot of fun - which was a reminder of the importance of RSF classes and how special it is for all who attend.

Funga Alafia Ashay Ashay

Nice to see some new faces this morning with 5 new children, along with 6 returnees. Unfortunately, there weren't any adults today. But the kids made up with enthusiastic singing of "If You're Happy and You Know It", "Funga Alafia", and "Shut the Door" so we could go to the "Corner Grocery Store" so we could sing about bananas. They enjoyed playing with the Chime Bells as the IOTW, and had fun with the instruments singing "I'm in the Mood for Jamming".

Gong!

Today was a more relaxed day at the Gooch Drop-in Centre. The number of kids (25) was a lot more manageable and there were a lot more adults present too. There were a few new kids that I hadn't met yet, but most were kids that I had already met, and I'm excited to be learning their names and starting to get to know moms better too. We started out with an energetic "I Wake Up My Hands," and sang the "Little Green Frog" again--they remembered it well! Movement was a bit hectic, as it usually is but I can tell it's improving, especially with the staff members helping out.

One of my favourite moments today came when I brought out the Gong for the IOTW. I asked the kids if they knew what it was; one thought it was a cymbal (close!) and one little girl knew its name and proudly announced it. I demonstrated how to play it and gave a little bit of history, and then Yufeng (the program coordinator) had some other really interesting information about it too! She explained to the kids that in China, sometimes the Gong was used to signal the closing of big gates that allowed entry and exiting from big cities. This was really cool! I definitely learned something too!

I had the kids line up to try the Gong one at a time, which worked out pretty well. Our jam session was a lot of fun--I played "Three Little Birds"--and it was great to see how well the kids were sharing the instruments. They played their instruments through the whole jam session, enjoying every moment! No tears today when putting the instruments away--hooray!

Overall, I had a lot of fun with the kids today, and it was a much calmer session.

Energy!

It was nice to be back at the Gooch Family Drop-In Centre today. There were some new faces (both kids and grown-ups), as well as a big group of kids and parents that I recognized from last week. We started out with the "Hello" song, and I realized right away that singing to each individual child wasn't an option with over 30 kids. Instead, I sang hello to girls, to boys, to moms, to dads and to grown-ups. I did the turtle song with them--having brought in the puppet--and they had a lot of fun with it. We did the song as a call and response and the response was huge! It's wonderful how much participation there is in this group. The instrument of the week was a little bit of a challenge today. We did the Guiro, and they loved it! The only thing that's a little bit tricky is making sure each child gets to try it and gauging how many kids still need to play it while I'm singing its accompaniment song. Yufeng and the other staff members helped out a lot with passing and tried to ensure that each child got a chance. I brought in 3 Guiros, which is usually plenty but with the size of the group, I really think I will need to start bringing 4-5 of each instrument, if it's possible. For the parachute today, I wasn't able to get over to the CD player so we sang "Red, and Yellow, Green and Blue" and then I got the kids to 'pretend to sleep' underneath while we sang "Twinkle Twinkle." This helped to calm the group before our goodbye song.

It was a really fun and energetic day overall, and I'm looking forward to joining them all again next week!