Mary's Garden

I just posted a new song over at A Storytelling of Crows. It's called "Marie in the Garden," and it's a simple game that a Waldorf teacher taught me a few summers ago. She worked with my daughter for an afternoon, and in thanks, I made for her a little doll. She said the doll would be perfect for "Marie in the Garden" and sang it for me.

Recently, my daughter sang the song for me, and I posted it in a video here.

Here is the back of the doll I made to accompany the song:


The thinking behind the flowers on the cape:

The three different kinds of flowers are those one might find in a Mary Garden: rosebuds, forget-me-nots ("Mary's Eyes"), and grape hyacinths ("St. Joseph's Bells"). I had intended to stitch a lily on the back of the cloak, but shading is not in my repertoire as of yet. I decided to embroider rosemary instead, but my needle seemed to have its own mind, and grape hyacinths appeared instead.

WIP: Two Goats on a Bridge

I started out simply telling stories as I learned them. When I took up guitar, I began to look for ways to incorporate music into the stories. These days, I rarely tell stories without music intertwined somehow. It's a matter of adapting to attention spans. Some people are master storytellers and can keep a toddler's attention for 30 minutes without the use of melody. However, those tellers still use rhythm and rhyme, so I would argue that they are employing the use of percussion.

Right now, I'm working on an all-musical version of "Two Goats on a Bridge," a Russian folktale you can find in Margaret Read MacDonald's Peace Tales: World Folktales to Talk About and Three Minute Tales. It's got a jaunty tune that has one minor chord for spice. Once I'm reasonably satisfied with it enough to use it in performance, I'll test it out on my Third Place Books Friday morning crowd. There's a preschool that often comes when I perform, and they help keep me from getting mired in a performance rut.

It would be great to be able to do a felt-board play along with the song, but I would need a third hand to make it work. There are times when I wish I had a storytelling partner like Adrienne has with Jason. I also wish I had a writing partner, but that's a discussion for another time.

(Regarding the title of this post: WIP stands for Work in Progress.)

Pumpkin Songs

The Library Lady sings The Pumpkin Song, a sweet, simple song used with success for library storytimes. She also posted pumpkin photos, including some shots of her fabulous display board. Thank you, Library Lady!

As a memory jog, Lucia sang a Jack-o-Lantern song for this blog last year. I've linked that as well.

Felt Elephants Upon a Spider's Web

I'm ready to emerge from my brief hiatus. I've been able to rest some, my thumb has healed to the point that it's no longer keeping me up at night, and I can sew again! Thank you for all of your kind, supportive comments. I look forward to catching up on your blogs over the next couple of days.

A little over a month ago, I posted a song I was preparing for French camp about five elephants balancing on a spiderweb. The week has arrived for me to present the song, and I have the felt-board figures for it:



I also completed my Royal Math Gnomes for the shop. I'll post photos on Crafty Thursday. I have singular Accounting Gnomes planned for future listings. As of this time, it appears that people searching for the kinds of dolls I make are more likely to find them if I post information about the dolls on this blog and on Flickr.

In Her Own Words

Today reached 101 degrees F around home and 103 degrees F in downtown Seattle. Or was that yesterday? I don't deal with the heat very well. Still, a week is a long time to go without a proper blog post.

Last Saturday, Scott of Fishsuit brought his daughter Sofia to my musical storytime at Ravenna Third Place Books. I performed my original song "May I Walk With You?" of which you may view lyrics and felt-board pieces here. I trust that children are picking up on stories and songs they like even if they're not into the participation aspects of the programs (which is JUST FINE, as I tell everyone at the beginnings of the programs), but it's great when caregivers tell me what goes on at home afterward. The day after the program, Scott transcribed what he heard Sofia singing:

I went for a walk in the fields one day
And I met a cat who said "Can I walk with you?"
I went for a walk in the fields one day
And I met a dog who liked to play!
And I fed the cat and the dog and then we walked through the field!
I went for a walk in the fields one day
And I met a shark who didn't say anything!
I went for a walk in the fields one day
And I didn't meet anyone who wanted to play
I was sad sad and I cried and cried
Because no one wanted to play with me!

