"Epo I Tai Tai E" is one of my favorite pieces that I get to share with my students...it's translation means "I will not be sad, I will be happy". For me, this is the essence of life and a valuable lesson for our children. This piece is so infectiously happy--I am not sure you can listen to this music without wanting to do a "happy jig"!
Talking about feelings with your child is so important, it will help him develop a vocabulary to label what he is feeling, realize that we all have feelings-even Mom and Dad and also can reduce frustration because he can better understand and describe what he is feeling.
Create a feelings poster together by dividing the poster into sections and at the top of each section label the column with such feelings as sad, happy, angry, upset or disappointed. Then begin to look for pictures from magazines, take a picture of your child displaying these feelings to put in each appropriate column or take a picture of Mom or Dad displaying these feelings. This will give your child an iconic representation of each word and will help her associate with each of her feelings.
Be sure to gather up your happy little one for that lively "happy jig" around the living room.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
A Quiet Moment
Childhood is a magical time--possibly the only time in our life that we truly enjoy the moment for it's own sake. I use to spend an incredible amount of time in my bedroom with a little record player and a case of 45s....OH! the places I went. I was "Tina, the (very talented) ballerina" headed off to France with my perfected pirouette or I was a tuba as I would pretend to be big, fat and waddle around my room or a piccolo as I would pretend to be skinny, small and lightly tip-toe around while listening to "The Tuba and the Piccolo"--and I cannot leave out the undersea voyage I would take daily while listening to "The Yellow Submarine"--YES, I would hold my nose and do the squiggly wiggly descent to the floor.....I know- you are probably...ROFL. Those indeed were magical times...times that only I remember because as a child, I did what all children do best.....I was in the moment--my moment with the music and me--hours would pass me by yet it only seemed like a tick of the clock.
Even though that was (embarrassingly) 40 years ago, children are really the same today--captured by their own creative imagination of each musical moment. Try joining your child and enter a world of make-believe, which will require that you shed your self-consciousness, future driven, shallow breathing, clock watching, un-accepting, unexciting adult life at the door and enter a world of your child's creative imagination. Let the music take you to places that your adult mind has never been--lands of ice cream mountains, lollipop traffic signs and marshmallow pillows. It can happen, close your eyes, breathe deeply and share the moment with your most precious gift--your child. Get out the instruments, brush off your vocal chords and put on your dancing shoes--enjoy the creative imaginative musical journey with your child.
Choose any Kindermusik CD or a Classical CD, such as "The Nutcracker", "Carnival of the Animals" or another of your choice, and listen--really listen to the music and watch your child--he or she will begin to move and create an enjoyment of the music that will fascinate you and compel you to join. So, enjoy yourself and don't worry--let your self go....no one is watching you! You may choose to dance your journey, play rhythm sticks or drums on your journey, color a map of your journey or sit and cuddle your gift while you both breathe deeply enjoying the quiet musical journey. However you and your little musician choose to enjoy the musical moment--ENJOY!
Even though that was (embarrassingly) 40 years ago, children are really the same today--captured by their own creative imagination of each musical moment. Try joining your child and enter a world of make-believe, which will require that you shed your self-consciousness, future driven, shallow breathing, clock watching, un-accepting, unexciting adult life at the door and enter a world of your child's creative imagination. Let the music take you to places that your adult mind has never been--lands of ice cream mountains, lollipop traffic signs and marshmallow pillows. It can happen, close your eyes, breathe deeply and share the moment with your most precious gift--your child. Get out the instruments, brush off your vocal chords and put on your dancing shoes--enjoy the creative imaginative musical journey with your child.
Choose any Kindermusik CD or a Classical CD, such as "The Nutcracker", "Carnival of the Animals" or another of your choice, and listen--really listen to the music and watch your child--he or she will begin to move and create an enjoyment of the music that will fascinate you and compel you to join. So, enjoy yourself and don't worry--let your self go....no one is watching you! You may choose to dance your journey, play rhythm sticks or drums on your journey, color a map of your journey or sit and cuddle your gift while you both breathe deeply enjoying the quiet musical journey. However you and your little musician choose to enjoy the musical moment--ENJOY!
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