Holiday Jam and Square Dance

Holiday Music Jam and Square Dance

Saturday, December 14th, 1-2:30 PM

Plantation Estates Retirement Community in the auditorium

733 Plantation Estates Drive, Matthews, NC 28105

Join my students and me for a holiday jam and square dance. We will play and sing holiday tunes together until about 1:45 and then I will teach some square dances with my fiddle students playing the dance tunes. All ages are invited to participate.  If you'd like to play along with us, click here for a link to the music.

International day of peace

This is my all time favorite peace song.  It speaks of the common bonds that can unite us all if we will open our heart.

Song of Peace (Finlandia) Sibelius/Stone
Click here to listen

This is my song, o God of all the nations

A song of peace for lands afar and mine

This is my home the country where my heart is

Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine

But other hearts in other lands are beating

With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean

And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine

But other lands have sunlight too, and clover

And skies are everywhere as blue as mine

Oh hear my song, thou god of all the nation

A song of peace for their land and for mine

Friday fun at camp

We shared our songs with family and friends.
Click here to hear us singing.

We made kaleidiscopes...

Can you see Anna?

 
...and geometric bubbles.

 Click here for more pictures.

More Music Fun

Kid's music camp

Today we finished our banjos.

Family Music Mondays

Family Music Making
Mondays, June 17th and June 24th at my home
10:30 am - 12 noon, free

Bring your family (parents, kids, grandparents, aunts, uncles...) for a morning of joyful music making including singing, dancing and playing instruments. All ages are welcome. Kids please bring an adult along to join in the fun. Contact me for more details and/or directions.

Old Hungarian Round

This is a fun round to sing and is especailly liked by my elementary school students.  I first learned the tune with these words from an old Girl Scout song book.

Several years ago I was reintroduced to it at my Kodaly music training and learned that the Hungarian words were very different.

   

If you have lots of people, try it as a round with the formation for the dance being concentric circles.  The inner circle starts.  The next circle starts after the first group sings "If you dance then".  I have done it with three circles.  It makes a really cool pattern.  Thanks to Georgia Newlin for this great idea.

Community Singers Concert May 19th

Join Charlotte Community Singers for a free concert of joyful music for all ages at Sharon Presbyterian Church Chapel (map). You'll hear songs from many styles along with familiar folk songs for singing along. You’ll leave with a smile on your face, a song in your heart and a deeper sense of the common bonds that unite us all.

Singers should arrive at 4:15.

Instrument Making Workshop

I am offering a day of instrument making at my house on Saturday, June 1st.  Come anytime between 10 and 4 and stay as long as you want.  The fee to make instruments is $5.00 for each participant plus the material fee listed below.

This is geared toward kids, but adults are welcome to make stuff too! Great for teachers and grandparents! Kids should be accompanied by an adult. Supplies are limited, so please contact me if you want to reserve materials for a particular instrument.

Material fees and approximate time needed to complete the instrument:
pan flute: $1.00 (15 minutes)
One string banjo: $5.00 (30-60 minutes) includes song booklet
String on a box: $5.00 (30-60 minutes) includes song booklet
Cardboard dulcimer from Backyard Music $50.00: (1.5-2 hours) includes song booklet
Didgeridoo: $7.00 (30 minutes)
your own creations with recycled material: $1.00 each

Ukulele Class in Charlotte

Ukulele Crash Course
April 27th, 9 AM-10 AM and May 4th, 9 AM-11 AM

You will learn basic chords, strumming patterns and how to transpose any song into a ukulele friendly key. You'll have fun making music with others. The cost is $35.00 for both Saturdays and includes an instruction/songbook. The class will be held at my home and is limited to 8 students.  Please contact me if you are interested in attending.

Click here for a link to my soundcloud where you can hear me sing and play my ukulele.

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!  Most folks only know the chorus to "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling".  The verses are quite lovely.  I recorded it today with my ukulele. I am singing it in the key of G.  Click here if you want to see the ukulele chords for G.  Click here to listen.

Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog

I was thinking of an old teaching friend of mine today, Sandra Freese.  She taught me her version of Joy to the World (Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog) when she taught Kindergarten at Charlotte Montessori School and I was the music teacher.  I have sung this with thousands of students in the eighteen years that have passed and wanted to share it here as a tribute to Sandra.  You can hear other children's songs that I have recorded on my post Music of the Universe Songbook.

Joy to the World  MP3
words adapted by Sandra Freese

Jeremiah was a Bullfrog
He was a good friend of mine
I never understood a single word he said
But he sure was a friend.
Yes, he sure was a friend of mine

Singin' joy to the world
All the boys and girls now
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
And joy to you and me

If I were the ruler of the world
I tell you what I'd do
I'd throw away the guns and the bombs and the wars
And be a good friend to you
Yes I'll always be a friend to you

You know I love my school
I understand the rules
Be a kind person and a thoughtful friend
And enjoy everything you do
I say enjoy everything you do.

Ring in the New Year

This round is very good practice with reading syncopated rhythms.  The chord progression is very simple with I I IV V.  It sounds very nice with hand chimes playing the chords.  It you don't want to practice your sight singing, then jump to the last few minutes where I sing the song with the words.

Ring it in ring in the new year

Bells are ringing, bells are ringing

Peace and love throughout the whole year

Joy, joy, joy

Click here if you would like to hear the introduction to syncopation lesson.