Philadelphia Chickens: The Imaginary Children’s Broadway Musical Revue that I Could Play on Repeat
A torch song to chocolate chip cookies. A diva’s belting song about the pleasure of being contrary. A jazzy pajama time dance party. There is a lot to love about Philadelphia Chickens: A Too-Illogical Zoological Musical Revue from Sandra Boynton and Micheal Ford!!! From Amazon.com: Grammy nominee. #1 New York Times bestseller. And, with 960,000 … Continue reading
So You Want: Showtunes-Style Jazz Music for Kids? –Cool Jazz Cats
Highly Recommended: Cool Jazz Cats by Maria Bostick Included on the back of the album is the praise: “A fun frothy ice cream soda of a record…the melodies and rhythms are irresistible!” [Family Fun Magazine] –and I couldn’t agree more! Cool Jazz Cats has a Broadway feel and stays on the right side of … Continue reading
My Current Top 7 Songs for Contemporary Class
Selections from My Current Contemporary Playlist: Percussion for the Dance Technique of Lester Horton V.1 ~ Victor Y. See Yuen/William Catanzaro, especially tracks #1, 9, 10 “Deliciae Mae” ~ Nicholas Lens from Flamma Flamma, The Fire Requiem “Raven” ~ Gabrielle Roth and the Mirrors from Bones “Drop” ~ Cornelius from Point “Holding Out for … Continue reading
My Current Top 10 Songs for Jazz Class
7 of My Go-To Songs for Jazz Warm-Ups and Across the Floor (in no particular order): “Twist” ~ Pritam from Love Aaj Kal “Pumpin’ Blood” ~ NONONO “Canned Heat” ~ Jamiroquai from Synkronised “Love is the Answer (Club Mix) [featuring Mya] ~ Cedric Gervais “Beat It” ~ Michael Jackson from Thriller “Three Little Birds” … Continue reading
So You Want: Musical Dance Stories for Kids? — Wee Sing
Teaching classes with young children? You’ll need a few go-to tracks; tracks that allow you to just push play and then dance through a story along with your little dancers. Start Here! Story Tracks with Clips of Classical Orchestra Music: 10 – The Toy Shop at Midnight 21 – A Walk Through the Forest … Continue reading
Goodbye Gabrielle Roth, Hello Motherhood
My posting to Unreasonable Joy took a 4-month hiatus…a hiatus better termed Maternity Leave! The last months since October have been filled with getting to know the incredible being that is my new son, and first child. Now it’s February and I’ve been back to teaching dance for 1.5 months, and I am now back … Continue reading
Dancing Holidays: HALLOWEEN
Halloween is a holiday that nearly all of my dancers get excited about! It is (almost) universally inclusive, and I find that the same children who are attracted to dance class are attracted to Halloween for the make-believe & the crazy costumes. Below are my picks for bringing Halloween into the dance classroom…or dance into … Continue reading
So You Want: Peppy, Smart Music for Kids? – Laurie Berkner
…check out The Laurie Berkner Band at laurieberkner.com. She regularly appears on Nick, Jr. with fun video versions of her “kindie rock” songs. You can find many of these on YouTube. I like her songs because they are often rhythmically and musically interesting with alternating paces and multiple instrument lines to keep little ears interested. … Continue reading
So You Want: Calm, Smart Music for Kids? – Brent Holmes
….check out Brent Holmes at FunTunesForKids.net. His music has been compared to that of Jimmy Buffet, James Taylor, and Raffi. I stumbled upon him during one of my many iTunes searches for kids music that I can imagine possibly listening to over, and over, and over, and….. Here are 2 of my favorite Brent Holmes … Continue reading
Rockin’ Nursey Rhymes for Youngin’s – Jack Hartmann
A good hunk of the children’s music out there—especially in the nursery rhyme category—is not only hum-drum for dancing to, but is practically intolerable for adults to listen to at all. The cd below, Rhymin’ to the Beat, I use for my young tappers all the time! If you teach very young hip-hop, you might also … Continue reading
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