How to make a drum - BAM folk music class

For the past couple of weeks we have been working on making drums for one of the songs we are going to sing at the April 2 performance at School. Today's video was made by the 1st and 2nd grade class. They are showing how they made their drums.

I got the material for the drum body from a local carpet store. The cylinder is used to roll carpets on. I just used a power saw to cut them in 12 inch lengths. I like these much better than oat meal cartons. They are very thick and can be made in different lengths. They are also great for decorating. We just used felt pens to make our designs. You could also use colored paper, cloth etc. to decorate the drum. We used weight balloons in lots of different colors for the tops of the drums. Just cut off the nipple of the balloon (or whatever you call it) and pull it over the top of the cylinder. We found it best to tape the balloons on the drum. Thought the balloons are surprisingly resilient they are also very easy to replace. Check out this cool video.

BAM folk music class - March 6, 2009

So we are getting ready for our Performance on April 2. We started working on some drums we are making and recorded a couple more songs. I am posting a little outtake of some solos on the song "We Shall Overcome". Enjoy! It should be noted that we filmed this on "Crazy Hair Day" so that is what is up with the crazy hair. The soloist are Nia and Indgo and the outstanding camera work is done by Sean.

BAM folk music class

CHECK OUT THE NEW KINDERGARTEN VIDEO. WE UPDATED IT TODAY!
I am teaching two after school classes at Berkeley Arts Magnet Elementary School in Berkeley. I have been teaching music at the school with all the kindergarten Classes for the last couple of years but this is my first time working with small groups and with older kids. We are having a great time learning lots of songs and now working on writing some songs. You can check out our first time recording posted on youtube. The kids are very excited to be "published" on the internet. We hope you enjoy...

SONG - i've got peace like a river

I have been playing this old negro spiritual for as long as I have been playing music with kids. It is an upbeat song with lots of great hand motions. I like the positive affirmation that we get to sing of having "peace like a river", "joy like a fountain", "and love like an ocean... in my heart".

I have changed the words from soul to heart when I sing this song with school kids. When using hand motions it makes more sense to say heart and touch your heart with both hands than to try and explain what a soul is to kids (like I know).

You can listen to me and my 7 year old granddaughter singing the song on this player. (My granddaughter has been singing "backup" in a kids country band which might account for the "twang" that she insist on adding to all my songs.)

I've Got Peace Like A River
I just play a simple G C D progression

Verse 1:
I've got peace like a river
I've got peace like a river
I've got peace like a river in my heart
I've got peace like a river
I've got peace like a river
I've got peace like a river in my heart

Verse 2:
I've got joy like a fountain
I've got joy like a fountain
I've got joy like a fountain in my heart (x2)

Verse 3:
I've got love like an ocean
I've got love like an ocean
I've got love like an ocean in my heart (x2)

After singing each verse we combined all the verses (peace like a river, joy like a fountain, love like an ocean in my heart). This requires the kids to follow directions and listen more closely. Often we end the song like this... I've got peace, joy, love, like a river, fountain, ocean... starting very slowly and finishing singing very fast. Makes for some grand silliness.

Here are the hand motions...
peace = make the 2 finger peace sign
river = dance fingers along in from of you like running river water
joy = use fingers to make a smile on your face
fountain = smash hands together and lift to the sky like splashing water
love = hug yourself
ocean = churn hands make a breaking wave motion
heart = bring both hands to your heart

A note about authorship.
Most everyone list this song as traditional negro spiritual but I have found a couple of references to the song being written by Mosie Lister. If Mr. Lister did write the song here is the copy write information.

©1970 Mosie Lister Songs (Admin. by The Copyright Company)
All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
CCLI song #3247635

SONG - Little Bird, Little Bird

Little Bird is one of our favorite songs at Rockridge Little School preschool. I like using this song to make children more aware of the things in the world around them.

My wife and I got a book with pictures and information of birds in our area to share with our grandchildren. When we see birds in our yard or on outings we look them up in our book and find out more about them. We read about where the birds come from, what they eat, how they fit into the grand scheme of the world in which they live. This has been a delightful way to introduce our grandchildren to a world that is always enough... and more. Who needs the latest toys when you've got all this?

I have been taking my one year old grandson to wildcare in San Rafael, CA. Wildcare is a wild animal rehabilitation hospital. They also have a wonderful collection of birds they are not able to release for folks to visit. Max loves to watch the two little woodpeckers.

I include these new birds in singing this song. This is a great way to remember the names of our new feathered friends.

Little Bird Little Bird
Little bird little bird fly through my window
Little bird little bird fly through my window
Little bird little bird fly through my window
Find molasses candy

Through my window, my sugar lump
Fly through my window, my sugar lump
Find molasses candy

Bluebird Bluebird…
Hummingbird Hummingbird…
Woodpecker, Raven, Canada Goose, Sparrow
California Quail, Blue Heron, Wood Duck etc

You can listen to my granddaughter and I sing the song with this player.

