Spring/Summer 2011: Sounds Like a Rainbow

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Please send them a link to this  newsletter!

June 1 Deadline: Summer Songwriting and Fiction Writing Programs
I Wrote a Hit Song! Contest Winner
SFK Bookclub
Songwriting Challenge
Poll: Over the Rainbow


  June 1 Registration Deadline: 2011 Summer Programs


Hooray! Summer is almost here! That means there are only a few days left to sign up for  the July 18-22 session of Songwriting for Kids Vol. 1 (K-3) and Fiction Writing for Kids (3rd-5th grade). Please visit the Songwriting for Kids website to download the registration form and brochure. I can't wait!

I Wrote a Hit Song! Contest Winner

Congratulations  to Eleanor, age 12...Eleanor wrote a hit song!

Eleanor, from St. Paul, Minnesota, wrote a song called "Perfect Shade of Blue" and it is fabulous! You can read the lyrics at the I Wrote a  Hit Song! webpage. Please stop by and leave a comment for Eleanor to let  her know how much you enjoyed her song.


 SFK  Bookclub

Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix
by Gary Golio

Jimi Hendrix is one of America's music legends. In the 1960's he brought new sounds and energy to rock 'n roll and revolutionized the way people heard and thought about music. Gary Golio's new picture book tells the story of Jimi's childhood and describes how he listened to the world around him and found a way to play the rainbow of sounds he heard in his head.

"With every sound, a color glowed in Jimi's mind.
Blue was the whoosh of cool water, splashing over rocks.
Orange and red, the crackling of a campfire.
Green, the rustle of a thousand leaves."
Read more about this book...

Songwriting Challenge: Sounds Like a Rainbow

I think colors and music have a lot in common. Colors, just like sounds, can make us feel things. What do you feel when you see a bright, vibrant red? How about a pale, light blue? Or a deep brown? What sorts of things do you think of? 

In Gary Golio's book about Jimi Hendrix, he writes that Jimi tried to "paint with sound." Each different sound was like a new color in a box of paints. A high pitched screech might make you feel one thing. A low rumbling note repeated over and over feels completely different,

Eleanor, this month's I Wrote a Hit Song! winner, uses color to bring out the emotion in her song. She writes "In the days I didn't notice you/ Were your eyes this perfect shade of blue?" Instead of simply saying, "Were you always so great?" she makes the song more interesting by giving us an important, colorful detail about the person she is singing to. "This perfect shade of blue" makes us feel something more deeply than if she only mentioned the person's eyes.

Songwriting Challenge:
Can you write a Colorful Song?

Here are  some things to think about:

1. What emotions do you want the listener to feel? Will it be a happy song? Sad? Lonely? Excited? Hopeful?
2. What colors make you feel those same emotions? Does green give you energy? Does yellow make you happy? Does pink make you tingly? Does blue make you feel calm?
3. Can you find ways to bring those colors into the song?
   
4. Have fun!

Poll: Over the Rainbow


If you can't see the  poll, just click here. (Once you vote, you'll be able to see other  people's answers, too.)

Summer 2008: Road Trip

Do you know a friend who would like Songwriting for Kids?
Click here to send them a link to this newsletter!

Reminder: the SFK Club Newsletter has switched to a quarterly schedule. We'll publish an issue in the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Here’s what’s in this quarter's newsletter (click a chapter title to go straight to that chapter):

SUMMER PROGRAMS DEADLINE: JUNE 20
I Wrote a Hit Song! Contest Winner
Summer Songwriting Challenge
Poll: Where Do You Think *You're* Going?


SUMMER PROGRAMS DEADLINE: FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2008

This summer’s Songwriting for Kids and Fiction Writing for Kids programs at Bowdoin College are going to be so much fun. It’s hard to believe the deadline is right around the corner. Tomorrow, in fact! I hope you can join us! For more information, please visit the Songwriting for Kids website or download the 2008 brochure (.pdf).


I Wrote a Hit Song! Contest Winner

Congratulations to Ketty, age 9... Ketty wrote a hit song!

