This Parents' Choice Award winning album and American Library Association's Notable Children's Recoding consists of 15 songs created or adapted to Jim Gill's own "music play" genre, meaning they are songs to jump, dance, sneeze, shake, scratch and, of course, sing along with. Listeners are exposed to the sounds of acoustic and electric bass and guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, trombone, piano, trumpet, harmonica, whistling, and percussion, as well as 'body noises' such as hand clapping, finger snapping, toe tapping, and knee slapping. Children even join in singing with Gill in select tracks. These are definitely songs to be actively enjoyed together as a family or, in a school setting.

The genres that Gill performs from vary greatly. Jazz is predominant in Step Back Sally in the dusting of the cymbals and muted trumpet, as well as through the strong bass and harmonica. There are slow scat rhymes in The Hi Dee Ho Man and Old Sock Stew has heavy folk overtones with fun fiddling and whistling. A big band sound comes out in Alabama, Mississippi with the bass sounds of the trumpet and trombone. Spaghetti Legs is a great example of the many creative and original classic children's style songs that Gill performs. He goes to great lengths in all the songs to assure that listeners feel included and he encourages them to participate. There is plenty of repetition, rhymes and the call-and-response style, like in Simone's Song (The Parrot Song) when he asks children to repeat each line of the song after him - just like his parrot would. He also relates to children through humor, whether in the lyrics (like making a stew from stinky old socks or taking a bath in a washing machine) or what listeners may find themselves doing along with Gill, such as singing "ah-ah-ah-choo!" in the sneezing song, or scratch scratch scratching their knees, nose, arm, and rear in Poison Ivy.

Help your little one get the full experience by encouraging them to follow the directional lyric. In the old Russian folk song, May there Always Be Sunshine, Gill sings the original verse and then encourages listeners to think of their own things they cannot live without, so they can sing about those things to the same tune. He gets the ball rolling by sharing some ideas other children have shared with him in the past, including dinosaurs, pizza, ice cream, music, ducks, and summer. Which things does your child want to always be around? Your little one can also learn to express their feelings in a healthy way in the song, I'm So Mad...; they can growl, cry, and laugh with Gill. Does your little one have any other emotions they would like to act out? With your child, you can also clap your hands, taps your toes, snap your fingers, slap your knees, and whistle along in Hands are Clapping. It is great practice for learning to identify and keep a beat. If you're feeling crazy, you can even join in the Silly Dance Contest, "where the silliest dancer is always the best!" The song directs participants to dance fast, dance in slow motion, jump, and freeze.

One afternoon when I was watching three-year-old friend, Sam, he had just gotten up from a nap and was a bit grumpy. Looking for ways to cheer him up for the rest of the afternoon (without having to resort to bribery), I popped in this CD. Knowing Sam's affinity for bananas, I skipped right to The Banana Song. The crease in his brow lessened when he saw me playing air drums to the beat, and a smile slowly spread across his face when I sang the lyrics, "I eat bananas for breakfast, bananas for lunch/If my mom would let me I'd eat the whole bunch/For dinner, that is, and then I'd quit/To leave room for dessert, three banana splits!" Officially cheered up by the end of the song, we proceeded through most of the CD, dancing, snapping, clapping, and giggling.

--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.

The Sneezing Song.

Hands are Clapping

Old Sock Stew

I Took a Bath in a Washing Machine

Alabama, Mississippi

Poison Ivy

The Hi Dee Ho Man

Silly Dance Contest

I'm So Mad...

Step Back Sally

Simone's Song (The Parrot Song)

Spaghetti Legs

The Banana Song

Leaky Umbrella

May there Always Be Sunshine