Students

Inspiration:
Here is a selection of Lionel Hampton, the great Vibraphone player, playing an instrument very closely related to the Glockenspiel...

How High The Moon - (1:07) Lionel Hampton - vibraphone, Art Tatum - piano, Buddy Rich - drums

Song for C: Ain't That Fine
Here is a song that you can play along with using just the note C (it sounds good over every chord).

Ain't That Fine - (1:12) Ray Charles

Song for E: What'd I Say
Here is a song that you can play along with using just the note E. We learned about long notes, medium notes and short notes and learned their musical notation (whole note, half note and quarter note). In this song, Ray Charles sings two long notes, two medium notes, then two short notes. After each note he sings, we answer him by singing and playing a note of the same length (along with the audience on the recording). There is then a section of free-play with the note E before he again sings two long notes, two medium notes and two short notes and we answer each note of his with a glockenspiel note of the same length.

What'd I Say - (1:20) Ray Charles

Song for C and E: High Low
Here is a song I wrote that has two notes: C and E. E is the high note (it is smaller, and looks and sounds more like a little bird high in the sky) and C is the low note (it is big and looks and sounds more like a big cow that lives low on the ground). After we sing "High Low", we can get the glockenspiel to answer us by playing the high note, then the low note. On this recording, you can hear the clarinet, trumpet, saxophone, bass and drums being individually featured after the vocals. See if you can identify which instrument is playing!

High Low - (2:49) Oran Etkin - clarinet, saxophone, vocals; Jesse Horn - trumpet, vocals; Simon Lott - drums, vocals; Greg Schatz - bass, vocals

Song for G and C: Duke's Place
We started learning about Duke Ellington, the Duke in the kingdom of Jazz, and the wonderful place he had with all sorts of musicians hanging out and playing music. Ellington's "Duke's Place" is about this magical place. On this recording, Ella Fitzgerald is joined by the Duke Ellington band. She likes to sing silly words sometimes-- notice how she makes her entrance after the trumpet solo. Listen to the story that she tells about Duke's place. You can also hear the piano, trumpet, Sammy the saxophone and Clara Net being individually featured. See if you can identify the instrument playing.

Duke's Place - (2:49) Ella Fitzgerald with the Duke Ellington Big Band featuring: Ella Fitzgerald - voice, Duke Ellington - piano, Johnny Hodges - alto saxophone, Jimmy Hamilton - clarinet

Every song or game that we learn in class has a purpose beyond entertainment. Some are designed to help internalize a musical concept, such as (high vs. low, the concept of two melodies happening at once, etc.). Others are designed to expose the children to rhythmic structures and harmonic structures that are not common in most western children's songs.

In order to expose the children to as wide a musical vocabulary as possible, we will sing songs from all over the world and from various genres, including jazz, African, Brazilian, Cuban, bluegrass, blues and classical music. Many of the songs that we sing have been recorded by the great masters of the genre to which they belong. This will allow the child to listen to great artists such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Babatunde Olatunji, Mozart, Tito Puente, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington and many others that have defined their genres. Being able to actively listen to these masters at such a young age is perhaps the best way to internalize that ever illusive element that makes great music great. I will put some samples of the music we use in class on this site. Please email me if you would like a more complete list of the recordings that we use in class.