About Sara

Sara has earned her BME, MA, and Ed.D. degrees all in music education, specializing in early childhood teaching. With over 10 years of teaching experience, she has taught in preschool settings with infants, toddlers and preschoolers, public elementary school grades K-4, as well as college and university classes. She has worked as an educational consultant and curriculum designer for several early childhood music programs in New York including “Music Within” at the Harlem School of Music and “WeBop!” at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

 

Sara has presented research in areas of music play, spontaneous music, and cultural issues at the Early Childhood Music Educators Commission in Greece, Spain and  Taiwan, and at the International Seminar of Music Education in Norway. She has also presented papers across the US and Australia. Sara’s work has been published in Music Educators Journal, Childhood Education: Infancy Through Early Adolescence, and The Qualitative Report

Class Photos (used with permission)

Resources for Parents and Teachers

Books About Music and Development

These are all incredible, “must-reads” for anyone interested in knowing more about how music affects children, and what children are musically capable of.

 

Music with the under-fours  by Susan Young

 

Kids Make Music. Babies Make Music Too  by Lynn Kleiner

 

The Arts and Human Development  by Howard Gardner

 

Songs in Their Heads: Music and its Meaning in Children’s Lives  by Patricia Shehan Campbell

 

The Arts and the Creation of Mind  by Elliot W. Eisner

 

The Child as Musician: A Handbook of Musical Development  Edited by Gary E. McPherson

 

The Muse Within: Creativity and Communication, Song and Play from Childhood Through Maturity  by J. R. Bjorkvold

 

 

Parenting Books

Books that I have found most helpful as a parent

 

Just Tell Me What to Say: Sensible Tips and Scripts for Perplexed Parents by Betsy Brown Braun

 

The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children by Wendy Mogel  (Even if you’d rather skip over the “Jewish” part, this is a remarkable book!)

 

The Emotional Life of the Toddler  by Alicia F. Lieberman

 

ALL development books by Louise Bates Ames (Your Two-Year-Old; Your Three-Year-Old; Your Four-Year-Old; etc.) She is one of the top child psychologists, and provides simple, enlightening, and logical explanations and tips for your children at each age.

 

 

 

Song Lyrics

Words for Songs

 

Jig Jog, arr. by Lynn Kleiner

I want someone to buy me a pony. Jig jog jig jog jig jog jee.

Not too fat and not too bony. Jig Jog jig jog jig jog jee.

For I want to go for a ride. All across the countryside

With a jig jog jig jog jig jog jig jog,

Jig jog jig jog jig jog jee.

 

Little Horses, arr. by Lynn Kleiner

Little horses, little horses, come out of your barn.

The door is wide open and the sunshine is warm.

Little horses, little horses, come back to your barn.

The door is wide open and your blankets are warm.

 

Silly Sam, by Lynn Kleiner

Silly Sam the sneaky snake. He hides behind a rock and he starts to wait…

And he shakes up high, and he shakes down low.

And he wiggles and he jiggles and away he goes!

 

Cobbler

There’s a cobbler down the street mending shoes for little feet.

With a bang and a bang and a bang bang bang.

Mending shoes the whole day long, mending shoes to make the strong.

With a bang and a bang and a bang bang bang,

 

Little Shoemaker (Traditional)

There’s a wee little man in a wee little house lives over the way you see.

And he sits at the window making shoes all day; shoes for you and me.

With a tap tap tap tap, tap tap tap tap, tap tap tap tap tap.

With a tap tap tap tap, tap tap tap, shoes for you and me.

 

Carpenter’s Hammer

The carpenter’s hammer goes “tap tap tap” and his saw goes “see saw see.”

He hammers and hammers and saws and saws and builds a big house for me.

 

Come My Friends, arr. By Lynn Kleiner. Melody from Beethoven’s 6^th Symphony

Come my friends and gather ‘round it’s time to say goodbye.

We’ll sing and dance another day, so long, farewell, goodbye.

 

Snail & Mouse, by Lynn Kleiner

Slowly, slowly, very slowly creeps the garden snail.

Slowly, slowly, very slowly up the garden rail.

Quickly, quickly very quickly runs the little mouse.

Quickly, quickly very quickly in his little house!

 

Hey Ho (Traditional)

Hey ho, is anybody home? I’ve tapped on the windows and knocked on the doors. Tell me, tell me, where can you be? Hey, ho is anybody home? Knock knock!

 

Pitter Patter (arr. By Sara Zur)

Pitter patter, pitter patter goes the rain outside. Here’s my nice umbrella to keep me warm and dry. When the rain stops falling the sun begins to glow. Then tiny flowers start to bud and grow and grow and grow.

 

5 Little Kittens (by Lynn Kleiner)

5 Little kittens all black and white, sleeping soundly through the night.

Meow, meow, meow, meow, MEOOOOW. Time to wake up now!

 

Yummy Soup

Yummy soup, yummy soup. What shall we put in the yummy soup?

 

Chippety Chop

Chip chop, chippety chop. We’ll cut off the bottoms and cut off the tops.

What we have left we’ll put in the pot. Chip chop, chippety chop.

 

Old Grey Cat, (Traditional)

The old grey cat is sleeping, sleeping, sleeping

The old grey cat is sleeping in the house.

The little mouse goes creeping, creeping, creeping.

The little mouse goes creeping in the house.

