What Can Music Give—Your thoughts?
from Barb Tilsen
Over the past few years, The Children’s Music Network (CMN) has
been exploring relevant questions about the impact of music in
children’s lives. The connecting threads in these conversations raise
important themes that we invite you to explore in this first edition of
e-PIO!. This editorial space will be a place to hear what you think in
answer to these questions. In the coming months, we’ll post people’s
responses. Please share your thoughts! We invite members of CMN
and non-members as well to contribute.
Pete Seeger has spoken in our CMN gatherings about how “We used
to be a singing nation.” Children grew up in homes whose living
rooms had stand-up [UPRIGHT IS THE MORE STANDARD WORD,
ISN’T IT? THO I KINDA LIKE STAND-UP] pianos, at schools where
they regularly sang in classrooms, and in lively community
celebrations where people made music together. The role that songs
played in the development of community and the positive social skills
that singing promoted was profound. In the last fifty years, our
society has moved away from community events where music was
featured. Television, movies and recordings have all served to erode a
once-central tradition of communal singing. Some of the
conversations on our CMN members’ e-mail list and at our gatherings
have been devoted to this trend in our culture: toward passive
listeners rather than active singers [with] [I DON’T UNDERSTAND
THE MEANING OF THIS WORD. AT LEAST PARTLY RESULTING
FROM? AND INSTEAD OF WITH? STRONGLY FURTHERED BY?
SPURRED BY? MAYBE CHANGE PUNCTUATION, DEPENDING ON
WORD CHANGES] the impact of new technology and the big music
scene.
Through the CMN e-mail list and especially in Steven Shuch’s great
Pass It On! article “Reflections on the Nature of Arts and Education,”
[NEEDS A FIND REFERENCE; OR WILL THIS TITLE HAVE A LINK
TO THE ARTICLE?] we have dialogued about the character of our
educational system and the positive impact the arts in general and
music in particular have on learning. We’ve voiced serious concerns
about the cutbacks in our schools, the impact that the predominance
of testing and the No Child Left Behind policy have had on children
and on the arts in the schools. We’ve talked about what children need
to be learning now in this coming age of world violence and scarcity,
with more and more of our world resources at stake, exploited by
corporate powers. At one of our CMN gatherings a few years ago,
folksinger and folklorist Bess Lomax Hawes spoke eloquently about
how children learn songs that they hold inside in their own “song
bag.” These songs are there ready as a balm and as a tool for dealing
with powerful and emotional moments when children need them later
on.
These reflections lead to other important questions. What is music
uniquely able to give children that helps equip them to face the
future? What does it give us as a community? What are we losing as
a nation when we stop singing together? What skills and what ways
of thinking and problem-solving are at stake? How can we help
children prepare and learn skills about cooperation and sharing,
problem-solving as a group, thinking with the collective good in mind?
What can music contribute more readily and effectively than anything
else?
Please send your thoughts to office@cmmnonline.org. We will select all
or parts of responses received and post them in this current issue of e-
PIO!
8/4/05 BT > D Zanes
Dan,
I’m the Web site manager for The Children’s Music Network
(www.cmnonline.org) and I’m putting together the next edition of e-P/O/, our
online version of CMN’s journal, Pass It On! In this online edition, we include
4-5 articles that have appeared in the print editions of Pass It On!, and one or
two guest editorials that are written especially for our web site. I’m writing to
invite you to write a guest editorial for our 2005 edition. It will go up on the
web site in the fall, hopefully by the end of September, but that timing is
flexible. It could be later if you’re interested in doing this, but can’t do it right
now.
I’m hoping you would consider writing about the importance of traditional
music and passing on a musical and cultural legacy to new generations. I’ve
heard you speak on this topic in a radio interview in Minnesota, and | know
it’s something of interest to our members and to the educators, parents, and
others interested in children’s music who visit our web site. | don’t know if
you're participating in the CMN member email list, but a while back we had a
discussion on the list about the whole idea of musical literacy, and what
traditional songs we should be preserving and teaching to new generations.
