Another trip to Germany
A favorite place to visit
They say the folks don’t smile much
But that’s not true now is it?

They’re actually quite caring
And willing to assist
But if you’re bad or make a mess

Cow on the back of a German truck

I love the signs that make you laugh
Because they’re kinda silly
I love to walk in Heidelberg
It’s beautiful and hilly

I often go to Ramstein
And Mannheim and Baumholder
I hope to go for years to come
Of course while getting older

Philosopher's walk in Heidelberg, Germany

The German word for vegetables
Is the funny word gemuse
Gemooose is what Deutsche cows eat
That’s one joke you can use a

I did some shows in Schweinfurt
In German that means pigtown
It really is a lovely place
And not a very bigtown

The music is so classical
Like Bach who played the organ
And Beethoven at morning time
That makes a guten morgen

My friend's daughter, Carla, with Grimm' fairytale poster in Heidelberg

About 20 years ago Robert Fulgham became a best-selling author with the release of his inspirational book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. One couldn’t doubt his sincerity as he recalled the lessons he learned about fairness, sharing and order: lessons he attributed to time spent in the sand pile, at play.

Soon after that things began to change in America’s kindergartens.

With school boards and administrators clamoring for a “jump start” to higher test scores in later grades there was a great shift in the schedule towards academics and away from time spent “just playing.”

Many child development experts will tell you the same thing that Mr. Fulgham did in his simple way: it was never “just play.” Today’s kindergarteners may be better prepared, at their age, to recite the life cycle of the butterfly, including the use of the word “chrysalis.” (I’ve witnessed this!) In other words, they may be taught more.

They may, however, be learning less than kindergarteners in the past. Today’s kindergarteners may lack abilities to “self-regulate” (which is essential for sitting, focusing and enjoying a book) and be challenged in their use of executive functions of the brain (the kind that keep us from making impulsive choices) that are all developed in play.

Those of us who work in early childhood know that it has even been a challenge to maintain “play based” preschools.

15 years ago I attended an open house at my daughter’s preschool. As the teacher was describing all of the things that children learn at the various centers in the classroom while at play I noticed one father, in suit and tie, reading notes from his briefcase, only occasionally looking up. (A few years later he’d be tapping at his Blackberry.)

After the teacher was finished with her presentation she asked if there were any questions. That father was the first to raise his hand and ask,” We’ve heard all about all of the play that goes on here. How much time do you spend at this preschool just playing and how much time do you spend getting these children ready for school?”

The teacher, a veteran professional, silenced the man by confidently stating, “We do play here in preschool. We play because play is the context where children develop and express abilities across all domains of development – physical, cognitive and social.”

Then she added, matter-of-factly, “That is why we play.”

And, because of this sort of understanding and advocacy, my daughter’s hours at preschool were filled with play.

I dropped my daughter off at college last month. On the drive home I had enough time to think about how thankful I am that everything she really needed to know…she was allowed to learn in preschool.

Jim is an author, musician and child development specialist. Jim will release a new CD this month called “Music Play for Folks of All Stripes”.

You can find samples of his music and books at his website: www.jimgill.com

This Blog is re-printed from Jim Gill’s blog. You can also read his blog at:

http://jimgillswordsonplay.blogspot.com/

Pony Express Monument in Julesburg, Colorado

Julesburg, Colorado
Is a small town way out west
In fact in 1861
They had The Pony Express

I also sang in Sterling
And a prairie town named Wray
Both Kansas and Nebraska
Are not that far away

One Room Schoolhouse outside of Wray, Colorado

Harry and Gary inside Old One Room Schoolhouse

I surely loved the cornfields
Soon to feel the plows
Some mighty friendly people
And the grazing herds of cows

I slept in a home where the buffalo roam
And the deer and the antelope play
With Gary and Gayle my real good friends
Is where I got to stay

I love the South Platte River
Where the vista never ends
I love the open spaces
But most of all my friends

Old Movie Theater in Julesburg, Colorado

Sign in the hallway at Julesburg Elementary School

Fair Okinawa
Is a lovely spiritual land
In the Ryuku Islands
Off the mainland of Japan

The people of Okinawa
All speak Japanese
Where Arigato stands for thank you
And dozo that means please

They eat sushi and sashimi
With hot wasabi spice
A bowl of soba noodles
And every meal has rice

