Improvising With Your Children

Check out this fun video of Adam Sandler improvising a song (creating a song right in that moment) with Elmo on Sesame Street.  Then read on below about how we improvised with our Music Together songs and more ways to improvise with your children at home!



This week in Music Together class we changed the song Apples and Cherries (better known as Grey Sand and White Sand) to make it into a large movement song.  Changing the words to movements is a very simple way for both parents and children to improvise their own verses to this familiar song.  We changed the verses to activities like jumping and running, walking and marching, crawling and snuggling.  You could also change them to give your children directions about what they need to do at home (eating my breakfast, putting my shoes on).  I encourage you to try improvising ( the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition) your own verses with your children at home, no matter how little they are.  If they see you try it they will learn to try it to!

Another fun song to improvise new verses to in the Summer Music Together collection is "There's A Little Wheel A Turning in My Heart." Try changing the verses to something fun you have done this summer, "There's a little girl a splashing in the pool, there's a little boy a digging in the sand."  Check out Laurie Berkner and Nancy Cassidy's versions of the song for some more verses.

There's a little wheel a-turning in my heart            
There's a little wheel a-turning in my heart  
In my heart in my heart 
There's a little wheel a-turning in my heart 

There are two hands clapping in my heart . . . 

There are two feet stomping . . . 

There's a little dog barking . . . 

There are two eyes blinking . . . 

There are some kids sleeping . . . 

There's a big truck honking . . . 

There's a little wheel a-turning in my heart . . .

There's a little wheel a-turning in my heart,            
There's a little wheel a-turning in my heart.
In my heart, in my heart,
There's a little wheel a-turning in my heart.

There's a little song a-singing in my heart,

There's a little frog a-leaping in my heart,

I see the sun a-rising in my heart,

We're dancing round the world in my heart,