Music Tip - The Rhythm of Life

You've heard the phrase, "variety is the spice of life".  I think it should be changed to "rhythm is the spice of life" and I agree with Maya Angelou, an American Poet who said, "everything has rhythm, everything dances." 

Look at your children and their rhythm and dancing as they play, whine, read, eat and avoid their bedtime.  You probably haven't thought about them having rhythm and dancing during these times, but they do.  Think about a toddler who does the same repetitive activity like putting blocks in a container and dumping them out, over and over again.  Or the child who whines in a steady, nonstopable stream of complaining.

So I say, let's be proactive Moms.  Let's use this inherent rhythm our children have to our advantage.  Here are some examples of things you could do:

You're driving in the car with your children and they're tired and hungry.  Every intersection you come to has a red light.  You suddenly start chanting, "turn green, turn green, turn green" and immediately your children begin chanting with you.  When the light changes you all clap and say yeah!  Then as you approach an intersection with a green light showing you chant, "stay green, stay green, stay green."  Suddenly the atmosphere in your car is one of "funness" and your children are totally distracted from their hunger pains.

The bedtime fight is about to begin.  You start chanting and clapping, "bedtime, bedtime, pj-time, bedtime" as you help your child get into his pajamas.  Then you chant, "bedtime, bedtime, brush your teeth, bedtime", and again start brushing teeth.  Go through your whole bedtime routine, chanting, and doing the actions of getting ready for bed.  Then change your voice to whispering and slowly chant, "sleep time sleep time, close your eyes and sleep time."  Maybe you could continue whispering and stroking your child's face or body softly as you say, "I love you time, I love you time, kiss and hugs, I love you time."  

The house is cluttered with toys, you're fixing dinner, the baby is crying, the older kids are fighting instead of doing their homework and the noise is escalating. Suddenly you chant these words to the rhythm of "We Will Rock You": 

Who will,   who will,    help me? (clap, stomp, stomp, clap)

Who will,   who will,    help me? (clap, stomp, stomp, clap)

Then proceed to give directions in the same rhythm-ee way. 

Your children will probably look at you in disbelief, but the weirdness of  their mother acting like this will be so novel, they might just obey you.

So I say to all you Moms out there:
Try it,   try it,  try it! (clap, stomp, stomp, clap)
Try it,   try it,  try it! (clap, stomp, stomp, clap)

Thanks for reading,

Cathy

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Music Tip #64 Music and Math

This year in my monthly newsletter for school, I have to include a math page—helps for the parents to encourage them to use more math at home. Here are my math ideas for February:
Most of the music classes have been using play dough to help them visualize and understand rhythm. This is essential for playing music.
Mix up a batch of play dough (or buy some) and have your child divide his portion into 4 equal balls.
Clap and count the balls ( 1,2,3,4)
Now divide each ball into two equal smaller balls (8 total).
Count them as "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and".
This is a great way to introduce fractions.
Now have your child again divide each ball into two equal smaller balls (16 total).
Count them as "1 e and a , 2 e and a, 3 e and a, 4 e and a".
Count them as total balls together, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16.
Group them as units of 4 to see how 4 sets of 4 make 16 total.
Clap each time you count. Or pat. or snap. This helps keep your children’s interest!
Subdivide and clap away and learn fractions the fun way!
for recipes look here:
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/play-doh-recipes.html
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K-2 graders are singing the song,
I love you little
I love you lots
My love for you will fill 10 pots,
15 buckets, 16 cans, 3 teapots and 4 dishpans!
Change the numbers and have your child count how much he loves you!

Music Tip #56 Using books to teach music, reading and math

This week I have to teach a group of Montessori teachers how they can use music to help them teach reading and math. Then next week I’ll be teaching the same class to parents. So I’ll give you some of my ideas and they might be something you can use too.

I love to use books to teach music, reading and math skills. After reading a book, choose characters or objects from the story and discuss how many syllables they have. Create new words that have one or two syllables. Tap your hands on your legs to feel the syllables. String 4 of the words together and chant them over and over again. Clap and feel the rhythm. Choose 4 different words and string them together and chant them. Hear the difference.

The book Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? (Bill Martin Jr.Eric Carle) is a great way to introduce adjectives. This is a fun book to sing on sol mi pitches. Have students/your child think up new adjectives like different colors, sizes, moods of animals, etc. The companion book Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? is a good book to learn about verbs. Each animal growls or yelps or roars. Have your students/child think of new verbs and sing them.

Of course there’s the well known song “Apples and Bananas” (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_18?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=apples+and+bananas&sprefix=apples+and+bananas). Each verse is sung with a different vowel sound. The kids love it because it sounds so silly.
You can do the same thing with Miss Mary Mack—using only the first verse and changing the vowel sound.(http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_14?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=miss+mary+mack&sprefix=miss+mary+mack)

Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag is a great book to teach the order of higher numbers. It has a cute chant that goes “hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats!” Then teach your child how to write those numbers.

Read books to your children, think what you can pull out of it (syllables, verbs, adjectives, nouns, compound words, rhyming, numbers, past tense, present tense, etc), then put it to a chant, rhythm, little song and have fun!

Music Tip #50 Made for music

Last year I got this card at the end of the year from one of my music students at school,
“I loved music this year. I’m made for music! Love, Lydia.” I thought to myself, “I must be MADE for music too, that’s why I love it so much.”

People are made for music. They need it, they want it, they use it all the time. Think of how often you hear music during a normal day. You probably have it on in the car, it’s played as background music in stores, and even when you’re put on hold on the phone. Music is a crucial element in TV shows, movies, and commercials. You use it when you exercise or relax, when you go to church or parades and when you go to sporting events or a restaurant.

Rhythm is an important element of music and a steady beat is the basis on which rhythm is made. Our bodies move with rhythm: our heart beats a steady beat, our breathing is a consistent in/out, our walking stride is in 4/4 time (watch people walking down the sidewalk and count a 4 beat pattern as they walk—yep they’re moving to a steady rhythm).

A steady beat is all around us. I’ve been intrigued with the idea that there is an inherent, steady beat flowing all around us and in us-- in all we do. I’ve been trying to find proof. Here’s some things I’ve been noticing. The space between the end of a question and the beginning of the answer in a conversation seems to be a certain length of time (1 beat or 4 beats if we're thinking?).

When a red light changes to a green light there seems to be a moment in time before cars begin to move (do we subconsciously wait for 4 beats before we touch the gas?) When repeating the Pledge of Allegiance as a group, it is like a choral reading with pauses and phrases choreographed unconsciously. At the end of a prayer in a group setting, the audience all says Amen at the same time—one beat after the person saying the prayer.

Notice how you brush your teeth. I follow a pattern and seem to brush each side for a slow count of 2 (I know, I should be brushing longer).

Start noticing rhythm and beat around you. Notice how wrong things are when rhythm and beat get out of sync (heart problems, crying kids). Remember we're ALL made for music!