People sent their ideas of what songs they thought should be on a list of this
sort. I’m thinking this would be an interesting way to follow-up in a new
editorial on some of the questions raised in the 2004 editorials, which you
can find on the web site in the Pass It On! section. I’d like to look at this
question from different cultures too, and we’re considering inviting a second
editorial from one of our Latin members too. The “musical literacy” list that
was suggested on the CMN email list was primarily North American
traditional folk music if | remember right. | think it will be interesting to see
how this question is explored from different traditions and different cultural
contexts. There can be a tension there with listing only songs from one
culture, especially the mainstream culture. | think the underlying theme of
preserving culture and a legacy is more universal cutting across cultural
boundaries. One of our ideas is to include an invitation along with the
editorials for people to send in their own suggestions for songs they would
include on a list of this sort and to publish those ideas on the web site too.
Please let know if you would be willing to be part of this, we would welcome
your involvement in CMN online in this way! And whatever part of the ideas
above appeal to you to write about would be great.
Thanks and best wishes,
Barb
Barb Tilsen
btilsen@qwest.net
www.barbtilsen.com
As a full-time children's musician (I teach in schools, teach piano privately, and present
children's music and movement programs), | find myself constantly asking myself if I'm
doing enough in this crazy world that has so many problems and needs so much. How am |
helping when all I'm doing is singing and teaching music all day long?
Of course, | think back to my own childhood in the 1960s. | grew up hearing Pete Seeger
sing wonderful old folk songs. My parents would take me out of school to go to anti-war
demonstrations, and singing peace songs with a whole group of people made me know that
we can change the world. But what stays strongest in my heart and mind is my fourth grade
teacher, who brought in her guitar and sang with us every day—“Old Stewball,” “Follow the
Drinking Gourd,” “Blowing in the Wind,” Jamaica Farewell.” That was the year my already
dysfunctional family totally fell apart, and boy, did that music help. So | knew the power of
music. When my own children were born and had terrible colic and various neurological
differences, music got us through. We made up songs for everything, because my son
couldn't talk until he was three, but he could sing from the time he was eight months old.
Sometimes | wonder if music created an illusion that isn't really true—can we really change
the world, or was that just some hypnotic effect that isn't real—and am | just passing ona
false hope to a new generation? No, | refuse to believe that. As my brother was getting on a
bus from Boston to Washington, D.C., in 1970 for another anti-war demonstration, my
father's parting words were, "If things are feeling tough, sing, and everyone will sing with
you." That is always my experience with children. Even the gang members in an inner-city
park join in when there's a good rhythm going, and | believe that plants a seed of hope, of
difference, that something else can happen beyond what is seen in the news. | think we
have a responsibility to keep that hope alive, especially as singing is less and less a common
thing to do.
Joanie Calem
SpongeBob no space
Dear Ms. Rogers,
My name is Becky Cremer. I'm 18 years old and a freshman at a small
college in South Carolina. My mom sent me a link to your article on
the Children's Music Network [Web site] listing the 100+ songs that
children should know. She wanted to know how many I still
remembered. Not only do I still remember a vast majority, but I've
passed them on to children I babysit for, sometimes intentionally and
sometimes not. I'm a big advocate of avoiding television. There have
been many times that I consciously made sure that “Head, Shoulders,
Knees, and Toes” won over SpongeBob. But, I also think it's really
special when “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” uncontrollably slips out
as a bedtime routine. Needless to say, music has always been a huge
part of my life. I firmly believe that it has helped make me into the
person I am today. I do everything I can to make sure that children I
come into contact with can experience something similar to what I
have been blessed with. Rest assured that when I have children one
day, I will make sure that those tunes are passed down to them. So,
thank you for your thoughts and efforts to preserve such an invaluable
tradition. The world needs more music. On a personal level, I grew up
listening to Piggyback Planet. My mom tells me stories of bath times
as a toddler, splashing around and singing about "toxic waste and
chemicals, filling up our garbage dumps!" I bought two of your CDs
recently as gifts to children I babysit for, and other kids beg to hear
the “Hello, Ladybug” song. I don't know whether or not those songs
have anything to do with the fact that I hassle the entire campus
about recycling or fought for biodegradable take-out boxes for the
school cafeteria. But know that your music, as well as music in
general, has greatly impacted me. I think it's made me into a better
person. So thank you, so much.