Ketty, from Brunswick, Maine, wrote a song called "Aligator" and you can view the lyrics at the I Wrote a Hit Song! webpage. It even has sheet music for the melody! Please stop by and leave a comment for Ketty to let her know how much you enjoyed her song.

If you'd like to enter the I Wrote a Hit Song! Contest, read the contest rules here. We are now on a quarterly instead of a monthly system, so the next winner will be announced in the Fall newsletter around September 15. That means you have all summer to submit your masterpiece!


Songwriting Challenge: Road Trip

School’s out! For lots of my students, that means a trip of some sort. Some are going for a weekend visit with grandparents or friends. Some are going camping. Some are going to the city. One of my students is going to another country to meet family members she’s never met before! Even Kevin and I are getting into the act and taking a road trip this summer.

There are MANY great songs about traveling. Oh Susanna is a song about a singer traveling to find his true love. This Land Is Your Land is about all the things the songwriter, Woody Guthrie, saw when he traveled across America. Gum Tree Canoe is a great song about traveling to escape slavery. In fact, my entire American Songs vol. 2 is devoted to songs about traveling in one way or another.

Summer '08 Songwriting Challenge:
Can you write a Traveling Song?

Here are some different ways to do it:

Write about a trip you are taking this summer.

• Be like Woody Guthrie. Pay attention to what is around you.
• What is the landscape like?
• What kinds of people, animals, insects, birds do you see?
• What makes this place interesting?

Write about a trip you *wish* you were taking.

• Listen to the traditional spiritual Unclouded Day and hear how the songwriter wrote about a land he had heard about but never seen. You could do the same.
  
• What would the place be like?
• How would you feel when you got there?

Take a trip in your home town.

• Take a walk or ride your bike to the library, or the ice cream store, or take a trip into town with your mom or your brother.
  
• Pretend you've never been there before in your life.
  
• What would a stranger think of where you live?
• Try it at home: Pretend you are walking into your room for the very first time.
  
• What would you notice first?
  
• What do you see that makes you want to write about it?
  

Poll: Where Do You Think *You're* Going?

If you can't see the poll, just click here. (Once you vote, you'll be able to see other people's answers, too.)

Spring 2008: Something New

Do you know a friend who would like Songwriting for Kids?
Click here to send them a link to this newsletter!

The SFK Club Newsletter is switching to a quarterly schedule. We'll publish an issue in the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Here’s what’s in this quarter's newsletter (click a chapter title to go straight to that chapter):

SUMMER PROGRAMS ARE HERE!
I Wrote a Hit Song! Contest Winner
Spring Songwriting Challenge
Poll: Quote of the Day


SUMMER PROGRAMS ARE HERE!

I hope you'll join us for a Songwriting for Kids or Fiction Writing for Kids workshop this year. We'll learn how songs and stories are put together and have lots of fun creating our own! Sessions will be held the week of July 14th, 2008. For more information, please visit the Songwriting for Kids website or download the 2008 brochure (.pdf).


I Wrote a Hit Song! Contest Winner

Congratulations to Oksana, age 6...Oksana wrote a hit song!

Oksana, from Great Falls, Virginia, wrote a song called "Since My Friend Moved Away" and you can view the lyrics at the I Wrote a Hit Song! webpage. I think it's great! Please stop by and leave a comment for Oksana to let her know how much you enjoyed her song.


Songwriting Challenge: Something New

Spring, at least for those of us in cold climates, means all kinds of new things: flowers, green grass, sunshine, birds coming back from the South, t-shirts (maybe even shorts for those of us who are *really* brave!)

Spring '08 Songwriting Challenge:
Can you write a song about something NEW in your life?

Here are some things to think about:

1. It could be absolutely true. It could be a song about a new friend, new sister or brother, new house, new shoes, new school.
   
2. It could be totally fake. How about a new planet, new country, new monster, new invention, new flying saucer?
   
3. How does the *new* thing make you feel? Happy, excited, sad, scared? Make sure those emotions are reflected in the song.
   
