Make a nature journal at Minnewaska
The famous local naturalist John Burroughs wrote, “To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter…to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring – these are some of the rewards of the simple life.” Could your child be the next John Burroughs? Perhaps it all begins with making a nature journal.
On Sunday, July 26 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Minnewaska State Park Preserve, children from ages 6 to 10 years can make a nature journal including leaves and other natural items found on-site. Siblings are welcome, and parents are required to stay for the entire program. The session is free, with a $10 fee per car fee at the park entrance, and registration is required.
The Minnewaska State Park Preserve is located at 5281 Route 44/55 in Kerhonkson. For more information or to register, call (845) 255-0752 or visit https://parks.ny.gov.
THURSDAY, JULY 30
Free Admission Day at Storm King Art Center
Have you ever wanted to visit a place but were concerned about paying the admission because it was out of your budget, or you feared leaving early due to a meltdown or sibling rivalry? If you’ve had the Storm King Art Center in your sights, then mark your calendar to head over there on Thursday, July 30 for Free Admission Day. From 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., you can explore the grounds of this amazing art center, where most of the exhibits are outdoors and larger than life! Perfect for all ages. You can bring your own picnic lunch or eat at the café, but either way, I suggest bringing extra water and sunscreen.
The Storm King Art Center is located at 1 Museum Road in New Windsor. For more information, call (845) 534-3115 or visit www.stormking.org.
New High Ridge Children’s Choir
Got a kid who loves to sing? Here’s a brand-new opportunity for vocal instruction, performance and fun: Introducing the High Ridge Choir! All young singers ages 7 to 13 are invited to join and develop their voices in a natural and healthy way through group singing in a fun, secular and non-competitive environment. Based in New Paltz and led by co-directors Sabrina Ferguson and Sheila Hamilton, who is also the accompanist, the High Ridge Choir (HRC) will study and perform diverse repertoire from the classical, American folk, pop, jazz and West African traditions and more. Winter and spring concerts will be presented, with additional performances in between.
Choir members will be required to attend a minimum of 12 out of the 15 rehearsals before major concerts. Weekly rehearsals will be held on Friday evenings at 5:30 p.m. and begin August 21 at Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church, located at 90 Route 32 South in New Paltz. The HRC annual membership fee is $300. Members may also sign up for fall, spring and summer sessions separately. For more information or to register, e-mail highridgechoir@hvc.rr.com or visit www.facebook.com/highridgechoir.
How did you come to the idea of creating a choir?
Sabrina Ferguson: The idea has been percolating for some time, but I was waiting for the time to be ripe. Additionally I wanted to do this with a partner. I have worked with Sheila Hamilton on recordings, performances and student recitals. She is highly disciplined, professional and great with kids. When I pitched the idea to her and she was enthusiastic, I knew it was time to go ahead with the plan.
Sheila Hamilton: When teaching music classes which involved a lot of singing with children, I found my mood drastically changed over the summer when we were on break. I finally realized that not singing was making me depressed! And sure enough, there are studies showing that group singing has positive physical, emotional, cognitive and social benefits. If you look at cultures where music-making is historically a group activity, you see more social inclusion, acceptance, collaboration, cooperation…the list goes on and on. We don’t have this in our culture unless we create it ourselves, and forming a choir is a great way to accomplish this.
How did you determine the age range and where to have it?
SF: We wanted the children to be of an age where they could focus for an hour. Although there are some children that might be ready earlier than age 7, this is also around the time children are ready for music literacy. And if we get them young, we catch them before they have too many bad habits! We are hoping to reach the preteens so our older children can mentor the younger members and we can delve into some more sophisticated choral works.
SH: The leadership at Redeemer Lutheran is highly supportive of the arts programs in New Paltz, both performing and visual, and they are expanding their facilities to accommodate the endeavors of organizations such as the High Ridge Choir. They also have the facilities: pianos, performance space and smaller classrooms for sectional rehearsals.
How did you get into music yourselves? Did you grow up doing music?
SF: Around third 3rd grade I realized I was blessed with a vocal instrument. It was a very powerful feeling getting up in front of others to sing. People wanted to know how such a big voice came out of such a small and quiet child. In high school I had a very special music teacher/choir conductor who opened new worlds of music from the Western classical traditions as well as music from the American songbook. He provided me with many opportunities to sing as a soloist, but also knew how to distribute the limelight. In this way he taught me humility.
From there, I went on to Indiana School of Music to study vocal performance. I found this life a bit narrow and reached out to study traditions from other cultures, particularly West Africa and the Caribbean. During my studies I worked with CASYM: the Caribbean Arts & Sports Cultural Movement in Brooklyn, and learned how to play steel pan.
