Last weekend I saw a dad herding two small boys wearing rubber boots.
They were delightedly stomping their way across a very large puddle.
The sun was shining.
Snow was melting everywhere.
The air almost felt warm on my face.
Ahh, the intoxicating approach of spring!
Robins have landed twice on the bushes outside my bedroom window, eating berries that — miraculously — remain on the branches.
Two male cardinals have been jousting in the airspace around our house — flashes of scarlet fluttering from fence to roof to branch and then back to fence — all the while uttering a passionate selection of hormone-infused songs.
Soon tiny frogs will wake up and start peeping in the wetlands behind my friend Doug Hammer’s studio to the north of Boston.
A few years ago Doug found a great sound sample of spring peepers, and we added it to my Snow Flake Song (playable at the top of this post).
Right now the peep frogs are still hibernating under a log or behind the loose bark of a tree.
When they are full grown, spring peepers are only an inch and a half long.
One of the things I love most about teaching Music Together is the concept that each person absorbs and processes music in their own way.
Some children — and some adults, too — like to sit still while they soak up the sights and sounds swirling around them.
Others like to move their bodies — swaying, clapping, tapping their toes, nodding their heads, or even jumping up to dance in the center of the circle.
Still others prefer to wander around the room, seemingly oblivious to the musical activity unfolding all around them.
And yet these same children will often start singing their own versions of the songs as soon as they leave class…
I love the respect for different learning styles that is baked into the Music Together pedagogy.
As long as no one is hurting themselves or distracting the rest of the class, whatever she or he wants to do in class is OK.
At times this can make for a somewhat chaotic classroom experience.
But if the teacher and a majority of the adults are able to keep participating — singing, moving, chanting, drumming, dancing, marching, and so forth — the class flows on.
The children copy their accompanying grown up, the teacher, the other grown ups, and the other children.
And I am always looking for movements and ideas from the children and grownups in the class which I can mirror, highlight, and somehow incorporate into the flow of my lesson plan.
It can become a very rich — and fun — environment of “monkey see, monkey do” feedback loops.
I wrote the song at the top of this page, “I’m A Baby Monkey,” before I became a Music Together teacher.
I started playing the ukulele three years ago after attending a class in Harvard Square led by the marvelous Danno Sullivan.
Danno Sullivan
Not only is Danno an inspiring teacher, he also has a terrific sense of humor — sprinkling his classes with droll asides and insights.
Since then I have been strumming on a regular basis — thanks to Danno’s handouts, the wonderful Daily Ukulele songbook, and the amazing group mind of the internet (where one can find chords and lyrics for almost every song under the sun).
Soon after discovering the chords for Coldplay’s song “Viva La Vida” on line, I realized that many of my favorite pop songs have a surprisingly simple structure — four chords.
And some do fine with just three chords — as in the case of Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”
And thus my life as a budding songwriter took root…
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
I had written lyrics in the past with a friend, pianist/composer Steve Sweeting (and you can listen to one of the songs we created together called “Stuff” by clicking here if you are curious).
I had also collaborated on a couple of songs with a guitarist friend (again as a lyricist).
And I had co-written a couple of songs with bandmates in a pop/rock band.
But until I picked up a ukulele, my songwriting efforts had been restricted to what I could cobble together using Apple’s blessed GarageBand program — songs consisting of my vocals plus various loops and samples from the GarageBand library.
Now, in the past three years, I have written a bunch of ukulele-based songs.
And in the past month I have attended three singer-songwriter open mics — accompanying myself (solidly but not very gracefully) on the ‘uke.
In addition to helping me write songs, the ukulele has also given me a new way to hang out with my mom, with my dad, and with other friends and family members.
All I have to do is pick up a ‘uke, open up a songbook, and start strumming.
Almost invariably the mood in the room shifts to something lighter and (literally) more harmonious as everyone starts to hum and sing along.
I find this to be somewhat magical and amazing.
And it inspired me to write the song featured at the beginning of this blog post — a version which I recorded with Doug Hammer playing a shaker egg and his Schimmel grand piano — as well as a GarageBand version I recorded by myself using my Apple laptop (which I have included below.
I highly recommend that anyone reading this blog post consider buying a decent (but inexpensive) ukulele.
Then you can check out all sorts of fun, free, instructional videos on YouTube AND start attending a wonderful, welcoming ukulele Meetup gathering near you.
They happen all across the USA — and in many other countries around the world.
And the sound of many ukuleles being strummed together is quite heavenly.
Me and my first ukulele (Photo by Stephen C. Fischer)
Thank you, too, to Danno Sullivan for his excellent instruction and ongoing inspiration.
Thank you as well to the Cambridge Center for Adult Education for offering ukulele classes with Danno (and to Michael Cicone — then head of educational programming at CCAE — for hiring Danno in the first place).
Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer for his fun — and very patient — photography sessions.
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