4. What's the *best* part about the new thing?

Here's a great example of a song about something new. It's called "New Blue Star" by Gustafer Yellowgold. (Sadly, I can't post the whole song here. The whole thing...& lots of other cool songs & videos...can be found on Gustafer Yellowgold's Wide Wild World.)




Poll: Quote of the Day

(Click for answer)
If you can't see the poll, just click here. (Once you vote, you'll be able to see other people's answers, too.)

April 2007: Poetry Month

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Send them a link!

If you would like to have newsletter alerts and other news, contests, and updates delivered to your email address each month, please visit the Songwriting for Kids Website and join the email list at the top of the page. There are lots of fun things to do while you're at the website, too!

Here’s what’s in this month’s newsletter (click a chapter title to go straight to that chapter):

Congratulations! Two Contest Winners!
Animal Poetry
April Contest: Armadillo vs. Eagle!
Play Pumps: 100 Pumps in 100 Days Challenge
Summer Camp Registration is Open!
NEW! Songwriting for Kids Shop
NEW! Songwriting for Animals: Monkeys Can Register in April!
Get Quoted on SFK.COM!
Quote of the Month



CONGRATULATIONS! TWO CONTEST WINNERS!

1. I Wrote a Hit Song! Contest Winner: Congratulations to McKenzie from Prestonsburg, Kentucky! McKenzie wrote a hit song! It’s called “Flaming Hills” and you can view the lyrics here. You can also read what others have to say about this song, and leave your own comment. For submitting “Flaming Hills,” McKenzie won a Songwriting for Kids baseball jersey.

Did you write a hit song? Be sure to enter the I Wrote a Hit Song! contest. A new winner is picked every other month. Click here to find out how to enter.

2. The Luck o’The Irish: Congratulations to Anji from Orrs Island, Maine who won last month’s random-draw contest. Click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page to view Anji’s story about her good-luck. Anji won a free CD!

Want to win a free CD? Be sure to enter this month’s random-draw contest: Armadillo vs. Eagle!

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ANIMAL POETRY

Songs are a lot like poetry with music, don’t you think? Well, April is National Poetry Month, so I thought I’d share two of my favorite poems with you. It’s really fun to hear poems read out loud, so you might want to ask an adult to read these to you while you close your eyes and imagine you are right there in the poem. The link to “The Armadillo” by Elizabeth Bishop actually has a recording of the poem...so you can listen to the whole poem read by Elizabeth herself!

Before you listen, here are some things you’ll find in poetry that can you can use to make your songs even better:

• 1. Rhythm. (See if you can find the beat in these poems)
• 2. Rhyme. (Not all poetry or all songs rhyme, but these ones do...how many rhymes do you hear?)
• 3. Imagery. (If you close your eyes, can you see what is going on? Images are like a painting with words. What are some of your favorite images or pictures that are painted in these poems?)

SPECIAL CHALLENGE:
Both of the poems I chose this month are poems about animals.
Could you write a song about an animal using Rhythm, Rhyme, and Imagery?
Try it!
Then enter your song in the I Wrote a Hit Song! contest and your song could be published on the web! Don't forget to click here to view last month’s winning song, “Flaming Hills.”

Poem #1: “The Armadillo” by Elizabeth Bishop
The poet Elizabeth Bishop lived part of her life in Brazil. Every year, the people there would celebrate St. John’s Day, a holiday to honor one of their favorite saints. Elizabeth watched people participate in one of their favorite customs. They would make paper “fire balloons” and float hundreds of them into the night sky. Here is a picture of some fire balloons floating.



Aren’t they beautiful? Unfortunately, the fire balloons would sometimes land and start dangerous fires, so the custom was outlawed (this is why Elizabeth calls them “illegal”). But as you can see from the poem, some people continued to make them anyway. Click here to read the poem (or listen to Elizabeth read it out loud) and find out what happens.


Poem #2: “The Eagle” by Alfred Lord Tennyson

This one is short, so I’ll print the whole thing here.
A crag is a rough, broken piece of rock that sticks out from a mountain or a canyon.
Azure is a particular kind of blue—the color the sky is when there are no clouds at all.

