One last post before the new year... So, this sounds pretty bad "Eat His Head" but it is not as bad as it seems. See... we write songs in our class. Our songs, like good folk songs, tell a story, our story. On the day we wrote this song we were all into gingerbread men. The K's had then and we got to talking about how you eat a gingerbread man. Most everyone thought you should start with the head. So our song is a story about eating a gingerbread man.. Makes sense now don't you think. Plus we did think that a song with a title like "Eat His Head" might just get some hits on the internet. So here we go.. As usual the director is our faithful aid Devin. I am the producer I guess. My co-teacher, Yun-Yun, is the "special assistant" to most everyone in the production (being very special helps in this job) and the stars of the video are all the 1st - 3rd graders in our BAM Friday afternoon Folk Music Class.
December 24, 2011
December 22, 2011
Learning to sing an Old Protest Song
Here in Berkeley part of our education process is teaching our young people to stick up for what is right in all that they do. What better way to teach this value than with a good old Pete Seeger Protest Song. We recorded this song on our "Pete Seeger Day" at our Folk Music Class. The class came up with their own words for verses for the song. Pardon the lighting of our video and we are thinking of getting a tripod for Devin, our director (who has perfected some interesting camera angles) Enjoy!
Join our HOOTENANNY
Definition of HOOTENANNY
1
Hootenanny was also an old country word for "party". Now, most commonly, it refers to a folk-music party.
If you ever want to get away from it all, to a place of fun and song and arts and kids just having a good time, join our BAM Folk Music Class some Friday afternoon at the Berkeley Arts Magnet Elementary School for a Hootenanny.
If you can't get away on a Friday just sing along with our classes recording of "If I had a Hammer"
The K's write a Song
Part of our class is writing our own songs. These songs grow out of our experiences and listening to tunes. A couple of weeks ago the K's made gingerbread men at school. So... when we started working on our songs it had to be about gingerbread men. Here is the premier of "Roll, Roll, Roll Your Dough" but the K Folk Music Class... enjoy...
K's singing Rudolph with an intro by Antonio
This Fall Yun-Yun and I have been working with a wonderful bunch of kindergarten kids at BAM. One of my favorite comments from our 1st - 3rd grade class when they saw the K's in October was "they are so little". Well they were but they are growing so fast. That is one of the great things about working with K's, they grow so very fast... in so many ways. Here is a recording of a Christmas Song they did last week. Enjoy
December 9, 2011
November 20, 2011
October 10, 2011
New 1st - 3rd Grade Class at BAM
We had our first 1st - 3rd grade class of the Fall session. I am excited about what we will be able to do with the older class. Bigger and better drums, shakers, kazoos and even a couple of How-Too videos. We will also be writing some songs and hope to put on a presentation. So keep watching for all the grate stuff to come. Today we recorded a version of "Teacher-Teacher" with our new teaching assistant doing the recording. Enjoy.
April 20, 2011
The Caterpillar Rodeo
So my wife Myrna is now selling plants at our little local Farmer's Market. Very cood market by the way. We have great but cheap vegen food made by the greatest folks, great coffee and scones and wonderful homemade, organic tamales. A couple of weeks ago our new friend Doris heard that I teach kids music and wanted to share this song with me. I am going to teach it to my kids with week. Enjoy!
The market is every Saturday from 10am – 3pm in the parking lot behind the medical center at 5717 Market St, at Arlington and Market. It is run by Phat Beets
The market is every Saturday from 10am – 3pm in the parking lot behind the medical center at 5717 Market St, at Arlington and Market. It is run by Phat Beets
March 17, 2011
Fish Lips...
In our K Folk Music Class we have been working on writing a song. We have been talking about how a song needs to tell a story and about rhyme and about tunes.
So in our class this week we finally wrote our first song.
We began by talking about their day and what story we wanted to tell.
It just happened that many of the kids had been on a field trip to the Lawrence Hall of Science on Friday. We talked about how they got there and what they saw. We began writing down words and thoughts on a big sheet of paper getting ideas for our song. Next we started talking about rhymes... "What rhymes with trip.... rip, hip, lip..." and on and on and as we talked (and laughed) we started getting some ideas and rhymes for our song.