Peace,
Becky Cremer
e-PIO! 2004 COSTS
$180 Tech services (6 hrs @ $30)
87 CP Prof (5.8 hrs @ $15)
30 Graphic designer (est. prep 3 articles @ $10)
$297 Total issue cost
Constructing a Children’s Radio Program
by PJ Swift
If you’re like me, some of your most creative ideas come just before
sleep, like the idea of creating a radio program for families in your area.
Actually, it’s not such a bad idea.
All it takes is time, dedication, and a certain amount of craziness. Most
programs begin at a local station, where producers are taught the nuts
and bolts of local radio: how to design a program, how to use
microphones, how to edit, and how to use the broadcasting equipment.
Over the years, we've found that public stations, especially "community
oriented" stations—the ones held together with used cardboard and
packing tape, and staffed by volunteers—are the most receptive to
"alternative" audiences such as children and families. There are some
exceptions, but in general, if you want to get trained in radio, you'll need
to go to a public station. So get thee to a station, stay, and learn.
Nowadays, an alternative place to learn is right at your own computer.
Most contemporary computers have sound cards built in: you might have
already experimented with burning CDs or sending voice messages to
people. It’s not such a jump to moving sound around and creating a
program. If you have a home studio, all the better. So start to
experiment, and see where that takes you.
After you've learned the nuts and bolts, you're ready to put together a
program. The content is limited only by your imagination. A children's
program can be music, stories, interviews, games, information, talk, call-
ins, radio drama, radio comedy, sound effects—whatever. It can be for
younger kids, for older kids, or for families to enjoy together. It is our
personal bias that the best children's programs are with children and not
at children, but that is not a hard and fast rule. If you can't locate a
genuine child, proceed anyway. One may turn up where you least expect
one—perhaps inside you.
When you construct your program, work backwards. What will be its
final distribution: on the Internet, on the new satellite systems such as
XM or Sirius, on commercial stations, on public stations, local, national,
regional, etc? Create a program for one of these outlets, or work smart
and create a program for all of them in slightly different forms. Each of
these distribution outlets has its own requirements and needs. For
instance, you'll find that public stations are generally oriented more
toward long form programming (half hour or hour-long shows).
Commercial stations often prefer "modules," that is, flexible, short
programming that can be dropped into their regular program mix. Public
stations like modules sometimes, too. Internet outlets will accommodate
nearly anything you can create, although shorter forms are better (under
half an hour). Call your intended distributor or station and find out what
they use. Make what they want. It's frustrating to find that you've made
a program that fits no one's schedule.
There are two new types of programming on the Internet that you may
want to consider. You may want to create a program exclusively for
webcasting, that is, broadcasting on the Internet. Most local service
providers—the people you have e-mail with—can accommodate sound
files broadcast via servers. But check first: some require an additional
monthly service payment. There are many Web sites that also “webcast”
children’s material free, including the Children’s Music Web. Producers
of most webcasting sites like programming that is a half hour or less.
The second new type of programming is “podcasting,” wherein high
fidelity programming is downloaded through the computer to consumers
worldwide and played on personal audio players such as the iPod.
Usually such files take up a lot of space, so, again, you'll need to plan on
finding a server that will hold your sound files and make them available
to the public. There are a few services that will allow you to use their
servers in exchange for the use of your programming. Any length is OK.
One note about webcasting, especially podcasting: You will need to get
releases for the use of material you don't own. This is quite different
from broadcasting, where an annual fee is paid by the broadcasters to
compensate the artists, as in ASCAP or SOCAN arrangements. But
there’s little direct compensation in podcasting. And, once something
goes out over the computer, especially in a podcasting form equivalent
to what you’d get on a CD, there is nothing stopping someone from
copying your material and selling it on the street somewhere.
However, there is a flip side to this problem. That is, if you area
children's artist or storyteller, you may benefit from creating a program
exclusively out of your own copyrighted material. This extends the
number of outlets that are available to you. If you own the material, then
you can broadcast it freely through radio or cable or distribute it
through electronic means such as the Internet. The program itself
becomes an advertisement for the product that you sell, and thus it can
become self-supporting.
But this is not the only reason to broadcast to kids. You may want to
create a program just because there's a need. And there definitely isa
need, now more than ever. There's no money in it, but then, that didn't
stop most of today's producers. We're an eccentric bunch, we know, but
we’re happy.
