Title: Go In and Out the Window: An Illustrated Songbook For Children
Author: Dan Fox
File Under: Music
It's good to make music with the family. Last week we talked about hymns and chants, but I don't want you to think that I think things should be all spiritual, all the time.
If you didn't grow up with the kind of songs that are featured in these resources I'm mentioning, then the best thing to do — really — better than despairing or feeling overwhelmed or giving up — is to buy a couple of CDs or if you are a child of this millennium perhaps download some albums? or however you say it — and just listen to them.
You'll learn them and soon you'll all be singing away.
If you learn folk and traditional music, you'll give your children the gift of musical discernment. I know there is a big industry out there selling you new things, but before you partake, ground yourself in what's time tested (as always!).
A great place to start with little children, actually, is on this new website called Little Songster. This young mom is uploading audio files of herself just singing — just like you would — simple songs that every child should know. So bookmark that!
You can see some of Elizabeth Mitchell's videos on You Tube — she's also recorded lots of children's songs in an accessible way.
My generation and those a bit older listened to Burl Ives — I remember especially this album, Little White Duck And Other Children's Favorites. Another old-timey album is Pete Seeger's Children's Concert At Town Hall. You wouldn't want to imitate his politics, but the sound of his voice singing Oh Shenandoah defines an American moment. At least it defines it for me!
Children a bit older love Peter and the Wolf, and I particularly recommend the recording made with Arthur Godfrey. Others I've heard seem as if the artists involved are doing a day's work, rather than actually enjoying the music. You can find it on iTunes. Children will learn to recognize the instruments in the orchestra through this delightful musical story, and on the other side of my record was a really fun recording of The Carnival of the Animals with Noel Coward reciting Ogden Nash's verses, which he wrote to fit Saint-Saens' music. But you don't need the vinyl LP to hear it: it's right here.
From the Wikipedia article on the piece:
In 1949, Ogden Nash wrote a set of humorous verses to accompany each movement for a Columbia Masterworks recording of Carnival of the Animals conducted by Andre Kostelanetz. Recited on the original album by Noël Coward, they are now often included when the work is performed. The conclusion of the verse for the “Fossils”, for example, fits perfectly with the punchline-like first bar of the music:
At midnight in the museum hall
The fossils gathered for a ball
There were no drums or saxophones,
But just the clatter of their bones,
A rolling, rattling, carefree circus
Of mammoth polkas and mazurkas.
Pterodactyls and brontosauruses
Sang ghostly prehistoric choruses.
Amid the mastodontic wassail
I caught the eye of one small fossil.
“Cheer up, sad world,” he said, and winked—
“It's kind of fun to be extinct.”
If you can accompany simple songs on the piano, guitar, fiddle (like Pa) or (yes, do!) banjo, you need this: The Great Family Songbook: A Treasury of Favorite Show Tunes, Sing Alongs, Popular Songs, Jazz & Blues, Children's Melodies, International Ballads, … Jingles, and More for Piano and Guitar.
That should get you started!
Do you have a favorite songbook or recording of traditional songs? Let us know in the comments!
Laura Jeanne says
Thank you so much for this post! I have been wanting to bring more music into our home for some time now, and you have given me some wonderful ideas. I already ordered a used copy of Go In and Out the Window, can’t wait to receive it!
Margo, Thrift at Home says
Thank you for all the links! There’s some stuff here I didn’t know about! (And I don’t have a problem with Pete Seeger’s politics in general)
We particularly like Peter, Paul, and Mary albums, especially the ones they did specifically for kids. A Canadian album by Kim Thiessen “To such as these” – songs and lullabies fro children of the world. And Shawn Colvin singing “Holiday Songs and Lullabies” which is an American folkways recording. Also, we have been watching some classic movies and then getting the soundtracks – Sound of Music, and Mary Poppins, most recently.
We also will often sing from our church hymnal after supper, taking turns choosing the hymns. The kids love that.
Melissa Diskin says
Margo, when I was a kid ALL our favorite songs were from the hymnal. We used to joke that you knew you were a church kid if your favorite songs all had numbers for titles. 🙂
Jennie C. says
Thank you for the Peter Seeger reference! I have that songbook and one other with lots of folk songs. Many I remember from my school days, but there are lots more I don’t know. I’d been looking for some appropriate CDs to help us learn the tunes, and now I have a source!
Woman of the House says
Yes, we used Go in and Out the Window when the kids were little. Excellent compilation. We also listened to a lot of Raffi. He sings traditional songs without a lot of fanfare, which I think is perfect. There *are* some songs he’s written himself that I don’t care for, and I haven’t heard any of his new albums, but his early stuff is gnerally very good. In fact, he was one children’s artist that didn’t make me feel like puncturing my eardrums if I had to listen to his recordings one more time. (Like Pete Seeger, you won’t necessarily want to follow his politics.) The Wee Sing nursery rhymes recording got a lot of air time at our house and I learned some tunes I didn’t know to go with words I did know.
Be careful with Peter and the Wolf recordings that you get the original version and *not* and pc-ified “update.” President Clinton (I think it was) did a version in which Peter lets the wolf go at the end and everyone sings “Kum Bay Yah” instead. (Not really, but they may as well have!)
Susan says
We like Aubrey Atwater (or Atwater and Donnely)–a folk singer from Rhode Island near where I grew up. Also if you look on Amazon there are several CDs of the songs in the Little House books. Those books are crazy popular in our house. I, myself, have read them almost every year since I was about eight. And all those years I (and then my husband) mostly invented tunes which is not a bad practice but it is so much fun to have the real songs.
