Enter Our End-of-Summer Giveaway
Win one of five Singalong Storybook poster sets ($18.00 value) in our End-of-Summer Giveaway. These charming 18" x 36" posters feature illustrations from the May All Children, She Sells Sea Shells, and One Little Owl Music Together Singalong Storybooks.
Join the NEW Music Together Parent Advisory Panel
We invite you to join the new Parent Advisory Panel and help shape the future of Music Together. Participants in this important group will be asked to share their thoughts on various aspects of upcoming products, programs, and services via online surveys and discussion forums. (Panel members can expect to hear from us two or three times during the 2015−2016 academic year.) Sign up today and be a part of what's next!
Using Music to Ease Separation Anxiety
Is your child getting ready to start school this fall? Music can help make this important transition easier. Read more in our Research Corner article (below). The Music Together song "They Come Back" might also be useful for your family. A free download is available on our website, so check it out.
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High Tech---and Still High Touch
by Devi Borton, M.A., Certified Music Together Teacher Trainer
Did you make personalized CDs for your friends when you were a teenager but now recommend Spotify playlists instead? Maybe you used to dance along to records but now your family loves to jam to music videos on YouTube. Technology may have changed some of the ways in which we access, share, and interact with music, but our desire to use music to connect with those we love is timeless.
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Painting or Drawing to Music
Materials needed:
- a variety of colors of paints, crayons, or sidewalk chalk
- big paper or something to draw on
- masking tape to tape paper to the floor or easel
Painting or drawing to music is an opportunity for your child to translate auditory perceptions into visual representations. It allows them to process the world using different sensory perceptions at the same time: what they hear, what they feel physically in their body as they move, and what they see they are creating. Make it interactive by doing the activity with your child, but allow your child the freedom to interpret the music in any way at all. You can expand upon the activity in the following ways:
Contrasting Songs
Set up two pieces of paper per person to draw on. Then choose two songs with very different feels---for instance, from the Summer 1 Song Collection you might choose "Old Brass Wagon" and "Two Little Kitty Cats"; or from the Triangle Song Collection you might choose "Skip to My Lou" and "Bird Song." When you switch from playing one song to another, move to drawing on the other paper. Then play them each again and add on to your drawings or paintings. Then compare the drawings and talk about their differences.
Start-and-Stop Cooperative Drawing
This is especially fun with several people involved, each standing or sitting at a table or in a circle on the floor. One person is in charge of starting and stopping the recorded music at unpredictable times. Each time the music stops, participants change places by moving to the right (as in musical chairs). They then start drawing on the artwork in front of them, adding their own musical interpretations to it.
Lyric Substitutions
This activity works well with movement-substitution songs like "Skip to My Lou," "Old Brass Wagon," or "Dance with Me." Sing the song with or without the Music Together recording. Sing verse substitutions that you can express with your crayon and paper, such as "back and forth," "up and down," "round and round," "dot dot dot," "drivin' down the road," "wiggle wiggle wiggle," etc. Encourage your children to suggest substitutions (and be sure to follow them on your drawing!). You might also try singing verses with different emotions, such as "Lost my teddy bear, I'm so sad," and "Found my teddy bear, I'm so happy!" Observe whether and how the resulting artistic expressions feel or look any different.
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Getting Ready for Preschool:
Transitioning from Home to School and Back Again
Getting ready to go to preschool can be really exciting---and a little bit scary. Changes in routine often benefit from pre-planning and practice. Zero to Three has a great article on this topic.
It's likely that your child's preschool teacher will use songs and chants to manage the classroom flow from one activity to another. Transition songs are wonderful "tools" in a teacher's toolbox! Songs and chants convey information that can be repeated many times while retaining excitement and beauty. Singing a song about cleaning up is much more interesting than hearing (or saying!) "It's time to clean up."
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