The Eagle
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Eagle photo by Bob Jones.
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APRIL CONTEST: ARMADILLO VS. EAGLE!

Thanks to Sara and Anji for entering last month’s random-draw Luck o’the Irish contest. Here's how a random-draw contest works: I put both of their names in a hat, and Kevin pulled one out...Anji won a free CD!

YOU could win a free CD in this month's contest, and here’s all you have to do:

• 1. Click here to post a comment
• 2. Write in the comment which poem you liked better: “The Armadillo” or “The Eagle”
• 3. Write in the comment WHY you picked that poem
• 4. That’s it!

Amendment (4/11): If you leave an anonymous comment, please be sure to also send me an email so I'll know how to find you if you win!

Good luck! I hope you'll win, and if not, there will always be a new random-draw contest next month!
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PLAY PUMPS: 100 PUMPS IN 100 DAYS CHALLENGE

Ok, here's something that a friend of mine told me about that I think is really cool!

Have you ever thought about how lucky you are to have good, clean water to drink? Water might not seem like much to you and me because we drink it all the time. But imagine if you didn't have anything at all to drink except dirty, brown water that has germs and bacteria in it. You'd get really really sick, and maybe even die, and that's what happens to kids in Africa every day.

Well, one man, Trevor Field, decided to do something about it.
He invented this:
Looks like fun, right?

But how can a merry-go-round help people drink clean water?

It's a merry-go-round, that's true. But underneath the ground it is attached to a pump, so every time the merry-go-round turns, clean water is getting pumped from deep down underground. Instead of walking miles to get heavy buckets of dirty water, kids can simply play and the whole town can have healthy water to drink.

So here's the challenge: in the next 100 days between now and June, Mr. Fields wants to try to get people to donate enough money to build 100 pumps all over Africa. I'm asking as many people as I can to help out. If you have been saving your allowance money and would like to give some back to help others, you can donate to Play Pumps! You'll need an adult to help you, and maybe you can ask them for a match: if you give $5, they could give $5 too. That doubles the difference you can make!

If you'd like to help, ask an adult to sit down with you and visit my blog at Please Come Flying and scroll down to the donation banner on the right hand side. You'll be able check back as often as you like and see how much money we've raised for clean, healthy water!
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SUMMER CAMP REGISTRATION IS OPEN


I can't wait for Summer...I hope you'll be able to join me at one of my Songwriting for Kids or Fiction Writing for Kids Summer Camps!

Click here to view the 2007 Summer Camp Brochure or visit the Songwriting for Kids website for more information.
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NEW! SONGWRITING FOR KIDS SHOP

If you've been wanting your own Songwriting for Kids t-shirt or bookbag, today's your lucky day! There is a brand new Songwriting for Kids shop online! You can visit it here.

Is there anything that's not in the shop that you would like to see? Just send me an email and I'll see if I can create it for you!
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NEW! SONGWRITING FOR ANIMALS: MONKEYS CAN REGISTER IN APRIL

Just a little April Fools!

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GET QUOTED ON SONGWRITINGFORKIDS.COM


If you are a kid and have ever attended a Songwriting for Kids workshop at your school or summer camp, or if you’re a parent or teacher who enjoyed sending your kid(s) to a SFK workshop, I’d love to quote you on SongwritingForKids.com. Simply send me an email and tell me what you (or your child) liked about the workshop. Please include your name, age, and where & when you attended Songwriting for Kids. If your quote gets picked, I’ll publish it on the website, AND send you a special prize in the mail! Visit Songwriting for Kids to see what some parents & kids already had to say!
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH

All The Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
Layin' In The Sun,
Talkin' 'Bout The Things
They Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda Done...
But All Those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
All Ran Away And Hid
From One Little Did.

by Shel Silverstein

Visit the Shel Silverstein website for more fun with poetry this month!
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Well, I hope you had fun with the SFK Club this month.
See you in May!

Always leave ‘em singing,
Josephine