June 1st - June 29th, 2013

Music we listened to in our classes:

June 1: "Mubube" from Putumayo Presents:African Playground
            "Zip-a-dee-doo-da" from Maria Muldaur, Swingin' in the Rain

June 7: "Dil Lay Gayee" from Bhangra, Original Pujabi Pop 

June 15: "The Freeze" from Greg and Steve's Kids in Motion
              "Clair de Lune" Claude Debussy

June 22: "Paxolina" from Yo-yo Ma and Friends, Songs of Joy and Peace

June 29: "Trampolin" from Putumayo Presesnts: European Playground
              "You-you-zha" from Chinese Lullabies Bejing Angelic Choir
               

April 13th - May 11th, 2013

Here is what we listened to in our classes:

April 13th: Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 2 K.417, 3rd Movement
            "Battu" from Putumayo's African Playground
            "Polly Woll Doodle" From Dan Zane's Rocket-Ship Beach

April 20th: "Rete (Live Version)" Kassav from Putumayo Presents French Caribbean
                 "Dil Lay Gayee" Jasbir Jassi on Bhangra Original Punjabi Pop

April 27th: "Let's Make Some Noise" Raffi Everything Grows
                  "4 Etoiles" Adama Coly, from Putumayo Presents Afro-Latino
                  "Aquarium" from Saint-Saens Le Carnival Des Animaux (Carnival of the Animals)

May 4th:
May 11th:

February 23 -- March 23, 2013

Here is the music we listened to:

Feb. 23rd: "Battu" from Putamayo's African Playground
                 "Polly Wolly Doodle" from Dan Zane's Rocket-ship Beach

March 2nd: "Old McDonald Had a Farm" Black Lodge Singers
                   "Dil Lay Gayee" Jasbir Jassi on Bhangra Original Punjabi Pop

March 9th: "4 Etoiles" Adama Coly, from Putumayo Presents Afro-Latino
                  "Aquarium" from Saint-Saens Le Carnival Des Animaux (Carnival of the Animals)

March 16th: "Let's Make Some Noise" from Raffi's Everything Grows
                    "Live from  Matt Malloy's Pub" The Chieftans Water from the Well

March 23rd: "Rete (Live Version)" Kassav from Putumayo Presents French Caribbean

Jan. 12 -- Feb. 9, 2013

Here's the music we listened to in our class:

Jan. 12: "John Kanakanaka" From Dan Zanes and Friends Little Nut Tree
              "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah" from Maria Maldauer's Swingin' in the Rain

Jan. 19: "Jig Jog Gee" from Father Goose's It's a Bam Bam Diddley!
              "Dil Lay Gayee" sung by Jaider Kumar from Bhangra, Original Punjabi Pop

Jan. 26: "Battu" by Angelique Kidjo from Putamayo's African Playground
             "The Freeze" by Greg and Steve Kids in Motion

Feb 3: "Let's Make Some Noise" Raffi's Everything Grows
           "Under the Sea" from Disney's Little Mermaid soundtrack
           "You-you-zha" from Chinese Lullabies by the Beijing Angelic Choir

Feb 9: "Jammin'" from Bob Marley's B is for Bob
            "Rainbow Connection" from Gather Round: songs for kids and other folks

November 3rd -- December 15th

Here's what we listened to:

Nov. 3rd: "John Kanakanaka" Dan Zanes and Friends Little Nut Tree
"Zip-dee-doo-dah" Maria Muldaur Swingin' in the Rain

Nov. 10th: "Jig Jog Gee" Father Goose It's a Bam Bam Diddly
"Dil Lay Gayee" Bhangra: Original Punjabi Pop

Nov. 17th: "Merrily We Roll Along" on the Smithsonian Folkways Children's Music Collection
"The Freeze" from Kids in Motion by Greg and Steve

Dec. 1st: "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker
"Let's Make Some Noise" & "Haru Ga Kita" from Raffi's Everything Grows

Dec. 8th: "Kuai Le,"A Christmas Jig/Mouth of the Tobique Reel," "Panxolina: a Galician Carol" from Yo-Yo Ma & Friends Songs of Joy and Peace

Dec. 15th: "Jammin'" Bob Marley and Friends,
Khelipe E Cheasea from Golden Horns, Boban and Marko Markovich

Music, Art and Feelings

As you might know, children's emotions can be strong and passionate, especially in the first five years. Toddlers are in the process of learning how to control their emotional impulses, and preschoolers are developing more self-awareness. When we give children tools, like language, they can use them to practice self-control. They can practice taking action with words instead of hitting, or crying and screaming on the floor. Learning emotion-related language helps kids to associate words with behaviors and feelings, and  encourages self-awareness, and how to identify feelings and label them.

A drawing from our class.

One way to open the door to the language of feelings is with music. I like to give the kids some paper and crayons and play music (without lyrics) for them to color along to. I ask them open ended questions about how the music sounds. "Does this music sound happy or sad? Slow or fast? Mad or excited? What color goes with those feelings?" I let them color without talking as well, just giving them a chance to be self reflective and listen to the music while coloring. I use a variety of music during the same sitting so the children can hear the difference between the pieces of music.

A drawing from our class.

You can use this activity when kids are feeling calm or even when they are having strong feelings, as a way to redirect potentially inappropriate actions fueled by those strong feelings. Turning feelings into actions helps children to more easily deal with them. Here are few music suggestions:

Vivaldi's Four Seasons ("L'Estate/ III. Presto" is a good one)
Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt ("In the Hall of the Mountain King" is energetic)
Camille Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals
Aaron Copland's Rodeo ("Saturday Night Waltz" is a gentle one)

You could even join the children in coloring along to music. It might be a good stress buster!

A drawing from our class.

Sept 15 -- Oct. 13, 2012

Here's what we listened to:

Sept. 15: "King Kong Kitchie" from Dan Zanes' + Friends, Rocket Ship Beach

                "Here we go, Zudio" from Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem on
                Many Hands, Family Music for Hati

Sept. 22: "Wonderful" by Pascal Parisot from Putamayo's French Playground
                
                 "La Lizeta" by Candido Fabre Y Su Banda from Cuban Dance Feet on Fire

Sept 29: "Old McDonald" The Black Lodge Singers on More Kids' Pow-Wow Songs

               "Danza de Concheros," & "El Chivo" from San Patricio by Ry Cooder & The Chieftans