soupy sounds alphabet Tunes

The MOST FUN way to learn alphabet sounds through song 

Soupy Sounds Bowlful of Ideas #07

April 2010

A place of ideas about how to get the most out of your Soupy Sounds Alphabet Tunes CD. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone relevant in your network or school. Please also feel free to tell me if this email isn’t helpful or necessary for you anymore. I consider this a service rather than an opportunity, a backstage pass into Soupy Sounds. So for the most part this email will be aiming to bring you free ideas to extend the Soupy Sounds songs into your home, school, preschool or day-care centre.

Newsletter Spotlight

Focus song: Bb (the baked bean)

A song

The baked bean bounced down the beach

b-b-b-b-b-b

A story

A simple and fun song which allows kids to bounce around the room like baked beans. Probably the first thing I need to sort out is whether people know what “baked beans” are. In Australia and Great Britain I know there will be no confusion. But in the USA (which has visited soupysounds.com.au more than any other country this month) or Canada or Japan, do you guys eat baked beans? Maybe you just call them beans. They are most like a butter bean, but come in a soft tomato sauce. They don’t look too good, but they taste great! The song for me captures some ideas which are very Australian in nature, and this is something I believe Soupy Sounds offers to both the Australian and international market.

Back to the song...this is a song which really came alive in the     recording process. As with all the Soupy Sounds songs, “b” began its life in my classroom. I sat playing guitar and singing along with my class. The song was quite fun, but it was only once a few things were tweaked in the studio that it really came into its own. I used an instrument called a Jaws Harp (pictured below) in the recording process. As well as that, the lead vocals are not my voice. I chose to use a female vocalist in several songs both for variety and “best fit”. Sarah Tooker does a great job on lead vocals in this song.

Have some fun bouncing along to it as you read some teaching ideas.

  Some teaching ideas

· Find out about the humble baked bean. I would suggest Wikipedia is a good starting point. There would also be some funny ads on youtube

· This song is fun to learn about dynamics (loud/soft, big/small sounds). Match soft singing with small bounces, and loud singing with huge jumps.

· Make a Bb artwork of the baked bean at the beach. A child’s fingerprint (using orange paint) would make a great baked bean.

· If someone has access to a Jaw Harp, have a listen to it being played. If not, a simple activity can be to use your teeth as a musical instrument. By changing mouth shape and flicking your teeth with your fingernails you can play your own tunes. Try “London Bridge” on the teeth!

· A messy learning activity would be practising the letter “b” with the sauce from baked beans. Then eat the beans for lunch!

News

Soupy Sounds on iTunes international, please email any of your parent/teacher friends overseas so they can enjoy the sounds

The Facebook group has reached 181 as of today, and I have set myself a little challenge to reach 200 before our new baby comes (any day now!) Please come and join us at facebook.com/soupysounds

Interested in a “Soupyware Party” at your place. You get a free gig for your kids and their friends, I meet more potential Soupy Sounds lovers. Email me, or fill out the online booking form. I also play at preschools and daycare centres.

Thanks for joining me at the Soupy Sounds table for another month

Ty

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