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Thursday, July 15, 2010

Using Music Books

Kids love to hear stories and reading them a good book, especially if it excites them about music, is pure magic! Everyday this week, I have incorporated a book into camp time. (It's also a great way to give them a rest from all the activities!)


This is Kate, who helps me with each of the camps and who is invaluable to me. She is a good musician and is fabulous with kids! I will miss her when she goes off to college this fall.

I thought I would share with you the books I've been including in my camp. Please keep in mind that I have had a younger group of kids so books really work. On the day that I focused on woodwind instruments, I read them, The Magic Flute. On the day we focused on the string instruments we read, I Know A Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello. I included Song of Middle C when I introduced the treble clef to them, used Can You Hear It? and Carnival of the Animals for listening fun and then finished off the week with The Remarkable Farkle McBride. The kids loved them. I'm so glad I invested in purchasing them and will be on the look out for more. If you have any books that you would recommend, I would love to have you share them!

4 comments:

Jenny Bay said...

Thanks for sharing! I have not read any of those! I will have to check them all out :) I actually wrote a post about picture books about music with some suggestions...go check it out!

http://theteachingstudio.blogspot.com/2010/03/something-fun-for-your-waiting-area.html

Sheryl said...

Thanks so much, Jenny. I actually was looking at Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin. Your recommendation has pushed me to buy it. Thanks. I'll also take a look at the others. I really appreciate the feedback!

Cindy said...

I do summer music camps at my group studio and one of them is Carnival of the Animals. I read Berlioz the Bear, Musicians of Bremen and Zin Zin Zin Violin. Plus with the little ones, they love to hear stories told on the piano like 3 bears, 3 little pigs, 3 little kittens(as I tell the story, I improvise on the 3 black key groups/other sounds could be the wolf huffing on the low keys. Cindy

Sheryl said...

Cindy,

Thank you for those suggestions. What a great idea to play as you tell the story! Great suggestions for books as well. Thank you! Do you have a website or blog?