________________________

This song is on my grandson's favorite CD
"You are my Little Bird" by Elizabeth Mitchell

songs as group therapy - It Hasn't Been A Very Good Day

We just started the fall singing program at Rockridge Little School last week. I try and report to the parents what is going on with music at the school on their blog. Here is my offering for this week.

Music with Karl -September 25, 2007

It was good to get back to singing with your children today. It is fun that we have so many songs we already know and a number of songs that have become favorites with the kids. I know our new friends will catch on quickly. It is so nice to be part of a program with such a rich and diverse program. Coming to Rockridge Little School is such an adventure. As I look around at all the projects going on I wish I could just hang out and create with them.

Today we added a couple of new songs to our mix.

One song is called “It hasn’t been a very good day”. Each morning, when I first step into the circle with the children, I am greeted with a litany of their cuts, scraps and recent (and not so recent) mishaps. These are real hurts for them and I know that many were accompanied with tears. The song is a cleave way of putting these hurts into a community song and recognizing life with its ups and downs, joys and sorrows.

Here’s how the song goes…

When I got up, I spilled my milk, spilled my milk, spilled my milk
When I got up, I spilled my milk, and it hasn’t been a very good day

Chorus (very upbeat and whimsical)
It hasn’t been a very good day so far. It hasn’t been a very good day.
It hasn’t been a very good day so far. It hasn’t been a very good day.

We added verses like…
“When I fell down, I skinned my knee” and “Playing with blocks I pinched my finger"

What I like about this song is that is recognizes that our hurts are real but when put into a song and shared them with the community it does not seem to hurt as much anymore.

Wouldn’t be great if we all learned this song and when your child (or you) are having just one of those “not very good days” you can break out this song and just maybe it would change the course of your day. That is really what our singing is about.

In Song, Karl

Music, Culture, Confessions and Sandals

I had a revelation about music in the life of communities yesterday. I want to write about that but first I need to make a confession.

I am a pastor but I really don't like being called "Pastor." I know there is a time and place for being called pastor. There are touching times when I am so pleased to be able to be pastoral as I pastor to those who need my care. But I am more than a pastor and I like getting to use my gifts in places where they just know me as Karl (often in a teeshirt and sandals.)

One of those teeshirt and sandal places is Rockridge Little School. I guess it is quite a coincidence that the preschool is located at the historic College Avenue Presbyterian Church and I am a Presbyterian Pastor but the school only rents from the church and when I am leading singing with the children I am only Karl. I like it that way. As Karl I am valued by my actions and not by some preconceived idea of what kind of person a pastor is.

With the confession out of the way let me get to the music stuff.

Yesterday I had the chance to lead the wonderful teachers at RLS in a discussion about music at the school. We talked about our own feelings about singing in public and we shared some of our experiences.

In general in seems we all like singing or at least being part of a group that sings. It was also shared that while we loved to sing as kids we were not necessarily encouraged in our attempts at song. As a parent you might try something other than "You can't carry a tune in a bucket" if you want your child to love singing. It was also agreed that we would like RLS to be a "singing" school and I got a deeper appreciation for why this would be a good thing during our discussion.

Two revelations from the day...
1: That our songs are our prayers.
I don't mean this in an organized religion sense. What we talked about was that songs are very close to our hearts and souls. Songs we loved as kids and youth can still have a powerful emotional effect on us today. They can make us cry and make us laugh when we least expect it. And our songs can be a way of expressing our hope and our vision and our collective dream of things being more just. "We are the world" aren't we? It seems right that as we shape the lives of these small ones in our care that we give them songs to take with them that lift up the values that we are seeking to instill in them; Values about friends and family, love and justice, nature and an appreciation of community.

2: That songs/music have been central in building and supporting community in society.
I shared an experience I had in a small township in South Africa when a group of children at an orphanage put on fabulous concert for me. I was taken by the complex parts and harmonies they sang. When I asked how long they had been practicing for the performance I was told most of them had never sung together before. They said this was their music and they all knew how to sing it. One of the teachers shared how her boy friend from Lebanon is so comfortable playing a drum and how all the kids know how to do music in his community. It is part of the culture, it is part of life, it is part of being a community.

This got us thinking about how we have become an audience in our culture and what a loss this is to our communities. I can't help but see what a good job we are doing at exporting this mentality. It is much easier to market ipods than it is folk songs I guess. The profit margin is certainly better.

I think we missing the opportunity to give our children the wonderful gift of music. Not as those that have ipods or watch American Idol but as a community voice where the effect of the music on the heart is more important than its effect on the ear. A community where everyone does music.

I will be sharing song with lots of children this Fall. I will be working with three kindergarten classes at Berkeley Arts magnet, a couple of classes at Rockridge Little School and possibly a first grade class at Rosa Parks. I also have a couple other invitations I am contemplating and of course I will be singing with my grandkids every chance I get.

What a joy, sharing music with kids. I am Blessed.