A Storytelling of Crows

Autumn Song: Swinging Along the Open Road

2011-10-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

Angelina, this blog's most faithful reader, asked me if I had any good fall/autumn songs to share. Michaelmas is done, and Martinmas is not yet here, but how can I resist a request? I have not yet learned by heart the round Swinging Along the Open Road, but I am planning on it. My daughter has a knack for singing rounds without getting tangled up in the melodies, so I'll be working on it with her. I found a YouTube recording of the song, which you may listen to here.

These are the lyrics:
Swinging along the open road
Swing along under a sky that's clear
Swinging along the open road
All in the fall, in the fall of the year.

Swinging along the open road
All in the fall of the year.
Swinging along the open road
Under a sky that's clear
Swing along the open road
In the fall of the year.
Swinging along, swinging along
Swinging along the open road
All in the fall of the year.

This song is a bit more sophisticated than many folk songs I can easily strum on the guitar. I'm no musicologist, but I think there are a couple of flats in the tune that give it a bit of extra zest. For the visual, here's a picture of autumn-themed dolls I made in 2010. I'm pretending that they're gathering around the bonfire after their brisk walk). The bonfire flames came from MamaKopp, and the trees came from The Enchanted Cupboard. I'm planning on making another guitarist and lantern-walker before too long.

Marie in the Garden

2011-04-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

At long last, here is a song for spring! The song is called "Marie in the Garden" and it accompanies a simple game. A Waldorf kindergarten teacher taught it to me several years ago after I gave her one of my early creations. In the game, all the children close their eyes while the leader sings,

Marie in the garden,
The garden, Marie.
She is as tiny as she can be.
Marie in the garden,
The garden, Marie.
Open your eyes and where is she?

In the meantime, the teacher has hidden the doll in a pocket or somewhere nearby. The children have to guess where the little doll is.

I made a Marie in the Garden doll for my shop, and asked my daughter to sing the song for your use. Here is the song on video:

Lantern Walk Songs 2010

2010-11-08T19:13:00.001-08:00

For those of you coming to this blog for the first time, you can find all of my posted Lantern Walk songs here. For those of you who are waiting for new songs, I'm touched that you still return. If you let me know what kinds of songs you're looking for, I will seek them out. If they're fine for the public domain, I'll post simple recordings as I can.

May Day Song Regrets

2010-05-04T08:50:00.001-07:00

I had hoped to have had some songs for you for May. However, Life took over! I may yet be able to post some melodies soon for May Day, which you can store away for next year.

We Are Three Wandering Travelers

2009-12-12T09:25:00.000-08:00

"We Are Three Wandering Travelers" is a circle game song that my daughter really enjoyed in her kindergarten class last winter. The group forms a circle. Three children “travel” outside of the circle, walking around it as everyone sings:

We are three wandering travelers
Out in the wind and the rain
We saw your light, shining so bright,
Tapped on your window pane, saying,
“Let us come in, let us come in,
Into your house we pray.
Let us come in, let us come in,
Please do not turn us away.”

Children in the circle respond with an emphatic, "No!"

The song is sung two more times. The second time, the circle responds with "No!" but on the third time, they respond with “Yes!”

The three children enter the circle. Everyone sings:

You may come in, you may come in,
Into our house today.*
You may come in, you may come in,
We will not turn you away.
YES!"

Here is the tune, which, when my daughter heard it, said, "You're singing too low!"

*I sang "we pray" instead of "today."

Santa Lucia (Saint Lucy) Song

2009-12-08T10:26:00.001-08:00

The Parenting Passageway has a good post on the December 13 festival of Saint Lucy/Santa Lucia called Santa Lucia Day in the Waldorf Home. In the post is an embedded link to the Swedish Santa Lucia song as well as a link to lyrics translated by Mama Lisa's World.

In my daughter's school, the song has been simplified to these few lines:

Now in the darkest night
Enter with candlelight
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!

For this blog, I sang the song twice on video:

Jack Frost Song

2009-12-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

"Jack Frost Was in the Garden" was the first song of the the winter cycle that I learned when my daughter attended her Waldorf parent-toddler program. The first verse is based upon the poem by John P. Smeeton and I have not yet discovered from where the second verse comes. You may read Smeeton's poem here. Here are the lyrics to the song I recorded for home and school use:

Sung:

Jack Frost was in the garden
I saw him there at dawn
A’ dancing round the bushes
And prancing on the lawn.
He wore a cloak of silver,
A hat all shimmering white,
A wand of glittering star-dust,
And shoes of moonbeam light.

--Based upon the poem by John P. Smeeton

Spoken:

He shook his silver dust
Upon the tallest trees
He painted pretty pictures
On every pane you see.
He turned the grass and bushes
From green to sparkling white
And all the garden’s puddles
From mud to fairy ice.