One final thought: without exception, active producers of children’s
radio are eager to see more radio programming for kids on the air. They
are open to sharing their ideas and experiences. If you're considering
creating a program, call a person who has a similar program and
compare notes. You're guaranteed to make a friend.
Resources:
Children’s Radio List (www. kidsmusicplanet.com)
Monty Harper’s up-to-date listing of public, commercial, and Internet
broadcasting for children. Free.
Find a station:
Radio Locator (www. radio- locator.com)
Public Radio listings:
Public Radio Fan (find a station near you) (www. publicradiofan. com)
National Public Radio (www.npr.org)
National Federation of Community Broadcasters (www.nfcb.org)
Satellite broadcasters:
XM Kids (www. xmradio.com)
Sirius Satellite Radio (www.sirius.com)
Webcast outlets:
The Children’s Music Web (www. childrensmusic.org)
The Kids’ Internet Radio Project ( www.kirp.org)
Podcasting:
Podcast Net (www. podcast.net)
Webcast- /issues-oriented news about children, with some children’s
voices:
One World Radio (www. radio. oneworld. net)
International group of children’s broadcasters:
World Radio Forum (www.worldradioforum.org)
Be Yourself: How Songs Feed Us
by Sarah Pirtle
| want children to feel they are welcome in the realm of music,
that it is their native language, that music belongs to everyone. When
we sing eye to eye and heart to heart, an invisible thread is woven
within a group. It’s the quickest way to telegraph that you care about
each person. Songs can feed a community.
This summer a new song erupted among a dozen girls, and it
solidified their conversation about cooperation. | don’t recall who came
up with the idea of writing a song, but | remember everyone in the
circle had a hand in developing it. Suddenly the very first morning of
our Journey Camp program, we went from talking about how we
wanted to treat people at camp to living out our agreements. They
wrote:
Be yourself and that will help you through.
If you act like someone else you won’t know what to do.
If you’re kind of nervous, and nothing’s right,
Be yourself and shine so bright—Be yourself!
The skills of cooperation and collective problem-solving that |
wanted the entire camp of seventy to develop were being practiced
then and there as they discussed rhymes and turned towards each
person to get input. In fact, they were proud of tackling a particularly
difficult rhyme challenge. They wanted to end a sentence with
“unique,” and brainstormed solutions. Here’s how they did it:
I think you’re special.
I think you're unique.
Some of us are like stripes or plaid
or you might glow like batik.
The icing on the cake was the moment of sharing it with the rest of
camp. This song, that was offered from one small group to the larger
whole, cemented everybody’s social commitments. *
In fact, | think when we sing together in a supportive and
inclusive way, we are helping to preserve endangered human values.
Cooperation, mutual regard, and respect for diversity are all developed
as we partake in this ancient human pleasure of community singing.
Songs are a glue that link us to rhythm and breath, to the earth, and to
the mystery of being individuals and at the same time members of a
community. We’re feeding soul-level nourishment when we sing.
James Hillman writes, “The heart brings us authentic tidings of
invisible things.” Music speaks that language of the heart.
| like to ask people, What’s your earliest musical memory of
singing? Is it sitting on a blanket in the summer? Riding in the car?
Joining in a nursery school class? Being sung to in bed at night? A
feeling of belonging usually goes with these memories—belonging to
the family of humans, belonging to the generations who have sung
before. | remember the wonder of mastering, as a three-year-old, all
the words to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “Row, Row Your Boat.” |
also remember swinging outside and making up songs to the oak tree
next to me as the swing glided back and forth.
Here’s another question: What’s a memory of effervescence from
singing? What's one of the times you were bubbling with joy? After a
program for families, children, and teachers led by members of CMN at
Rowe Conference Center in Massachusetts, my body was sparkling
from the impact of experiencing so much love and joy through song. As
Barb Tilsen and Bruce O’Brien and | reflected upon this, we said to
each other, “Human beings deeply need this contact from singing!” It’s
one of the clues to our human survival as a species to keep on having
frequent opportunities to sing face to face.