Scott wrote, "I can't say she got the tune exactly right, but she clearly remembered the idea. I thought you'd get a kick out of that. You obviously made an impression!"

I am thankful.

Song of the Week: Five elephants on one spiderweb

I'm learning French songs for my summer French camp gigs. In two weeks, I'll lead 2 storytime circles twice a week for 20 minutes apiece. Many of the songs have 2 or 3 chords, but a song like "Le Bon Roi Dagobert" for Bastille Day has a bouncy, boisterous rhythm with not much repetition, so I'm definitely stretching myself. My French is not spectacular (my college professor can attest to that), but I know enough to compose simple songs. If I can ever figure out my new video editing software, I'll share my new composition about colors and clothes.

In the meantime, thanks to the fabulous Mama Lisa's World, I rediscovered a variation of a circle game song I learned in Cote d'Ivoire called Un éléphant se balançait ("An Elephant Was Balancing on a Spider Web"). You may listen to the MP3 here. The midi is the more standard tune, but I really like the jazzy version as sung on the MP3, and that's what I've based my guitar chords upon:



Translation:

An elephant was balancing
On a web, web, web, a spider web,
It was a game that was so much fun
That he called.... a second elephant.

How many elephants can balance on a spider's web? I hope that the humor of the setup will be apparent with the felt-board figures I'm planning to make.

Some of you may be familiar with Sharon, Lois and Bram's recording "One Elephant, Deux Éléphants" which had a variation in both English and French to the tune of "Five Little Ducks Went Out to Play":

One elephant went out to play
Upon a spider's web one day
He had such enormous fun
That he called for another elephant to come.

Deux éléphants allaient jouer
Sur une toile d'araignée
Ils s'amusaient tellement bien
Qu'ils appelaient à un autre, viens!

Three elephants went out to play
Upon a spider's web one day
They had such enormous fun
That they called for another elephant to come.

Quatre éléphants allaient jouer
Sur une toile d'araignée
Ils s'amusaient tellement bien
Qu'ils appelaient à un autre, viens!

All the elephants were out at play
Upon a spider's web one day
They had such enormous fun
But, there were no more elephants left to come!

Storytime Wrap-Up: Seattle Public Library

We finally have winners of the Children's Book Sequels contest! The fabulous Minh Le and I will announce them next week, along with honorable mentions and all the other entries as well.

Today, I performed at the Madrona-Sally Goldmark branch of Seattle Public Library. This was the performance that had been postponed from December due to snow.



We had a good turn-out (29 people) and there were a number of babies as well as toddlers and preschoolers. People seemed to have a good time. I know I did. I performed my new song, "May I Walk With You?" with felt-board pieces you can see here:



There's a daytime version of this song, and a nighttime version. Here is the main body of the daytime version:

I went for a walk in the fields one day,
And I met a duck who was going my way,
"Quack, quack," said the duck, "May I walk with you,
Quack, quack," said the duck, "May I walk with you?"

Repeat with different animals.

The final verse:

And when I stopped walking, I turned to see
A whole bunch of animals following me....

[call out all the animal sounds]

Then we sat in the meadow and we all had tea,
When the party was over, they said to me,
"So long, and thanks for your company,
So long and thanks for your company."

I plan to record it eventually so that you may hear what it sounds like.

In other news, storytelling student Jody Segal had kind things to say about my gig at Third Place Books yesterday, which you may read here.

How I prepare my storytimes

Bede just got a new computer, and I received his hand-me-down computer, plus a snazzy new red external hard drive. As I was looking over old files, I found a handout for an in-service presentation on preschool storytimes I gave a few years ago. "Did I ever blog this?" I wondered. Yes indeed, I had. Here's the link for my Basic Storytime Program Setup. I follow the basic pattern for my storytelling gigs, with some slight variations:

*Greeting song: I'm still working on an original composition that I can live with and actually enjoy. In the meantime, I play "Fooba Wooba John" on the guitar. It helps me gauge volume needed to reach the back of the room and allows the audience to become acclimated to my presence. I invite participation after I think they're comfortable with me.

