Family Residence

Instructor: Travis Birch

Week 1

It was a great first class today at Family Residence! I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but I'd say there were about 8 kids and 8 adults participating.  The children were of all ages, from new babies to around 6 or 7 years old.  We sang a wide variety of songs, from "Open Them, Shut Them", to "Come On Everybody", to "Zoom Zoom Zoom!" "Clean-O", "Brown Cow Medley" and "Old MacDonald Had a Band" were particularly big hits.  Everyone seemed to have a great time and participated really well.  The group really got into "Shake it Baby Shake It" and "Old MacDonald Had A Band" during the jam session, playing all of the instruments right on queue and they also sang along for "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", which I played as a parachute song.  I was really happy to have folks from what seemed to be a wide variety of cultural backgrounds and ages participating in and enjoying all of the songs.  Thanks to everybody who was there for making it a wonderful experience—I look forward to seeing my new friends again next week!

Week 2

Our second class together at Family Residence on 7 October was a joyous occasion, a resounding success!  This time, 12 children participated, a marked increase from the first class.  Those who were joining us for the second time helped me in welcoming their new classmates and making them feel that they were now part of the group.  We even had a family who are new to Canada join us with beaming smiles and friendship!  Memorable songs include "The More We Sing Together", "What Are You Wearing", and "Walk and Walk and Walk and Stop".  We had even wider ranges of cultural backgrounds and age groups represented, as well as the fantastic staff from the daycare.  I enjoyed myself even more than the first class and look forward even more to the weeks ahead.  Thanks again to everyone who contributed to making this a wonderful experience for everyone!

Week 3

14 October was the occasion of our 3rd Rainbow Songs Foundation class at the Family Residence.  14 children attended, and 11 adults, a marked increase from the previous week, a good sign!  What was particularly special about this class was that there were a couple of "parental units" attending the class together with their children and this added to the warm family spirit of the program.  I have also been trying out a few different versions of songs that I use for the jam session:  "Mama don't allow" turns into "We all love to play instruments around here" and "Clean-O" becomes "Oh Mama play the maracas...gonna have a greaaaaat jam session!"; these turned out to be real crowd favourites as they have a good beat and catchy melodies and words that make it easy and fun for people to play along with.  I was also able to share a special "Instrument of the Week", the famed Ting-shaw bells from Tibet and as always, these little bells really captured the imagination of the group.

Week 4

Our 4th class at Family Residence on 21 October was extra special due to the addition of two new participants—a girl and boy, siblings, who have just recently arrived from eastern Europe.  Something that I realized in this class was that the Rainbow Songs class is a beautiful way to welcome people to Canada, and introduce them to the culture and language (well, one of the official languages—English) in a way that is both fun, inviting, and without any pressure.  It is truly a testament to the power of music as a universal language and the simple and catchy melodies of the songs help everyone to relate and connect with the simple language of the songs.  Examples of this include "I Wake Up My Hands", "Roly Poly" and "Put Your Finger in the Air".  The repetition and simplicity of the words allow these songs to be as well suited for ESL learning in older children, as well as simply "first words" and concepts for younger children and toddlers.

Week 5

Our 5th class at Family Residence on 28 October was an occasion for us all to celebrate Halloween together and to enjoy some good 'ol fun and spooky songs!  In addition to the Rainbow Songs Halloween repertoire, I have also been trying out Halloween versions of some of the more well-known melodies.  For example "Wheels on the Bus" can be sung as "Let's All Go to the Haunted House", changing it up with verses such as "Let's go through that big iron gate", "Let's walk through the creepy, foggy yard," and "Let's open up that big, creaky door'.  It's at this point that I stop the song and insert "I Shut the Door"; then after going through this, I return to the "Wheels" melody with verses such as "Watch out for all those creepy cobwebs" ("Very Scary Spider" can be inserted here as well), "What's that over there? It's a little black cat", "What's that in the window?  It's a jack-o-lantern", etc.  Another song that I change up a bit is "Johnny didn't have any breakfast", which becomes "Johnny didn't have a costume, so he went to the dresser chest; Johnny didn't want to be a boy for Halloween, he'd rather be a _______ instead!".  It's fun to go around the room with this one and have everyone say what they're going to be for Halloween.  It also gives the message that you don't have to go to the store to BUY a costume—you can just create one with stuff you already have around the house.

I find that using the melodies that the children are familiar with allow me to continue to build up their confidence in the repertoire as well as keep the songs light and not as spooky and completely unfamiliar.  It also allows for the theme of Halloween to permeate the whole class, and not just the "Halloween songs" that are great, but they only come out once a year and can leave a gap in the learning for a week, which is a long time with young children.  It seems as though this was a good fit for the folks in this class.

Week 6