An Interview With Hap Palmer
From Dipika Mirpuri,Your Guide to Toys.

Q: You are a musician, and an educator. How did you get started on this path?

There is nothing more boring than talking about me, me, me, so I’m going to take the easy way out on this one and refer you to a biography written by Mary Miche. She did a very clear and concise piece that I can’t improve upon.

Q: Do you think that your parents and childhood played an influential part on what you are doing?

My kindergarten teacher sent home a note informing my parents that I was one of her problems. She described me as a child who is, “ interested in everything and can apply himself to nothing.” Memories of this conflict between the school environment and my fidgety restless nature shaped my attraction to active learning as an approach to early childhood education. Also, being interested in everything has been an asset as a songwriter for children because I can write about so many things. For example, I recently turned my interest in home composting into a song called THE COMPOST BIN.

I played in a small band in middle school. I recall taking a test in social studies just before we were to play at a noon dance. I heard the others warming up in the gym across the way and I was so impatient to get over there, that I blindly checked off answers as fast as I could, turned in the test and raced out of the classroom not caring how I did on the test.

My parents both liked to sing. When they were in college they sang in the Occidental College glee club. We used to go camping and would sing around the campfire in the evenings.

My dad used to play records at dances and he had an extensive collection of 78 rpm recordings. As a child I spent many hours sitting in my room listening to Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Harry James.

When I was in high school, my sister Penny went to summer school in Mexico and brought back a guitar. I instantly had to learn to play this instrument. After buying an old guitar for $5, I taught myself to play chords and sing along. Gradually the guitar led to jobs at the YMCA leading group singing at “hootenannies” on the weekends. I also worked as a counselor on teenage caravans and at summer mountain camp.

One year we had a group of teenagers camping at Yosemite. People started gathering around our campfire singalongs. Each night the crowd grew until the rangers had to move us to a bigger outdoor theater. It was during this period that I discovered the joy of actively involving an audience. I have always enjoyed being a facilitator of active involvement rather than an entertainer or performer.

Q: You are incredibly talented. How many instruments do you play?
Well, thanks for the compliment, but I certainly would not view myself as “incredibly talented.” I’ve experimented with many instruments including guitar, bass, saxophone, clarinet, harmonica, flute and percussion. I’m not an expert in any of them, but as a songwriter, I find that dabbling in a variety of instruments stimulates musical ideas. In producing my recordings, I’ve been blessed to work with many great musicians here in the Los Angeles area, and as an instrumentalist, this keeps me humble.

Q: Your main principle is "Learning Through Music and Movement" - Can you tell us what this means. Can you elaborate on the principle behind "Learning Through Music and Movement".

Learning through music and movement is a way of reinforcing the school curriculum with active learning. It reaches the whole child through a variety of sensory modes: auditory, kinesthetic, and visual.

Q: Lets take an imaginary situation - you are in charge of first grade kids in a classroom. Can you explain how you would go about teaching them by this method.

Here’s a sample phonics lesson plan based on the song “Bop ‘Til We Drop” which deals with ‘word families’ - an important skill in learning to read:

Subject: • 'OP' word family
• Initial consonants: B, H, P, M, O
• Blends: CH, FL.

Vocabulary: hop, mop, chop, bop (dancing to jazz music), pop (to move suddenly, quickly; to explode or burst), flop, (to fall or drop limply, heavily) short 'O' sound

Activity: (Teacher places the letters 'OP' on the board.) Who can think of a word that ends with the sound /op/? (Teacher lists words then circles any words that will be used in this song.) Let's try a fun way to play "freeze dance." When the music plays, do the motion that ends with OP. Stop moving when the music stops and listen for the next motion.

Lyrics:

Well let's bop, bop, 'til we drop
Dance 'til we hear the music stop
Bop, bop, 'til we drop
Everything we do ends 'O' 'P' op

Let's hop, hop, 'til we drop
Hop 'til we hear the music stop
Hop, hop, 'til we drop
Everything we do ends 'O' 'P' op

With the short O sound and the letter P
We can do so much it's plain to see

Let's pop, pop 'til we drop
Like kernels of corn on a hot stove top
Pop, pop 'til we drop
Everything we do ends 'O' 'P' op

Let's mop, mop 'til we drop
The floor's all sticky with slop and glop
Mop, mop til we drop
Everything we do ends 'O' 'P' op

With the short O sound and the letter P
We can do so much it's plain to see

Let's chop, chop til we drop
Pile logs in the shed right up to the top
Chop, chop til we drop
Everything we do ends 'O' 'P' op

Let's flop, flop til we drop
Like Raggedy Ann dolls in a toy shop
Flop, flop til we drop
Everything we do ends 'O' 'P' op

Let's /h/ op 'H' 'O' 'P', /p/ op 'P' 'O' 'P', /m/ op 'M' 'O' 'P', /ch/ op 'C' 'H' 'O' 'P', /fl/ op 'F' 'L' 'O' 'P', /b/ op 'B' 'O' 'P',

Well let's bop, bop, 'til we drop
Dance 'til we hear the music stop
Bop, bop, 'til we drop
Everything we do ends 'O' 'P' op
Everything we do ends 'O' 'P' op

Follow up:
What other words can you think of that end with the letters 'op'? (Examples: crop, shop, top, stop, drop, plop, stop, top)

