IAC2010 show recommendation - Zic Zazou (from France)

The annual Hong Kong International Art Carnival will be held between 9 Jul to 15 Aug this year.  Have you picked a show yet?  I'd like to make a recommendation to my students to see a French music group, called Zic Zazou.  It is a creative group who makes extraordinary music out of ordinary objects, like a ping-pong bat, a brick or a garden hose! I'm sure children would love the creative way they

Can we measure creativity? How?

Although the topic of creativity is not recieving as much attention as it deserves in the academic field, it is nonetheless a very important issue in education and child development. While factual knowledge is just a click on the computer away, the notion of "teaching from textbooks" is becoming less appropriate in the era of 2.0. (or soon, 3.0) We are not merely "knowledge receivers," but active

Year 2 music: African Lullaby

My students have been doing a unit about Africa in their English class. The school arranged an African drumming session for them. I was there and it was lots of fun~~It's great to make music together. After the drumming, I thought it'd be nice to share some African music with them and I chose this lullaby from Africa.Children, do you hear any instrument? Is there African drumming?

Year 1 music - The Amazing HONDA CHOIR

Who says singing this the only thing choirs do?Check out the Honda choir, every single member of it is so good at voice making. They can make sounds ranging from the raindrop sound to the squeaking sound from a car while making a sharp turn.I play this in Year 1. Before showing the video, I let children only listen to the "piece" without the video and have them guess what's happening. Obviously,

Aesop, the great storyteller

There once lived in ancient Greece a slaves who was very good at telling story.  Not only were his stories entertaining, they always have morals behind them - each fable has a lesson to teach children.  This man's name is Aesop, his fables have educated many generations of children for....OVER 2000 years!!!
Aesop's Fables are short and fun to read; they serve as quick bedtime stories.  The

A beautiful Jewish Lullaby - By the Wayside stands a tree

The Jews have gone through a lot of tough times in history; it is not hard to find traces of bitterness in Jewish music. Listen to this lullaby and refer to the translation below, you would be able to empathize some of the deep emotions that mothers and children carry.

By the Wayside stands a tree
By the wayside stands a tree, bent against the storm. All the birds have deserted it, leaving it

Beautiful Barefoot Books

Their books are full of colour and culture; their books bring children into a whole new world of imagination. There books are BEAUTIFUL! Not only do I like Barefoot Books for the the above reasons, I also love the initial intention and core values behind this community of children literature. As quoted from the official website, this is how it all started, "Barefoot Books began with two mothers

If the World were a Village of 100 people by David J. Smith

A few years ago, I received an e-mail that read, "If the World were a village of 100 people, the village would have 60 Asians, 14 Africans, 12 Europeans, 8 Latin Americans, 5 from the USA and Canada, and 1 from the South Pacific.
51 would be male, 49 would be female
67 would be unable to read
50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation
33 would be without access to a safe water supply
24

Virtual music instruments

What are future composers like?"The Composer" - Jennifer Main (1999)We have left the era when composers created by writing music note by note on manuscript paper. Nowadays, composers with computer keyboards using computer softwares. Furthermore, many composers nowadays may not even know music theory. They compose with MIDI and audio programs; they write great music!Sometimes, as a classroom music

WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT

This book is an excellent opening to a creative movement unit in an early years music class. It is about a family of five going on a bear hunt; it is an adventurous journey. They go through long grass, sticky mud, deep river...before they finally reach the cave where the bear lives.
Children love this story because the adventure brings their imagination far far away from the classroom; yet the

Picasso Fun~

Three Musicians (1921) - Pablo PicassoEveryone knows about Picasso; he was the pioneer of the cubism movement in the early 20th century. Personally, I don't particularly fancy cubist artwork (because I find the paintings too "crazy."), but I can't deny that it is quite fun to look at them sometimes - objects are broken into pieces and re-assembled in an abstract form - which makes me feel like

Year 2 music: 爸媽小時候

音樂是一種文化產物﹐它承傳了上一代的智慧和歷史。音樂課便是一個令這些寶貴的產業世代相傳下去的渠道 - 這樣﹐好的歌才能活下去。孩子很少去認真研究父母孩童時代的喜好﹔但他們會很好奇去知道究竟爸爸十歲時玩什麼玩具﹖媽媽七歲那年聽過什麼歌﹖這兩首來自七十年代的歌正好給孩子機會去認識父母或祖父母的過去。我期待孩子跟我分享他們的新發現! 小時候作曲﹕顧家輝 作詞﹕鄭國江小小的宇宙 歡欣的宇宙蹦蹦跳 哈哈笑 是我小時候小小的宇宙 天真的宇宙真的我 真的你 唔係小木偶愛動腦筋 活潑天真 凡事好發問踢波跑步打韆鞦 不知天高地厚小小的宇宙 繽紛的宇宙像皮球 天天轉 奇妙事不斷有香蕉船 作曲﹕顧家輝 作詞﹕鄭國江香蕉變出香蕉船 船上面有一排歡笑面多可愛 多康健 齊齊共唱歌謠聽得見歌聲笑聲滿世上 快樂雲裡現滿載遊戲兼歡笑 它帶來溫暖開心見到香蕉船 齊齊伴住彩虹天際現彎彎掛於天空上 人人話那彩虹香蕉變

Year 1 music: Clapping music (Steve Reich)

Clapping music is a minimalist piece written by Steve Reich in 1972. Steve Reich is one of the greatest American composers living today; he was just awarded the Pulitzer Price in music in 2009.
Clapping music is one of his famous pieces which features two musicians clapping - as simple as that!
Here's an old video clip of Clapping Music:

Children like looking at animated version of musical