*Story: If it's an older audience (i.e. early kindergarten), this will be the longest story I'll tell. If it's a younger audience, it'll be a quick-study to see how their attention spans are going to hold up.

*Song: Flannel board song such as "Jenny Jenkins" or "Birds Fly Through My Window."

*Story

*Song: Something that invites the children to stand up and move, sometimes with props.

*Song or rhyme: something short and calming to invite children to sit down again.

*Story: Something funny, preferably with an engaging prop, but not necessarily.

*Song: closing song, usually in 3/4 time (thank you, Dan Zanes, for letting me know that you always end your show with a waltz). I will play "How Do You Like to Go Up in A Swing" (words: Robert Louis Stevenson/music: Farida Dowler) and or/"Swampland Lullaby" (words: Farida Dowler/music: James Royce Shannon).

Song of the Week: The Hippo Swam Up the River

While I don't offer themes in my programs,* I will ask parents and caregivers what sorts of things their birthday children like to incorporate into a storytime performance. Recently, a parent told me that her young child liked all animals, but hippopotamuses, giraffes and monkeys were particular favorites. I composed a song using the "piggyback" method of taking an existing tune and creating new words for it. The song is called "The Hippo Swam Up the River" and it's to the tune of "The Bear Went Over the Mountain." I haven't tried it out yet, but you're welcome to give it a go in your storytimes or home surroundings. If you improve upon it, let me know. For a fun, original song in both verse and melody, check out Eric Ode's The Hippopotamus Song (complete with hand-motions) off of his "I Love My Shoes" album.

*In my experience, whenever I've had storytimes with specific themes, I've felt I often had to sacrifice quality for stories and songs added as padding to flesh out a set. However, just because I don't do themes doesn't mean you can't! Favorite hippo stories: everything about George and Martha by James Marshall, Hot Hippo by Mwenye Hadithi and Adrienne Kennaway, Hippos Go Berserk! by Sandra Boynton, and many stories in which these river-horses play supporting roles but secretly steal the show(s). Then again, I think of Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein as an ensemble piece.

Here's the song (click on the image to enlarge it):

What kind of a horn did Dinah, play, anyway?

As it turns out, "I've Been Working on the Railroad" really is two songs stuck together. Walter Minkel of The Monkey Speaks has the story (and the chords for your ukulele).

Nocturnal animals all about...

I made some felt-board animals to use with Nancy Stewart's song Nocturnal Animals:

On a moonlit night when the stars come out
There are nocturnal animals all about
Whoo, whoo, what do I see
A wise old owl looking at me.

Despite its legginess, I added a cricket, but left out other nocturnal animals like cuttlefish, tasmanian devils, tarantualas, skunks and vinegarroons. Did you know that crickets are nocturnal (active during the night) while grasshoppers are diurnal (active during the day)? I didn't. Also, there are animals that are neither strictly nocturnal nor diurnal, but crepuscular, i.e. primarily active during twilight. Platypus (or platypuses), coyotes, foxes and a lot of songbirds are crepuscular, though they're often called nocturnal in casual conversation. You do have casual conversations about such matters, right? If you're a Nerdfighter, you might.

Of Mice and Crickets

I'm doing some preparation work for a birthday party gig this Friday night. I had a special request for a story with a mouse in it. There are lots and lots of folktales with mice. However, I'm taking the opportunity to present two of my favorite literary mouse stories:

"The Crickets" from Mouse Soup, by Arnold Lobel
"The Journey," from Mouse Tales, by Arnold Lobel

In "The Crickets," a mouse is trying to sleep. A cricket chirps by the mouse's window, and the mouse calls down, "What is that noise?" The cricket replies, "What did you say? I cannot hear you and make my music at the same time.”

The mouse replies that she's trying to sleep, and that she doesn't want any more music. The cricket responds with, “What did you say? You want more music? I will find a friend.”

And soon, there are two crickets chirping...

