♫ A - B - C - D ♫

We’re really happy to share that our “ABC Song” video is now a part of a new exhibition at the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany.

From the organizers:

“Moving Types” shows a retrospective from of the beginnings of the film to the 21st century, using filmlets, film excerpts, advertising films, video clips and a media facade in the Gutenberg Museum to illustrate historical and contemporary examples in which letters play the main role.The Centerpiece of the exhibition is an open media lounge in which a panorama of outstanding examples of “MovingTypeface” is shown. Works of international artists, filmmakers and designers like Marcel Duchamp, László Moholy-Nagy, Oskar Fischinger, George Lucas, Kyle Cooper and Alex Gopher as well as opening credits from films like Matrix and James Bond are going to be on display. Interviews with renowned and style-defining designers complete the examples.

Pretty cool for a little song and video that were recorded and filmed in one of the classrooms at the school we were teaching at!

Check it out for yourself:

Our version of the ABC Song was originally created to make sure that young students could hear each letter clearly. We had found that traditional versions of the song were often too fast, and young learners could not distinguish all the letters (for example, they hear elemenopee instead of L-M-N-O-P, or Y N Z instead of Y and Z). We also wanted an ABC Song that was slow enough for young learners to be able to point at the letters (in their ABC books, on a poster, etc.) as they sing along. It turned out to be a big hit with our students and found its way on to our first CD, Super Simple Songs.

When we started making videos for YouTube, it made sense to further develop the audio-visual connection between the song and the letters. The goal of the project was to present the English alphabet in the simplest way possible, so that each letter could be learned and recognized by young learners. As teachers, we often talk about ways to make the language come alive for our students… here was a way to do it (symbolically at least).

The conceptual idea as developed and put into practice by Jeremy Chapman was to have the letters of the alphabet appear on the screen, one by one, as the song introduced each letter. He wanted the letters to appear as if they were moving on their own, but did not want to just use computer animation; we wanted it to feel real. Our students were very familiar with the magnetic letters on the whiteboard so seeing them come to life was exciting and something that had relevance in their lives. Also, Jeremy wanted to give the letters some personality, as though they were a large family of siblings, or old friends.

After a few practice runs to develop the choreography, the video was created by carefully moving each letter just a little bit and taking a picture (with the iSight camera on a MacBook) after each move. All together, it took about 650 photos. Jeremy spent the day in one of the classrooms at school making the video, and you can actually see the light from the window change throughout the day, which gave the video a flickering effect that we think adds to it’s charm.

If you happen to be near Mainz, Germany anytime from now until next April, please pop into the Gutenberg Museum and check out the Moving Types exhibit. If you can’t make it to Germany, you can always catch the ABC Song on YouTube. What’s your favorite part?

A big thank you to everyone who came out to our first KEEP workshop.  We had a great time and we hope you did too!

You can find some photos and a summary of everything covered in the workshop here.
Some space is still available for the next workshop on June 19th.  It’s almost full so register soon!

Our first KEEP workshop at Anaheim University is full.  Thanks to all who registered. We’re really looking forward to seeing everyone.

Some space may become available, so please feel free to register and we’ll put you on the waiting list.  You can also subscribe to the KEEP newsletter.  Then, you’ll be the first to know about upcoming workshops and hopefully won’t miss out on the next one!

So, here they are.  If you’ve been looking for some new music for your classes, give these to your school and hopefully you’ll have some just in time the new school year! Click to download and print.

We’ve been hard at work for the past few weeks getting ready for a new project called KEEP.

KEEP is a collaboration between Super Simple Learning and Yuco Kikuchi created to help teachers and parents increase their competence and confidence in teaching English to young learners. In KEEP workshops, we share ideas for using songs, games, picture books, and other activities to make learning English engaging and confidence-boosting.

Our first series of workshops will be presented in Tokyo at Anaheim University’s Omotesando campus.  The workshops are free but space is limited so sign up early!  You can learn more about KEEP and register online at our new website.

Attendees should be prepared to learn a lot and participate!!!!

If you enjoyed using Knock Knock Trick or Treat in your classrooms, be sure to try “What Do You Want for Christmas?” from Super Simple Songs One.

It’s very similar in that it has some space and music to act out the toy vocabulary–robot, rocket, teddy bear, and train–between verses.  The kids have a blast with the song every year at our school and judging by the feedback we’re getting, kids everywhere are enjoying this song.  

Speaking of  Knock Knock Trick or Treat, (In case you missed it, it was a free Halloween song download) there were just over 30,000 downloads of the song this year.  Thank you!  That means that millions of children all over the world are now singing with Super Simple Songs, and music is finding its way into classrooms where there was no music before.  Knowing this makes us very, very happy!

So thank you to everyone for spreading the word!  If you check back again on Friday, there might just be a Christmas present or two to be found on SuperSimpleSongs.com.  

See you then!

The Children’s Music Web Award Winners for 2008 have been finalized and we’re happy to announce that Super Simple Songs Three has received an award!

Here is a quote from the website that sums up we we are so proud of these awards:

Our Children’s Music Web Awards are decided in a multi-step judging process. First, family judges screen the candidates and make preliminary decisions. This year we had over 130 applications for 12 categories. In the second round, classrooms and day care centers worldwide pick their favorites.
Children’s voices predominate every step of the way.
Thus,it can truly be said that these are the

KIDS’ FAVORITES!

A big thank you to the teachers and students who judged our songs!

Super Simple Songs Three has been chosen as a finalist in the Children’s Music Web Awards!

SSS 2 received the award two years ago and now our fingers are crossed for Super Simple Songs Three.

The Children’s Music Web Award is our favorite music resource because it’s the only one that gives awards based on what KIDS think!

The CDs are now off to final judging schools.  May the best CD win!

We’ve been in contact and have shared ideas with Sujeong since soon after starting our youTube channel about a year and a half ago. And last November we got to spend some time with Sujeong when she visited Tokyo as a featured presenter at the International Association of Performing Language annual conference.

We are thrilled that Sujeong will be representing Super Simple Songs in Korea!

Thanks!

Troy