When we sang, we walked around in a circle. When we spoke the second part, we waved our imaginary wands.

Here is the video with the tune for the song:

Fire Fairy Song

2009-12-01T12:54:00.000-08:00

When my daughter was in Waldorf preschool, the teacher would light a candle after the children had sat down at the table for their snack. Then we would sang the following song as we held hands:

Help me call the fire fairies...
Fire fairies, come to us,
Bringing golden light from the sun,
Holding hands, please!

Until I had a child, I never understood the practice of holding hands at the table. Before, I thought it was simply to promote good will. Now, I know it's to keep children from grabbing the food!

I made a simple recording of the Fire Fairy song. I don't know who composed the song, but the teacher told me that most of the songs sung in the Waldorf school were for general use. I hope that if this song appeals to you, you can incorporate it into your own families' lives. For the graphic, I used the fire elemental recently created for Alkelda: Dolls for Storytelling, my online shop.

Update: In the comments, Stacy writes:

It's so interesting to hear how it is done in other schools. Ours is similar with some of the same tune:

fire fairies come to us
with a light and a glow
far from heaven to us below

when we put out the candle we sing:

fire fairies warm and bright
thank-you for your golden light

Martinmas 2009 Lantern Walk

2009-11-12T20:01:00.000-08:00

A year after I began this blog as an adjunct to Saints and Spinners, I finally have a new video to share. This one can definitely go into the "home movies" file! My daughter's kindergarten class had their lantern walk last night in weather that was neither rainy nor windy. This fortuitous weather meant that we could stay out longer than in previous years. I thought the parents of my daughter's classmates might enjoy having this video on hand to show relatives what the procession is like. Everyone in the video is anonymous, as the only light comes from fire and I have but a tiny camera.

The songs in the video are "I'm Walking With My Lantern," also known as "I Go Outside With My Lantern" and "Glimmer, Lantern, Glimmer."

I Go Outside With My Lantern: A Lantern Walk Song

2008-11-03T18:02:00.000-08:00

My daughter's kindergarten teacher sang "I go outside with my lantern," the main Lantern Walk song, so that people could learn the words and tune before Martinmas. The sheet music you see is one version of the song, but the lyrics listed below are the ones that my daughter's kindergarten class sings.

Here are the words:

I go outside with my lantern, my lantern goes with me
Above the stars are shining bright, down here on Earth shine we.
The cock does crow, the cat meows, la bimmel, la bammel, la boom.
‘Neath heaven’s dome till we go home, la bimmel, la bammel, la boom.

I go outside with my lantern, my lantern goes with me
Above the stars are shining bright, down here on Earth shine we.
So shine your light through the still dark night, la bimmel, la bammel, la boom
‘Neath heaven’s dome till we go home, la bimmel, la bammel, la boom.

My Lantern! My Lantern! A Lantern Walk Song

2008-11-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

I had recorded my daughter's kindergarten teacher singing this song with my daughter and one of her first grade friends. However, when I listened to the recording at home, I discovered an excess of background noise that would have made listening to the song quite painful. Fortunately, my daughter not only remembers most of the songs but has good pitch. If you ever need to find out the words to a particular Waldorf kindergarten, preschool or toddler song, feel free to ask her to sing it to you on the playground. Chances are, she knows how it goes. Here is the song "My Lantern! My Lantern!"

Here are the words:

My lantern! My lantern!
Sun and moon and stars
Put out all your lights
Put out all your lights
That my lantern can truly shine bright.

I wrote a post about Martinmas last year, which you will find here.

Glimmer, Lantern, Glimmer: A Lantern Walk Song

2008-11-03T15:02:00.000-08:00

My daughter's kindergarten teacher sang the "Glimmer, lantern, glimmer" Lantern Walk song so that people could learn the words and tune before Martinmas:

Here are the words:

Glimmer, lantern, glimmer
Little stars a-shimmer
Over meadow, moor and dale
Flitter, flutter, elfin veil
Pee-wit, pee-wit, tikka-tikka-tik
Rucoo, rucoo.

Glimmer, lantern, glimmer
Little stars a-shimmer
Over rock and stock and stone
Wandering, skipping, little gnome
Pee-wit, pee-wit, tikka-tikka-tik
Rucoo, rucoo.

Welcome to A Storytelling of Crows

2008-11-01T17:20:00.000-07:00

I've created A Storytelling of Crows as a resource for songs, stories and home videos outside of the scope of my Saints and Spinners blog. The title comes from the less common collective noun for a group of crows. The more common collective noun is "a murder of crows," which evokes a different mood than the one I want for my supplemental blog.