After college I moved to New York City, where I lived for about 16 years. It was there that I met my current mentor and teacher, Nikolai Kachanov, who conducts the Russian Chamber Choir of New York, in which I was a member for many years. I continue to work on my voice and conducting with him. He truly understands the science behind sound, so I have also started to approach my music with this sense of discovery and exactness.
SH: I grew up in Cleveland in a family of classical musicians. All the kids had to study two instruments! Singing was something I always did on my own and for fun with friends. In high school I played piano and guitar, so my friends who sang recruited me to accompany them. We used to play through song after song for hours sometimes: popular, oldies, classical. We didn’t need our parents to organize this for us, and we were not working towards any performances; we were just having fun and it was energizing. As a result, we all got a lot better at singing, and I got to be a pretty good guitarist and sight-reader.
What are your favorite instruments to play/hear? What are your favorite songs?
SF: I love almost any instrument played musically! There’s nothing worse than hearing someone who adds nothing of themselves in a performance and just goes through the motions. That said, the cello is hauntingly beautiful, the violin sings to your soul and there’s nothing like hearing Chopin’s Nocturnes on the piano. I also love the djembe and many West African folk tunes. (And R & B just makes me happy).
Do you think music is important to children? If so, why? What about kids who can’t carry a tune? How can families support them? Do you take them into your group?
SF: Music-making should be recognized as a basic life skill like walking or talking. Moreover, the ability to participate in music is perhaps the most integrating capacity we have. It requires the coordination of all the senses, emotion and energy. If a child has a hard time finding a pitch, it is usually because they have not had enough exposure. The brain needs time to discern between the different frequencies of each note. That can be taught. Then the muscles need to be developed enough to replicate the pitch the brain is telling them to sing. This can also be learned over time. We want to include any child who really wants to sing. However, they may need to work a bit on the side at home or in a private lesson if they need to catch up to the group as a whole.
SH: What I’ve observed in my years of teaching is that parents who are embarrassed about their own singing pass this self-consciousness onto their children. It’s those students who have a tougher time carrying a tune, because they have taken the lead from their parents and have essentially been discouraged from singing and experimenting on their own. If you are guilty of this, you might justify it in that your child isn’t destined to be a singer. However, singing is the art of reproducing sounds. This skill is transferable to other disciplines such as learning a foreign language and any other profession involving communications and speech. Bottom line is, I don’t believe in “tone-deaf” because I have yet to come across a student who couldn’t overcome this lack of being able to reproduce pitch by simply doing more of it.
What are three emphases you focus on in your music teaching for children?
SF: Creating an atmosphere of play and silliness is key to working with children successfully. They need to feel it’s okay to make mistakes. Otherwise they will not progress. Competition can also inspire learning, too, if it is done with good humor. Once the atmosphere is set, I work on the tonal and rhythmic components. When they are young we must work with them until they can sing a song in tune unassisted and to a correct rhythm. This has also been called “breaking the code.” With any language there is much time spent breaking the code before you can talk about fluency.
As they progress as music-makers, the world of music is their oyster. I try to provide repertoire that inspires the children. In a choir they may not love everything, but if our repertoire is diverse enough, it will hopefully hook in each child. At this point we can start to get into the fun of dynamics, phrasing and all those other wonderful musical components which help us ultimately create something that will engage the children on another level – and in this case, the audience as well.
What will a typical rehearsal look like?
SF: One hour a week is not much! We will do some fun vocal and rhythmic exercises; a lot of call-and-response. In the beginning we will be assessing the level of the participants and where we need to go. We’ll work on healthy vocal placement and balance within the choir. We’ll work on grounding the members in a particular key, so if they get lost in a piece they can find their way back. We will present our repertoire to the children. Give them a chance to take bite-size pieces out of each work as we go. We’ll work in smaller groups and come together to show what we’ve done.
Anything else readers should know/do/be aware of if they are interested in joining?
SH: I am coming across voice students at a younger age who have vocal damage from forcing the voice. Unfortunately, most mainstream singing you hear involves hurting the voice to some degree. Children are imitating this now. If nodules develop (and they do), often surgery is needed and you risk losing some or all of your singing and speaking voice! I have seen this in college students and adults. The best way to avoid this is to learn to use your voice correctly from a young age.
Erica Chase-Salerno believes in impossible things in New Paltz, along with her husband, Mike, and their two children: the inspirations behind hudsonvalleyparents.com. She can be heard on 100.1 WDST on Friday mornings and reached at kidsalmanac@ulsterpublishing.com.
