Archive for May 1st, 2012
- In: Art of Singing a Song | Artist Interview | Cabaret | Case for Singable Books | Expert Info - First Hand | Heartfelt Musings | Out of the Mouths of Babes | Power of Music | Quotes of Note | SBWE in Person | Sing Books with Emily Sing-Along Materials | Singable Book Title | Song History | Songs We Sang | Written by ELEG
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What a delight and honor is was to present my career as a Cabaret and Sing Books with Emily peforming artist for three fourth grade classes at Tuckahoe Elementary School.
In preparing for the day, I realized that Sing Books with Emily is a synthesis of all my career activities, everything from teaching, computers and events planning, to cabaret, music theatre, and acting. Each one of those lifetime job experiences have proved to be skills necessary to make Sing Books possible. It’s a joy to realize that no time has really been wasted.
A friend once told me, “You have to find where your art fits into your life,” and I have found that to be absolutely true. For me, Sing Books is that fit. The arts are so important to the lives of everyone in society. The arts elevate our quality of life in many ways, reflect and record the time and history in which the art is created, and allow important outlets for creative expression. For these reasons, my greatest hope is that the kids at Tuckahoe who aspire towards the arts will be able to find a way for their art to fit into their lives as well.
I opened and closed each gathering with a song:
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Rhode Island is Famous for You
Words by Howard Dietz
Music by Arthur Schwartz
Book Assembled by Emily Leatha Everson Gleichenhaus
I opened two presentations with, “Rhode Island is Famous for You,” for the opportunity to share this song from The Great American Songbook with kids who might not have heard the song before and to give an example of how important live performances are to convey and preserve our musical heritage.
In the third presntation, I shared,
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Puff the Magic Dragon
Words and Music by Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton
Illustrated by Eric Puybaret
…because in that class was the little girl who, when she was in first grade, frequently asked for Puff. One day I didn’t bring it and she said “Didn’t you bring Puff?” I said, “I thought maybe you’d had enough of Puff.” And she said, “Oh, Mrs. G, you can NEVER have enough Puff!”
In each of the presenations, we closed with,
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The Music is You
Music and Lyrics by John Denver
Book Assembled by Emily Leatha Everson Gleichenhaus
This book is for classroom or home use only.
This song has become important to me as it embodies a lot of what I feel is important and lovely about the activity of singing illustrated picture books to children.
Read the blog post about Tuckahoe’s Career Day written by Assistant Principal Mr. Pascal:
http://mpascaltuckahoe.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/someday-im-gonna-be/
He took pictures of most of the presentations, which represented and incredible range careers from nurses and journalists to FBI and ATF agents. Organized by the school counselor Mrs. Jenkins it was a teriffic day for Tuckahoe students and presenters alike. I would have loved to see some of the presentations, too!
