CMN Regional Gathering

This past Saturday was the Children's Music Network regional gathering for New England. We met in Amherst, an absolutely lovely area in western Massachusetts. The drive there was less than lovely, though...it was raining when I left the Boston area, and the rain turned to snow by Concord. I arrived in one piece, thankfully, though it was touch and go for a while. My car doesn't do well in snow.

My friend Alison was running late, but so was the Gathering. When she arrived, we had just ended the opening circle and had moved into the Rescheduling portion of the program. This is the part where we decide how to change the times for the workshops so we get back on track after starting late. (It's not actually a part of the scheduled day, but it should be.) Once we'd agreed on a solution, we finally moved onto workshops.

The first workshop I went to was a Preschool songswap. Always good fun, and I got to lead "Horsey, Horsey". It's a lovely partner song that works very well as two separate songs. (Someday soon I'll figure out how to do links here, and include songs that I mention. Stay tuned!!)

Then came lunch - spaghetti - and then the next two workshops. Music and Movement was probably my favorite of the day, since we got to do circle dances and singing games. I'm madly in love with these songs. Could be my dancing years. We did "Going to Kentucky" with egg shakers, "Hokey Pokey" with instruments, and I got to teach "Draw Me a Bucket of Water." "Water" is a four-person singing game with a London Bridge-esque element where you duck under people's arms, but in this one you stay there until everyone has ducked under. Then you jump around in a circle like that. It's much more fun to do than to read about, and much easier to demonstrate than describe. If I hadn't seen it on "Skinnamarink TV" years ago, it would never have caught my attention. But it's one of my favorites; we did it at Musicare too. The CMNers loved it! My demo group especially had a good time; we had at least two contra dancers who went to town with the spinning part.

(Here's a hint for anyone who teaches or leads games with partner twirls: use cetrifugal force! Lean back into your partner's arm as you spin and you'll have lots more momentum! Just don't let go.) :)

Just before the workshop ended we did "Cheerio," another singing game. This one is done in two lines, and everyone but me calls it "Zudio" or "Zodiac." Well, I guess I shouldn't say everyone but me - Sharon, Lois and Bram call it "Cheerio" too. That's how I learned it and it will always be "Cheerio" to me. I like that version better anyway - kids know the word "Cheerio." It's easier to remember. Anyway, the version we did was one I didn't know, so it was exciting to learn the little differences. There are so many versions of this song, it's unbelievable. We also talked about other games that are similar, like "Down in the Valley Two By Two" and "Down, Down, Baby." I really want to do a workshop all about these games. Maybe next year...


The last workshop was about healthy food songs. We did a couple songs about bananas; I did "Apple Picker's Reel." I think I got the chords backwards. :( What can I say - it's been a while since I've done fall songs!

Well, time to go eat lunch. If you're reading this, and you want to see a particular entry, let me know. Like, if you want an entry all about singing games and the different versions people know, I'd be more than happy to do one. It's all about keeping the songs alive!!

Playing Catchup

OK, sorry...I know it's been a couple of weeks and I haven't finished writing about my training. I had to finish up, though, then travel back here, then attempt to settle back in, then leave again for a house-sitting gig. I kept thinking "I'll get to it"...so here it is.

Second day of "student teaching" was really great. My second toddler class went much better than my first, and my Friday four-year-olds were just AWESOME!! They were so into it; a few of them were singing right with me on a few of the songs, even though the kids had never heard those songs before. "Ticka Tacka" was a big hit again, and I couldn't be prouder. Then again, I plucked it out of a sea of songs to make it my favorite, all those years ago, so it must be catchy. (When a song has been living in your head for two decades, though you love it dearly, you forget it's a "catchy tune." Or so it happens with me.)

I even remembered to sing the right words this time! Some of these songs I know so well, I sing them on autopilot...which is easy on the nerves, but tough if a word has to be changed to make it work as a classroom song. Or a motion...good gracious.

So, Marie wanted me to make a circle motion with my hand during the verse of "Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley." The words are "He stamps his feet and claps his hands and turns around to view the land." The way I learned the song, you act it out. Well. Try making a little circle on the top of the drum when you're used to stamping and clapping. It turned into beating the drum instead, and I just couldn't stop it!!

Saturday we had our celebration...almost all the teachers in the company showed up, and we had songswaps and mini-workshops and learned lots of new stuff. We had FOUR songswaps...that's a lot of songs. My head was spinning by the end. I was awfully proud of myself, though. A lot of the songs people shared were mutations of old songs, so I would sing along. People seemed to think it was some kind of musical magic trick.

I remember one time, the woman sitting two seats away from me started to sing a version of an old Scottish tune, "Three Craw." I recognized the tune (Bram used to sing it, in cryptic Scottish dialect no less) and picked up on the lyric changes, singing along after only a few words. The woman sitting next to me started to stare and asked me, "How do you know this???" I smiled. In the lunch line, we started to talk about a song I'd shared, "Cheerio," and all the different versions. Someone turned to Marie and said "She knows so many songs!"

I explained to a few of them that it's all thanks to Sharon, Lois and Bram...they planted so many songs in my head, I'm starting out with a huge advantage. I even got to jump in later on a singing game, "Draw Me a Bucket of Water," and knew the steps from watching it on Skinnamarink TV.

It's fun to impress people. Especially when what they think is so impressive is so darn much fun.