I traveled round the Island
To almost everyplace
The capital of Naha
And Kadena Air Force Base

The Marine Base at Camp Courtney
And to Camp Foster too
To Zuckeran and Bechtel
Made more friends than a few

They have a giant Buddha
The biggest one on Earth
They made it out of lacquer
It’s value beyond worth

The people of Okinawa
Are courteous and kind
Among the nicest friends
You’ll ever hope to find

Did concerts at Kadena
Where fun was had by all
They have a squid and whale
That’s painted on the fall

So I say sayonara
Down Okinawa way
I hope I get to come back soon
I sure enjoyed the stay

By: Beth Blenz-Clucas

Friends:

I recently traded emails with the editors at www.commonsensemedia.org, a site that I’ve respected and enjoyed reading for the past several years. They’ve provided a smart and helpful parents’ guide to current media. Their reviewers and editors are astute and articulate, and until last fall, they gave plenty of coverage to indie music and DVDs from all sorts of artists. In the past, the only criterion was quality, and they featured the best stuff.

According to the editors, the new editorial policy is to feature only mass-marketed CDs and DVDs THAT ALREADY HAVE A BIG AUDIENCE. Sure, they’re still judging by the quality of the media, but the first gatekeeper is whether a title is already a best seller. In other words, unless something is already getting lots of plays on iTunes, they simply won’t review it.

I hope you’re incensed about this policy as much as I am.

They’re expressing a typical attitude that I hear often from journalists: “Well, no one really cares about children’s music.” I find this annoying, given the fact that whenever an indie title gets featured on NPR or another mainstream media outlet, the sales for that particular title inevitably jump and parents emerge from everywhere to exclaim about how happy they are to find out about the alternatives to mainstream, commercialized music for kids.

Clearly, there is a demand for high quality music for children. It’s a shame that a non-profit organization such as CommonsenseMedia doesn’t see the value in it.

It’s all about delivering the maximum number of eyeballs to the site, I know. As one performing artist remarked, “ I suppose it’s much easier to cut and paste the consensus than to actually listen closely to something new and formulate an original opinion. However, I think it’s a bit more than that. I think it goes beyond laziness or inability. I believe that there are financial incentives – direct support for not-for-profit organizations that follow certain editorial directives – to support the more popular, better funded projects.”

Essentially the music editor is saying that unless something is already a best seller, they don’t think it’s worthy of attention. I truly don’t get their logic. Coming from an organization whose mission is the following, “Common Sense Media is dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology” this attitude is especially egregious.

All of you are key players in the indie kids’ music world, and we are all affected by attitudes like the one expressed below.

I’m not sure what we can do about this, but I personally plan to write a letter to the CommonsenseMedia board and directors, to see if they’ll reconsider this new policy.

Best regards, and HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all the moms!

My recent tour of Belgium was the opposite of awful
Sure enjoyed the Belgian Chocolate
And of course the Belgian waffle

The people dressed so splendidly
I liked them very much
Half of them were speaking French
The other half spoke Dutch

The place I did my many shows
Is a vital NATO Base
With families from all over Europe
They came from every place

Some of them from Germany
From Belgium and from Spain
From Norway and from Italy
And Some from the Ukraine

Brass monkey in the town square in Mons, Belgium

Some of them from Canada
From Turkey and from Greece
Many from America
All countries there for peace

The Base is near the town of Mons
With Brussels very close
SHAPE is what the place is called
That acronym they chose

Shape Elementary

The P of it stands for Powers
The E for Europe ready
All together they make SHAPE
Effected by spaghetti

I made so many brand new friends
Like Kristy, Art and Miles
Meadow, Morgan, Megan, Max
The memory brings me smiles

So here’s to all my Belgian friends
From Bruges to Mons to Brussels
And all the things we ate and drank
Especially the mussels

Thank-you Merci

Giving the Genre Its Due, Children’s Music is in a Renaissance

Pamela Paul, the new New York Times Book Review children’s books editor, remarked in her introductory editorial, “Children’s literature has entered what many believe to be a new golden age.” She noted that the artistry and creativity in today’s picture books elevates the genre, so that “the best books are for grownups, too.”

It’s clear that children’s music is also in a renaissance, with hundreds of artists across the nation creating music and writing lyrics that rival the best of mainstream music. We often wonder why the New York Times and other mainstream media pay such infrequent attention to this burgeoning genre. It’s an uphill road for family music artists to get any exposure in newspapers, magazines and radio.

