Pairing Picture Books and Classical Music - Con't

In my last post I discussed the pairing of Camillle Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals with picture books to create a Music and Story Time Class.  I gave suggestions for books to use with the first 7 selections from the Carnival of the Animals, and for this post I will make suggestions for the last 7 selections.

 8.  People With Long Ears - Do Your Ears Hang Low? by Caroline Jayne Church
 9. The Cuckoo - Birds  by Kevin Henkes
10.  Aviary - Birds by Kevin Henke
11.  Piano Players -   The Philharmonic Gets Dressed by Karla Kushkin
12.  Fossils - T Rex at Swan Lake  by Lisa Carrier and Lenore Hart
13.  The Swan - The Ugly Duckling by Harriet Ziefer
14.  Finale - The Carnival of the Animals by Barry C. Turner

Now, go listen to some music and read a book with your preschooler!

Pairing Picture Books and Classical Music

The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens is a collection of 14 short musical pieces with each piece describing a different type of animal.  Probably the most famous of these pieces is "The Swan", which is a beautiful, mellow cello and piano duet.  The Carnival of the Animals is a wonderful collection of music to use with preschoolers for two reasons:  1.  Each piece is very short; only 1-2 minutes in length, making them perfect for the preschooler's attention span.  2.  The music is so vividly descriptive of each animal's movement, you can probably figure out what animal is being described in the music without prior knowledge of the title.  This makes incorporating movement, dance and improvisation into the music lesson very easy.

You can take this one step further and have a Music and Story Time session by pairing up one selection from The Carnival of the Animals with one children's book. Today I will make recommendations for book pairings for the first 7 musical selections in The Carnival of the Animals - if you have other books that your children love, by all means go ahead and use them.  I will make recommendations for the last seven songs in my next post.

1.  Royal March of the Lion - Tawny, Scrawny Lion by Kathryn Jackson
2.  Hens and Cocks - Henny Penny  by Paul Gladone
3.  Wild Asses - When Donkeys Fly by Elisabeth Schobel
4.  Tortoises - The Hare and The Tortoise by Brian Wildsmith
5.  The Elephant - The Saggy, Baggy Elephant by Kathryn and Byron Jackson
6.  Kangaroos - Do Kangaroos wear Seat Belts? by Jane Kurtz
7.  Aquarium - One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish  by Dr. Seuss

A Teaching Idea Learned From My Preschoolers

For two weeks I have re-introduced Haydn's "Surprise Symphony" to my students.  They love to listen to the quiet sounds of the opening theme and then clap or jump when they hear the loud Surprise!  As we were sitting in circle and just listening to the beginning of the symphony, I watched one little boy as he slowly moved his arms back and forth, like a robot, and then froze his arms in position when the musical surprise sounded.  I was so pleased with his improvisation that I had him stand up in front of the class and demonstrate to everyone what he was doing.  Of course, that opened up the floodgates and suddenly everyone wanted a chance to show off their improvisational skills.  I let several students take a turn:  some tiptoed during the quiet section and then jumped at the surprise, one crawled on the floor and then flattened himself out on the floor, one little girl twirled and then clapped.  I was amazed and the children loved it!  If I had had more time, I would have let more children take a turn.  At the end of the class, I could hear several children say "That was sooo much fun", or "I want to do that again!".

For my part, I had an epiphany:  Watch your students and learn from them.  Sometimes our children will surprise us with their ideas and creativity. The American poet Mark Van Doren once said,  "The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery" - if I can remember that, then I can be assured that I am doing well as a teacher.

A Fun Musical Idea for Preschoolers

Sometimes, Music Time just needs to be Fun Time!  So, on those days when you just want to have fun singing with your kids, pull out this simple activity:

1.  Print pictures that illustrate nursery rhymes and simple children's songs:  Little Bo Peep, Twinkle Twinkle,  Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty, 5 Little Ducks, etc.

2.  Glue the pictures to 4"x5" construction paper.  Laminate.

3.  Let the children take turns picking out a card and then sing the song that is illustrated on it.

• You can make a game out of choosing who's next to pick a card by singing a choosing rhyme (like Eeney Meenie Miney Mo) or playing Hot Potatoe and whoever is left holding the 'potatoe' gets to choose

Below are some pictures you can use to get started:

HUMPTY DUMPTY

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB

JACK AND JILL

BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP

Music Theory Classes

Ideally, music theory should be incorporated into every piano lesson.  However, most teachers understand the difficulty of doing so.  The average piano lessons is 30 minutes long; most of the time, that is just enough time to work on music, especially with  upper elementary and intermediate students.  In the course of 30 minutes, a teacher can touch on dynamics, scales, key signatures, ear training skills, chord building or improvisation, but the honest truth is that most of the lesson time is spent in mastering technical skills and learning music for recitals, festivals, auditions and competitions.  One of the best things a private teacher can offer are additional music theory classes.

What exactly is music theory, you may ask?  Music theory is what I call the "stuff of music".  It's learning how to analyze music, understanding the form of the music and learning how to create music on your own.  A typical intermediate level music theory class would focus on identifying key signatures, building scales, listening for and recognizing major and minor intervals, melodic notation within a 5 - 8 note group, harmonizing a simple melody with I, IV and V chords and/or introducing musical time periods and well known compositions.  An elementary music theory class may focus on note reading, notating very simple rhythms, basic musical terminology (forte, piano, bar line, time signature, etc), identifying intervals of a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th and/or introducing famous composers.  All of this sounds quite ho-hum, but these are skills and knowledge that every musician needs and once a student understands the practical application of this knowledge, a whole new world of musical understanding is opened up to them.

If you are the parent of a child taking private lessons, ask your teacher if she offers music theory classes.  If not, maybe she can refer you to someone who does.  If you are in the Louisville area, you can call me for theory lessons - no matter what instrument your child is studying!  I offer Saturday classes, grouped by level and I'm sure that I can find a spot for your student!  If you are in an area that does not offer music theory classes for students, check out the Ricci Adams Music Theory website - it is a very good (free) online resource that offers lessons and games.  The website link is: http://www.musictheory.net/.

10 Books to Read and Sing to Preschoolers

 You don't need any musical training to sing these books!  Most of these selections are very familiar tunes, some come with CD recordings and all of the songs can be downloaded from any MP3 source.  I would encourage you to sing the books instead of reading the books.  And don't be afraid to let your preschoolers move with the music.  All of these are fun, silly songs that your preschoolers will want to read and sing time and again!


 1. Going to the Zoo - Tom Paxton and Karen Lee Schmidt
 2. Doing the Animal Bop - Jan Ormerod and Lindsey Gardner
 3. Shake My Sillies Out - Raffi
 4. The Animal Boogie - Debbie Harter
 5. Spider on the Floor - Raffi
 6. Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes - Annie Kubler
 7. The Ants Go Marching - Jeffrey Scherer
 8. Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed - Eileen Christelow
 9. Yankee Doodle - Patti Goodnow
10. You Are My Sunshine - Steve Metzger and Jill Dubin