Author Stephen Buhner in The Secret Teachings of Plants says
that the core intelligence that the heart gathers is crucial at this time
in human history because our reliance on our analytic mode of
cognition is reaching a dead end. He believes that gathering
knowledge from our direct holistic/intuitive/depth mode of cognition is
“crucially important for us as a species to reclaim, for we live in
dangerous times.” Moreover, he says the heart’s way of knowing is
fundamentally important because research is showing that the “heart
serves as a conductor of depth information from the external world to
the central nervous system and the brain.”
When we sing, we find that place that brings us home to our
hearts. In this time as teachers when we are pressured to stay on
academic tasks and prepare children for standardized tests, let’s open
the window. In comes the green voice from the earth, saying what
these children will need most in a confusing world is to love
themselves and be able to connect from their hearts.
At Journey Camp an eleven-year-old girl liked to sit on a hollow
log in the woods and invent tunes with wordless mouth-music, perhaps
the same way that the first songs were created tens of thousands of
years ago. As campers built tree houses around her, she kept on
singing. | joined in with her, and we let the sunlight coming through the
maple leaves and the sounds of the chickadees and wood thrushes
inform our songmaking. Others walked by us and smiled. We were
following the basic agreement made at the start of camp: be yourself.
* For information on talk it out methods and agreements see the Talk It
Out section of Sarah’s Web site, www.sarahpirtle.com.
Sarah Pirtle is the author of Linking Up: Using Music, Movement and
Language Arts to Promote Caring, Cooperation, and Communication
and three other books. She was a principal founder of CMN and the
first editor of Pass It On! She has created seven CD recordings, and she
teaches in Creative Arts in Learning at Lesley University.
Guest Editorial by Sally Rogers
2005 e-PIO!
When the wheels of the bus go ‘round and ‘round on a long school field trip
drive, do bored passengers resort to conversation, video games or “99
Bottles of Beer on the Wall”? Is group singing going the way of the
dinosaur? What are we doing to keep our voices alive and strong?
Iam a music teacher. I get paid to teach the kindergarten, first, second,
third and fourth graders how to sing, dance and keep a steady beat. But the
most important group I teach, I teach for free. I volunteer to teach the
preschool students, the majority of whom come to school at age three, four
and five not knowing “The Farmer in the Dell,” “London Bridge” or “Mary
Had a Little Lamb.” Children used to learn these songs from their parents
and grandparents or from children they played with in the neighborhood.
But parents and grandparents are too busy or too shy to sing with their
young ones. And children no longer play with children in their
neighborhoods without strict adult supervision. If children know these
songs, they’ve learned them from a TV screen or CD player and not from a
human being. Some kids have no notion that people make music, too. It is
my job to show them that they, too, have their own, unique voice. And the
earlier they learn that truth, the more likely it is that they will use it as they
grow up.
Sometimes I feel like a crusader chasing after an impossible dream: that we
can reclaim our cultural heritage of song and dance so that we can relearn
how to live together in community. If we feel powerless in our democracy,
perhaps it is because our voices have been systematically stolen and sold
back to us by the entertainment industry. Our voices come back to us as
prepackaged Disney-fied sound that we listen to, but do not participate in.
We watch TV but we do not dance. We listen to CD’s but we do not sing. I
want my students to know that Barney does not own “This Old Man,” they
do. And they are free to rewrite it however they need to sing it for any given
occasion.
I have gone so far as to begin compiling a list of 100 songs I think kids
should know by the time they leave fourth grade. This is a tough list to
make. Whose list is it? Should it include songs in different languages? (I
decided it should.) Should it include songs that are not “children’s songs,”
like ballads, protest songs and songs from the civil rights movement? (I
decided it should.) Should it include nursery rhymes and singing games? (I
decided it should.) And now comes the real challenge: how do I teach all
these songs to my students in the little bit of time we have together in our
formal music classes at school? I have created other opportunities for
singing in our school day. Every morning as soon as the intercom
announcements finish, all the PK to grade 2 students pile into the hallway to
sing one song together. Every day. One song at a time. Once a month we
have a fifteen-minute, all-school sing in the gym where we get to revisit
these songs as a school. I also make CDs of songs we are singing in music
class for the teachers to play/sing along with in their own classroom. Some
use these religiously. And the students learn the songs.
