FREE PRESCHOOL MUSIC

Amazon has two songs available for FREE that are great to use in the preschool classroom.  Both of these songs are from Old Town School of Folk Music

1.  Down in the Arkansas

You won't be able to keep your toes from tappin' or your hands from clappin' when you hear this one!  Down in the Arkansas is a great tune to dance to.

• Patch Legs or Clap Hands on the Intro
• Continue Patching or Clapping during the Verses, until you hear  "down in the Arkansas".  On this phrase, shift your weight back and forth on your feet for a little country swish.
• At the Chorus, Turn to the Right for:  Down in the Arkan, down in the Arkan, down in the Arkansas.  Then Turn to the Left for the sweetest girl I ever saw was down in the Arkansas
• During the instrumental solos, march in place to the beat or have children walk in a circle until the singing starts back up

2.  Clap Your Hands 

This song is appropriate for children ages 18 months - 5 years.  The lyrics have built in movements which are easy to follow:  Clap Your Hands, Stomp Your Feet, Wave Hello, Brush Your Teeth and Touch Your Nose

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A USED PIANO

Piano students often ask me to help them find a piano to practice on.  I am always happy to meet the parents and check out any instrument they may have found.  Often parents are understandably concerned about spending a lot of money on an instrument that the child may or may not take a liking to.  And unlike beginning band and orchestra instruments, which can often be rented for less than $50 a month, the ability to rent pianos is no longer a viable option in many places.  There are good beginning pianos to be bought for less than $1000, but you do need to know what to look (and listen) for when you are shopping.


When you are looking at a previously owned piano, you want to ask a few questions:


1.  Where has the piano been stored?  Pianos do not like sudden changes in temperature, so you do not even want to consider a piano that has been kept in an unregulated storage facility, an unfinsished basement, or a garage.  Ideally, pianos should be housed in an inner room of a house, away from doors and windows.  Direct sunlight will have a negative impact on the finish on a piano and the sudden temperature changes from a door opening and closing will cause the piano to lose its ability to stay in tune.


2.  When was the last time the piano was tuned?  How often was it tuned.  Generally, pianos should be tuned at least twice a year.  If you are looking at a piano that hasn't been tuned in 5 years, walk away.


3.  Check the soundboard for cracks.  The soundboard is the heart of a piano; It is the piece of wood that the strings are stretched across.  On a grand piano the soundboard is under the iron frame on a piano and on an upright is is behind the iron frame.  If there are any cracks in the soundboard, walk away.  On very old, vintage pianos it may be worth the expense of replacing the soundboard, but for the average practice piano, it is not worth the hassle or expense.


Soundboards:

      


4.  Can I play the piano?  When you play the piano you should feel an evenness in the keys.  That is, you don't want some keys that are hard to depress or keys that stick.  You should be able to play loud and soft sounds easily.  Listen for any tinny or vibrating sounds as these many indicate a problem with the soundboard.




I recently received a flyer from Gist Piano Store in Louisville that had these helpful hints for buying a piano:  

The Minimum Acceptable Practice Instrument


• 88 Full-Sized Keys - Keys must be 5.93 inches long. This is
approximately as long as a dollar bill. To test, place a dollar bill on the key
with one end pressed against the fallboard. The piano key should run to the
end of the ink on the dollar bill.


• Properly Weighted Touch - A technician’s key weight should depress
they key to its point of escapement. If the key goes down too far or not at
all, it is improperly weighted.


• A Sustain Pedal - Any practice instrumet must have a “damper”
or sustain pedal. The piano-style pedal with incrimental pedaling is
recommended.


• Tuning Stability - The instrument must be in tune and must be able
to stay in tune for months at a time. Playing on an out of tune piano can
severely damage a student’s “ear for music.”


• Proper Action Regulation - Regulation is to piano touch what
tuning is to piano sound. It’s impossible to develop proper playing
technique and the appropriate finger strength on an improperly regulated
piano.


• Piano Bench - Posture is critical to the developing pianist. It’s
important to have a bench that is made to match the piano your student
is practicing on.


