Award winning children's performer Jim Gill presents 14 tracks of original composition, a few covers with new twists, and a boatload of action and fun! Do Re Mi on His Tow Leg Knee is a Parent's Choice Award winner and recommended by the American Library Association Preschool Services and Parent Education Committee. Gill is joined on many tracks by his young friends, as well as an array of instruments including a 5-string banjo, acoustic and electric bass and guitar, flute, alto flute, piccolo, piano, organ, keyboard, tambourine, accordion, mandolin, and fiddle.

Gill goes out of his way to actively engage listeners in his music, requiring an active imagination, a smile, and perhaps even some sweat, as all his songs can be made into a game. The song notes explain that Color Game is a game Gill actually plays with his daughter whenever they are wearing bright colors or sitting on a very colorful carpet. The color game is played by picking a nearby color and 'put it on' a rhyming body part; for example, "Take red, put it on your head" or a more tricky, "Take the color of jelly, put it on your belly." Quite a few songs, such as Driving Here, Driving There, provide blanks in the printed lyrics to encourage listeners to fill in their own answers and personalize the song. The Wrong Song is a fun challenge to your child's listening skills - can they figure out all that is wrong in this song? "You offered me some breakfast at six o'clock at night. You said you had just eaten and worked up quite an appetite...there's something wrong with this scene." The majority of Gill's songs are completely original, active, and filled with active creativity. However, a few songs are covers of older songs which Gill has made his own by altering some of the lyrics, tune, or both. For example, in the song San Francisco, Gill sings about wearing flowers on your foot, toe, and chest, just about every except your hair (like in the original version. Knuckles Knees is Gill's tongue twisting version of Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes; "Knuckles knees, knuckle nose, knuckles tummy, knuckles toes!" The title track song is a spoof on the singing scale, "do re me so fa la ti doe"; Gill replaces the words with rhyming body parts, "toe, leg, knee, arm, elbow, jaw, teeth, and nose." Gill then makes up a song using just those words and their correct pitch where he sings a short verse or a line and then repeats it with children singing along.

Gill's song are popular for playtime, as they will tire your little one out by the end of the CD. He explains at the beginning of My Bonnie that listeners are to move their arms up every time they hear a word that starts with 'b', and wait to put them down until the next word that begins with 'b'. Gill warns that their arms are about to get really tired. He even adds more fun by speeding the song up part way through. Your child can march along to the ever-increasing tempo in The Tempo Marches On, or stretch up high and sing low to the accompaniment of the bass and drums in My Ups and Downs. The song notes for Spin Again suggest that listeners spin during the chorus, "Spin, spin, begin to spin" and hold a 'freeze' during the slow parts to enjoy the dizziness! Yes, No, Maybe is another fun participation song that requires concentration and listening skills from your child; Gill explains that he will sing a question and the listeners is supposed to answer with 'Yes, no, or....whatever," but the catch is that their answer must rhyme - even if it doesn't make sense!

My niece received this album as a gift last year, and brought it out when I was visiting. She LOVED the Spin Again and Spin Again...Again songs. She would grab one of her stuffed animals and spin around with them as though she were giving them a ride. Finally, I suggested she take a break so she didn't get too dizzy. She stopped, wobbled, and responded, "I'm fine, Auntie, but Tigger is pretty dizzy." And with that, she plopped right down with Tigger on her lap.

--Audra

Jim Gill is a musician, author, and trained child development specialist with a Master's degree from the Erikson Institute of Chicago.Gill's focus is on promoting active play between adults and children. He developed his unique approach of combining word play and movement opportunities into songs through the twenty years spent directing weekly programs in music play for families with children with special needs in the Chicago area. He now presents "concerts of music and play" to children and families throughout the country at theaters, libraries and schools. Jim also speaks to early childhood educators and children's librarians about the many benefits of play in young children's lives.

Jim has produced five recordings of music play activities that have received awards from both the American Library Association and the Parents' Choice Foundation. He has also created a program of "Symphonic Music Play," new works for children accompanied by a full symphony orchestra. Jim's work with symphony orchestras inspired his latest picture book for children, A Soup Opera. Jim is also the author of May There Always Be Sunshine, a picture book that received the 2002 Book Award from the Philadelphia Children's Museum.

1.The Tempo Marches On

2. Knuckles Knees

3. Spin Again

4. The Wrong Song

5. Toe Leg Knee

6. My Ups and Downs

7. San Francisco

8. Driving Here, Driving There

9. My Bonnie

10. Yes, No, Maybe

11. Color Game

12. Mashed Potatoes

13. Spin Again...Again

14. The Nothing Wrong Song