An Inspiration of Colleagues
On Sunday, April 22, ECMMA held a couple of workshops on Cape Cod, hosted by Meryl Vujs at Meryl’s Music and Arts. I “gave” the first one, although I feel as if the workshop was given to me! There is nothing like sitting in a circle with experienced teachers, and getting feedback on your work.
My workshop focused on some of the new songs (along with the neurological and movement theory behind them) from my upcoming CD/Book Set, Listenin’ Live. This projecthas been in the works for so many years I don’t want to lose my last shred of credibility by predicting a release date . . . but I am working on it in the studio every week.
Jennie Mulqueen of ECMMA has signed on to help edit the text, and to pilot the songs in her Drum and Sing classes at the South Shore Conservatory this spring. So between her kids, her teachers, and the folks at the workshop, the kinks are getting worked out – and good new ideas are getting worked in!
Kids “comment” with their bodies. At the first Drum and Sing class, Jennie played Babkin Boogie, which is one of the Listenin' Live reflex integration songs. It involves some excited fifth graders doing call and response, and then improvising on “Grrr, Yow, and Mmmm” sounds to a boogie-woogie piano. Everything went fine until the last verse, when two four year-old girls just got up and walked out. Those growling eleven year-olds were too intense for them! Two days later I was back in the studio, cutting and mixing. Removing that bit makes the song much more compact, stronger, and, above all, safe.
Working with the CD. Jennie had given the trial CD to some teachers to use, as add-ins to their regular curriculum. One of these teachers, Louise-Marie Mennier of Loulou's Music Together, had just used the clap/slap game To Do in class. “I didn’t think it would work for a mixed age group with parents,” she said, “but it was totally mesmerizing! The kids and parents loved it!”
Of course, I was thrilled. But as I began to teach the song, I didn’t get the same temperature of response. Apparently, the way Lou-lou had presented the chant was a lot more effective than my way!
I was just doing it “live” and improvising the “to do list” of the game as I went. (I tend to be a very low tech teacher). Then Jennie took over, and taught it with the CD track. It was electric! Released from the necessity of remembering the list, we just slap-clapped our way through miming all the motions (jump rope, play catch, climb a tree, etc.)
Of course, the chant done in this way worked on different kinds of things. It didn’t work on memory or verbal improvisation. But it was a fantastic rhythmic workout, great fine motor coordination and improvisation, and a wonderful ensemble piece.
I think a lot of the success rests with the artist/kids who recorded “To Do.” Their enjoyment was infectious. Energy is everything, and when you play the CD, that positive creative energy is always there.
Good teachers take over. I am reminded that the same song can do many things. One of the pleasures I had in watching Jennie teach “my” material in her Drum and Sing class, was seeing a song morph in to something completely different.
Shake Shake Shake All Around was put in the playlist as a “core integration song.” The kids were to listen to it, and respond to verbal directions about how to move their shoulders and hips in different combinations, bringing energy into their central core. But Jennie sang the song a capella, and invited the kids to volunteer body parts to “shake all around.” This tended to move the locus of the activity from the core to the peripheries - feet, hands. My “listen and follow the core movement” song had become a “sing and improvise and learn body parts” song.
Of course, on one level, I want people to read my materials and appreciate and use the song for its original purpose. But on another level, I enjoy the creativity that extends from using the song in a new way.
I am tickled at how easily any good song becomes a “folk song.” Thanks to my colleagues, I feel like these songs are already not “mine” any more – and that is a good thing. Composing is like parenting – you learn to let go. And when others make your song their song – that’s when you know the song is truly alive.
Julie Goodro May 09, 2012
I’m impressed that you could “let go” of your songs that way. I find that a hard thing to do (even when I didn’t write the song). I have to take a deep breath to let things move away from my control. I love it when children do it, but it’s harder when adults do it for some reason. You’re a good model.