Música amiga: Pedagogía creadora a través de la canción

Teacher’s Resource Book Description

This handbook, inspired in the Transformative Education process developed by F. Isabel Campoy and Alma Flor Ada, explores the use of songs in the classroom and provides specific suggestions to be applied with Música amiga.

It is divided in two major parts. The first, Aprender cantando, explores the uses of songs in topics like:

  • Las canciones y la cultura
  • Las canciones para eliminar la ansiedad y facilitar el aprendizaje
  • Las canciones y la cultura
  • Las canciones como base para la expresión corporal o dramática
  • Las canciones en la adquisición de las habilidades lingüísticas
  • Las canciones en la integración entre la escuela y el hogar
  • Las canciones y los valores transformadores

The second part offers specific suggestions for each of the 120 songs contained in the Música amiga program.

Author’s Note

The production of the Música amiga Program has been one the highlights of my life as an author. Although these books may have a much humbler physical appearance than many other of my books, this program combines the creativity of three extraordinary artists and human beings: Isabel Campoy, Suni Paz and Ulises Wensell. Furthermore the product was originally published by my son Alfonso Zubizarreta and its production was one more expression of his support for my work.

Many of the poems/songs that appear in Música amiga were originally part of the Reading Program Hagamos caminos, and signify the first time that Suni Paz and I collaborated. I have mentioned in many occasions that having such an excellent musician create music for my poems has been one of my greatest satisfaction.

Isabel Campoy brought her sensitivity, humor, and creativity to Música amiga, creating a number of original poems for this program, which were also put to music by Suni. The value of family, the treasure of culture, the importance of maintaining our language, the appreciation for learning and reasoning, and the joy of celebrating life in all its forms are some of the topics in Isabel’s contributions to Música amiga.

The art in these books was originally created by Ulises Wensell for Hagamos caminos. Ulises is a most talented artist and has been a true inspiration for my writing. I truly wanted to write children’s books because I dreamt that Ulises could create for my text art of the quality of his illustrations for El emperador y los pájaros or El retorno de la primavera, which I continue to consider absolute masterpieces.

As life would have it, I was able to demand, in order to accept the request to create Hagamos caminos that Ulises would be the illustrator.

And he created, for that reading series, art appropriate for any quality literature book.

When developing Música amiga we were delighted to be able to draw from the Hagamos caminos art to illustrate this collection of poems/songs.

And an extraordinary combination of talents have given life and light to these books and CDs that can enrich all and every classroom with the gift of poetry, songs, and art.

The teacher’s resource book is one of several handbooks that Isabel Campoy and I have created to offer activities that foster the Transformative Education philosophy we spouse.

The initial part of the handbook, Aprender cantando, was created as a presentation that Suni Paz and I enjoyed offering in many national conferences.

That material has been recorded and is available in a two cassettes set with the same title.

READERS’ RESPONSES

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