One great resource for those traditional songs is Ruth Crawford Seeger’s
American Folk Songs for Children as well as Mike and Peggy Seeger’s
companion recording by the same name. These songs come from Library of
Congress field recordings of chain gangs, mine workers, housewives,
cowboys and more. They are melodic gems, beguiling games, and stunning
stories chosen by one of America’s musical geniuses from our nation’s
repository of heritage song, songs recorded in working class America and
reintroduced to the middle class in classrooms like mine. These songs can
be sung as is or adapted to the moment in the classroom, on the playground
or in the community. They have survived because they are easy and
enjoyable to sing.
You may not agree that it is a good thing to make a list of songs we all
should know. In discussions with others about this topic, concerns over
political correctness and not leaving anyone’s culture behind come up.
Personally, I think the list is flexible depending on one’s cultural heritage.
And when students of different ethnicities come together it creates an
opportunity for all to expand their lists. It is our challenge to create these
opportunities for our kids to meet. Through song they can get to know each
other. There is safety in singing together. Many songs cross cultural
boundaries, such as “Frere Jacques” which is sung in most languages and
can be rewritten to fit any occasion.
If we regain our voices knowing a common body of song, then perhaps when
we join together on the picket line or in parades of public outcry we can
sing songs with one voice. Songs we learned as children. Songs we have
reworked to meet the needs of the moment. Songs that express who we are
and how we feel. Songs that bring us together in community. After all,
music can change the world. And it’s time to get to work.
PUTTING TOGETHER YOUR OWN CHILDREN’S RADIO SHOW
by Susan Salidor
About a year and a half ago | was given the opportunity to co-host a one-hour children’s
music radio show out of Loyola University here in Chicago. WLUW 88.7 FM is a
commercial-free, independent radio station with an eclectic mix of music and talk radio.
It is owned by National Public Radio and can be streamed via the Internet. All of the radio
hosts are volunteers, and we have regular pledge drives to help keep the station alive.
Because of its independent status, | am allowed to create my own playlist each week
without directives from anyone. This allows me to choose themes that are sometimes
seasonal, sometimes musical, sometimes political, and sometimes educational. My co-
host and | receive music from all over the country, and we listen to each CD that comes
in, often splitting the reviewing process between us and making recommendations to
each other. | have very eclectic tastes in children’s music, and because of my own work
as a singer/songwriter for kids, | believe | have high standards as well. Although | am
allowed to prerecord a show, | have only done on-air, live hosting.
When | first started as a radio host, | was surprised at the amount of original music being
produced for children nowadays. Not all are radio-worthy, in my opinion. | look for good
production values (the nature of radio demands it), able songwriting, interesting
arrangements, and strong singing, not necessarily in that order. If a song is amazing and
the singer is not, it just may make it onto my show. On the other hand, if the singer is
amazing and the material is not, it won’t be heard on my show.
| have outlined some start-up tips for putting together a radio show. | know there are
CMN members who have been doing this a lot longer than | have, but | am hoping that
my radio adventures and recommendations will be helpful to other novices.
1) Tips on start-up materials (minidisk, CD binder, headphones, organizing
shows, researching artists)
| was trained by my co-host Sheila Donlan at WLUW in Chicago, Illinois. She was really
helpful in getting me set up to begin my DJ-ing duties. Here’s what | had to buy:
a) A large CD binder with four slots on each page. | place a CD in one slot with its
booklet right next to it so | can easily identify songs. | store the plastic cases in my office
at home. My binder also has a place in front with CD slots. After | plan my show, | take
the CDs I’m planning to use and put them in order in these front slots, rubber band
together the CD booklets, print out my show and stick it in the binder, and I’m ready to
go to the studio.
b) A minidisk recorder so that | can prerecord kids, interviews with musicians who
cannot make it into the studio, or put together whole shows if I’m not able to be in studio
and can get someone to engineer for me. The minidisk player came with computer
software that allows me to edit on my computer. | can also edit directly on my minidisk
player if | choose.
c) Good headphones with an adapter for the studio. Wish | could afford great ones,
but that will have to wait until | go national(!). Check to see if your station has these to
spare—mine doesn’t. My Sony headphones cost about $20 at Best Buy.
d) A box of recordable CDs so that | can record and critique my shows. | can also
do this with a minidisk as there are two minidisk players/recorders at my station.
