Week of February 26th, 2018

Esperanza Spalding and Jazz Tappers!!

Today, students enjoyed learning about this child prodigy and jazz phenomenon--Ezperanza Spalding!! Believe it or not, this Portland, Oregon native began her music career at just six years of age, playing with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon on violin. WOW!

These days, she is blowing audiences away with her awesome jazz bass playing, awesome vocals and great songwriting skills. Check out a few of the videos below!

In addition to learning about Esperanza's musicianship, we also listened to some Duke Ellington and enjoyed "tapping" around on the tile floors with our home-made "tappers" (elastic bands with washers attached for each foot.) We tried tapping to the beat, tip-toe tapping and sweeping our feet against the floor to make rhythmic sounds as we danced!'

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD

1.) Do you know how many strings the bass guitar has?

2.) Can you say Esperanza?

Week of March 10th, 2014

Thank you so much to Kristi Schneider (mom to Sammy in our toddler room) for thoughtfully sharing her tap shoes with us today! The kids loved exploring them and we enjoyed learning about their construction!

FUN WITH TAP DANCING!

At least once a year, we love to bring out our "tappers". These ingenious (and easy!) little contraptions are simply a metal washer looped through a strip of elastic that has been glued together, making a little band that can easily be slipped over a shoe. When the washer is positioned at the bottom of the foot, it makes a satisfying yet mellow little "tap"--and a great makeshift tap shoe!

Today we learned a few tap dance moves--the "stomp", the "hop", the "shuffle" and the "flap". See a few of the moves pictured here:

THE FLAP

THE SHUFFLE

THE STOMP

Don't forget to watch this fun video montage of class today to see all of the adorable dance moves and also some clips from infant music, as well! We also enjoyed singing "Rain, Rain Go Away" and the fun chant, "Grandma's Glasses", pictured in a video below.

Have a wonderful week!

TAP DANCING MONTAGE!

"GRANDMA'S GLASSES"

Week of February 14th, 2011

Toddlers through School Age

We had an absolute blast in music class today using some very fun "tappers"! I found a neat idea online that used small elastic strips and washers. To make "tappers", I simply strung one washer on a short strip of elastic and glued the ends together. I then had a small band that could slide over the tip of each shoe! The washer is slid to the bottom of the foot, and makes a great "tapping sound"! We had a very fun time doing different activities with our tappers. To start the class, we watched the funny cow video below. Then we talked about tapping rhythms and tried tapping to several songs; "Who's that tapping at my window?" and "Hickory Dickory Dock". Check out our awesome tap video below that highlights all of the fun things we did in class today!

JN TAP DANCING:

DANCING COW:

INFANTS: Today our infant class enjoyed exploring hand bells while singing "Hickory Dickory Dock" and also read the book "Toot Toot! Quack Quack!" by John Archambault using an African Pod shaker!

MOM AND DAD CONNECT

Tap dancing is a great way to stay fit! Here are some video resources if you are interested in purchasing a tap dance video for your child!

Tap Dance Resources