Throughout the CD, Jenkins speaks directly to listeners as though she were sitting in your living room, going over the different instruments with your child in person. She begins with Play Your Instruments and Make a Pretty Sound, a catchy song with a repeating chorus that focuses on one instrument at a time. Jenkins intentionally selected instruments she felt were easily assessable to more people or classrooms, including a cowbell, rhythm sticks, maracas, triangle, and castanets. This introduces children to one sound at a time, while allowing them to participate at home and be part of the song. Jenkins encourages all of those without the specific instrument being played to simply clap their hands. The message is, if you can make sound, you can create music. A similar approach is taken in Let's Listen to the Band, only the more advanced instruments of Franz Jackson and the original Jass All-Stars are introduced. The band plays altogether for one verse, with Jenkins singing, then she stops them and focuses on the instruments individually. Each instrument in introduced, and then plays through a verse alone, so listeners truly get a feel for its unique sound. We hear a tuba, banjo, drum, piano, trumpet, clarinet, and trombone. Finally, all of the instruments play together again for one last verse - only now the listeners are likely hearing some more individual sounds and getting more from the whole experience. Some different styles of music are also featured in This is the Way to Lead the Band, as the band plays the same tune in a march style, then waltz, and finally a Jazz tune. Not forgetting the most important part, Jenkins even includes a song about putting the instruments away, explaining that taking care of your instruments is the best way to make the enjoyment last.
Opportunities to interact with this music abound in every track. For example, Jenkins made Stop and Go into a game where listeners move while the music is playing, but stop whenever the music stops. You can take this song and make it your own by plugging in the name of any activity you want (perhaps there is an activity that you and your child love, such as rocking, tickling, or even dancing). Follow the Leader is another song that is easy to alter and make more personal. The song will encourage creativity from your child to think of things they want to 'lead' in; perhaps they will march in place, pat their head, spin around, whisper, shrug their shoulders...anything they want to. In No More Pie, Jenkins plays the ukulele and encourages listeners to 'echo' her in a call-and-response style. She pauses after each line to give listeners the opportunity to participate. The second time through Jenkins asks the listeners to fill in the blank in each line, and the third time through, Jenkins sings every other line and it is the listener's responsibility to sing the lines between hers. This is a great way for little ones to learn the lyrics quickly and feel a sense of accomplishment when they can fill in all of the blanks correctly. Jenkins' song notes for Harmonica Happiness explain that many children have a hard time pronouncing this instrument, so she asks listeners twice to repeat 'harmonica' after her, and then provides a moment of silence for them to try it. Jenkins then leads an interactive activity where she asks listeners to clap and march to the harmonica tune.
I listened to this CD with my three-year-old friend Sam. His favorite instrument has always been guitar because that is what his dad plays. So, in the second half of You'll Sing a Song and I'll Sing a Song when Jenkins asks listeners to listen very carefully and try to tell which instrument is playing the loudest, Sam shouted, "Guitar!" no matter which instrument was playing.
--Audra