Can you hear me now?

Listening is such an important skill for children to acquire. Among other areas, it plays a vital role in language development, conversation skills, and academic success. When you speak, your baby probably listens intently while studying your face. Allow time for him to respond back. This will help him understand a conversation involves both listening and speaking. In Kindermusik class, we listen to a variety of sounds and label what they are. Focused listening activities like this help children practice tuning out distractions while interpreting and understanding one sound. You can play this game at home too. Take your baby or older child on a sound scavenger hunt. What sounds can you identify? Be sure to try to mimic the sounds for some added language development. I look forward to "hearing" all about the sounds you find!

***Recess Monkey***

With an CD cover like this, you might expect a Beatles-inspired concept album of sorts. Well, you'd be kinda right: the album begins on a "Sgt. Pepper" / "I Am the Walrus" vibe, and includes a "Taxman" clone, with a thread of animal songs (both wild and domestic) running throughout. Sound interesting? It gets better: the tunes on Aminal House are incredibly poptastic, on par with Chris von Sneidern at his best and Jellyfish on a very silly day. Say hi to Recess Monkey!

These three teachers from Seattle who call themselves Recess Monkey released their first CD, Welcome to Monkey Town, back in 2005. Their second is a brilliant mix of melodicism, akin to The Quiet Two (formerly The Quiet Ones); science facts, much like Teacher and the Rockbots; and all-around jollity, a la Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

Aminal House kicks off with a massive string of great tunes, each one better than the last. I mean, just check out the choruses of "Aquarium" and "Zoo Zoo Zoo"; the "Taxman" verse of "KC (He's a Fine Dog)"; the softshoe cabaret of "Fred (The Tabby Cat)" ... just wait 'till the chorus hits and you can totally picture a thousand kids on a hilltop singing, "Meow, Meow!"

The album continues with, among others, the beautiful "Butterfly", the powerpop of "Littlest Monkey", the quiet/loud pastoral "The Rabbits", the piano anthem "Grey Zebra", a little surf rock with "Pet Shark", and the Todd Rundgren-y "Cookie". Throw in a few short, silly skits and some general rowdiness with the Monkey Town characters, and you've got yerself a great presentation!

Incredibly hooky chord changes and sophisticated arrangements elevate this CD far above yer average kids' album; and the spacious, in-the-same-room production is extremely well done. It's hard to believe this is an independent release! and a kids' album, at that! by three silly teachers!

Lots of goofiness, lots of awesome songs, lots of fun. Recess time!

Pajama Story Time

Please join us as we welcome all of our F.R.I.E.N.D.S. for a very special pajamarama storytime event for and about children with Down Syndrome. Meet at Barnes and Noble in Brandon on Thursday, February 8, 2007 at 6:30 p.m. Wear your jammies and fuzzy slippers, bring your teddy bear, relax and enjoy stories about some very special children. Musical entertainment to be provided by Mrs. Aimee from Delightful Sounds!

***Park Slope Parents: The Album (Vol. 1)***

With such an unbelievable wealth of talent in one Borough, what else was one to do but release a benefit CD containing contributions from some of Brooklyn's (and the world's) biggest names in kids' music. From Dan Zanes to David Weinstone, from Michael Leyden to Audra Rox, from Astrograss to The Deedle Deedle Dees, from Suzi Shelton to Daniel Schorr, Park Slope Parents presents a great collection of songs loosely based on life in Park Slope and its environs, all to support the operation and upkeep of the Park Slope Parents website.

One of the great things about the album is the treasure trove of "unreleased" stuff: The Quiet Two's "When I Dream", Sign-a-Song's "Friends", and Astrograss' version of "Drunken Sailor" (with help from Audra Rox's band) can only be found here. Both Courtney Kaiser (from KaiserCartel) and Audra Rox wrote songs specifically for this project, and The Deedle Deedle Dees' "Major Deegan" is from an as-yet-unreleased album. And Brooklyn's Mo Willems illustrates the whole package ... cool!

But lookyhere, you better go out and get one fast: the Park Slope Parents organization is only pressing 5,000 copies, and Brooklyn might be a long walk for some of you (psst, don't worry, CD Baby is selling them, too!). Lots o' links to check out on the website, so get to clickin'!

What do you think?

I read a comment in an online paper yesterday that I found troubling. The article stated that young children who are enrolled in enrichment programs, musical or otherwise, do not benefit from them. Baffling... Obviously this person had never been in a Kindermusik classroom. I have seen such amazing benefits in my own children and those that I teach. Early exposure to music can enrich so many areas in the life of a child, such as increased math and science skills, stonger language development, and greater creativity. I was curious to know what my readers thought about this. What benefits have you seen in the programs you've chosen to enroll in?

Don't count your chickens...

Yesterday, we went out to feed the chickens and spied a small pair of eyes peeking out of Cotton Ball's feathers. Upon further inspection, we found that two chicks had hatched that morning. She will stay on the nest for a couple of days now to allow the other eggs some time to hatch. She had gathered up 11 eggs, but later decided to share some with Baby, our red hen who had joined her in the nest. There's no telling how many will actually hatch. That will have to be a future post!

***Little Miss Ann***

OK, we all know the superpop kids' album thing can be done, and done well (see Morgan Taylor's Gustafer Yellowgold, Doug Snyder's the Jellydots, Lee Feldman's STARBOY, etc.). So, after hearing several amazing records geared toward, say, six- to ten-year-olds, it's refreshing to find a nice little CD like this. Little Miss Ann's Music for Tots is exactly that: tunes your littlest music fans can recite, sing with and dance along to.

Ann Torralba is an alumnus of Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music, home of the Wiggleworms children's music programs and creator of three CDs chock full of traditional folk songs. Torralba and her husband have recorded an album of songs that are really ... well, for lack of a better term, groovy, but I mean that in the best way possible. The production is very warm and intimate, and there are lots of killer harmonies. Think Steeleye Span or Fairport Convention with less elaborate instrumentation and simpler vocal arrangements.

The album begins with Torralba's quietly welcoming "Hello", and follows with Arthur Hamilton's "Sing a Rainbow" from the movie Pete Kelly's Blues, but Torralba's arrangement, I swear, could have been a soda pop commercial in the early 70s. Next is "Pirate Ship", a great Toddler Time movement song; then comes Torralba's funky "Dance with Your Daddy", and a completely original arrangement of Jimmie Davis' "You Are My Sunshine".

The silly "Edamame", based on the traditional "I Had a Rooster", offers an international buffet for the listener (who knew tortillas and latkes grew on trees?), and the simple but extremely catchy adaptation of "There's a Little Wheel" coulda been a hit for Linda Ronstadt back in the mid-70s. The album ends with Torralba's "Moon Jelly", Elizabeth Cotton's "Freight Train", and the traditional "Golden Slumbers".

This is a cozy and fun CD worthy of any preschooler's music collection. Get one for their daycare or Kindergarten classroom, as well. I think they'll dig it.

old friends - new friends

What a great start to the semester! Lots of new faces and old faces joining together on a musical journey. It is going to be so much fun watching you and your children growing together as you explore the wonderful world of Kindermusik. Since several of you mentioned in class how much you enjoyed reading the "Mrs. Aimee's Place" posts, I am going to add a post to that series every month. In fact, my next post will be on that very topic, so stay tuned!