Jazmine Harnishfeger-Brand

Prep 1 Tuesday, Jazmine

It was lovely to have everyone back together this week!

Before we get into the review of the lesson, I want to take a moment and underscore how important it is to support our singers in coming to class prepared each week.  Prep 1 doesn’t have any materials or anything to bring with them, but it is important that they come with the right mindset.  This week we had a lot of trouble listening and following directions.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to cover much of what I had planned because the singers weren’t able to do what was needed of them in each activity.  This normally isn’t the case each week, so I was a bit surprised to run into this all of a sudden.  Luckily, it’s easily fixed by a simple conversation before class.  I have found that talking with your singer about your (and my) expectations for their behavior in class while you drive to Cantabile does wonders.  You can review things such as listening to directions the first time they are given.  Sitting (or standing) when and where asked, in the appropriate way.  And fully participating in the task(s) at hand.  Having this simple conversation with your singer greatly supports them (and me!) in having the most engaging and fulfilling experience at Cantabile.  Thank you! 🙂

That being said, we were able to review all of our performance songs this week:  Sing a Rainbow, Gonna Build A Mountain, If All the Raindrops, and Garden of People.  They are coming along quite well, and we’re looking forward to sharing them with you at the upcoming recital.  (You can find all of the lyrics below to help your singer practice!)

Garden of People
Each of us is a flower, growing in life’s garden.  Each of us is a flower, we need the sun and rain. Sun, shine your warmth on me.  Moon, cool me with your night.  Wind, bring the gentle rain.  Earth, dig my roots down deep.
Each of us is a flower, growing in life’s garden.  Each of us is a flower, we need the sun and rain.

If All the Raindrops
If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops, oh what a rain that would be.
Standing outside with my mouth open wide – ah ah ah ah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah,
If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops, oh what a rain that would be.
If all the sunbeams were bubblegum and ice cream, oh what a rain that would be.
Standing outside with my mouth open wide – ah ah ah ah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah,
If all the sunbeams were bubblegum and ice cream, oh what a rain that would be.

Gonna Build A Mountain
Gonna build a mountain, out a little hill.  Gonna build a mountain, at least I hope I will.  Gonna build a mountain, gonna build it high.  Don’t know how I’ll do it, only know I’m gonna try.
Mountain, mountain, build a mountain (three times), build that mountain high!
Gonna build a daydream, out a little hope.  Gonna push that daydream, up the mountain slope.  Gonna build a daydream, gonna see it through.  Gonna build a mountain and a daydream, gonna see them both come true.  

Sing A Rainbow
Red and yellow and pink and green, orange and purple and blue.  I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too.
Listen with your ears, listen with your eyes, and sing everything you see.  I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing along with me!
Red and yellow and pink and green, orange and purple and blue.  I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too.

We, of course, played our favorite rhythm sticks game, getting all the way up to three sticks before we ran out of time for this week.  Their rhythm reading skills are coming along wonderfully!

A few logistical items:
We have an off-site rehearsal on Tuesday, May 2nd.  We will be meeting at Los Altos United Methodist Church (655 Magdalena Ave.) just down Foothill Expressway.  Class still meets at it’s regular time!
Our recital will be Tuesday, May 9th at 3:30 pm in the Parish Hall.  Please make sure your singer comes in full uniform: Cantabile red polo, black twill skirt with black tights, or black pants, black socks, and plain black shoes.
And I’m happy to announce that you can sign up for the pot-luck (following their recital) here.

Prep 1 Thursday, Emily

Dear Parents,

Happy Spring to everyone! It is nice to have the sun visiting us a bit more often.  This week we started our class with a round of Sarasponda.  The children seem to really enjoy making all the hand movements, and their skills are definitely improving. I changed it up for them by asking them to do the hand movements in a random order by saying the words in a different way.  

We played Doggie, Doggie, where’s your bone?, and I got to hear each child sing on his or her own.  We then derived the melody of the song.  We sang it with our Hand Signs and Melody names, and then put the notes we know on the tone ladder.  The children who were in our tiny class last week remembered that we had learned a new note, DO, and we added that to the tone ladder as well.  We did some improvisation with the tone ladder.

We did a fun round of My Poor Hand is Shaking to get our bodies moving again, and then, at the request of the children, sang A Little Seed.

To reinforce our knowledge of DO, we sang Pease Porridge Hot while doing a simple hand clapping pattern.  They are working hard to learn this, and I appreciate their focus while doing such a challenging task.  We then identified where DO was in the song, and practiced singing

We ended the class with a fun round of Bow Wow Wow!

A few logistical items:
We have an off-site rehearsal on Thursday, May 4nd.  We will be meeting at Los Altos United Methodist Church (655 Magdalena Ave.) just down Foothill Expressway.  Class still meets at it’s regular time!
Our recital will be Thursday, May 11th at 4:00 pm in the Parish Hall.  Please make sure your singer comes in full uniform: Cantabile red polo, black twill skirt with black tights, or black pants, black socks, and plain black shoes.  

And I’m happy to announce that you can sign up for the pot-luck (following their recital) here.

Thanks to you all and I’ll see you next week!