The old grey cat goes walking…

The little mouse goes hiding…

Now everybody’s running…

The old grey cat is sleeping…

 

Little Clown

We know you’re hiding in there. We see you crouching down.

We really want to see you. Come out little clown!

 

The Firetruck (Lyrics by Lucille Wood)

Hurry, hurry, drive the firetruck. Hurry Hurry drive the firetruck. Hurry hurry drive the firetruck. Ding ding ding ding ding.

…turn the corner…find the fire…climb the ladder…squirt the water…

Let’s go rest back at the station.

 

All the Little Firefighters

All the little firefighters sleeping in a row,

“Ding!” goes the bell and down the pole they go.

 

Stars are Twinkling (by Alice Olson)

Stars are twinkling in the sky way up high, way up high.

Stars are twinkling in the sky shining down on me.

 

Shoe a Little Horse (Traditional)

Shoe a little horse. Shoe a little mare, with a tap tap here, and a tap tap there.

Let the little colt go bare bare bare!

Books and CDs used in Class

Books and CDs Used in Class

 

CD title	Singer/performer details	Produced by
Chicken soup for Little souls: what a wonderful world	Louis Armstrong and various artists
A child's celebration of folk music		Music for Little people
A child's celebration of show tunes		Music for Little people
Choo-Choo-Boogaloo	Buckwheat Zydeco	Music for Little people
Daddies Sing Goodnight		Sugar Hill Records
Disney songs the Sachmo Way		Walt Disney Records
Gift of the Tortoise	Ladysmith Black Mumbazo	Music for Little People
For our Children		Walt Disney Records
Hush	Bobby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma	Sony Masterworks
Kids Classics: Animals		EMI Records
Lullaby, A Collection		Music for Little People
Not for Kids Only	Jerry Garcia and Davis Grisman
Papa's Dream	Los Lobos	Music for Little People
Peter, Paul, and Mommy	Peter, Paul, and Mary	Warner Brothers
Planet Drum	Mickey Hart	Rykodisc
Shooting Straight in the Dark	Mary Chapin Carpenter	Columbia
Woody Guthrie: Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child		Smithsonian Subways
I Got Shoes	Sweet Honey in the Rock	Music for Little People
Dream a Little Dream	Mama Cass
Nomad		Australian Music International
Pieces of Africa	Kronos Quartet
Mondo Beat: Masters of Percussion		Narada
Winds of Honor
Samba Salad	Kids World Party
Miriam Makeba: Africa		Novus Series 70
WeBop! Volumes 1 and 2: Jazz For the Littlest Hipsters	Jazz at Lincoln Center	Jazz at Lincoln Center
Carnival of the Animals	Camille Saint-Seans
Peer Gynt Suites 1 and 2	Edvard Grieg
Eight Hungarian Dances	Johannes Brahms
Symphony No. 94 “Surprise”	Franz Joseph Haydn
Sanna Longden CD #1: Folk Dance Music for Kids	Various dances from around the world
“The Snow is Dancing”	Claude Debussy
“Musical Sleigh Ride”	W. A. Mozart
“Flying”	Patrick Doyle
Smart Symphonies CD 2		Grammy
Sweet Honey in the Rock: A Child’s Celebration of Song
Dream a Little Dream	Mama Cass
Jazz for Kids	Louis Armstrong
Flute A Bec Luth & Guitare	Rene Clemencic & Andras Kecskes	Harmonia Mundi
Anthology of World Music—Africa: Ba Benzele Pygmies

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book title	Author	Publisher
Hush Little Baby	Long, S.
What a Wonderful World	Weiss, G. D. & Thiele, B.	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Tiskit A Taskit	Fitzgerald, E.	Philomel Books
Charlie Parker Played Bebop
Summertime		Simon and Schuster
Halley Came to Jackson	Chapin-Carpenter, M.
The Jazz Fly	Golub, M.
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything	Williams, L.
The Jazzy Alphabet	Shahan, S.
When Sophie Gets Angry -- Really, Really Angry	Bang, M.	The Blue Sky Press
Dinosaurumpus	Mitton, M.	Orchard Books
Shake Dem Holloween Bones	Nikola-Lisa, W.
Follow the Drinking Gourd	Winter, J.	Dragonfly Books
The Other Way to Listen	Baylor, B. & Parnall, P.	Aladdin Paperbacks
Bein’ with You This Way	Nikola-Lisa, W.
Engine, Engine, Number Nine	Calmenson, S.	Scholastic
Baby Rattlesnake	Told by Ata, T.	Children's Book Press
In the Tall, Tall Grass	Fleming, D.	Henry Holt
All the Pretty Little Horses: A Traditional Lullaby		Clarion Books
Barn Dance	Martin, B. & Archambault	Henry Holt
Cock-A-Doodle Moo	Most, B.	Red Wagon Books
Five Little Ducks	Raffi
Bimwili and the Zimwi	Aardema, V.	Dial Books for Young Readers
Tiddalick the Frog	Nunes, S.	Atheneum
Little Beaver and the Echo	MacDonald, A & Fox-Davies, S.	The Putnam & Grosset Group
Dance	Jones, B. T. & Kuklin, S.	Hyperion Books
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom	Martin, B. & Archambault, J.	Aladdin Paperbacks
Big Rain Coming	Germain, K.	Puffin Books
Making Musical Things	Wiseman, A.	Scribner’s