Then we had to choose a tune and as all my classes have done, they choose "Twinkle, Twinkle." I asked them if they know who Mozart was and a couple of them did and I told them how Mozart really loved this tune as well. Now we have a tune and we had a story and we had some rhymes.
Now we were ready to sing our song. Because we wanted to make a video of our song we decided we needed some hand motions so we started singing the song and figuring out hand motions. Everyone got involved and pretty soon we were ready to record our new song on video.
Just then we heard a knock at the door and when we answered it who walks in but our very own helper, Leo. We told Leo about our song and he told them about when he was in the K Folk Music Class and how they had written a song, and he sang it for them. Then Leo picked up the video camera and we recorded our song.
The rest will be history as our song gets out into the world on our blog... enjoy our new song. We named it "Fish Lips"
So in our class this week we finally wrote our first song.
We began by talking about their day and what story we wanted to tell.
It just happened that many of the kids had been on a field trip to the Lawrence Hall of Science on Friday. We talked about how they got there and what they saw. We began writing down words and thoughts on a big sheet of paper getting ideas for our song. Next we started talking about rhymes... "What rhymes with trip.... rip, hip, lip..." and on and on and as we talked (and laughed) we started getting some ideas and rhymes for our song.
Then we had to choose a tune and as all my classes have done, they choose "Twinkle, Twinkle." I asked them if they know who Mozart was and a couple of them did and I told them how Mozart really loved this tune as well. Now we have a tune and we had a story and we had some rhymes.
Now we were ready to sing our song. Because we wanted to make a video of our song we decided we needed some hand motions so we started singing the song and figuring out hand motions. Everyone got involved and pretty soon we were ready to record our new song on video.
Just then we heard a knock at the door and when we answered it who walks in but our very own helper, Leo. We told Leo about our song and he told them about when he was in the K Folk Music Class and how they had written a song, and he sang it for them. Then Leo picked up the video camera and we recorded our song.
The rest will be history as our song gets out into the world on our blog... enjoy our new song. We named it "Fish Lips"
"Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah"
We had lots of fun learning this old song that my mom used to sing to me. One of her favorites so me and my siblings would sing it all the time. When I picked up the kids from the playground the week after I taught them this song they started singing it as we marched into class
March 3, 2011
Jump Up
We have just started a new session of Folk Music at Berkeley Arts Magnet School. This is a PTA hosted after-school class for children in kindergarten. I am so appreciative of all the work that parents put into making sure that our children are exposed to new learning opportunities with the fantastic after-school classes.
It is amazing how much my kindergartners have learned and grown in only six months. With their growing reading skills we will start writing songs this session. We will also be making some "how-to" videos as well as work on new songs to record and post on our blog.
We hope you enjoy our singing, dancing song today.
We just got a new video camera so Leo is doing a little "on the job" training.
It is amazing how much my kindergartners have learned and grown in only six months. With their growing reading skills we will start writing songs this session. We will also be making some "how-to" videos as well as work on new songs to record and post on our blog.
We hope you enjoy our singing, dancing song today.
We just got a new video camera so Leo is doing a little "on the job" training.
February 21, 2011
Kumbayah
We just finished our three week intersession folk music class. We have a great time with lots of kids. Each Friday we started with the adventure of walking over to our new class together. We met in the fireside room so we got to sing next to the fire. We finished our class with hot chocolate with marshmallows. Enjoy!
February 14, 2011
All We Need...
We are learning a couple new songs during our intersession class. I choose songs we are going to learn on a number of factors. The song your are seeing in this post is very singable, it is fun because we get to use shakers and it has a great message. All we really need is clean air, clean water and love in our family. What a great message for our kids to sing about... enjoy!
February 12, 2011
Colin found his voice today
We were in for a surprise at our intersession folk music class today.
