Alina's Adventures

Everything Grows: A book and song about life.

 

 

Everything Grows, a song by Raffi, comes to life in this book with paintings by Eugenie Fernandes. All three munchkins enjoyed listening as I read the book aloud. Max immediately noticed that the book had a refrain, and was delighted to see sheet music at the end of it- "Hey mom, I want to play it on the piano!"

Alina said:

"Okay Max. But first I want you to read the lyrics aloud and tell me what you imagine the tune to be."

Max said:

"You mean, how will Raffi make it sound?"

Alina said:

"You could go the way of guessing how Raffi will make it sound. Or you can try to see if a tune emerges for you before you hear Raffi's song. It's harder to imagine a different tune to lyrics once you've been exposed to it."

Max said:

"What do you mean?"

Alina blushed and tried to figure out what she meant:

"We-e-llll. Okay. Can you recite Mary had a little lamb, the nursery rhyme?"

Max nodded:

"Sure."

Max begins to sing "Mary Had A Little Lamb" with gusto.

Alina gets excited:

"See! You sang the song! But I asked you to recite the nursery rhyme."

Max said:

"But that's how I remember the rhyme. The music helps me memorize it."

Alina said:

"My point precisely. So I want to hear how these lyrics arrange themselves in a tune for you prior to your hearing how they are arranged by Raffi."

Satisfied, Max sang the lyrics in a sweet, almost whispering fashion. Micah brought a percussive element to the tune. I tried to pull off a folksy version, while Patrick channelled Henry Rollins in his take on the tune and delivery.

Max allows Raffi's music to soak over him while Milla follows the song along with the book.

Then we listed to Raffi's rendition and tried to see who heard it most like Raffi and whose interpretation (ahem, Patrick's) most differed from Raffi's. You can get your own taste of Raffi's music for children with these free mp3 and audio streams at the Raffi website. And, if you have a Max in the house, you might want this free sheet music for Everything Grows as well.

Music for Lent.

Bucharest Score by Alina Coryell, 2011.

In response to Natalie, whose lovely Lenten tunes are currently ripening the rooms of our house, this is a playlist which we imagined might hustle a grin from a headphone-wearing girl walking the snow silken streets of American cities.

The songs she might meet on the street at the beginning of Lent. 

EMMYLOU by First Aid Kit

P: She walks up to a rack with scarfs, coats, sweaters, and hoodies hanging from metalic hooks. Various miscellaneous items sit on top of board over the rack, a holding place for coins, the daily mail and books to be read. She pulls away a scarf from one of the hooks and wraps it around her neck. She pulls a coat on, takes a book underneath her arm and opens the door.

THE BOOK OF LOVE by The Magnetic Fields

A: The stairs smell of cold, wet conversations and cheap science toys. A boy in a blue pea coat snaps a photo of a beaming man embracing a woman trapped by the same beam. The glow surrounding them is as fake as the light from the flash. She takes the steps down two-by-two.

WHY'D YOU COME IN HERE LOOKIN' LIKE THAT? by Dolly Parton

P: Billboards for jeggings and extra-diet soda.

 SPARROWS AND SPARROWS by Malcolm Holcombe

A: Handpainted Russian eastern eggs in the window of the newstand which serves Turkish coffee.

CLOUDBUSTING by Neil Halstead

A: Stopping to sit near a small duck pond and count clouds as their reflection passes over the still water. 

IF A SONG COULD BE PRESIDENT by Over the Rhine

A: A super-ribboned woman wearing a green ribbon, a rainbow ribbon, a pink ribbon, and a yellow ribbon tries to tell her about the new campaign represented by a mauve ribbon. Her friend says J. Crew is creating new colors to keep the world from running out of ribbon campaigns and small kindnesses.

BOOGERS by David Rovics

A: She rounds the corner. A schoolbus stops and out swarms a gaggle of elementary school students with yellow-tinged crystals hanging from their noses.

YOUTH AGAINST FASCISM by Sonic Youth

A: One short, well-dressed teen saunters past wearing a pro-life tshirt with a photo of an aborted baby on the front. He laughs as he tells his friends about the new submachine gun he just ordered online. The combined laughter resembles the chorus of a gospel choir. 

HOLIDAY (Green Day cover) by Hayseed Dixie

A: The handsomely-dressed mother reaches down to smack the hand of the toddler pulling at her linen skirt. Her voice narrows to the sound of a needle meant to remind the little person that disobedience and dirty hands hurt. The hairstyle resists intimacy.

DOWNTOWN by Destroyer

P: People flow past in a torrent as if escaping from a coming storm. The buildings sway in the breeze like trees of glass while the cement underneath crumples like dried balls of Georgia clay. Life teems and writhes over the sidewalks of this fish-bowl city. All looking for a crumb.

PEOPLE ARE CRAZY by Billy Currington

A: She passes a honky-tonk, the neon half-lit and twinkling like an eye tic. Maybe mud-riding offers a palpable background for theology. The rain turns God's play dough, our clay-made bodies, to mud. Melting is unavoidable.

DORS DAN MON SANG by Karkwa

A: An elderly Korean lady sweeps a tiny cement step again and again, tracing shapes and memories over something so hard.

NO PLACE TO FALL (Townes Van Zandt cover) by Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan

A: A wild-eyed man wearing black motorcyle boots rummages through a trash can calling his diary in various dimunitives.

HANDOUTS IN THE RAIN by The Cowboy Junkies

A: She drops some change and a gift card into the bowl of the old homeless veteran who frequents her subway stop. He laughs and explains that he doesn't remember anything anymore- not even what something is worth. Or how much a candy bar costs. Values change too quickly these days.

Sometimes it's strange what you meet on the street.

Take this gentleman whom we encountered yesterday, for example. He told us that he is traveling to Nebraska on his horse because he lost his home and all his property and he has a cousin who will give him a free RV if he can make it to Nebraska somehow.