2) Tips on theme-related programs
| have found using a theme or themes to be helpful in planning my one-hour radio show
for children and their families. Sometimes | choose a theme and, in trying to find just the
right songs, | find a group of songs | love that are related to a completely different theme
and change my show. Or | keep a list of those songs (and the new theme) for future
reference. A theme is only useful if it he/ps you organize your thoughts and music for
your show. In other words, a theme should not be too constrictive. | tend to choose a
theme and then be creative about how the songs will relate to it.
Example: Martin Luther King Show, Kids Play Radio, WLUW 88.7 FM Chicago
Saturday, January 15, 2005
For the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, | wrote down a//the words | associate with
the man and the holiday: freedom, civil rights, civil disobedience, Rosa Parks, hero,
African-American, church, preacher, march, human rights, antiwar, peace, moral,
religious, civil rights movement, Pete Seeger, Bernice Johnson Reagan, folk music,
political folk music, holiday. (Keep in mind these are just my words; I’m sure you would
come up with a different set.)
Then | went through each of these words and jotted down a few songs from my own
repertoire: “Rosa Parks” (Dee Werner), “Il Have a Dream” (Chris Inserra), “Peace Before
Us” (Native American), “Oh Freedom,” “Rosa Parks Got on the Bus” (Uncle Ruthie),
“Peace In My Fingers” (S. Salidor), “Paz y Libertad” (Jose Luis Orozco), “Woke Up This
Morning,” “If | Had a Hammer” (Hays/Seeger), “Ruby B.” (S. Salidor), “This Little Light of
Mine,” “We Shall Not Be Moved,” “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho,” “Oh Freedom” (S.
African).
Then | consulted my CD collection and tried to find these songs and any new songs, and
also all the songs | forgot that relate to my theme. | try to use a combination of new
songs, old songs, upbeat and slow songs, some easy sing-along songs, a dance song or
two, etc.
The final playlist included most of the songs above, along with two excerpts from MLK’s
speeches, including “Il Have a Dream” and one about Rosa Parks; and these other songs:
“Peace Train” (Cat Stevens), “What Can One Little Person Do?” (Sally Rogers), “Under
One Sky” (Ruth Pelham, sung by Sol Y Canto), “Teaching Peace” (Red Grammer),
“You've Got To Be Taught” (Rodgers & Hammerstein), “Courage” (Bob Blue), and “We
Shall Overcome” (Peter, Paul & Mary).
Special Note: | always consult my music bible, Rise Up Singing, for song ideas and song
histories and authorship. If you don’t already know about this amazing volume of music,
visit Sing Out! online and order a copy A.S.A.P.
3) Benefits of recording kids in advance
| love recording kids on my minidisk player and find it easy to do. | use the kids | teach
every Wednesday, so they know me and feel comfortable with me. | sit the kids around a
table (so there’s less fidgeting) or on a rug and turn on my minidisk and start asking
questions. My four- and five-year-olds are never at a loss for words, and | record
everything and edit it later for use in the studio. | have also brought older kids (ten to
twelve years) into the studio for a live show and let them comment on songs and help
create the playlist on air.
| use bits and pieces of kids material on my show to break up the monotony of song after
song after song. Also, kids like to hear kids. | usually don’t play more than one or two
minutes of talking at one time.
4) Benefits of minidisk production
I’m still learning about my minidisk recorder, but it allows you to record, erase, and edit
all on one machine. They are small and easy to use, but make sure your station has a
MD player before you purchase a recorder. (At my radio station, we have two minidisk
players and you can even sign out a recorder should you need one in the field.) | bought
mine online for about $250 along with a good microphone (another $60). Make sure you
buy a minidisk player with a microphone input as they don’t all have one. As | mentioned
above, my minidisk recorder came with computer software to allow me to edit via
computer.