Just a few weeks ago our fall Folk Music Class had a performance in front of lots of people. Most of the kids wanted to perform and worked through their stage fright to sing but one of our little boys just could not face getting up to sing (reminds me of myself as a child). His mom and dad worked with him and I try to offer some encouraging words but he was just not going to get up there and sing in front of all those people.
Well today in class we tried something different. During the intersession we are meeting at my church so I have access to more equipment so I decided to bring my amplifier and a mic to class today. I hid it for a while as we learned and practiced some new songs. Then I set up the mic for the singing of our solos that we started working on the week before. As I set up the mic I asked if there were any volunteers to sing the first solo.To my great surprise the first hand to go up was my reluctant little performer. I asked him if he was sure and he shook his head up and down to show me he really wanted to. Colin found his voice and we were so happy for him!
As you can see from the video Colin was not the only boy who wanted to sing a solo but it all started with Colin.
Today was boy-band day at Folk Music Class. The boys loved it but the girls thought it was a too loud (and off key at that). I think you will enjoy the enthusiasm of our little boy-band today....
Just a few weeks ago our fall Folk Music Class had a performance in front of lots of people. Most of the kids wanted to perform and worked through their stage fright to sing but one of our little boys just could not face getting up to sing (reminds me of myself as a child). His mom and dad worked with him and I try to offer some encouraging words but he was just not going to get up there and sing in front of all those people.
Well today in class we tried something different. During the intersession we are meeting at my church so I have access to more equipment so I decided to bring my amplifier and a mic to class today. I hid it for a while as we learned and practiced some new songs. Then I set up the mic for the singing of our solos that we started working on the week before. As I set up the mic I asked if there were any volunteers to sing the first solo.To my great surprise the first hand to go up was my reluctant little performer. I asked him if he was sure and he shook his head up and down to show me he really wanted to. Colin found his voice and we were so happy for him!
As you can see from the video Colin was not the only boy who wanted to sing a solo but it all started with Colin.
Today was boy-band day at Folk Music Class. The boys loved it but the girls thought it was a too loud (and off key at that). I think you will enjoy the enthusiasm of our little boy-band today....
January 29, 2011
Folk Music Class Winter Intersession Class
This year we are offering a Folk Music Class during the break between regular BAM after-school classes. Below is all the information you need if your child would like to sign up. We have 11 in the class right now but can accommodate a few more. The more the merrier!
BAM Folk Music
Intersession Kindergarten
Folk Music Class with Karl & Yun-Yun
Fridays, February 4, 11 & 17(thursday), 2011
2:30 – 3:20 Pm - $27 for 3 classes
Between our regular after-school classes
we will be offering a special Folk Music Class.
The classes will be held at Calvary Presbyterian Church
(just across the street from BAM)
Karl & Yun-Yun will pick up students at BAM in the
Kindergarten play-yard. Caretakers can
pick up students in front of Calvary at 3:20 pm
There are still openings. Contact Karl at: karl@shadley.net
Karl Shadley (510) 435-4264
Folk Music Class Winter Performance at BAM
We just completed our Fall/Winter after-school class of Folk Music at BAM. Yun-Yun and I have had such a good time with our kids. We have seen such growth in these kids in the past few months. What a joy to see them gaining confidence in singing and now more and more willing to announce our songs for our videos. They all felt very good about their performance at the BAM Winter After-school event. We are trying something new this year with an intersession class. I will post the details if you are interested in signing up your kindergartner for this special class. I we are posting both the long and short version of our performance. Again we thank our helper Leo (2nd grader) for doing our video taping.
January 19, 2011
Leo playing Frosty the Snowman on Violin
Every Friday our friend Leo gets out of his class early to come and help teach our class. He is in 2nd grade and a very popular guy with all our students. He fixes and passes out our snack, directs videos, reads to us & in todays video, entertains us. As always, if you leave comments I will pass them on to the kids and enjoy!
January 18, 2011
Stepping It Up! Teacher, Teacher
A few years ago my k-class helped write this song to the tune of Louie, Louie. It has been a real hit with my classes ever since. Now my new K-class is working on some new choreography that we will share in our video today. Let us know what you think on the blog and I will share it with the class. Enjoy!
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