Luckily, there’s a whole world of alternative ways for kids’ music artists to build awareness. Kids’ radio shows across the country feature indie children’s music every day. There is no shortage of bloggers who feature the genre regularly (including our own weekly “2 Tunes 2 Ways” posts for Bunchfamily.ca (this week’s guest blogger is Stefan Shepherd of Zooglobble). Occasionally, NPR and major newspapers and magazines give a little attention to “kindie” music, usually surprised to see former rockers who are now making music for kids. When new kids’ CDs do get coverage in traditional media, the reader and listener response is always tremendous (easily trackable via spikes in Amazon.com sales and online responses). Clearly, parents want to know about the alternatives to commercialized music. So, why the continued cold shoulder from music critics and news assignment editors?

New Tunes

Just a sprinkling of the new releases this spring provides proof of the quality in family music today:

Temple Grandin recently wrote to us after hearing Brady Rymer’s forthcoming new album Love Me for Who I Am. She said, “ I really liked it. I hope it gets widely played.” We do too, because of how joyfully Rymer celebrates the little things in life for children of all abilities with these new songs. Five percent of proceeds of the CD sales will benefit Autism Speaks, and additional funds will support the Celebrate the Children school. The students there inspired Brady to write these brilliant and touching new rootsy-rocking songs.

We’re very excited about the May 10th release of the first full-length album from Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band. Oh, Lucky Day! evokes the imaginative world of childhood and the emotional connections between parent and child. Mindy Thomas, program director of Sirius Satellite Radio’s Kids Place Live chose this as “the best new kids’ artist of 2010” for USA Today. Oh, Lucky Day! features a performance by latest indie it girl Holly Conlan. Lucky and his band plan CD release concerts in Brooklyn (The Knitting Factory, May 1) and Los Angeles (Hotel Café, May 8). Get a free download of the energizing new song “Here Comes the Sun” here.

The Baby Loves Disco Superhero Tour is well underway, with four public events in Southern California coming up this week and next. Andy Blackman Hurwitz’s Baby Loves Disco: The Soundtrack, produced by King Britt, provides families with an excellent party starter, anytime.

On a quieter note, former Disney artist Craig Taubman releases Celebrate Jewish Lullabies, the latest in his “Celebrate” series. The new album features 14 songs from various artists including. David Broza and The Pop Ups. “This is for the child who still lives in all of us,” says Craig. Featured artist Josh Nelson, who is currently composing for the Broadway musical Sleepless in Seattle, adds, “As a new dad there is no collection of songs I would rather use to put my boys to bed.” Download a free song now from Craig ‘n Co.

Celebrate CINCO de MAYO with Two New Bilingual and Spanish Language Releases

Family music today has a global reach, and the bilingual/Spanish music scene for kids is thriving, as this article in Billboard notes. Sandra Velasquez and her band Moona Luna plan their festive Piñata Party CD release concert at Joe’s Pub in NYC on April 3rd, and over the weekend of April 30-May 1st, the band performs two shows at the L.A. Times Festival of Books at USC. The Target Children’s stage at this free event will also feature Justin Roberts and The Okee Dokee Brothers, for an excellent sampling of the diversity and excellence in family music right now.

The Secret Mountain, the Montreal based purveyor of gorgeously produced and illustrated book-and-CD sets (including Trout Fishing in America’s My Name is Chicken Joe), will publish their first-ever Spanish title on May 15th: Un Pato en Nueva York. The new book and CD set was adapted and translated from Connie Kaldor’s Juno Award winning A Duck in New York City. It’s the story of a little duck from the heartland with a big dream: to dance on Broadway. Noted Uruguayan artist Inés Canépa performs the songs, translated by Yanitiza Canetti (who also translates Dr. Seuss books). The new release premieres in Los Angeles on April 29th at the Feria del Libro en Español (Spanish Book Fair), and at the international book expo in Bologna.

Two Chukar crows on the frozen Snake River

Dan Crow performing, Idaho Falls, Idaho

Bike parking at Idaho Falls Montessori School

10° and colder in the cold and snow
It’s that way every winter in the State of Idaho
But the people were so friendly and also very warm
Idaho Falls is just about my favorite place to perform

Idaho Falls Chukars Baseball Park

Re-printed from Bill Harleys’ Song, Story And Culture

As some of you who read this blog know, I was nominated this year for a Grammy in the Best Spoken Word Recording for Children category.