• Use other word families and find ways to move Examples:
'UMP' jump, bump, pump
'IDE' slide, ride, hide
'INK' blink, sink, wink
'OCK' rock, knock, block, walk, talk,
'UG tug, shrug, hug
'ALL' fall, ball, crawl
'AW' draw, saw, paw,
'ASH' dash, mash, bash,
'IP' skip, dip, sip, tip, flip
'ING' swing, sing, cling, fling
'IRL' swirl, whirl, unfurl
'AMP' stamp, clamp, tamp,
'AKE' shake, bake, ache,

• I'm going to place six movement words on the board. Examples: JUMP, SLIDE, SKIP, RUN, SWING, STAMP, SHAKE, FALL Let's move with the instrumental version of this song. During each pause, I will call out a word ending. Look at the board and find the word on the board which uses this ending and show in movement the word that fits.

(You can find many more lyrics and activities on my web site: www.happalmer.com)

Q: What are the advantages over conventional methods of teaching music?
Learning Through Music and Movement in not meant to replace conventional methods of teaching but rather to supplement, reinforce and add variety to educational programs.

Q: Can you tell us how the children appreciate your music, any interesting stories/incidents that you want to share?

Children have a natural affinity for rhythm and melody and really enjoy the opportunity to get up and move and be actively involved in the learning process. One of my first teaching jobs was in East Los Angeles at a school for what was then called “the trainable mentally retarded.” I soon discovered that there were many students who had remarkable pitch and rhythm. We formed a chorus and a rhythm band and the highlight was the students performance at a Lions Club luncheon.

Another moment that stands out has nothing to do with music. As a swim instructor for the YMCA, there was a child who was quite frightened of the water and clung to the side of the pool each lesson. Although we had a list of tasks we were supposed to check off for each student, my intuition told me to just hold him and walk around in the water. By the last lesson, he was comfortable letting go of the side, walking with me, and seemed to enjoy being in the water. Part of me is thinking, “I didn’t accomplish much with this child and was not a very good swim instructor.” Just then the father came up to me and expressed his appreciation for my patience with his son saying, “He almost drowned as a young child and has always been terrified of the water.” From this experience I learned that as a teacher, there are times you need to trust your intuition.

Q: What has been the most rewarding moment in your career so far?

Those moments when a passive audience is transformed into a joyful, focused group of active participants. I never know how a group of children or adults are going to react and when they respond enthusiastically it’s always a thrill (and relief!)

Q: Among all the songs you have written, which one is your personal favorite?

Songs are a bit like children. It’s hard to single out one as better than all the others. I see my songs as tools to help teachers and parents provide enjoyable ways for children to learn. So to ask what’s the best one is like asking what’s a better tool - a hammer or a saw? The tool that’s right for the job is the best one.

I’m usually most excited about the songs I’m working on presently. I recently completed two recordings, titled One Little Sound and Two Little Sounds, that deal with learning about phonics and numbers through music and movement.

Currently I am working on singing some of my songs in Spanish. The title of the recording will be:

Let's Have Fun Learning With Hap Palmer
Divirtámonos aprendiendo con Hap Palmer

Q: Who or what is your inspiration for your songs? How do you come up with ideas for your songs?
Inspiration and song ideas come from many places such as interacting with children in the classroom, talking with teachers, reading through curriculum guides, books, newspaper and magazine articles.

Q: Do you have any advice for budding songwriters/composers?

I’m in a very specialized song writing niche and I’m not qualified to give advice about how to become a popular song writer or a Broadway or film composer.

From my point of view, I would say first, learn everything you can about the craft of song writing. If you want to specialize in writing educational songs for children it’s important to learn about child development and keep up with current research.

Books about song writing that I found helpful are:

The Craft of Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis
If They Ask You, You Can Write a Song by Al Kasha & Joel Hirschhorn
How I Write Songs by Tom T. Hall

Here are a few of the many books that have given me valuable information about young children and education:
Beginning to Read by Marilyn Jager Adams
Number in Preschool & Kindergarten by Constance Kamii
Rethinking the Brain by Rima Shore
Much More Than ABC’s by Judith A. Schickedanz
The Young Child and Mathematics by Juanita V. Copley
Teaching: From Command to Discovery by Muska Mosston
Frames of Mind- The Theory of Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner
First Steps in Teaching Creative Dance to Children - Mary Joyce
The NAEYC web site and journal is another good resource for information on young children and education.

A word of caution: Don’t make the mistake of thinking that writing for children is easier than writing for the adult market. In fact, it’s more challenging in some ways because you need to know about so many different things.

Q: If there is one thing that you'd like to change in the way the educational system is today, what would it be?

I would like to see more schools recognize the value of the arts and not separate arts from academics. In other words, to recognize how art supports the development of language, and skills in reading and mathematics while at the same time developing aesthetic awareness and adding richness to life and providing opportunities for self expression and self discovery.

I would also like to see schools and communities provide more after school programs particularly for children in urban areas. These would be places where students can be safe and receive individual attention, and tutoring.

Thank you Hap, for your very enlightening and interesting answers. I'm sure that all our readers have enjoyed learning so much about "Music Through Movement" and the way it can really benefit children. It certainly was a pleasure being able to speak with you today. On behalf of About.com, I wish you many more successes in the future.