The Story of Ferdinand

Once upon a time we performed the Story of Ferdinand as an improvised opera!  

Author, Munro Leaf wrote this parable for his 5 year old son in 1936 during the civil war in Spain.  

It's a story about a peaceful, nature-loving bull who prefers sitting and smelling the flowers rather than fighting and butting heads like the other little bulls.  

I incorporated some of Manuela Widmer's ideas (shared at the national Orff conference many years ago) with my facilitation of the musical drama.  Manuela is an Orff teacher from the Orff Institute in Salzburg.  I found her ideas incredibly workable for my style of teaching.



Imagine, a class of 5 & 6 year olds...full of energy and ideas!
I sang the story to the children with operatic vowels and vocal trills, etc...

They were mesmerized at first and then they started joining in on the word  "flooooooowwwwwers".

That's all they needed and they were ready!  



Some of the kids wanted to be in the Orchestra and some wanted to act out the various roles.  They chose their favorite places and after we performed we switched up and everyone tried a new part.  



Orchestra parts include:

1. flower music - glockenspiels and metallophones (I set them up ahead of time in C pentatonic)
2. hop gallop music of the bulls - shakers, woods and drums

hop gallop gallop gallop

hop gallop gallop gallop

hop gallop gallop gallop

hop hop hop  OLE!

1. Ferdinand's walking music - drums
2. Ferdinand's sitting music - drums
3. Ferdinand's jumping about music - drums
4. the bee buzz and sting sounds - kazoos and
5. 5 men from Madrid walking music - woods

Acting/singing roles include (this is an opera!):

• narrator (singing like an opera star)  "Once upon a time in Spain..."
• chorus (whole class)

"Ole!"

• hop gallop speech piece
• Ferdinand
• Ferdinand's mom
• the other little bulls - play fighting with their hands used as horns on top of their heads
• 5 men from Madrid - walking through the room side by side...
• flowers
• bullfighters

The Amazing Body Percussion List

The Body Percussion List

What to do with this list?  
I'd play an echo game

• you clap, they echo your clap
• you snap, they echo your snap
• it's an ear/eye training but it's playful...have fun!
• one day, I'll make a video...and post it in our Growing Grounded Kids Community!  (join us!)

listed in general from high pitches to low pitches

snap

tongue clicks

tongue clacks

full hand clap

2-finger clap

4-finger clap 
hand slide (clap with a slide) 

patschen (tap thighs)

alternate patschen (right leg, left leg)

tap top of hand

tap tummy

tap taut hollow cheeks

rub hands

rub thighs

rub face

rub arms

tickle
scratch
drag fingers - also try dragging hand upside down

drum fingers on a body part

stomp

drag feet

slide feet

hand to foot clap
slap foot

2-foot clap

B/P with a partner

partner clap (clap your partner's hands)
hip bump with a partner

Body Percussion Patterns
in 3 time, 5 time, 7 and 9 time. (a la Keith Terry)

1 = Clap

3 = Clap Chest Chest  (ladies may rather hit their stomach)

5 = Clap Chest Chest Leg Leg

7 = Clap Chest Chest Leg Leg Back of leg Back of leg

9 = Clap Chest Chest Leg Leg Back of leg Back of leg Stamp Stamp 




B/P patterns in 2 time 
(combine for 3, 4, 5, 6 time)


Z = rest

2 time 
clap  clap
snap snap
pat pat
stomp stomp
clap Z
snap Z
pat Z
stomp Z


clap snap
clap stomp
clap pat
Z clap

 

hands-on learning enriches language and motor development

Hands-on Learning  Enriches Language and motor development

Tapping rhythms (check out the body percussion posts) is important because when the hands are activated, there is more effective learning.


I encourage you ALWAYS to us the “hands-on” approach to learning.  

For instance, learning about eighth notes...how much more fun and experiential to walk the eighth notes...walk the quarter notes and then contrast with eighth notes.  Right away, we feel the difference!  



Movement and rhythm stimulate the frontal lobes and enrich language and motor development (Brewer & Campbell, 1991)....so that means move the rhythms you teach.  Find ways to feel the rhythm on your body, with your body, through your feet, using your hands, using a mallet.  