And if you know that, you may know that Julie Andrews won in that category for her reading of a book of poems she wrote with her daughter. Spoken word is an odd category – it’s mostly people reading books – as before, I was the only storyteller in the category, who works by and large without written text – so it’s a little apples and oranges. We need to work to get more spoken word artists into the category. I’ll think about that.

And then, well, the winner of a category often wins not because of a particular recording, but often because of their body of work. This is a little unfair for someone who has a truly great recording, but it’s the way it is. This year, for instance, I think Justin Roberts richly deserved the Grammy award in children’s music – Jungle Gym is a wonderful recording. But Pete Seeger (one of my biggest influences) was in his category. If you didn’t know the recordings and looked at the lineup, who would you vote for?

But, like they say, getting nominated is already being a winner, and there are a lot of other things that go into determining who wins other than artistic merit of the recording. That said, winning is more fun – I love Julie Andrews, but I would have liked the award.

I digress. I went this year, knowing my chances were pretty slim. I was disappointed when they didn’t call my name. But getting to go, I met some pretty interesting people. The night before, I got to sit and watch Julie Andrews get a lifetime achievement award. She was gracious and eloquent, and I felt a nail in the coffin as far as winning goes. The Ramones that were left and their various family members were still rebellious, and that was heartening. I had a nice talk with Roger Linn, another honoree, who revolutionized the music industry with his drum machines of the late seventies and early eighties, and is still creating stuff. He explained some of the projects to me, and I really wasn’t sure what he was saying, but it sounded cool.

At the nominees’ reception the night before the awards, I ended up in line with a Nashville writer (you can tell by the hat) there for the first time. I gave him the rundown of what would happen in the various lines, having been there before, and we had a great time. Halfway through the line, I learned he was Allen Shamblin, up for best song of the year for “The House That Built Me”, and also writer of “Don’t Laugh at Me” – a great song on bullying that I have sung, and “I Can’t Make You Love Me” – sung by Bonnie Raitt – which I think is just about a perfect song. We were pals before I realized who he was, or otherwise I would have been a little tongue-tied.
Later that night, I ended up in a conversation with someone else in a line. I had voted for Gregory Porter in best jazz vocals because I loved his music – didn’t know anything about him or what he looked like. There he was. We took pictures and traded e-mails. He’ll be more famous than he is now – he can really sing.

And finally, after I lost to Julie (no, didn’t meet her) I sat in the Staples Center to watch the show next to a very elegant couple, and shortly found out I was sitting next to Albert Bell, the head of Stax records during the sixties. Present at the creation with Sam and Dave, Otis Redding, and Booker T. and the MGs. Then, I was tongue-tied. I finally said, “You were the soundtrack for my growing up.”

He said, “Glad to hear you have a little bit of soul in you.”

I responded, “Some folks are even whiter than me.”

So – tell me who the winner is here.

A lot about the Grammys is ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. It’s inevitable that there is a grasping for attention in the entertainment business. The posturing and preening is stunning, as is the sycophant aspect. If you’re famous, people want to be around you for very weird reasons. (Not that such a thing happened to me for Spoken Word for Children – kids just shake hands with me and give me their cold viruses)

But watching Mavis Staples break down into tears when she learned she had won her first Grammy, you knew that there was something else going on other than fame, fortune and glitz.

Just lucky to be there. And glad to head home.

Just got back from Florida
And warm Bonita Springs
Naples and Fort Myers
Where this Crow often sings

The students I performed for
Are in the Charter Schools
They all have to wear uniforms
And follow lots of rules

The day before I got there
A football player came
He once played tackle for the Colts
Shawn Harper is his name

He motivated all the kids
And this might make you laugh
He took a local telephone book
And tore the thing in half

The Southwest part of Florida
Is in the Everglades
They even have a hockey team
That’s called the Everblades

American Alligator

One animal that I like a lot
Is called the Florida Panther
There are not too many of them left
Which does deserve an anther

Manatees

Ed and Lenny's Pool

Hobbs The Cat

So here’s to Okeechobee Lake
And the Suwannee River Valley
And driving Florida east to west
On Alligator Alley