Head, Shoulders, Knees, and all that

More Stevie...

...this time on the Johnny Cash show, November 11, 1970. It's interesting to me that unlike the Sesame Street clips, this one isn't from a kid's show, but it's arguably a better children's song than the two he played for Big Bird and the gang, at least a better teaching song. This is a tune I could take right into the classroom and have a rip-roaring time with.

Songs like this, with the same basic refrain but a small change each verse, are a blast for young kids (a la Wheels on the Bus, Old McDonald, Five Little Monkeys, etc.) and great for language development, as the repetitive verse allows them to get comfortable with the rhythm of the words and the small changes each verse keep them interested and excited for the next verse, as well as introducing new vocabulary.

Troy has a post up about Sue Schnitzer over at SongStreet. I would LOVE to hear her version of this song.

Hummingbird Hum

Monty Harper is back with another of his excellent podcasts on the creative process behind making great children's music. This time he's joined by 2 special guests, his wife and adorable daughter, as they introduce 2 great new kids songs ("Hummingbird Hum" and "Villa Villekulla Hula") from his new CD Paws Claws Scales & Tales.

Also, sign up for his e-mail list and get 3 free song downloads. As always, can't beat free!

Super Simple Songs 2

A couple of folks have asked what the deal is with Super Simple Songs 2 (thanks for asking!).  Well, as you may have guessed from the red album link over there in the left column, Knock Knock English's latest CD, Super Simple Songs 2, is available now!  Check it out. 

The story behind the Super Simple Songs CDs is that we wanted some kids' music that our students here in Tokyo (aged 2-10) could easily follow, learn from, and participate with.  As much as we love and recommend artists like Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner, Justin Roberts, etc., most of their songs are simply above the comprehension level of our students due to their age and English proficiency.  Artists like Raffi, Dr. Jean, Hap Palmer, Greg and Steve, etc. have several songs that work great, but even those artists are just a little too fast sometimes or not easy enough to understand through gestures for our young students. 

So we began to create our own songs, and from the start we loved the process of creating a song, trying it out and seeing the reactions, tweaking the song, trying it again, more tweaks, etc.  We wanted to create songs all of our students could sing and/or act out through gestures.  Our students really helped us find the fun in each song, and we were able to see very clearly when a song was too fast for students to interact with, not bouncy enough, missing a little oomph, etc.  They helped us find the parts where...

Our first CD, Super Simple Songs, got passed around to some English speaking families here in Japan and in the U.S., and parents and teachers started telling us how much their toddlers loved the songs because they could sing and understand and interact with all of them. Everything was at their level. They could handle all of the actions and hand gestures.  And they loved the music.  The songs were THEIR songs.  So we made it available worldwide through CDBaby and iTunes, and to our great pleasure, people responded very well and we won an i-Parenting Media Award in January, 2006, right alongside a couple of our favorite artists, Brady Rymer and Cathy & Marcy.  It was a thrill.

We worked on Super Simple Songs 2 throughout 2005 and into 2006, generally trying to make sure that each song got at least a few weeks worth of feedback and revision in our classes before settling on the final version.  It was a blast to make and I hope everyone will enjoy it as much as our students have.

So check 'em out!  Ideal for kids aged 1-4, and up to age 7 for young English learners.  There are classics and originals, all made super simple for toddlers to participate and learn with.  We're working on getting #2 up on iTunes and creating a new website when we have some spare time outside the classroom, so there will be no big official release for now...but bear with if I'm back on here in a couple of weeks with another announcement!  Thanks!

よろしくおねがいします！！

Parents' Choice Awards

Read More. Play More. Learn More. That's the unofficial motto of the folks at the Parent's Choice Foundation.

They do a nice job combing through the ever-expanding world of children's music (as well as other children's products) and recognizing some great work. Check out the just released Spring 2006 list of Parent's Choice Award winners. And while you're there, have a look at some of the great articles like "How to get your child excited about classical music", and"Kitchen Concerto".

Music for kids that even parents might love

NPR has an interview up with Stefan from Zooglobble on All Things Considered about the state of children's music. Great interview. If you are a parent or caretaker looking for some good children's music that you can enjoy together with your children, it all starts with a visit to Zooglobble, where Stefan writes some of the best kids'/familly music reviews out there.

The piece talks a bit about Dan Zanes and Laurie Berkner and Stefan's thoughts on some of his current favorites, Brady Rymer and Justin Roberts. All great artists, but if you want to have a better idea about whether or not they would suit your children or your family, check out the reviews at zooglobble. He does a great job painting a picture of the music so that adults without much exposure to kids' music will be able to have a pretty good idea whether or not it will be something their family can enjoy together.

If you prefer your entertainment in podcast form like me, Stefan's interview was NPR's most e-mailed story of the day, and is currently available on NPR's Most E-mailed Stories of the Day podcast for Saturday, 08 April 2006.

Super Simple Songs

Posts have been sparse the past couple of weeks because we were getting ready for our new school year and working on the finishing touches on Super Simple Songs 2, the follow up to our award-winning first CD, you guessed it, Super Simple Songs.