If you're in the market for a piano, arm yourself with these questions and helpful hints.  If it's at all possible, go to a reputable piano store for your first instrument.  The people at a good piano store will be extremely helpful and won't pressure you into buying more piano than what you want or need.  If it's not possible to go to a piano store, ask a local piano teacher or church pianist to go with you to check it out.  It is possible to find a good instrument at a reasonable price, you just have to know what you're looking for before you begin. 

MAKING THE MOST OF MUSIC PRACTICE

No one particularly enjoys practice time.  It can be repetitious, frustrating and at times, down right boring.  Yet no one ever mastered an instrument without first putting in some serious practice time.  For students who have been taking lessons for at least one year, it is imperative to know some constructive ways to practice. This is not to say that practice is not important in the first year of study.  But, the first year is usually spent mastering correct hand position, reading music, rhythmic awareness and foundational skills of playing and practice time is generally less time-consuming.  Beginning with the 2nd year of study, students will start playing more complex music and this is the time when practice techniques should be emphasized.

Here are a few tips to make your practice time more productive:

1.  Slow Practice.  Often times we can correct rhythmic problems, position changes and the difficulty of quick chord changes simply with slow practice.  And I do mean SLOOW!!  Once the slow tempo is mastered, gradually increase the tempo until performance tempo is achieved.

2.  Stop on a Dime.  When musicians have trouble navigating through modulations or position changes, I often encourage them to STOP suddenly on the first beat of the transition.  When you do this, you force you brain to really take note of what's happening in the music.  After a couple times of Stop and Go practice, play through the section until you reach the next trouble spot and repeat the process.  Sometimes it only takes one or two times to correct a problem with this technique -  and sometimes it takes 10 or 12.  Either way, it's an effective tool.

3.  Write out the music.  Grab a sheet of manuscript paper and start writing out the music.  There is something about the act of writing it out that helps to ingrain it into our memory.

4.  Analyze the Music.  Even young students can find the A and B sections of the music.  More mature students will be looking for the exposition, development, recapitulation and codas.  No matter what level of music you are playing, knowing the song's form and where each section begins and ends is a first step in truly understanding the music being learned.

5.  One Measure at a Time.  When memorizing music, tackle only one measure or phrase at a time. Sometimes young musicians get overwhelmed with the idea of memorizing an entire piece of music, especially if the song is several pages long.  Each day, work on memorizing a couple of phrases, or maybe one page, or the first two lines - an amount that doesn't seem overwhelming.  If you build on this concept everyday you will memorize the music before you know it.  Like I tell my students, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.  How do memorize a Bach Invention?  One measure at a time!"

VIVALDI FOR PRESCHOOLERS

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) is probably most famous for his concerto called The Four Seasons.  A concerto  is an orchestral work that highlights a solo instrument.  In this case, a violin is the soloist for a string orchestra.  The movement called Spring (or in Italian, Primavera), is actually divided into three movements.  But for our purposes, we will only look at the first couple of minutes of the first movement.

When you are introducing classical music to preschoolers, you want to make sure that you are making it accessible for the children. Young children will not understand what a concerto is, but they will be able to identify the sound of the violin and they will be able to listen for and recognize different elements of the music, if you put it in terms that they can understand.

When you use "Spring" from The Four Seasons, have the children listen for 5 different elements: 

1.  The Forte (Loud) section

2.  The Piano (Soft) section

3.  The music that depicts birds singing

4.  The music of the gentle rain

5.  The music of the thunderstorm

After you have listened to the music one time through, enlist the children to help you come up with actions for each of these musical elements.  For example, Clap Loudly for the Forte section, Clap Softly for the Piano section, Flap Arms for the birds, Use your fingers and arms to show a gentle rain and do a crazy full body movement for the Storm.  Really let the children try to come up with their own ideas, and only rely on my suggestions if they have a hard time coming up with their own.  There is no right or wrong way to do this.  You will have achieved success if the children are able to initiate different actions for each section of the music.  I would suggest that you tell the children that their actions must be silent so that they can hear the music (so no tweets for the birds or booms for the storm!).  You may be surprised at what the children will come up with and you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping to develop critical listening skills in your students.