I'm planning to sing and play, "Oh, Miss Mousie, won't you come out tonight?" to the tune of Buffalo Gals (a two-chord song I play using G and D7). If I'm lucky, the birthday party guests will join in to sing as the group of crickets grows.

"The Journey" has a mouse driving off to see his mother. When the car breaks down, he finds someone by the side of the road selling roller-skates. This arrangement works until the wheels fall off the rollerskates. The mouse continues on with different assortments of footwear... but what happens when his feet wear out? The solution is quite silly.

Storytime at Bootyland: Wrap-Up

Explaining about the Terrible Animale-Podale (Father of the Trahira Fish) in "Little Crab and His Magic Eyes"

This morning, I performed songs and stories at the Bootyland consignment shop in Seattle, Washington. While I waited for the doors to open, I was gratified to see caregivers with their children coming specifically for the storytime. I had prepared enough songs and stories for 3 storytimes, so my Almira puppet got some exposure with my finger-puppets for the "Jack and the Robbers" story, but "Lazy Jack" and "Why the Tides Ebb and Flow" didn't make the cut this time. This was my first time using puppets for the story that's evocative of "The Bremen Town Musicians," and I'm thinking about changing it to a flannel-board story so that I can stack the animals more efficiently.



"If you won't wear red, Jenny Jenkins, then what will you wear?"

Here is the list of what I told and sang:

"(Almira) and the Robbers" (story)
"Little Crab and His Magic Eyes" (story)
"Little Monkey Face" (sketchbook story)
"Joseph the Tailor" (story)
"Jenny Jenkins" (song with flannel-board)
"Going to Boston" (dance song)
"I'm a Little Scallop in a Shell" (Nancy Stewart's song to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot," accompanied by a scallop puppet)

Here's what I liked about the storytime:

1) All of the people who came to hear stories
2) The audience's willingness to participate in the stories and songs
3) Despite the array of distractions like toys and other interesting things, my stories held the attention of the majority of the audience.

Here's what I would like to have done differently:

1) I debated back and forth about bringing my small sound system. I ended up leaving it at home. However...
2) My voice wasn't in the best shape, and it creaked a bit during the songs. While I think my vocal volume was decent, my voice definitely showed strain by the end of the storytime.
3) Even if my guitar was in tune before I arrived, I still should have tuned it right before the storytime. Since the store didn't open unti 10:30, I was working to get everything set up and ready to go as quickly as possible, and I cut corners. Tuning was one of those "corners."


My next planned public performance will be a pajama storytime at Island Books on Thursday, July 12, at 7 pm.

Jenny Jenkins, Clothes Horse

On Friday, I made felt-board pieces for the song "Jenny Jenkins." On Saturday, I brought them to debut at the birthday-party gig I donated to Lucia's school auction.



I think "Jenny Jenkins" was the favorite song at the birthday party gig. The audience was small enough that every child got to offer a dress to Jenny Jenkins, only to have Jenny Jenkins petulantly reject the color. Every singer has his or her own favorite rhymes for the colors of the clothes, as well as variations on the silly part of the song. Here is my own version of the chorus:

I'll buy me a downy-dilly, silly-silky
picalilli roly-poly bowl to find me
Roll, Jenny Jenkins, roll.

Note that Jenny Jenkins herself is a teddy bear. The grownups at the party appreciated the pun when I sang, "Oh, what do you care if I just go bare?" after Jenny Jenkins rejected every dress in her wardrobe. I got the idea from the book-and-tape set, What Will You Wear Jenny Jenkins? by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, illustrated by Bruce Whatley.

Happy Birthday My Friend

Edit 05/07/07: I'm still working on this song. Among other things, I wrote the notes down wrong, and I wrote down some wrong notes. Onward I go...


Anyone is welcome to tweak this song (especially if you're comfortable writing music notation, which I'm definitely not). I'm not sure the song needs all those quarter notes.