4) Benefits of overpreparing and being flexible on air
As I’ve become more experienced, I've become a better judge of time, but | still
overprepare. Each one-hour show takes me at least two hours to plan. | sit at my
computer and listen to new CDs and check out old ones as | type up my playlist. An
actual playlist looks like this:
Kids Play Radio Playlist
Saturday, January 08, 2005
1. “On the Day You Were Born” (Track #4) (2:42) from Hello World, Artist: Red
Grammer
2. “Shake Your Brain” (Track #11) (1:56) from Teaching Peace, Artist: Red Grammer
3. “All Aboard” (Track #12) (4:08) from Putumayo Kids:Caribbean Playground, Artist:
Atlantik from Trinidad
CHAT: Intro songs, show ID, themes: One World, winter weather
Because | pull each CD and booklet for each show, | have the booklet in hand should |
need more information. | always announce the title, performer, songwriter, and CD title
for each song played.
| plan approximately fifty-five minutes of music per one hour show, allowing ten minutes
for announcements of kids’ activities around the city (which | get off the Internet),
station ID, intros and chatting about songs. With each show | become more confident
and can stray from my playlist if something occurs to me on air. We have a request line,
too, but | don’t usually announce the number because | worry that | don’t have the CD
they want. As my CD collection builds, I’m sure I'll be more open to taking requests.
| hope this information is helpful to all who have been given the opportunity to be a radio
host. Please feel free to ask questions at ssalidor@aol.com [link] or to send comments to
me or the CMN office. [link: office@emnonline.org)
ePIO! 06 Notes
....| also want to get moving on e-PIO! selecting articles and
getting a guest editorial set up. Are there any topics or people you've
been thinking about? | mentioned Hap Palmer a bit ago, but | don't
really
know him so | have no idea what he'd be like as an editorial writer. |
think it might help to have higher profile people in CMN do these
editorials to help bring traffic to our site, but at the same time part of
the
potential to me of these editorials is that we have an opportunity to
voice
some of the politics, some of the ethics of what we're all about. And in
that sense, Tom Hunter's name does come up for me. I've heard him
do
keynotes and workshops and read things he's written about working
with
children and he's always thoughtful and insightful. Another thought |
just had was Phil Hoose or Sarah Pirtle. They're both really eloquent
and have written about issues at the heart of CMN. I'm formulating as |
write here and it just occurred to me that exploring some of the
questions | put out in that editorial in the first e-PIO! edition would
make a lot of sense as follow-up editorials. They were and still are
topics of dialogue in our
organization. For Sarah, I'd think about the question What should we
be
singing about with children? She is the one who spoke to me so deeply
about given the state of our world, how singing about cooperation and
collective action were one of the most important things to be doing
now so that we help build those skills that are breaking down in this
world. If it's Phil we ask, I'd think more about the environment or
international community and communication.
Just some thoughts...
Love,
Barb
Excerpt from e-mail Barb T. to Sarah P 8/10/06—
... keeping in mind that e-P/O! is an outreach tool for CMN. It is a place for
anyone to stop by on our web site and learn more about the heart and soul
of CMN. My overall goal with the editorials is that they are an opportunity for
us to speak out with more depth about relevant political and social issues
that touch the lives and work of those who work with children....
e-PIO!
ISSUE RECORDS
See Windocs\CMNinternet\WebSite\ePIO!
START UP
1st issue—summer 2004
Article selection committee (board 5/04)—Barb, Phil, Caroline, Nancy
Content (5/04)—3 or more articles from print PIO! + new guest
editorial
Schedule—one a year between spring & fall print PIO!
NAME SEARCH RE TRADEMARKING
(i.e., is it urgent for us to trademark it?)
Results of my Internet search before first issue published—
Experimental Physics Input Output Package
e Pio & epio having to do with Catholic passion of Christ organizations/
programs in Italy and/or Holocaust topics (or maybe that’s a
different site) Pope Pius XIl
epio Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej in what looks like an Eastern
European language & appears to be a political organization.
EPIO Name of a camping site (not spelled out anywhere, so | think
that’s the site code) operated by (?) East Pioneer Shelter in Oregon.
EPIO ESCUELA de PERFECCIONAMIENTO en INVESTIGACION
OPERATIVA, a school of the Universidad National de Cérdoba in
Argentina. Their journal name doesn’t include PIO at all. They seem to
use EPIO as at least part of a password for accessing the library.
| went through 1* 12 pages of finds & then to p. 20, where the first 3
topics above were still the only ones.
