Sing Books with Emily, the Blog

The weeks are rolling along and I can feel the strong pull towards this year’s last days, knowing I’ll say goodbye to the faces in these classrooms.  Each room of children has such an intense, distinct personality and sensation (each of which I love dearly) that it is hard to imagine those faces among others, in new classrooms.  With luck we will all sing together again, in different places, in different crowds, but with no less a sense of joy in the music and words and no less a part of conveying, nourishing and celebrating our musical heritage.

This week, I got to share songs in the classes of Ms. Morgan, Ms. Mason, Ms. Howard, Ms. Anctil and Mr. Mitchell.  In each class, we sang a different selection and combination of the songs listed below which are presented (almost, but not quite) in alphabetical order.

Speaking of moving along into new situations, I was thinking about the song, “I Whistle a Happy Tune.”  My mom frequently told me that you can, “Fake it ’til you make it,” and when I first became aware of this song (I’d probably heard it many times before but had absentmindedly not HEARD the words), I realized that this song says what she meant…if you are in a new situation and need to summon courage within yourself, you can PRETEND that your brave, behave as if you are brave and you will often find that reality will follow the pretense…So, it felt like a good time to sing it with my friends at Tuckahoe.

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“I Whistle a Happy Tune“ from

Getting to Know You
Words by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Richard Rodgers
Illustrated by Rosemary Wells
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 2002
ISBN 0-06-626845-5

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A My Name is ALICE
Traditional Words and Tune
Words Adapted by Jane Bayer
Illustrated by Steven Kellogg
Hear the tune, here:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/lucy_alligator_purse_alice

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All God’s Critters
Words and Music by Bill Staines
Illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, New York, 2009
ISBN 987-0-689-86959-4

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A-You’re Adorable
Words and Music by Buddy Kaye, Fred Wise and Sidney Lippman
Illustrated by Emily Leatha Everson Gleichenhaus
This item is for classroom, home, or library use only.

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The Big Bell and the Little Bell
Words and Music by Martin Kalmanoff
Illustrated by Alastair Graham
(This book is packaged with a CD with two recordings of the song!)

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Blowin’ in the Wind
Words and Music by Bob Dylan
Illustrated by Jon Muth

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Both Sides Now
Words and Music by Joni Mitchell
Illustrated by Alan Baker
ISBN 0-590-45668-7

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A Fairy Went A-Marketing
Poem by Rose Fyleman
Illustrated by Jamichael Henterly
Musical Setting can be found by Ginger Sands on her collection “The Gift of Make Believe“

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Fifty Nifty States
Words and Music by Ray Charles
Book Assembled by Emily Leatha Everson Gleichenhaus
This item is for classroom, home, or library use only.

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Five Little Gefiltes
Traditional Tune (Sing to the tune of “Five Little Ducks”)
Words Adapted by Dave Horowitz
Illustrated by Dave Horowitz

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Grandma’s Feather Bed (John Denver’s)
Words and Music by Jim Connor
Adapted and Illustrated by Christopher Canyon

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Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah
Words by Allan Sherman
Music Adapted from Amilcare Poncielli’s “Dance of the Hours” by Lou Busch
Illustrated by Syd Hoff
Published by Puffin Books, New York, 1964
ISBN 0-14-240638-4

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I’m a Manatee
Words by John Lithgow
Music by Bill Elliott
Illustrated by Ard Hoyt
(This book includes a vocal and instrumental track on a sing-along CD as well as a printed music…TERRIFIC!!)

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Man Gave Names to All the Animals
Words and Music by Bob Dylan
Illustrated by Scott Menchin

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The Marvelous Toy
Words and Music by Tom Paxton
Illustrated by Steve Cox
(This book is a far and away favorite with the Kindergarten set. It comes with a wonderful CD that has Tom Paxton singing on one track with a separate instrumental track, including a clearly played melody line, so you can sing solo…a wonderful edition!)

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Over the Rainbow
Words and Music by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg
Illustrated by Eric Puybaret
Published by Imagine Publishing Inc.
ISBN 978-1-936140-00-8

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Puff the Magic Dragon
Words and Music by Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton
Illustrated by Eric Puybaret

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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

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“Song of the Boat,” from:

Water Sings Blue
Poems by Kate Coombs
Illustrated by Meilo So
ISBN-13: 978-0811872843

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Star Spangled Banner
Words by Francis Scott Key
Music by J. Stafford Smith
Illustrated by Todd Ouren
(This book features printed music and historical information)

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“Surrey with the Fringe on Top“ from

Getting to Know You
Words by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Richard Rodgers
Illustrated by Rosemary Wells
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 2002
ISBN 0-06-626845-5

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Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Words by Jack Norworth
Music by Albert Von Tilzer
Illustrated by Amiko Hirao
Performed by Carly Simon
This edition gets a GOLD STAR for including the FULL song (both verses and chorus) and a fabulous recording of Carly Simon and her deligthful arrangement she made for Ken Burn’s documentary Baseball.

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Waltzing Matilda
Traditional Folk Tune Arranged by Christina Macpherson
Poem by A.B. “Banjo” Paterson
Illustrated by Desmond Digby

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Waltzing Matilda (Refrain Poster Card)
Traditional Folk Tune Arranged by Christina Macpherson
Poem by A.B. “Banjo” Paterson
Card by Emily Leatha Everson Gleichenhaus
To print or view the above poster featuring the “Waltzing Matilda“ refrain lyrics, click here:
waltzing matilda refrain for book 7X7

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Yankee Doodle
Traditional Words and Tune
Words Adapted by Mary Ann Hoberman
Illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott

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Yellow Submarine (Sing-A-Song Storybook)
Words and Music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Illustrated by Cathy Holly

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You’re a Grand Old Flag
Words and Music by George M. Cohan
Illustrated by Warren Kimble

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Also this week:

I nearly forgot to write about something wonderful which happened.  A couple weeks ago, all the Tuckahoe Kindergarten classes took a field trip to downtown DC to see some of the monuments, including the Lincoln Memorial.  I took it as an opportunity before they went to sing them the Gettysburg Address, the words of which are engraved on an inside wall of the Lincoln Memorial.  Music to sing the great speech was written by a class of 6th graders in New York State in the 60′s and was recorded by the Smithsonian and I planned to play that recording for the children while turning the pages of Sam Fink’s incredible illustration (and commentary) of the speech:

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The Gettysburg Address
Words by Abraham Lincoln
Music by Mrs. Patel’s 6th Grade Class (Woodmere Elementary School, Woodmere, New York, 1962)
Inscribed and Illustrated by Sam Fink

When I got to Ms. Anctil’s class that week, I found I’d forgotten to bring the recording and since I’ve not learned the song yet, I said we’d have to skip it this time.  But last week, one of the kids in Ms. Anctil’s class said, “Will you please bring in the Gettysburg Address next week?”  I was stunned that she remembered and delighted that she was interested.  So this week, I remembered all the pieces of the puzzle (each “Sing Book” book/song combo really is a puzzle) and we listened the recording with the book.  Admittedly, the song isn’t going to win any Grammy award, but it is surprisingly moving and it is amazing that it could have been put together so fantastically by a group of 6th graders.  Mrs. Patel and the music teachers must have been very good at their jobs.