It is still winter right?

This week’s Friday Find comes from member Jura Litchfield who wrote the following:

“Walking in the Air” comes from the animated movie “The Snowman” which I believe can be found in its entirety on youtube. I found it to be a good example of a movie without words in which the music develops the mood and presents the “sound pictures” that kids can identify, such as a descending melody when the hero descends the stairs, etc.

I have found that the idea of flying above the earth in the song ” Walking in the Air” is a great metaphor for finding one’s head voice.  I find other youtube clips of boys singing this song to demonstrate that it is a song for boys as well as girls.  My experience is that third graders and fourth, too, respond very favorably to this song and are willing to sing it in head voice.

Thanks to Jura for the great suggestions and the great video!

The Friday Find is a weekly feature of kesne.org and features videos that would appeal to music educators, folk historians, and music lovers in general. You can view an archive of our Friday Finds here. If you would like to suggest a Friday Find please contact our Media Secretary via our contact form and include the subject Friday Find Suggestion.

Overtone singing is an amazing thing where by changing the shape of your mouth can create separate pitches in the overtones, even when the fundamental pitch remains the same.

This first video does a somewhat better job of explaining exactly what overtone singing is and how you can practice it.

This next video shows how you can use the overtones produced to create an actual melody. Listen carefully to hear “Amazing Grace” in the overtones. It might take you a few tries.

Finally this is an example of a piece of composed music that uses overtones for a neat effect.

Everyone may not have noticed that MENC (The Music Educator National Conference) has officially made the switch to NAfME (National Association for Music Educators).

So they thought they would spread the news with a holiday greeting card.