This is Buford. He's going to Nebraska as well.

The wanderer explained:

"Well, at night, I just use this rope here to stake him in a field next to me and he eats while I sleep. His food is everywhere. The only problems I've had so far are with food for myself."

Alina asks him if he will accept a $10 bill as a "sponsoring" of his journey.

The wanderer replies:

"Of course. Thank yew."

I wish I had a copy of the song about going to desert on a horse with no name because I would include it here. Instead, I'll settle for an old favorite that says something similiar. Just click to download and enjoy.

Spring creeps in on padded toes.

I woke up this morning to the songs of birds bartering over trees and territories. And then Tino dropped by to remind me of how it's been too long since I sat in the grass and resigned myself to the splendor of Leonard Cohen.

And now for my personal anthem...

Making a popsicle stick thumb piano.

Since watching Throw Down Your Heart, in which Bela Fleck shows the prominent role of the thumb piano in indigenous African music, we've been intrigued by the rattle and hum of this powerful little instrument. You can watch Ruth play the thumb piano in the video above- such a heart-thumping, joyful song.

So we made our own thumb piano last night. Max thought the music that comes from it is bright and bouncy, so he painted accordingly. 

Supplies

• 1” thick piece of wood cut into 4” square 
• Acrylic paint and paintbrush 
• 10 push pins 
• 4 large, unridged bobby pins 
• 10 popsicle sticks 
• 2 rubber bands 
• Wire cutters 
• White glue

Instructions

1. Take two popsicle sticks and glue them side by side across your piece of wood, about an inch down from one of the ends. To secure them as they dry, hold your thumb down in the center of the sticks and stretch your rubber bands across and underneath the wood to wrap around the ends.
2. While the glue dries, it’s time to decorate. You can do this however you’d like using paint, markers, or stickers. Once you’re done decorating, set everything aside to dry for about an hour.
3. For the keys, take your first bobby pin and bend it open. This will be the long key. Measure out enough of the bobby pin so that it touches the popsicle sticks and reaches to the end of the wood without extending over it. With the help of an adult, carefully cut off the excess with your wire cutters.
4. Measure out and cut your remaining three keys from the rest of the bobby pins. Each one should be shorter than the one before it so that each key will have a different pitch.
5. Space out the keys across the piano and tape the ends to the popsicle sticks to hold them in place.
6. Apply glue across the tape and place two more popsicle stick over the first two to sandwich the keys into place. Wrap rubber bands around the ends of these sticks just like you did in step 2 to hold them down while they dry.
7. To make sure everything is really tight and gives a good sound, stick two push pins through the popsicle sticks around either side of each bobby pin key. Set everything aside to dry for another hour.
8. Now you’re ready to tune your piano. To do that, take each key and bend it back approximately 45 degrees (or half an inch) from the wood. To play, just run your fingers up and down the thumb piano keys. Experiment with different sounds and applying different amounts of pressure.

If you decide to make a thumb piano, link back and share. We'd love to see other thumb pianos!

Migraines.

A painting I found at a yard sale which reminded me of a migraine.

Migraines have been a tweakish part of my life since a few months after Micah's birth. I can't even call them headaches because they are more closely related to long, dark tunnels in which every tiny noise carries its own crippling reverb. The land of migraines pulses on a different plane. One of these days, I'll put on some sunglasses and try to write a poem about how migraines affect perception of everything from light to motion to sound. It's pretty fascinating once you get out of the tunnel to consider the textures and sensations of the tunnel. Anyway, kudos to Dada Trash Collage for attempting a tune about the tunnel.

MIGRAINE by Dada Trash Collage

You can find more migraine-inspired art and poetry in sympathetic corners of the web.

A pourquoi story podcast about magpies.

A book of porquoi tales.

A pourquoi tale is a fictional narrative that explains why something is the way it is, for example why a snake has no legs, or why a tiger has stripes. Many legends and folk tales are pourquoi stories. Here is a pourqoui tale which explains why magpie nests are not well built. You can download the podcast by right-clicking on it and pressing "save as". Or you can just play it and listen.

 

Chasing butterflies

Explore this sign warning against "swooping magpies". Can you come up with a porque tale for why magpies swoop?

Learn more about magpies and their habits from this wonderful printable created by wildlife biologost Thomas Hall.

Color this drawing of a magpie.

David Rovics' new album for little people.

I love David Rovics. His folk songs are all over my making-dinner playlist. So it comes as a pleasant surprise to know we can listen to David's most recent album, Ballad of A Dung Beetle, crafted with small folks in mind. A little visit to the lyrics cavern would make even the fussiest person smile. Share, enjoy, and diy fingerplay the day away.

A concert at the Coryell Castle.

The tickets sold out to the stuffed animals who took over the couch. Max arranged them carefully for the folk rock concert. The sheep acted like sheep and stuck together.

From there, things functioned in a sort of reverse mode- the band went wild while the audience behaved as if they were attending a symphony performance.

Micah played her new guitar, Sweet Baby Cougar, as Max bally-hooed and tinkled away on the triangle.

Meanwhile, Milla whooped it up on the harmonica. The girl is not afraid to go solo.

Then the time came for the mouth harp jam session. 

The animals were loving it. And they weren't the only ones....

Milla was so happy to hear her own music emerging from the harmonica.

And so the day whittled itself away, my valentine-card-making plans pushed to a corner and all the details unfurling into a tapestry of imaginative play.

A good man is hard to find.

Micah strums her new guitar.

This is the story of how this guitar came into her beautiful, tender little hands.

So I try not to take him for granted, though taking things for granted seems to be part of married life perhaps hidden in the "baggage" we bring along. Really, this is a post about sleeping- and Patrick's gifts as a father. We have an open bed policy in our home- if someone is scared or has a nightmare, they come into our bed until they fall asleep again (and we move them quietly back to their own beds). None of our children used cribs- we coslept with a bed rail until they were ready to ventue out into their own beds.