P.S.  This version of "Spring" is available FREE from Amazon!

WHAT IS A PRESCHOOL MUSIC TEACHER?

As I was chatting with a check out lady this weekend, the conversation turned to my work. I told her that I am a music teacher; I teach piano and I give music classes in local preschools. "Ohhh, that sounds like fun!", she replied. "What an easy job! All you have to do is sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and the kids are happy!". 

Um, no.

I tried to explain to her that I actually taught the kids musical skills and I wasn't there to simply entertain, but to teach. From the tone of our conversation, I could tell that she had never worked with young children before and had no idea what they are capable of learning. 

In my music classes, the preschoolers learn invaluable musical skills:

• How to keep a steady beat
• Reading rhythmic notation
• Great composers
• Improvisation
• Listening skills
• Movement skills
• Different genres of music
• Hand bell playing

....skills that lay a foundation for future success in music.

A few weeks ago one of the directors of a preschool where I teach complimented me.  She had hired several other music teachers before me and had been disappointed each time.  Her previous teachers would sing the same songs week after week after week, didn't engage the children in the learning process and spent their class time simply "experiencing music".  This director was pleased that I came each week prepared with different lesson plans and that I had high expectations for the children's learning each week.  As a teacher, I couldn't imagine being any other way.  I TEACH; that's what I do!

It seems that a lot of the preschool music curriculum is centered around the idea of children simply "experiencing music".  Before I started The Little Beethovens, I spent a year in research.  My initial hope was to find a curriculum or program already in circulation that I could use.  I looked closely at two very well known  programs.  Neither program fit into my philosophy of teaching.  Both of these programs are nonchalant about children not participating in class (some children choose "wisely" not to participate...don't worry, after 5 or 6 weeks they will start to join in...), use mixed ages in the classroom and rely heavily on the experiential nature of the classes.  And to top it off, the teachers in these programs are not required to have any musical background.  As long as you can sing in tune and you pay for and attend the required classes, you are a certified preschool music teacher.  I'm sorry, but I don't want someone with remedial skills teaching my child to read or write and I don't want someone with no musical training to wear the title "preschool music specialist"!  

With all the data and research out there that helps us understand child development, I never thought I would have to explain the validity of my work to someone. Young children are capable of learning more than we give them credit for and to those of you who believe in educating preschoolers, keep up the good work!

Spring Break

I'm on Spring Break this week.  I'll be back next Monday!!

EASTER SONGS FOR PRESCHOOLERS

Looking for some good music to use during the Easter season?  Here are a few suggestions:

1.  Hop Little Bunnies by The C.R.S Players - a great movement song that will have the little bunnies sleeping and hopping.

2.  Mary Had a Little Lamb by Stevie Ray Vaughn - the great blues guitarist recorded this upbeat, rockin' version of the traditional nursery rhyme.  Go ahead and pull out your air guitar and sing along with this tune!

3.  Deck the Eggs by Nooshi the Balloon Dude - a fun twist on the Christmas carol Deck the Halls. Have children clap, tap rhythm sticks or shake egg shakers during the falalalalas.

4.  If You Love the Easter Bunny by The Wonder Kids - the Easter version of If You're Happy and You Know It.

5.  Spring from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons - use this song to talk about violins, chamber music and loud/soft with students.  See if the children can hear the thunderstorm in the music and make up simple movements to represent the Calm Spring Day and the Thunderstorm.

6.  Here Comes Peter Cottontail by The Hit Crew - let the children take turns being the Easter Bunny as they pass out "candy" and "treats" to their friends.

And for a religious emphasis on the holiday, try these songs:

1.  Easter Song

2.  Hallelu, Hallelujah  -have the children shake tambourines every time they sing 'Hallelujah' - it's not as easy as it sounds!

3.  Jesus Loves the Little Ones - a simple song with a simple message of God's love - perfect for young children to sing!