Some time ago, I promised you a new Happy Birthday song. Unlike the traditional one that is in the chokehold of You-Know-Who (Voldemort?) as far as copyright goes, this little song is my gift to the world. If you like it, sing it. Don't worry about performance rights, as they are completely, totally free in a non-profit context. If you're a small business, you can use the song without paying me, though I would be happy with a nod in the direction of attribution. If you're a big business and you use the song in a peformance, you need to give sizable donations to Heifer International and something local in your area that specializes in services for disadvantaged children. If you want to record the song, you need to pay me royalties, and I'll give the money to Heifer International (and something local in my area that specializes in services for disadvantaged children). I've already conducted the imaginary interview in my head for when I'm relatively successful because of this one song:

***
Announcer: Welcome to this week's edition of "Three Seconds of Fame!" Today, we speak briefly with Farida Dowler, a.k.a. Alkelda the Gleeful, the darling of children's birthday parties everywhere. What, you've never heard of Alkelda the Gleeful? Maybe not, but you sing her song all the time.

[Zoom to interviewer and subject]

Q: Mrs. The Gleeful, are you ever bothered that your one hit song, "Happy Birthday My Friend," was one in which you could have made millions in royalties? You could have been rich beyond imagining, and yet you gave away all of your profits to charity.

A: Pshaw.

Q: But really-- other compositions like "Superhero Teaparty" and "Song of the Planet-Hoppers" found a small, loyal following but never quite launched you into the big time the way "Happy Birthday My Friend" did. Do you ever worry that you're a one-hit wonder?

A: I'm too busy singing and telling stories to worry about such foolish notions [smiles winningly for the camera].

Q: What is your response to the rumors that They-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named are furious with you because people no longer sing the traditional birthday song, and therefore no longer have to pay a disgustingly large amount of royalties?

A: After they get over their fury, I hope they become chagrined. I mean, really.

Q: Well, that's all we have time for, Mrs. The Gleeful. Thank you so much for talking with us, and we look forward to hearing about you and the band on future birthday party cross-country tours.

A: Rawk and roll. Oh, I can't believe I just said that.

What Shall We Do With the Boo-Hoo Baby?

Yesterday, I went through some skills assessment interviews with the library system where I sometimes tell stories. My last skills assessment was two years ago, and while my assessment scores were okay, they didn't reflect how good I really could be. Besides, two years ago, I didn't play guitar.

I brought in my guitar for the storytelling component of the skills assessment. Even when I went through the reference interview and reader's advisory parts of the assessment, I was glad that my guitar was nearby. Although I don't play my guitar slung low over my hips (the practice may look cool but it's an ergonomic disaster), I've got more confidence now that I've got Diamond Lil in my life.

For the children's storytime part of the assessment, I read What Shall We Do With the Boo-Hoo Baby? by Cressida Cowell, illustrated by Ingrid Godon.


Then, I sang and played a version of that story to the tune of "What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?" If you like, you're welcome to use it in your own storytimes. Here are the lyrics with guitar chords:

Chorus:

Am
What shall we do with the boo-hoo baby,
G
What shall we do with the boo-hoo baby,
Am
What shall we do with the boo-hoo baby?
G                   Am
Poor little crying baby.

Maybe the baby’s hungry X3
Feed that little baby!

[Spoken: Is the baby still crying?]

Chorus

Let the baby splash in the bathtub X3
Wash that little baby!

[Is the baby still crying?]


Chorus

Let’s all play with the baby X3
Bounce that little baby!

[Is the baby still crying?]

Chorus

Lay the baby in the cradle X3
Poor little baby’s sleepy.

[The baby stopped crying! Shhhhh.]

Hush, hush, sleeping baby,
Hush, hush, sleeping baby,
Hush, hush, sleeping baby,
Sweetie little baby.



Lyrics copyright 2007 by Alkelda the Gleeful and Farida Dowler

April 7 update: I just received a letter regarding my skills assessments. The person who wrote the letter informed me that my new scores were lower than the original set of scores. I still get to keep my original set of scores. I plan to call to find out exactly what the system wanted that I didn't provide. The interviewers had given me positive feedback. It's a hard pill to swallow to think that they may have just been polite. What did they want? Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't a singing, guitar-playing storyteller.

As Jed Bartlett in The West Wing would say, "What's next?"