Max proved to be a smooth transition- he falls asleep quickly and easily without particular preferences for a bedtime routine. Micah, on the other hand, had trouble sleeping since she was 2 weeks old and crying took up a better part of her day. She is what Dr. Sears would call our "high needs child"- going to sleep requires a story, a cup of milk warmed just right, my hair in her fist, a cover, and so on. Usually, she falls asleep in our bed and then Patrick moves her to her bed in the kids room (our kids all share a room). 

Last night, my handsome husband offered Micah an alternative. As Micah perched in his lap, detailing her day, Patrick interrupted:j

"Hey Micah, I have an idea. Why don't you try to fall asleep in your own bed tonight?"

Micah scowled and refused.

"Why not? If it is because you are scared, you can call us and we'll come to kiss you. We don't have to turn out lights or shut the door. I think you might be ready for the adventure of sleeping in your own bed.... Let's pretend you did decide to put yourself to sleep in your own bed tonight, how would it make you feel to know you can do that?"

Micah thought hard and scrunched up her forehead.

"It would make me feel big... like Max. Cause I would be all grown up. But I think I would need to have a necklace."

Pat jumped in immediately:

"You mean a necklace for girls who fall asleep in their own beds? A special necklace to show who you are and how you're growing and changing? I think that's a great idea! You wanna try it?"

Surprisingly, Micah decided she wanted to try. We explained that she was welcome to come to our bed if she changed her mind, but she seemed pretty determined. After much fluffing of pillows and dolls and blankets and books, she laid her little head down and watched us walk away. We settled in the living room to chat and then, suddenly, Patrick suggested that Micah was probably asleep. Sure enough, sweet Micah fell asleep and woke up in her own bed to much ballyhooing and celebrating.

Today, we took a field trip with Tino to the thrift store to select her special necklace. She wanted Milla and Max to get a necklace as well in honor of her accomplishment, so everyone left with a necklace. I also couldn't resist forking out an extra $3 for her first guitar because I admire and respect her determination and Micah-ness.

It soothes this mother's heart to know Micah's transition to falling asleep in her bed will not involce coercion, crying, ignoring, or sadness- that Micah can take credit for taking the bigger steps which might seem daunting but are nonetheless her own. She deserves that feeling of accomplishment, that first taste of courage. On a different yet interlaced note, there is nothing sexier than a man who keeps his thumb on the pulse of his children's hearts. A man like Patrick. A man who respects my intuitions as a mother although they are not trending or popular or even acceptable in some circles. 

In honor of Micah and Patrick, both of whom have the propensity to rock, here's a little guitar riff to shake, rattle, and roll. Because I'm just that happy.

GALLOWS POLE by Led Zeppelin (mp3)

Love letter #46: Nine beautiful things, three of which are my children and one of which is a cloud.

The beautiful children.

The aforementioned cloud squats behind Max's dancing head.

The cumulative cumulonimbutimas effect is something akin to joy.

Blueberry Junkie's Che applique tutorial for toddler shirts.

Q is for Quilter's vintage ABC coloring book steals.

This video of the National Hollering Contest at Spivey's Corner.

Free music downloads of The Agrarians from the Internet Music Archive.

Oh, and free books, poetry, and other audio daydreams from the Internet Music Archive.

The piano recital that almost wasn't.

Now for a little confession: I didn't know the date of Max's piano recital until last week.  How can this be? Well, I'm sure his teacher told me and I probably filed it away in my mind in that cabinet towards the back of the basement which gets cluttered with cobwebs and seems rather unapproachable. Suffice it to say my shame preceded me when I stepped into the library hall for his performance. I hope one can still be a "good mother" if one has the tendency to forget tiny details, like dates, times, places, rehearsals, paperwork, and other disagreeables.

Who is that mysterious beauty in the bonnet?

Why, it's Milla Bonet, connisseur of live piano music and antique hats.

The proud performers of Mrs. Bedingfield's piano class.

Portraits be darned. Max's aside to Mrs. Bedingfield dealt with the remote and frightening possibility of recieving another Bach statue as opposed to that of a composer not yet in his statue collection.

Max brings down the house.

Or something like that. Here he is playing in his recital yesterday. What you can't see are the fluffy puffy princess dresses he selected for his sisters to wear.

"Okay Mom, here's what they need to wear. To look beautiful. And I buffed their shoes with a baby wipe because it would ruin things if their shoes don't sparkle. And then Micah buffed my shoes back."

Tino's tribute to Alabama skies.

As the kids mucked around in the mud, Tino set up his camera to take photos of a specific tree and sky in our backyard at five second intervals for two hours. 1,220 photos to be precise.

Then he combined the images with a section from Maurice Ravel's Jeux D'eau, which we found for free online at the generous and disarming Piano Society website. 

Tino explained, "If you're watching the sky, you can't fully appreciate how many shapes and clouds go by because it moves so slowly." Speeding up the images reveals how the clouds interact, how the light swallows and then disrobes the tree, how the clouds actually appear in layers of shadows and veils. Sublimity. See if you agree.

If you'd like to share it with your kids, I think it makes a swell journal prompt all by itself. Just watch and write your impressions or revelations. Discover the sky in your own backyard- its moods and its variations. 

Jazz guitar and Django Reinhardt.

The perfect sunshine conversed with a chatty breeze this morning- a morning so golden, an air so sonorous, not even new books could keep us inside. Eventually, the books came up in conversation, and Max wanted to read, so we each took our place in the puddles of sunlight and read Django: World's Greatest Jazz Guitarist by Bonnie Christensen.

Jean Reinhardt's early life was filled with travel in caravans. As a Roma, an ethnic group who originally migrated from northern India about two thousand years ago, family, music, and traditions enriched his days and extended his nights. Though known as travelers, much of the Roma's traveling was not by choice. They were persecuted and driven from town to town. It is estimated that the Germans killed nearly one and a half million Roma in concentration camps during World War II.

