Stephanie Leavell (music therapist, artist, and educator) is a big favorite of mine and the kids have loved singing many of her songs. She actually lives here in Boise and you can follow her on Instagram @music_for_kiddos.  Our favorites for the past little while have been 5 Perfect Pumpkins, Shy Little Monster, and Walk Walk Walk. She has some great songs on Spotify and other streaming services and you have also find her stuff on YouTube. I highly recommend her music to parents of little ones!

We have continued to sing our major scale with tone bells and with solfege hand signs. The kids now get to take turns playing the major scale on my tone bells and helping me lead the class with hand signs and they love to help with that responsibility! We've noticed that "Joy to the World" starts with a descending major scale (it goes from the top note of the scale to the bottom). We are learning a song called "Merrily Caroling" and we will experience this song as a round in the next couple weeks.

We've played with rhythm sticks to the song "Apples and Bananas", with shaker eggs to the song "Oat and Beans and Barley", and tambourines to "Them Bones". We also made autumn noises all together and subdivided the beat with each noise: "Whooosh" (the wind) was the whole note or four beats 1 time, "Sway sway" (the trees blowing) was the half notes or 2 beats 2 times, "Plop plop drop drop" (acorns falling) was quarter notes or 1 beat 4 times, and finally, "Flutter flutter flutter flutter" (leaves falling) was eighth notes or half a beat 8 times. Using our whole bodies helps them internalize the steady beat we're making in a fun imaginative way.

Experiencing emotions through music can be very powerful and help us navigate those feelings when they come up throughout the day. We sang and stomped around to "Grizzly Bear Grump," sang "Happy and You Know It", and danced with scarves to "I Need a Break" - a song that teaches kids these important words for when emotions are high. "The Shy Little Monster"  is a fun song that helps normalize anxious feelings and how friends can help you feel more comfortable in a new or anxiety inducing situation.

Using our Orchestra book, we learned about the different sections within an orchestra and that the conductor leads the musicians so they all stay together on the beat. We practiced being a conductor with this fun song from "Wild Orchestra": Maestro Mouse.

We also sang from a sing-along book of "Down By the Bay" and noticed many of the rhyming words.

We talked a bit more about the piano and listened to "The Pianists" from The Carnival of the Animals. Using scarves, we followed the many ups and downs of the piano playing and noticed when all the string instruments came in at the end. 

We also learned about the organ and played with our parachute as we listened to the spooky (perfect for Halloween!) "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" by Johann Sebastian Bach.