Be creative!!!

Playing handdrums

You need :)  a class set of hand drums.  


I invested in a large bin of small hand drums (20 drums each about 8 inches across) from Empire Music many years ago.  Now I have a hand drum for each child and each parent in my under 3's program.  And it's soooo much fun!

We play drums to:

1.  explore using our hands in a variety of ways to create a sound on the drum (tickly, rub, scratch)



2.  explore using various words to describe what our hands are doing (scrape, rub, knock, tickle, circle, tiptoe)



3.  explore using the drum in unconventional ways using our imagination (drag, roll, skate, fly, blow, wear it like a hat, eat from your drum, eat your soup, eat your cereal)

Tap, tap, tap your drum

Tap, tap, tap your drum

Tap, tap, tap your drum

and now let's stop!

What is an Orff teacher?

What is an Orff Teacher?

 

Me being passionate about something Orff-y

It always sounds so weird.  Orff.


Orff is a participatory art. 



Orff teachers engage people around them and involve them in whole body, whole heart, whole self music using instruments, voice, movement and dance.  


Orff teachers are interested in the process of creation with children.






Music and movement are inseparable.






When I was in university studying to become a classroom teacher I took music education courses and read about Orff. It sounded simplistic.  There was no life in the readings.  


I never experienced the MAGIC of Orff as an undergrad.






The energy, creativity and transformative effect of this approach to teaching music was just not conveyed adequately in ANY book or article I read.  

None of the professors I studied under used the approach and none of them had the unique qualities I experienced when attending Orff workshops and courses after I graduated.




I was never exposed to this way of learning or teaching until after I completed all my teaching practica and had already received my Bachelor of Education degree.




I can only imagine how my entire experience of university might have been changed had I been in the presence of a real Orff teacher, Orff instruments and Orff techniques and creative approach to teaching.



Better late than never, right?!

What if...

What if...

  


What if something really amazing was just about to happen?

What if you were stronger than you thought?

What if it was safe to open up your heart?

What if it was safe to take that risk?

What if it was happening FOR you,  not TO you?

What if you let go of the emotional charge around the money?

What if you just focussed on one thing until it was complete?

What if you focused on creation instead of completion?

What if you allow a greater infusion of creativity to enter your life right now?

Piano for Children

 Piano for Children

 

The starting point in private piano lessons with a child who has maintained and developed their natural musicality before beginning private lessons  

is quite different than the starting point with a child who has not been exposed to songs, dances and instrument play in early childhood.

If you have dreams that your child will become a pianist, then I recommend starting early but not with formal private instruction.  


Begin early with parent/child music classes that incorporate movement and singing and playing instruments.  

If you have dreams that your child will love the piano, then make sure there is a piano in your family!    

Find a piano or keyboard that can live with you in your home.

I have been so fortunate that many of the students who currently study piano privately with me began their music education in my Orff classes before they were 2 years old.

The benefits of involvement in baby & toddler music and movement classes are HUGE!

1. Children develop a sense of rhythm and ability to audiate before they begin playing piano.


2. We build confidence in approaching all variety of instruments and in being in musical situations.


3. We play percussion from around the world; shakers, scrapers, metals and drums.


4. We try violins, cellos, guitars, ukuleles, banjos, dulcimers and harps.


5. We hear wind instruments from all varieties of whistles through recorders, harmonicas and some common band instruments like the clarinet.


6. I create and incorporate activities that engage babies in noticing symbols for sound and pitch.  They LOVE this!


7. We move our bodies to music feeling every type of meter, a variety of tempos and also show dynamics of music.


8. We engage in creative movement using language to describe how we are moving our bodies.


9. We play social circle games that teach us musical and social skills simultaneously.


10. In addition, these early group experiences develop a natural sense of music-making within a group of people.  We learn to take turns, stop and start together, feel tempo and show dynamics with our bodies and with instruments as a group.  We develop a sensitivity to the idea of making music in community.

A pre-school music teacher asked (true story)

A pre-school music teacher asked, 

"Susan, 

do you really think it makes a difference 

if kids are exposed to music in preschool?"

"Absolutely," 
I responded with calm and certainty.  