The passionate gyspy dances inspired Django.

"Django", his gypsy nickname, means "I awake" in Romany. His first instrument, the violin, is characteristic of gypsy music. When he was 12 years old, Django recieved a banjo-guitar which had the body of a banjo but the neck and fretboard of a six-string guitar. 

Django struggled to learn how to play the guitar again after his hands were horribly burned when his wagon burned to the ground.

Django's music was recorded on 78 rpm phonograph records, which could be played on both sides. You can hear the phonograph in some of the recordings.

So what is jazz guitar? And how does this music which flew from Django's nimble fingers really sound? There's only one way to find out.

BOUNCING AROUND by Django Reinhardt

First, we sat still, closed our eyes, and listened (and the birds chimed in).

Then, we acted out the song by moving our bodies in the way that the music made us feel.

Then, we acted out the song in the way we thought Django himself might have imagined the "bouncing around".

Max chasing shadows.

The next tune lent itself well to a different medium.

CHASING SHADOWS by Django Reinhardt

The kids decided to color and paint "chasing shadows" while they listened to the song. This song differs from the previous one because it was recorded after Django began playing with violinist Stephane Grappelli and the Quintette de Hot Club du France. You can hear more sets of strings and even a little percussion towards the end. 

Light painting makes it big.

Look at who else is a fan of light painting? The husband of Edie Brickell, more obscurely known as Mr. Paul Simon. Though the cover of his new album (which we thoroughly enjoy) looks exciting, I think his people need to get with Tino's people on how to truly paint with light.

J'adore la musique francaise.

C'est comme ca. Et voila. Les mp3s sont pour toi. Ne t'inquiete pas.

The extraordinary rhythm of an MRI machine and its magnetic fields:

IRM by Charlotte Gainsbourg

Serge paints his wife at night:

JANE DANS LA NUIT by Serge Gainsbourg

President Sarzocky's wife is also his lover:

L'AMOUREUSE by Carla Bruni

Charles knows the end is in sight:

TU NE M'AIME PLUS by Charles Anzavour

  Ev psych games dominate in certain circles:

ELLE AIME LE CATCH by Ko and josephine

Somewhere else:

A L'HOTEL by MM

The secret to good sleep:

TRICK PONY by Charlotte Gainsbourg

If you like Gainsbourg, Birkin, and French music, then you'll probably appreciate these past and utterly relevant mp3 and photo posts:

Serge Gainsbourg and a few other favored Frenchmen

Love letter #9

Textures and tastes and apres-travel playlist

A song and a stitch: Day #21.

Milla's pants were upcycled from a tattered old jersey tshirt.

My thoughtful model and muse.

Far from a fancy stitch- simple white thread.

She tucked the pants into her boots of her own volition. I love her style.

The song is a tribute to old gray tshirts, trains, and the color gray itself.

TRAIN LEAVING GRAY by Mason Jennings (mp3)

Learning about lines: An easy first lesson in the elements of design.

Today we began our investigation of the elements of design. Words which gained new meanings for us included design, line, and nonobjective art. Lines have been compared to the nervous system of design in arts.

A line is the path traced by a moving point. Different types of lines express different feelings, moods, and objects in design. Lines can be used to show movement and to contour shapes. Sometimes you can even guess an artist by his or her particular use of lines.

One artist who made obvious use of many different kinds of lines was Joan Miro. The painting below was created using oil paint on canvas. Miro named it The Bird With a Calm Look, Its Wings in Flames. The kids traced their fingers over the thin lines, the thick lines, the curvy lines, the curly lines, the straight lines, and the shaped lines.

Thick lines can add volume and lend weight, as in this marker-colored drawing of a fish by a young Romanian child at the National Peasant Museum.

After exploring lines in our discussion, it was time to start playing with lines. Max, Micah, Milla, Meghan, and Cameron each received a notecard and a pencil. I explained that I would play 6 different songs and for each song, they would receive a notecard. Their task was to listen to the music and let their hands capture the music on paper- to summon the way the music made them feel through lines. Cameron and Meghan humored me so very kindly. I love them.

Rather than draw an object, which would be an "objective arrangement of line", they should aim for a "nonobjective arrangement" which lacked any purpose besides expressing the music. I provided an example by asking them to sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" as I drew a few bright, sunny, happy, curly lines inspired by the music.

Generally, I played each song for as long as it took everyone to finish and be satisfied with their linear, nonobjective depiction. If you'd like to try this activity with your kids, you need 3 notecards for each child, a pencil for each, a computer which plays music, and the free mp3s below. Just flip over the notecard and use both sides (unless you have lined notecards).

After each song, we compared the lines. Everyone had a different way of depicting the song and the lines it inspired- a great segue for discussing different styles and interpretations in art. Meghan's lines reflected the beats and frequencies of the music, while Micah's seemed to represent how a person might move around a room dancing to the music. Cameron used thick lines and shapes to emphasize strong beats and sounds, while Max made use of rigid and flexible lines to suggest undulations or strong beat patterns. It was truly fascinating.

Unfortunately, Milla and I had a nursing festival so I didn't get the chance to try my own hand at the exercise. In a way, this made the results all the more interesting because I lacked a vision bias so I could be more open to how others depicted the songs rather than compare them to my own.

STAY DON'T GO by Spoon

My thinking: This song has a strong beat with various jagged edges that might emerge in lines.

And here is how the artists heard and depicted the lines:

BRON YR-AUR (Led Zeppelin cover) by M. Ward

My thinking: This song has a more melodic, whimsical touch which might involve light curls and squiggles, soft lines and waves.

And here is what the artists did with it:

GIRL WITH ONE EYE (Bayou Percussion Version) by Florence and the Machine

My thinking: This song has interesting loops and spikes and a deep beat.

The artists' take:

MITULEASA by Taraful din Naipui

My thinking: This piece combines laughing violins with a fast folk rhythm that might encourage lines to hop, jump, and spin.

ABRACADABRA by The Steve Miller Band

My thinking: This song just piqued my interest to see what sort of lines everyone discovered within. Plus, it fit well with our wizard-laden week and I just knew Max would love it.

Where the artists went with Steve Miller:

I think I see a few objects in these.... wizard hats perhaps. "No," Meghan insists, "those are triangles." Who am I to argue with the artists?

A song and a stitch: Day #20.

Little girls and dolls on my mind- every scrap of fabric and floss can be used to make a doll. Is doll-making addictive? Because I am in the throes of something...

HOLY CREATION by Kris Kristofferson (mp3)

A song and a stitch: Day #19.

Tino's parents have a horse ranch in Guatemala, so Tino drew this horseshoe and I "colored it in" with threads.

LOOK AT ME MAMA by John Buck Wilkin (mp3)

 

A song and a stitch: Day #18.

Tony the tiny worm made Milla quite happy this morning.

THE DREAMING MOON (Magnetic Fields Cover) by the Mooncreatures via LostLostLost

The Coryell Castle Christ-musts playlist.

I love the way the tree looks at night...

THE CHRISTMAS WALTZ- She and Him

CHRISTMAS DON'T BE LATE- Caleb and the Caroling Caravan

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE FAMILY- Lindley Ruth and Her Tipsy String Band

WONDERFUL- My Morning Jacket

THE SUBURBS (Arcade Fire cover)- Cuff the Duke

ANY WAY YOU WANT IT- Eef Barzelay

ON YOUR WAY- The Alabama Shakes

ALL THE BEST (John Prine cover)- My Morning Jacket

INFINITE ARMS- Band of Horses

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN- Branches

MERRY BLUES- Manu Chao

NO SCRUBS (TLC cover)- The Debutante Hour

A song and a stitch: Day #17.

Meooow.

ELLE AIME LE CATCH by Ko and Josephine

A song and a stitch: Day #16.

Truly the most playful and easiest of the stitches so far. A little hat for a little girl.

OLD JOE JATTA by Bela Fleck (mp3)

A song and a stitch: Day #15.

A little tree on green felt using a new thread... Maybe a stuffed tree toy or maybe kindling, a handwarmer, something cozy.

A BROTHER WAS DEAD by Balthrop, Alabama (mp3)

A song and a stitch: Day #13.

Today's song and stitch combines thread, rainy weather, an Alina from Pakistan, daydreams of my niece, and various shades of blue and orange.

FIX YOU (Coldplay cover) by Alina Ishaque (mp3)

A song and a stitch: Day #12.

I almost missed my stitch today after a langerous dinner at Bunica's. But Bunica was in a spunky mood and decided to teach me what can only be called "The Lydia Stitch". Such a fun, curvy stitch for flowers. I'm sure the stitch has another official name, but for me, it will always be my mother's stitch. What a beautiful treasure. The song can only follow the stitch...

ALL THE BEST (John Prine cover) by My Morning Jacket

A song and a stitch: Day #11.

I love feathers. And I love the expression "put a feather in your cap". 

A simple little stitch made while watching the kids play outside in the grass.

ANY WAY YOU WANT IT (Journey cover) by Eef Barzelay

A song and a stitch: Day #10.

Sometimes I think all babies look like little old men. Especially Milla when she sleeps.

My 4.5 minute stitch-fest today is a tribute to the very young and the very old. Alike.

HE WILL CALL YOU BABY by The Cowboy Junkies

A song and a stitch: Day #9.

Inspiration: A poem by Christina Rossetti and a book about Jacques Cousteau.

WHEN FISHES SET UMBRELLAS UP

         by Christina Rosetti

When fishes set umbrellas up

    If the rain-drops run,

Lizards will want parasols

    To shade them from the sun.

 

BLUE UMBRELLA by John Prine

A song and a stitch: Day #8.

Max drew a "crystal mining car carrying golden crystals" on fabric for me to stitch. Little eyes are so forgiving- he loved it so much I added it to a throw pillow sham for his bed. A coal for a little shepherd it shall be.

SHEPHERD'S DOINA from the album, Romania: The Romanian Lautari

A song and a stitch: Day #7.

The neverending sinus infection and the stitches that did not go as planned. I promised myself I would share my stitching "mishaps" as well as my happy endings. So here is a mishap. Blaming it on the rain...

DIE ANOTHER DAY (James Bond Theme) by Madonna

 

A song and a stitch: Day 5.

Max discovered yesterday that "buttons make good wheels". So today's stitch was for him. Wheels, Joe le Taxi, linen, and sturdy engineering.

ARKANASAS TRAVELLER by Wayne Henderson (mp3)

 

A song and a stitch: Day 3.

KNOXVILLE GIRL by The Louvin Brothers

A song and a stitch continues today with Ellie's dog, which he so kindly drew on fabric for me last week. I'm not sure what to name him, but he seems like a friendly old soul, stitched by the dim light of Demetri Martin's chansons and jests.

A song and a stitch: Day 2.

Yesterday, I started my venture into posting a song and a stitch every day for 30 days. Today, on day 2, the virtues of self-discipline are beginning to pay dividends- starting and finishing my original stitch creation took much less time and prompting than yesterday.

If you'd like to join the fun, just copy this button and add it to your blog. You can link back to this post or just link to your first song and stitch post. Promise to let me know so I can enjoy your songs and stitches as well.

All these stitches will be used in the handmade holiday gifts I am currently creating- such a special addition to any cloth towel, dress, bag, or sewn object. It feels wonderful to know that they will be piling up in my little basket for the next month.

Enough "jibber-jabber", as Max would say. My song and stitch today grew from a tiny sparkling bead that resembled a rain drop plus bright green thread and a little longing for spring now that the days darken so quickly. I drew a three lines and then a little splay of dots at the end of each line. Thread and beads turned lines into a sprig.

And somewhere in the background....

DUET FOR GUITARS #3 by M. Ward

A song and a stitch: 30 days of original stitchings and songs.

For the next thirty days, I will post an original daily stitch emerging from my new experiments with threads, fabrics, and designs accompanied by an mp3 tune which speaks that stitch to me somehow. This is partly selfish- a little shove to help me finish all my handmade holiday gifts before the turn of the next century.

The first day brings a combination of experiments with the Romanian couching stitch and freeform improvisational play.

Navy blue linen and crawling, curly threads like the little hairs which escape the ponytail and hide out in little crevices around the nape.

THAT'S THE WAY by Led Zeppelin

The Alabama Shakes at well, that's cool.

Alabama shakes in their wake. You can download their EP for four itty bitty dollars right here. Or you can pretend that bag of chips and that water your bought at the gas station is a worthwhile tradeoff.

Their recent show in Tuscaloosa left lots of tongues wagging about "the next big thing". And NPR's World Cafe seems to agree. Is it strange to say that there is some sweetened Jimi Hendrix feel to their sound? Sample a few tracks at Reverbnation. And don't say nobody warned you.

Suebee songs.

My "mother-in-law", Susan, is staying with us for the weekend. The kids can't get enough of her. And I am so grateful for her help, advice, love, and the ice we've suddenly acquired in the freezer.

ME AND GOD - The Avett Brothers

THESE LONELY NIGHTS - Willie Nelson

FILL ME WITH YOUR LIGHT - Clem Snide

RAMA LAMA DING DONG - The Edsels

BORDERLINE (Madonna Cover)- The Chapin Sisters

OUR MOTHER THE MOUNTAIN - Townes van Zandt

WICKED AS IT SEEMS - Keith Richards

TELL ME - Tom Waits

WHISKEY AND MILK - Thinking Men

WHEN YOU'RE YOUNG AND IN LOVE - Stephen Merritt

Exploring the doina.

The doina is a Romanian folk song tradition of free form lyrical songs made up of a sequence of melodic elements ornamented and lengthened by the performer in a manner typical of the area. It includes vocal and instrumental versions, and tends towards a lament. The word "doina" has no translation in any other language.

You can listen and watch various forms of Romanian doina traditions in this video. Notice the unique instrumentsts and vocal patterns.

Max and I set out to identify some of the interesting sounds and instruments which gave these doinas a pastoral flavor.

• The fluier, similar to a wooden tin whistle
• The caval, a five-hole pipe
• The tilinca, a long metal or wooden tube, open at each end, without finger holes, distinctive to Transylvania
• The nai, a Romanian panpipe
• The bucium (also called a tulnic), similar to the Swiss alpenhorn
• The Stroh violin, also known as the "violin with horn"
• The accordion
• The cobza, a Romanian lute
• The cimpoi, a Romanian bagpipe
• The cimbalom, similar to the dulcimer
• The zongora, a type of guitar held vertically when played

Doina tunes also passed over into Jewish kletzmer music, as can be seen in the sheet music for the 19th century Solinski Doina. Listen to Solinski's Doina and see if you can visualize the music notations.

Chasing doinas through green meadows:

• Great music to stream and enjoy at Smithsonian Folkways.
• The sheet music for Nathan Curtis' "Doina", which you can print and play
• Zamfir plays a doina on the nai in this video
• "Doina străinului” (or "Stranger's Doina") performed by Marica Larion at shepherd’s pipe (“caval”), field recording from 1965. Romanian traditional folk song from Transylvania, Bistrita-Năsăud, Leșu village. This one is apt for transmitting the sentiments of "illegal" immigrants.
• Learn more about the history of the doina here.

Another stunning Southern autumn playlist.

DEAD LEAVES AND THE DIRTY GROUND - The White Stripes

YOU ON MY MIND IN MY SLEEP - Richard Ashcroft

HOW MANY MORE TIMES - Led Zeppelin

WONDERLUST KING - Gogol Bordello

ROME (NEIGHBORS WITH DEVENDRA BARNHART) - Phoenix

IN THE MORNING OF THE MAGICIANS - The Flaming Lips

SARACA INIMA ME - Ducu Bertzi

EARTH DIED SCREAMING - Tom Waits

MYSTIFIES ME - Jay Farrar

OMUL BUN SI POMUL COPT - Mircea Rosu

HORA STACCATO - Andrei Kostelanetz and His Orchestra

SLIGHT FIGURE OF SPEECH - The Avett Brothers

AFRAID AIN'T ME - Bonnie Prince Billy

SHANGHAIN CIGARETTES - Caitlin Rose

Love letter #30: Trends, tastes, and little habits I picked up in Romania.

Creative uses for ikea stools via my cousin Filip's groove-crusted apartment.

• Moonlight Breakfast, a band fresh from the Romanian streets.
• Mathilde, a great design label from Brasov (available in Bucuresti at Hippie Hippie Shake).
• Patterned leggings and tights with everything.
• Florence and the Machine via my cousin Filip.
• Books from The Dalkey Archive, thanks to Anthony Frost English Bookshop in Bucuresti.
• The Soft Moon via my cousin Alice.
• Mayonnaise.
• A hardcore respect for traditional folk embroidery.
• A recovered penchant for laying on graves.
• Eating soup at every meal.
• The use of red tassels on horses to frighten away evil spirits.
• Multiethnic democracies and dual-language street signs in Transylvania as a hopeful future for the US in these anti-immigrant times.
• The hypnotic compositions of Anatol Vieru.
• Romanian car seats beat any car seat I've ever purchased for comfort and design. Milla loves her new throne.

Romanian influence on Jewish culture: An exploration of traditional Romanian folk dances.

Every evening on Romanian television, you can find at least one show or program dedicated to traditional folk music or dance. Music and dance, like tuica and Christianity, is woven so deep into the Romanian culture that not even communism could quash it. 