Leila says
Oh, Susan, that is good to know! Some of the Little House songs are familiar, but some are not. What a good resource!
Susan says
It’s actually a trickier search than I thought. Search for “Pa’s Fiddle Band” and you should get a few options.
Annalisa says
I just happened upon The Laura Ingalls Wilder Songbook at the library. It has a “generous selection”, as the preface states, of songs from the Little House books in simple arrangement for piano and guitar. Looks good!
Emily says
I love Burl Ives Little White Duck! My parents played it for me as a child, and then I got it for my own kids. Good stuff. I also really enjoy “Peter Paul and Mommy”. It is the group Peter Paul and Mary singing kids’ songs. Includes Puff the Magic Dragon, which I loved because one of my earliest memories is of my Daddy playing his guitar and singing it to me. I later learned that it is one of the only things he could play. 🙂 Music creates SUCH strong and happy memories! Thank you for this post!
Judy Bettinger says
We have a VERY well-worn copy of “Go In And Out The Window” that my kids loved. The nice thing about it is that even if you’re a pretty lousy pianist (as I am), it’s quite playable. Another artist I didn’t see mentioned here is Fred Penner. We had his album “The Cat Came Back”, and I STILL have all those songs memorized. They’re really quite charming.
Amanda says
I grew up listening to Raffi, as mentioned above, as well as Sharon, Lois, and Bram (a little louder but mostly traditional songs), and I had an Anne Murray album for children (LP). So when my son was 2 we bought or requested as gifts all of the above in CD form. Making Music, praying twice has nice versions of traditional songs, both folk songs and liturgical hymns or chants. Looking forward to checking out your suggestions!
Anne says
What a wonderful post! Thanks especially for the Noel Coward/Ogden Nash link. I’d like to recommend in particular Elizabeth Mitchell’s Christmas CD, “The Sounding Joy.” I’d also like to add another singer to the list: Dan Zanes. He collaborates often with Elizabeth Mitchell, but many of his songs have a slightly harder edge. His guiding principle is that families should make music together, singing and playing songs that appeal to all ages. He has recorded several themed CDs (sea shanties, Carl Sandburg-collected folk songs, Gospel songs) along with others that are more of a mix though always heavy on the folk songs.
Christine @ Splendor in the Home says
Thanks for this post! I actually own Go In and Out the Window, and we JUST finally got a piano, so I’m excited to finally be able to pick out a few of the tunes for the kids.
I grew up listening to Nancy Cassidy – she has three albums of Kids Songs, which are all very enjoyable. I play them now for the kids. My husband got me into Raffi, who he listened to as a kid. I also second the suggestions for Elizabeth Mitchell, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul & Mary, and Fred Penner.
Katie P says
Go In and Out the Window carries a vivid memory for me, of the first time I picked out an as-yet-unknown-to-me tune on the piano in order to learn a song. The book entered our household in my early childhood, and despite my mother’s displaying it near the piano, it took me years to realize it was a book of music. I never had formal piano lessons, but I must finally have decided to investigate the glossy, hardcover volume at an age when I knew enough about reading music and finding middle C to give it a go on my own. I remember working through the pages of songs, motivated by plinking out the melodies of the ones I knew, and humming along to try the ones I didn’t. It was a challenge but I was enthralled. (Then I realized I could do the same with the hymnal– amazing!) The art alongside the songs made it feel special and grown-up to handle. The tune of “Go In and Out the Window” still sounds in my head like those tentative piano keys.
Wee Sing America and Wee Sing for Christmas are two albums that we loved as kids and which I now recognize as fantastic “teachers” too. I learned so much about American history from the former, and I can often outdo others at carol lyrics and tunes thanks to the latter! I also second (third? fourth?) the mention of Elizabeth Mitchell. Someone gave us “You Are My Little Bird” at a baby shower, and my husband and I both enjoy it. We plan to seek out more of her recordings. Really lovely, and what a gift to add so many simple new songs to our around-the-house repertoire.
Rayna says
We too have a Raffi songbook that I can play on the piano (and which the kids enjoy), and my brother was also a big fan of Sharon, Lois and Bram “back in the day”. My friend Martha was so kind to give us an Elizabeth Mitchell CD for the birth of our most recent, and it’s wonderful! We do like the Wiggles in our home, but we bristle at music sung by cartoon characters (Veggie Tales – so cute, but my ears bleed) and songs for children set to hip-hop. The Little Songster is such a find!
elisa says
Good ideas here! Next post in the series… Movies please? And the remaining secrets for the family of course! It’s all connected!
Kimberlee says
Oh, yay! I love how you write about all the things I wish I found time to write about. Nothing can change the mood of a household as quickly as Music. Did not David soothe the troubled king with the harp?! That afternoon time when everyone’s falling apart and time to make dinner – put on Elizabeth Mitchell or the like and let them sing and dance dance dance. So much pleasanter than a meltdown. And then they grow up some and make music together. Joy. (just last night we were up way too late playing Dominion and we started singing Irish stuff while we played – so goofy) Some favorites here are Peter, Paul and Mommy (oldie and goodie!), Gimme Elbow Room (with RLS poetry to boot), and Cake for Dinner (Scythian for kids!). Pete Seeger’s Bugs and Beasts is fun too, and there’s an old Leadbelly for kids as well.