How did you choose the song selections for your CD? 

I had so many favorites, it was hard to choose.  I decided to focus on the changing seasons.  I wanted to record songs that had not received a lot of exposure.   Each member of my family helped by telling me which songs they had particularly liked when they were young.  I recorded the songs in two takes in June of 2000.

Notes about  the songs:

Sing A Song Of Spring A delightful song that describes the call of the outside world when the "green buds show."

I Can't See the Wind was a song my daughter, Holly, and I would sing together at home and in the car as we did errands. 

The Spring Medley is a collection of rain songs and was fun to put together  I Hear Thunder is an adaptation of Frere Jacques that I learned from the book This Little Puffin by Elizabeth Mary Matterson.  It's Raining is a loose translation of a song I learned when I was a young child in Holland. 

The Winter Now Is Over we enjoyed singing because of its great echo refrain - "Cuckoo, Cuckoo, Oh can't you hear it, too? I thought I heard this morning, the cuckoo's song at last?"  And even though I live in Victoria, BC where our winters are mild, I do feel like singing when "The winter now is over!"

It Is A Happy Morning helps me to remember to focus on the beauties of the world around me and to remember that there is a bigger world than the one inside my house.

Tadpoles and Salamanders by Marcia Berman brings back memories of the many days we spent as a family at a local lake - swimming and playing outdoors all day long, looking at dragonflies, minnows, crayfish, etc.

 I sung Wind, Wind, Blowingas a lullaby for many years.  My children usually fell asleep before I got through the song twice.  I always wanted to sing it as a round, and with recording technology, I did.  That was fun!

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, Hurry is one of my favorite songs partly because the song itself is so much fun to sing.  It starts out slowly and speeds up as it goes along to fit with the words.  The words describe the different ways the four animals sense winter coming and it tickles my fancy; who can resist – “Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, we must all get fat and furry.”   I also have wonderful memories of singing this song in the car with my children as we drove around doing errands. 

My daughter often sang Winter Walk with me when she was younger.  It was one of her favorites. 

Remember:

You don't have to have a perfect voice to sing to and with your children.  Start singing with recorded music  if you are uncomfortable singing on your own. You might find that as you sing along with recorded music, you'll feel more confident to begin to sing on your own.  Your children can be a very non-judgmental audience, especially when they are small.  Enjoy yourself and have fun!  Remember, if you can speak, you can sing!