Max wanted to learn more about Romanian dances, so we focused our explorations on that subject today. The hora is the starting point for all traditional Romanian dances. It gathers everyone into a big closed circle where the dancers hold each other's hands and the circle spins, usually counterclockwise, as each participant follows a sequence of three steps forward and one step back. The dance is usually accompanied by musical instruments such as the cymbalum, accordion, violin, viola, double bass, saxophone, trumpet or even the panflute.

There are many different kinds of horas to dance, depending on regions, seasons, and occasions. All you need is a few willing dancers and a good reason to celebrate life (i.e. you're alive is a good one). Max loved watching the videos and noting the differences in the steps and patterns of each hora. 

• Learn how to dance the Romanian hora with the simple step-by-step.
• Watch Hora fetelor, or "the girl's hora", performed by a Romanian folk ensemble.
• Watch Hora de la Sud, or "the hora from the South", performed by the Fluieras Dance Ensemble.
• Enjoy watching a wedding hora in Moldavia, performed by some happy gentlemen. Then watch this mixed-sex wedding hora from Bucovina. Good stuff.
• Read the lyrics ro Hora Unirii, the celebratory hora song written to honor the unification of the Romanian nation in 1856.
• Learn about Hora Bucuriei, or the Hora of Joy, the celebratory hora performed when Romania was admitted to the EU in 2007.
• Wouldn't it be cool if American schools taught folk dances?

The sirba (or Sârba) is a Romanian dance normally played in 2/2 or 2/4 time. It can be danced in a circle, line, or couple formations and was historically popular not only among Romanians, but also Ukrainians, Hungarians, East European Jews, and the Poles of the Tatra Mountains. It is fast-paced and triplets are usually emphasized in the melody. More sirbas and sirba-isms to explore:

• Watch a Sirba de nunta, or "wedding sirba" in traditional folk costume with customary calls and responses.
• Watch a Sirba from Oltenia, or, at least, danced by those with Oltenian roots.
• Listen to a Sirba din fluier, or a sirba solo on flute.
• Even better, listen to a Sirba la cimpoi, or a sirba performed on a traditional Romanian bagpipe.

If you research the roots of kletzmer, you'll discover that this vivacious and beautiful music genre shares seeds with Romanian folk dances and melodies. According to Wikipedia: 

Above all the musical styles which influenced the traditional Klezmer musicians, the Romanian influence seems to be the strongest and most enduring. Traditional Romanian music was heard, adopted and adapted by Klezmer musicians. This fact is reflected in the dance forms found throughout the entire surviving Klezmer music repertoire (e.g., Horas, Doinas, Sirbas and Bulgars etc.).

Hopefully, when my mom returns from Romania, she will teach our family to dance a personal favorite, the Ciuleandra, which is diminished unless the rich voice of Maria Tanase holds it up. On a parting note, fedelesul wins the prize for the goofiest traditional folk dance, which means I need to find a circle for it very, very soon...

Textures and tastes and apres-travel playlist.

Travel always brings an encounter with various textures and tastes. What remains of Romania now comes in sense-battered fragments, impressions, the stuffing of playlists and poetry.

PARCUL - Alexandru Andries (mp3)

  

VOYAGE - Charlotte Gainsbourg (mp3)

DON'T MOVE - Phantogram (mp3)

WALKER - Cascadeur (mp3)

 

DERELICT - Sundress (mp3)

 

YOU'VE GOT THE LOVE (Florence and the Machine Cover) - The xx (mp3)

 

DINU LIPATTI'S BONES - The Mountain Goats (mp3) 

Alice + Remus + music.

Two birds of a feather in the park. "Morcov" (via the grafitti) means carrot. Alice shared a bunch of music and movies with me yesterday. I share with the world.

Sleep Ranger (Blissed Out's Edit) - Pink Priest

Meridian Puzzles - Phalangius 

We Are We - The Soft Moon

 

Love letter #20: Ponchos.

Preparing for a lot of travel through airplanes, Eastern European cars, trains, metros, buses, and even the occasional horse-and-buggy has got me thinking about ponchos. Glorious, multi-faceted family ponchos for the Coryells. In my head as I prepare to stitch.... (To download the mp3, just right click and save as.)

Reversible car seat poncho tutorial (Pattern Schmattern)

How to make a fabric poncho or a Mexican poncho (EHow)

Poncho with panache printable tutorial (Bernina)

Homemade super hero poncho cape (Filth Wizardry)

Poncho tutorial (Tilda)

Fleece poncho (Drummond News)

Plus various ponchos for sale found with the help of google to inspire colors, shapes, and texture...

A dance party with kids on a rainy day.

The weather limits our choices again today. Or maybe it just brings dancing and music into sharp relief. Why not dance? If you'd like to join us, just right-click on the image with song titles to download the song and host your own dance party.

skip to my lou is a traditional American folk dance in which partners usually swing around and trade off for other partners. First we practiced skipping across the room using the cues "step-hop, step-hop." Then, without the music, we skipped in a straight line towards our partner, reciting “step-hop, step-hop" until we reached our partner. When we faced each other, we froze in place. Then we linked arms and skipped, turing clockwise in a circle. 

Then we added music to the mix. On the words “Skip to My Lou”, we skipped across the room towards our partners. When we reached our partners, the verses began and we linked arms and skipped in circles.

Afterwards, we engaged in the customary folk dancing practice of acknowledging our partner by bowing (for boys) or performing a curtsey (for girls). 

imagining we are lining tracks For this song, we talked about how men used to sing as they lined railroad tracks, which involved lifting heavy pieces of wood and coordinating when you would drop them together. Track lining songs are an important part of our shared history here in the South. 

As we listened to the song, everybody "lined tracks". For further exploration, you can learn more about railroad ties and track-lining here.

hobbit dancing is a pretty wide-open dancing activity. We talked about hobbits and their small size and how this might inform their dancing style. We also got a little inspiration from this wild hobbit dance video. Then we just listened to the music and let our inner hobbits call the shots.

