Family and Children's Music

VEGANGELICA · 09-11-2009, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burning Down

I love the song "Puff the Magic Dragon." Always have!

Hi Burning Down,
Yes, isn't "Puff" a lovely song?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liljagare

Astrid Lindgrens music will always be popular here in Sweden (such as Idas Sommarvisa Youtube Idas Sommarvisa (With Video)) and I really like everything she ever wrote but I really like using English music in my classes for ESL purposes (when I am working with older kids but I use alot with the younger kids as well). To me, songs like "Sweet Child of Mine" by GNR or "Africa" by Toto are valuable in learning and the kids find it more fun to work with these type of tunes.

What childrens songs do I hate? There is a techno version of childrens tunes sung by Peaches (they sang "Rosa Helikopter" YouTube - Rosa Helikopter - Peaches ) that we have in our school that kids really seem to like that I don't like at all. In fact I have had to beg them to please change the song at times (there are only so many times one can hear the techno version of "Imse Vimse Spindel" aka Itsy Bitsy Spider) But what can I say

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That is a very pretty, old-fashioned sounding children's song (video) with the little girl and boy in the meadow, Liljagare. Heh heh, "Rosa Helikopter" is quite catchy, and check out those little kids' dance moves! I can see why your students would love it ... and why it could drive you nuts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by toretorden

Argh, rosa helikopter

[About the meaning of the Norwegian Knudsen and Ludvigsen children's song] That was unexpectedly hard to explain. Let's see, it's about make believing that you're gonna play a show and you're practicing in front of the mirror. You can use jam for makeup and an old ham becomes a guitar.
I agree that songs may have great learning potential. Still, I don't think I learned much from norwegian children songs when I was a kid but I undoubtedly learned a lot of english from listening to The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Pink Floyd and other sorts of records we had lying around the house when I was a kid. So much of the popular music being in foreign language (mainly english) makes that a very good source of learning.

The meaning of that Norwegian children's song you posted is quite wacky and original, Toretorden!

I hadn't thought of the value of songs for teaching children foreign languages, but that's a good point you make...especially since many early songs by the Beatles, for example, have quite simple lyrics. When I took German (in high school) we listened to Nena's "99 Luft Balloons" in the original German, which I love to this day (both the song and the language)! (I know it is not folk music, but I include it here anyway YouTube - Nena 99 Luft Balloons).

Liljagare · 09-12-2009, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

Hi Bu
That is a very pretty, old-fashioned sounding children's song (video) with the little girl and boy in the meadow, Liljagare.

Its a traditional children's song. Astrid Lindgren wrote alot of childrens songs and they are still very popular today in our culture..if you don't remember her, she is the woman who wrote "Pippi Longstocking"

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VEGANGELICA · 09-12-2009, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SATCHMO

Every night when daughter was very little I would spend upwards of an hour rocking her to sleep in my arms. That is one of my most precious memories and these are a small part of that soundtrack:

Hi SATCHMO, thank you for sharing those lovely songs and the precious memory of the hours you spent with your daughter. I remember similar hours with my child and treasure them, too. The song "Sudan" made my hair stand on end because of its resonant beauty. You gave your child an eclectic mix of music...a wonderful welcome to the world, an auditory embrace to mirror a parent's physical embrace of a child.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liljagare

Its a traditional children's song. Astrid Lindgren wrote alot of childrens songs and they are still very popular today in our culture..if you don't remember her, she is the woman who wrote "Pippi Longstocking"

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Pippi Longstocking! I didn't realize Astrid Lindgren was not just an author but also a songwriter! Thanks for the information, Liljagare. I used to love the Pippi Longstocking stories when I was a child.

VEGANGELICA · 09-17-2009, 10:44 PM

Hello Folks,

Now here's an old country/folk song I loved singing during my childhood..."You are my Sunshine"...which was made famous by Jimmie Davis in the 1940s. I thought of adding it to this thread because the other day while volunteering at my child's 1st grade class, the teacher asked kids to play a music game in which a child volunteers to stand up, start singing a song, and the rest join in if they know it. Well, a little 6-year-old stood up and started singing beautifully the lyrics to "You are my Sunshine," and many of the kids knew this song and were able to join in! I thought this especially interesting because there are kids from a variety of ethnicities in the class. I was touched (and surprised!) that their families are introducing them to this old song more than 60 years after the song was first sung.

Here's a YouTube video of "You are my Sunshine" that I think is cute because it shows so clearly how this song is passed on from one generation to the next: