[HANASHIR:16912] RE: Purim songs for developmentally disabled adults

[Carol Boyd Leon <cbleon...>]

Your choice of songs should depend on the ability level (mental age) of the 
adults you'll be working with.  I've worked with severely disabled adults 
who participated by shaking wrist bells or clapping their hands with 
assistance and otherwise basically watched and listened and enjoyed.

Unless you can find out more about the adults you'll be working with such as 
whether they can actually sing verses, I'd suggest you go with 
preschool-level songs that are designed to allow for participation through 
movement.

I'll be teaching 20 preschool Purim classes this week for ages 2-5.  Among 
the songs I'm including are:

-- All Aboard For Shushan (with a trunk packed with props including a train 
whistle).  All can sing "all aboard, all aboard, all aboard for Shushan" and 
can enjoy the visuals as you dress in a costume, wear a hat, a mask, etc.

-- When You Hear The Name of Esther (clap your hands).  It's just like If 
You're Happy And You Know It.  On the verse, "When you hear the name of 
Haman, make some noise (or shout boo)," I give out groggers.  You might hand 
out shakers, bells, etc.  You might also include "Chag Purim" or any other 
song which has a section during which groggers are played.

-- Horrible, Horrible Haman.  It's the Bunny Foo-Foo melody.  We march in 
place, count together, and make triangles with our fingers for the 
hamantashen.

-- Stomp, Stomp, Stomp (by Karen Daniel).  This one is good if the adults 
are able to stand up to stamp and go rat-a-tat-tat on their knees.

-- My Hat Has 3 Corners.  Lots of hand motions.  LaKova Sheli for the older 
preschoolers, which has basically the same hand motions.

-- I also lead the classes in my "Marching In A Purim Parade" seated using 
lummi sticks and then marching with the sticks, but that's from my new 
children's collection which isn't available quite yet.  Another song that's 
good for marching to is Peter & Ellen Allard's "Purim Parade."

-- "Guess What I Am" is actually titled "Purim Game" by Debbie Friedman and 
is on p. 122-123 of  Manginot.  It can work quite well if you've already 
shown the items in your Purim trunk and if the adults can speak.

The following suggestions are designed for a population that can sing along. 
  "You Can Change The World" (also in Manginot) is one my elementary school 
students at religious school enjoy; they find the sentiments quite 
meaningful.  While you're in Manginot, look for Stephen Richard's 
"Hey-Man!," the reggae that's fun for elementary school kids; you might hand 
out shakers and other rhythm instruments with it.  My day school kids 
especially like Utzu Etza and Mishenichnas Adar, both in Velvel Pasternak's 
"Jewish Holidays In Song."  And all my elementary school kids ask for my 
"Hey! Hey! What Do You Say?"  The sheet music is posted on 
www.totshabbat.com ; it's also got a section that invites the use of 
groggers.

I hope these suggestions are helpful to you (and to others who might be 
planning Purim classes this week).

-- Carol

Carol Boyd Leon
Songwriter/Cantorial Soloist/Music Educator
E-mail:  CBLeon (at) hotmail(dot)com
Phone:  703-250-0554
Web page:  http://www.geocities.com/CBoydLeon




----Original Message Follows----
From: "Joy Newman" <joyzee (at) hotmail(dot)com>
Reply-To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
Subject: [HANASHIR:16907] Purim songs for developmentally disabled adults
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 18:05:19 +0000

Hello!

In addition to Jewish music another passion of mine is Jewish "mitzvah" 
clowning.  I have just been asked to put together an hour/hour and a half 
joint clowing/music program for a group of developmentally disabled Jewish 
adults, dealing with the theme of Purim.  I figured that I would start the 
program with some balloon animals (make 3 cornered hats, etc.), do music for 
the middle section, and then conclude with some face/hand painting.

What songs would you recommend I do with a group of developmentally disabled 
adults?  I was thinking of doing "Guess What I have" (if I can find the 
words/chords...so...if anybody has any thoughts on that one..please 
share!!!).  My other thoughts were "You Can Change the World" but just teach 
the chorus and I'd sing the verses, or "My hat, it has 3 corner" because it 
has motions...

Thanks so much for any/all help that you can provide!!

~smile always~
-Joy Newman
Rochester, NY

_________________________________________________________________
Stay informed on Election 2004 and the race to Super Tuesday. 
http://special.msn.com/msn/election2004.armx


_________________________________________________________________
Dream of owning a home? Find out how in the First-time Home Buying Guide. 
http://special.msn.com/home/firsthome.armx

------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------+
Hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network, http://shamash.org  
a service of Hebrew College, which offers online courses and an
online MA in Jewish Studies, http://hebrewcollege.edu/online/

To unsubscribe email listproc (at) shamash(dot)org and have your message read:
unsubscribe hanashir
------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------=