Snowden's Jig is described in the music liner as a "Genuine Negro Jig". For this dance, we tried to learn how to dance an Irish jig with some help from our friend the internet. A traditional Irish jig is a series of hops and steps that repeat themselves over and over again. The steps are simple, either stepping forward or taking steps backwards, but the hops can require some practice in getting the timing and coordination right. The best way to practice getting it right is to make sure that you are listening well to the music.

The beat is fast, so you'll want to make small steps and hops at first in order to maximize your chances of getting in all the steps on the beat of the music. Here is a step-by-step:

1. Point your left foot in front of you. Step onto your left foot and bring your right foot into a closed position behind it, transferring your weight onto your right foot.

2. Bring your left toe up to your right knee as you hopSwing your left leg so that your left knee is pointing in front of you and your foot is by your right knee---this is also done while hopping.

3. Place your left foot on the ground behind you: the first of four steps backwards, left, right, left, right. Your weight should now be on your right foot, so that you can point your left foot in front of you---you're back to the beginning!

Unfortunately, I was too busy dancing to take any photos, but I'm walking on sunshine.

Love letter #17: Hunts, treasures, and mysteries with kids.

A photo taken at the Columbus Zoo earlier this week.

SOFT SOFT SOFT- The Mural and the Mint (mp3)

I love a good hunt- the kind with clues, thorns, grass stains, and head-scratching moments. This love letter is devoted to good hunts, mysteries, and findings.

Letterboxing, sport and glory.

Good ole hide and seek.

Host your own green scavenger hunt.

A riddle from the Grimm Brothers.

Mystery food taste test (Let's Explore).

Geocaching, another recent love story at the Coryell Castle.

Backyard photo scavenger hunt (No Time for Flashcards).

The Armchair Treasure Hunt Club.

ABC scavenger hunt, a printable for the weekend.

Group scavenger hunts, like this printable photo scavenger hunt. 

Krummuz, a free google maps based program for authoring and following treasure trails and treasue hunts online. Includes iPhone application. 

Leave it to the knitters in Portland to dream up something so cool.

A nature scavenger hunt printable checklist.

Or a more detailed, touchy-feely nature scavenger hunt that engages all the senses in exploring and observing.

Go on a squirrel nut hunt.

A recycle scavenger hunt printable checklist.

A graveyard scavenger hunt printable checklist. I'm loving these.

The University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt has a reputation.

Internet scavenger hunt (Education World).

Search the clouds or stars for a story. Then tell it.

Love letter #15: Family trees, leaves, and ripening.

FAMILY TREE - Howling Owls

I love the word "ripening" as a descriptor of how our homeschooling is "progressing", mostly because it is not linear (like the word progress, which assumes a definite desirable end). Yes, my little ones are ripening. Thank you so much for asking. Are you ripening? 

I love Let's Explore's 10 ways to play in September printable, especially since it is not focused on the supposed autumn leaves which have not arrived in our neck of the woods. Fall still seems so far.

I love The Artful Parent's leaf and fern print tshirt how-to. So timely.

I am made slightly giddy by Jenny's thrifting finds and hoping to find some tasty Ohio thrifting during my visit.

I love this tutorial for making Montessori baric tablets. I wonder if Patrick will make these for us while we are on our little trip to Ohio.... I have a feeling he is reading this as I type.... Patrick, I love you and I hope your lips aren't chapped.

B is for banjo.

MUSIC AND DAYDREAMS

Micah colored the B is for Banjo page while Max colored it and labelled the parts with a little help from Cold Antler Farm.

We talked about banjos and listened to some banjo music as we colored and painted. You can listen to the music with us by downloading the mp3s below or using the audio function.

BANJO DREAM - The Carolina Chocolate Drops

MAR RANO - Bela Fleck

JESUS OF BANJUL - Bela Fleck

I wanted to hear this NPR program on the roots of the banjo "reconsidered" so I figured this was a great time to listen to it as we colored and crafted.

TALK, WATCH, AND READ

Since Max and Micah have already watched Throw Down My Heart a number of times, we talked about what we learned about the banjo from this film. Micah requested a refresher, so we watched Bela and his Tanzanian friends in an abridged version. We also watched a clip from the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys rocking out their banjos in their bedroom. This inspired Max to jump around and make his own plan for a banjo band....

Then, Max read aloud to us from this groovy Sheesham and Lotus brochure on old timey instruments and music. Putting the banjo in the local context of old timey music is helpful for us, since there is an abundant and throbbing love for this genre in Alabama.

CREATE: MAKE YOUR OWN BANJO

Inspired by Little Elephants' paper plate banjos, we created our own banjos using what we could find.

I always like to begin with a ton of possibile supplies and then narrow down as we go, depending on how much (or how little) the munchkins want to do. Supplies included:

• Nonbreakable kids plates
• Stickers
• Acrylic paints
• Paintbrushes
• Paint stirring sticks (free at hardware stores)
• Cotton puff balls
• Masking tape
• Regular glue
• Scrap fabric
• Scissors
• Cardboard

We started by decorating our nonbreakable (formica?) cheapo plates. The kids attached stickers to the head of the banjo and then created a border along the rim of their banjos using scrap fabric and glue. Max was so proud that he found a sticker for Gertie and then he decided that he wanted to serenade Gertie with his banjo. So the craft took on a goatish element.

Next we wrapped three rubber bands around one plate. We cut and decorated pieces of cardboard to use as makeshift tuning keys or pegs, added them with glue, and reinforced with masking tape.

I love how Max managed to find a "Girls Rule" sticker for his Gertie-inspired banjo.

"Gertie loves it. Look mom, she stood on her hind legs..."

A song for Gertie.

"Gertie, oh Gertie, I love you Gertieeeee..... Oh Gertieeee..."