"If you weren't there to do this, who would do it?"


 

How would those few children you spend minutes with each week gain exposure to using their voices and bodies creatively, expressively, thoughtfully, joyfully? 

Who would be their model?

(aside from the media stars and pop singers...

...and those models are not real-everyday-life-type-models...) 

"Remember..."
I said,  
"music & movement are the first languages of the brain."  

The brain wires itself most happily and easily through song and rhythm.   

Setting a foundation for early musicality happens in these young ages.   We don't get to see the results of our efforts for almost 2 decades...so it can seem pointless at times.

I've been doing this for several decades now and I have seen results.

Did you know...when the child is still in the womb the first teacher is sound!

Just days after conception the fetus will withdraw in response to a loud sound.  

A few weeks later the ear canals are formed and are responding to sound.

The baby is born already in the habit of learning through sound and doesn't even have to be exposed to Mozart for this to happen!

Even newborn babies have non-verbal ways to let you know they like a song.  


Babies who have heard certain songs sung to them in the womb recognize those songs and respond to them.

Children learn to speak more easily through song.  So easily in fact, that I have had experiences where mamas withdraw a one-year old from an english-speaking class because the child was learning English too quickly.  Mama wasn't ready for her mother tongue to be replaced!



Yes, music and movement in preschool makes a world of difference to a child's development.  


We use the elements of music (rhythm, melody, harmony, timbre, dynamics, tempo) to shift emotional state.  



Music is THE most amazing way to light up the ENTIRE brain!!!

Nothing does this like music does.  Nothing.  Best activity ever for brain development!


You're doing great work when you make music with kids!  

xo
Susan

How times change!

How Times Change

Update!

Well....I moved this blog from blogger to a wordpress site in 2013.

All of that was done in coordination with the publication of my ebook, Growing Grounded: Movement and Songs to Organize the Brain.


Then my life took a couple of unexpected turns.  I retired from my group work with children and decided to release my obligation to maintaining a blog.   Make Me Musical disappeared as I took down my wordpress site in 2017. 


I'm regretting that decision only slightly right at this moment (lots of amazing content lost forever!) but looking on the bright side that this blogger site with all my work up to 2013 still exists and it's still extremely useful. 





 

Why have I come back to this work???

(aside from being highly specialized, highly trained and having decades of experience in all of it?)


I have recently been invited to create a new music and movement program for children at a local music school.  The purpose of creating that program is to have a live training ground to train new teachers in my unique and integrated way of teaching. 



I felt excited about the opportunity and so jumped right in this past January! 

The new program is called, Growing Grounded Kids! and you can read more about it here.

Facebook page here
Growing Grounded Kids !  

 


Instagram here
Growing Grounded Kids!




And....

The ebook is now available as a real live paperback resource book!

You can get a copy here  





Our in-person children's program is now on hold during our covid pause.  While we're pausing, I'm resurrecting this blog and creating an entirely new Teacher Training and Mentoring program with a new teaching curriculum.

It feels exciting to be creating in this world again! 

I hope you find some useful resources here for your nurturing, healing and educating work with children.

xo Susan

Make Me Musical has moved!

We've moved...are you coming along for the ride???

Make Me Musical has a new home!

We've moved from blogger (here where you are reading) 

to wordpress (HERE).

Blogger has been such a wonderful home for Make Me Musical since 2010!

Thank you, Google!

 

This move to wordpress has been challenging but I think it's been worth it.   

Once the move is complete it means I will be able to offer more practical tools that can be delivered to you online and that will help you in your work with children.

 

We've transferred all the old blog posts and I'm getting ready to write new ones at the new site.

www.MakeMeMusical.com

Note:  As I write it's the end of April 2013 and while the new site is live, we're still in the final stages of renovation 

(fixing links and formatting and making tweaks).

Planning to be complete by mid-May...but we all know what renovations can be like...

Join us at the new site...

there is a gift for subscribers! 

Making a difference in a child's life thru music and movement

It's true!
You really can believe you are making a difference in a child's life by...

