New Kindergarten Class - Fall 2010

We are just starting our new after school class of Folk Music at Berkeley Arts Magnet School in Berkeley. My new assistant teacher is Yun-Yun Cai. I have worked with Yun-Yun with kids for many years now and she is just a natural at teaching and loving young children. We are just getting to know our new class and want you to see our before video (are after videos will be amazing) as we learn to sing together. Enjoy our version of "Inch by Inch" with hand motions.

BAM World Music Class sings "The Eggplant Song"

We are starting the new year in our Berkeley Arts Magnet School After School music class working on some old songs for broadcast on my Blog. This is just a taste of what we will be doing in our older kid class (1st and 2nd grade). Enjoy this energetic remake of Norman Greenbaum's classic "The Eggplant that ate Chicago" Enjoy...

"Sana Sananina" African Folk Song

This video is of the Kindergarten class singing Sana Sananina. Great song that I learned in South Africa. The kids are using rhythm instruments that I have been collecting for years from all over the world. Enjoy!

Song - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle Twinkle is often the first song I sing with a new group of kids because everyone knows it and is so easy to sing.

It is such a good "use your imaginations" song... "Now, close your eyes as we sing the song." "Did you see many starts?" "Did you see any shooting stars?"

It also introduces hand motions for the kids as they reach their hands high into the air and make twinkling stars with their hands.

From twinkle I move into the ABC song (same tune) and maybe Baa Baa Black Sheep (though I am not very wilded about the words).

This is a great song for creating some custom lyrics. I have a song about "Bubble Bubble little Cheese" that is interactive. I wrote this verse for a cheese day at our youth group were all the activies were related to cheese.

I also like the sense of "wonder" this song invokes. The wonder of stars and night and how big our world is can lead to other art projects about the planets and stars.

Twinkle, Twinkle
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

(2 more verses)
When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

Then the traveler in the dark
Thanks you for your tiny spark;
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

ABC Song & Bubble, Bubble
(To the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle)

Bubble, Bubble little cheese
May I eat you, if you please?
I like gouda, I like chedder
But that goat cheese, I like Bedder
Bubble, Bubble little cheese
May I eat you, if you please?

Bubble, Bubble…
I hear there’s cheese up on the moon.
Gee I hope we get there soon.
Bubble, Bubble…

Bubble, Bubble…
(child’s name) at a huge pinecone
Thought it taste like provolone
Bubble, Bubble…

SONG - Teacher Teacher, ooh Baby

All the adults know the tune of this song as Louie Louie. This song has been recorded as many as 1500 times and has been the subject of many parodies over the years. You can read more about it's history at the wikipedia site here.

I wrote the words to this song when I was teaching the kindergarden class at Rose Parks Elementary in Berkeley CA. in the spring of 2007. This was my grandson's class and his teacher, Miss Luna, had just told the children that she was going to have a baby. We sang the song as "Miss Luna Miss Luna, ooh baby...". The kids loved it and it made Miss Luna cry, "A song for me..." We sing the song standing up with "rock and roll" hand motions. The chorus celebrates a friendly relationship between teacher and students (we love you miss luna). The verses are a celebration of being able to play in our beautiful world and the belief we can be anything we want to be when we grow up. Click here to see Rick Berry singing his song Louie Louie.

Teacher Teacher, ooh Baby
Tune by Rick Berry, Lyrics by Karl Shadley

CHORUS
Teacher teacher, ooh baby, we gotta go.
Yeah-Yeah-Yeah-Yeah
Teacher teacher, ooh baby, we gotta go.
Yeah-Yeah-Yeah-Yeah

The boys and girls told me just the other day
That they should go outside and play
Got to use our lungs & stretch out legs
On these fantastic, beautiful days

CHORUS

What to be an astronaut, fly to the moon
Or maybe a custodian, I’m good with a broom
A doctor or a teacher or a fireman
I can be anything, I know I can

CHORUS