It would be an understatement to say we were surprised by the tremendous response we received to Super Simple Songs, a collection of songs we created for our young students learning English here in Tokyo. We knew the songs were ideal for children learning English as a second or foreign language because we used them in our classes everyday, but we didn't expect the CD to be this popular with native-speaking English children. Our composer and arranger Troy really understands how to make music with universal appeal, and the feedback we consistenly receive is that the children are thrilled to have a cd full of songs that they can sing all the words to and have fun dancing and moving to.

Super Simple Songs 2, more new songs and old favorites made simple for young learners, is out here in Tokyo now and should be available worldwide within the next couple of weeks. We're really happy with it and judging by the reactions of our students, kids' will love it. I'll give a shout when it's officially released, so please check back. In the meantime, please check out Super Simple Songs if you are looking for some great kids' songs for babies to age 4 (up to age 6 in an ESL/EFL setting).

Elbow room

It's amazing how much time can be spent in a class of youngsters, or when driving a couple of kids across town, dealing with little battles over personal space. Nancy Stewart has her song of the month up and it's a great little song for helping with those issues. Check it out, 'cause everybody needs a little elbow room.

Song Street

Light blogging this week.  The beginning of April in Japan means the beginning of a new school year, so we are really busy finishing up our current term and getting ready for the new one.

In the meantime, check out a great new blog called songStreet from my colleague Troy.  Troy is a teacher at Knock Knock English and the composer, arranger, and producer of Super Simple Songs and Super Simple Songs 2 (coming soon!).  He comes at the topic of children's music and early childhood education with tremendous perspective, as both a classically trained musician and an educator with many years experience teaching young children in Canada, Japan, and Thailand. 

His blog has a lot of great ideas and resources for teachers and parents alike.  Download some of the transportation themed short musical bits he created for music and movement activities.   I also recommend listening to a re-mix he put together of a couple of our very talented students, Chikara and Junya, kind of singing their ABCs.  A lot of fun.

Anyways...tons of stuff there worth checking out.  Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Mister Rogers

Fred Rogers was born on this day in 1928.  I, like most American kids, grew up watching Mister Rogers on PBS (America's Public Broadcasting System).  He was (rather is, even after his passing) a national treasure.  I'm sure he profoundly affected some of the ways I approach early childhood education...the way I talk with my students now, the respect I have for their intelligence and depth of thought, the importance of creative play...  I'm sure I learned a bit about empathy from Fred, and about understanding and communicating to kids that we are all special and important.   

I felt like Mister Rogers understood that even very young children thought in sophisticated ways about some pretty deep ideas, but communicating with them about those ideas required some simplification in your communication style.   The idea is not necessarily to always simplify what you communicate about, but to simplify how you communicate about it.  He dealt with themes as complex as death, divorce, adoption, body awareness, anger (as well as many, many lighter topics)...yet always in a positive, empathetic way that reached children in a way most adults can't. 

I felt like he understood that kids want to participate, not just be entertained, but you've got to allow them to.  He spoke directly to the camera, encouraging a dialogue.  His songs are welcoming and simple enough that kids can sing along, can make the songs their own, even when they are about complex issues.  In arranging his songs simply, and in creating lyrics even toddlers could follow and sing, he was able to communicate about sophisticated and simple ideas alike.  He communicated with children, he didn't perform for them. 

The Grammy Award for Best Children's Musical Album this year went to the Mister Rogers tribute album.  I had mixed feelings about that.  I would have been thrilled if an album of Mister Rogers performing his songs had won, but this album was kind of an adult contemporary tribute to Mister Rogers, made for adults more than kids.  The simplicity of his songs (the arrangment and the lyrics, not necessarily the topics) is what makes them so great and so timeless to me, so I felt like it was kind of missing the point to line up the best singers and producers to perform his music.  I honestly felt the 4 other albums were much better children's albums, but I understand that it would have been hard for any adult to vote against Mister Rogers.

To hear some Mister Rogers classics performed by the man himself, check out PBS kids.  How's this for a wonderful, simple children's song? 

The Archive of American Television's 4 1/2 hour interview with Fred Rogers has recently been posted at Google video.  Obviously, that's an awful lot of interview to sit down and watch in one sitting, but try watching one half hour segment a week.  Or better yet, just let the interviews play as you do your work throughout the day or do some housecleaning...whatever.  He talks about everything from his childhood to his thoughts on kids to insights on the TV and recording businesses. You are sure to be a better person for having listened.

Children's songs for St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Pat's Day!  For some great ideas for easy children's St. Patrick's Day songs, check out Preschool Education dot com.  Here's just one of the many simple ideas they have posted:

St. Patrick's Day Song   Original  Author Unknown

Sung to: "If  You're Happy and You Know It"

If you're wearing green today, dance a jig,
If you're wearing green today, dance a jig,
If you're wearing green today,
Dance a jig, then smile and say,
"Have a very Happy St. Patrick's Day"

Additional verses:
"If you're wearing green today,  clap your hands"
"If you're wearing green today, spin around"
"If you're wearing green today, shout "Hurray!""
"If you're wearing green today, stamp your feet"

And is always the case when you want to learn about holidays, check out Mama Lisa for the scoop on what St. Patrick's Day is all about and to learn some real Irish kids' songs (my favorite being that poor old Michael Finegan).

Luck o' the Irish to ya!