...singing to them

...singing with them

...moving with them

...dancing with them

...making body shapes with them

...using silly voices with them

...playing percussion with them

...keeping the beat with them

...changing the words to songs with them

...chanting rhymes and poems with them

...resting and relaxing with them

How to Get Updates from Make Me Musical

MakeMeMusical is getting a make-over! Check out the new tagline coming... "nurture, heal and educate thru music, movement and creativity".

Dear Wonderful Readers!

I have been away from MakeMeMusical for almost a year.  A year!?!  Yikes!

So, you haven't heard from me in quite a while and I have much to say about this past year but I won't be saying it in today's post.  

Right now, I am writing with some urgency about something else!

If you haven't already signed up, you may wish to take action now and SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER....HERE.

Why??  Cause....

Google is terminating the RSS function which (if you are receiving this message in your email) you have subscribed to.

If you have subscribed to MMM thru RSS then you will (shortly) no longer be receiving blog posts from me in your email inbox.   If you're fine with that, then you don't need to do anything.

If you wish to continue to receive free resources and blog posts from me at MakeMeMusical then you have to make sure you have signed up for the newsletter.  The newsletter will soon be the ONLY way you will continue to receive free resources and updates on the blog.

Because of this change initiated by Google, I have decided to make yet another change myself.  And I am excited about it!

I am moving MakeMeMusical to an alternative platform called wordpress.  It will not be a free platform, I will pay for it but I will also be in complete control.

The best thing about this change is that I will be able to offer more to you in the way of resources for your work with children.  Blogger had many limitations and it often meant I couldn't share things I wanted to share with you.

So, in a few weeks, the move of my site will take place and then I will be back blogging and sharing more creative ideas about music, movement and creativity.

SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER HERE!

Good-bye Musicalia...

Good-bye Musicalia...

It's true

It turns out the new lease for my Musicalia space was going to create an unsustainable workload for me.  I was unable to sign.  These last few months have been a stressful, agonizing time and I have made the decision to close Musicalia. 

May 31 (the end of this month) is the end of Musicalia.  Our last day of classes and celebrations is May 18 and the movers are scheduled the next week.

After 37 years of private teaching, almost 20 years of this amazing Musicalia experience, our community will be less one beautiful music studio.

Florence (age 4) A gift from Florence when she finally understood that she would not be coming to Musicalia next year for music classes because Musicalia is closing.

I cry when I come to work.  I cry when I go home.  And I am exhausted.  I will not be relocating.  I do not anticipate re-opening.  I am essentially giving up my group work.

The week I gave out my letter of closing was the week I had planned to give out next year's registration forms.   I was in the midst of planning a 20 year celebration for Musicalia. 

I had not planned for this to happen so quickly.  The reality of the new lease meant working 7 days a week and much of that on administration...not actual work with children.  It would be a burden and not a joy.  The stress has taken a toll on me.  My husband would like for me to rest for a while.  



I'm deeply distressed that it is entirely because of greed...the owners and their property management company have refused to reason.  They are saying the space is worth so much more because of the improvements I did.  (crying....)  
The space had pretty much been condemned by the municipality and my husband and I brought it all to code with new electrical, walls, flooring, heating and cooling system...my grief is profound.

Looking forward....the parents of the children understand all that has happened and are hoping I will continue private work in their homes.  

I was not expecting the heartfelt, outpouring of love, understanding, sadness (tears have been flowing in every class with moms and dads alike).  I feel like I really did make a difference in their lives with my work, if the distress my leaving is any indication.

This week the "big" kids will celebrate and parents are invited to celebrate with us.  I've stockpiled the kleenex. 

Happy Earth Day!

Just a quick note to wish you all a Happy Earth Day! 

In Canada, Earth Day has become Earth Week for some organizations. It sure didn't start out that way. Earth Day began in the days before cell phones and internet.  

My husband, Nigel Seale, was the founder of Earth Day Canada and around this time of year there are some pretty amazing recountings of those early years, the people he met, the places he visited...

It's a happy memory and an honorable contribution to the children of our world.  Read more about the origins of Earth Day in Canada HERE.

Hope you've had a wonderful day!

Irish Blessings

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day 

by pretending to be a budding shamrock!

 An Old Irish Blessing
words - traditional   melody - susan 

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.



More St.Patrick's Day activities HERE