A vacation story
Young people have a great deal to say and contribute to in the world, and I’d like to encourage them to contribute more pieces here in Kids’ Almanac! In celebration of vacation, enjoy! – Erica Chase-Salerno
Favorite Animal
by Jordan Mattsen, age 14
A couple years ago, my family took a trip to Mexico, which my grandparents organized. (IMPORTANT TO THE STORY: At this time in my little child life, my favorite animal was a dolphin. I had lamps and coloring books, blankets, the whole jig. Every time I lost an eyelash or blew on those dandelion puffball things to make a wish, I thought, “I NEED A PET DOLPHIN. NEED! UNIVERSE, PLEASE MAKE THIS HAPPEN! I WILL LOVE HIM AND KEEP HIM IN A BIG TANK IN MY ROOM AND I WILL NAME HIM FREDDY McSTUFF!”)
The vacation was awesome. The hotel had a bunch of lizards lying around and a nice pool. We visited some Mayan temples and paraded around cute marketplaces.
One day, on the tour bus, this little kid was screaming to his parents in the back of the bus, saying that he wanted to go swimming with the dolphins. Apparently he saw an advertisement for an organization that made that possible. Anyway, I thought, “Wow. This kid is annoying.” I was minding my own business, and then my Grandma turns to me, and she says, “Hey, Jordan.” “Yes?” “Did you hear that kid?” she asked. “How could I not?” I replied.
Then she announced, “Jordan, we are going to that place that lets you swim with the dolphins!” And I practically burst with happiness: “OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS ARE YOU SERIOUS YOU JUST MADE MY LIFE PERFECT. OMG DOLPHINS ARE BAE!”
The next day, we got to the dolphin farm. I was so excited, I was jumping up and down when they were giving us safety instructions. The instructor shared, “Now, kids. You might notice the dolphins have some scratches on their heads. That’s okay. They get those when they play with each other.” I thought, “What? Dolphins are beautiful, majestic creatures. They do not have scars. They are flawless.” As soon as the lady finished speaking, and I felt like, “YES! LET THE DOLPHIN GAMES BEGIN!”
They gave us very uncomfortable life jackets, and we got into the pool. The first surprise was the seaweed. To make the pool a better environment for the dolphins, they planted real seaweed at the bottom of the pool, and that aquatic grass was getting WAY too touchy-feely, grabbing my toes and floating around my legs. Mind you, this was a time in my life when I was still afraid of the dark, and the seaweed had collected in a black void, right below my small little feet.
As soon as they let the dolphins out, I was terrified. These dolphins were ninjas! They swam around us like we didn’t even exist! And then I saw the scars on their heads. OH! THAT WAS IT! They were gnarly and long and deep and scarier than any seaweed I would ever see! I started to panic. The instructors told us not to move at first, so we didn’t startle the GINORMOUS, BATTLE-SCAR-YIELDING AQUATIC BEASTS, so I couldn’t really do anything. My cousin and sister, who were in the pool with me, noticed my expression of pure terror, and notified the people in charge, who told me to swim out of the pool, and I thought, “WHAT? YOU WANT ME TO SWIM, ALONE, PAST THE FIELD OF AQUATIC BEASTS TO MY FREEDOM? YOU ARE NOT GOING TO AIRLIFT ME OUT?” I was not getting airlifted out. Frankly, everyone was done with my weirdness.
And that is the story of how I realized dolphins were not my favorite animal. It has a happy ending, though. The instructors brought me to a pool where I could sit on a platform that was submerged in the water, instead of me floating aimlessly to my death. So I fed the dolphins slimy fish, and my Grandma came over to make sure I wasn’t still in a panic mode, and she watched me feed fish to the suddenly less scary beasts. I was content with my adventure for the day.
P.S. Remember that expression of pure terror on my face the whole time I was in the pool? Yeah, well, my Grandma is really sweet, so she likes to include everyone in photos of our family vacations. She collected pictures from all of our vacations for the previous years and made a book out of them. AND GUESS WHOSE LITTLE TERRIFIED FACE WAS PERMANENTLY PLASTERED INTO THAT BOOK? Me. And it wasn’t just the face. It was a picture of me desperately swimming away to save my life. It was the only picture of me in the pool with the dolphins, so she had to keep it.
P.P.S. I love my grandparents VERY MUCH. It’s the thought that counts, and I appreciate the thought very much. Besides, no one could predict that my favorite thing in the world would suddenly become my worst fear. And a couple years after this story occurred, my grandparents brought me to see my next favorite animal: the majestic owl. That adventure had the very opposite effect of the one mentioned above. Also, I’m not holding a grudge against that photo in the family vacation book; I think it’s hilarious.
Join the family! 
