music

Dance Your Fanny Off: Grooving at Home

June 14, 2021 | strande
Dancing Common Crane Photo by Santiago Lacarta on Unsplash

 

Enjoy a series of playlists that will make you want to grab a dance partner and get on your feet. Dancing is a great way for all ages to have fun together and build gross motor skills. Try one of our themed playlists to get yourself in the mood to get moving! Playing Spotify playlists does require a free Spotify account.

 

NEW: rock out on your way to the library, or take a movement break between chapters with this Reading Groove playlist. (Spotify)

 

Other fun playlists to try:

Make Up Your Own Theme Song

May 17, 2021 | Brad B.
Music

Have you ever wanted to make up your own theme song? Think of what matters most to you.

  • What's your motto, your philosophy about life?
  • What defines you as a person or as a family?
  • What are you passionate about?
  • What has made you the most happy or the most sad?

Write at least 5 things down. These are the themes that are important to you! Now, follow these instructions:

Write Lyrics

Start by writing a simple, rhyming poem with one of your themes. It doesn't have to be perfect. The most important thing is to be honest. If you've never written a poem before, or if you need help to make it sound good, try these:

Understanding Song Structure

That poem you made is basically a verse (or verses)! Write a bit more to get your chorus and bridge. There are many ways to make a song, but for your first one try this structure: Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus. No idea what those words mean? Watch these videos:

Write Melodies

Now that you've got the lyrics, it's time to make the melody. You can sing your lyrics to what ever tune comes to your head. Or, try making music for it with one of these free programs.

Make Music With An Instrument

Have you already got an instrument like a guitar or a piano? Here's some tips to get you started writing great melodies in no time:

Share Your Song

Practice singing your song while playing your music. It might take you several times to get it right. Then, share your song with a close friend or family member to brighten their day, or record your song for yourself to playback sometime in the future.

Music Courses

Want to learn about music in general?

Books

Make music! : a kid's guide to creating rhythm, playing with sound, and conducting and composing music by Norma Jean Haynes

If You Liked Saige and Tenney, Try...

May 16, 2019 | strande

 

If you enjoyed reading about Saige Copeland or Tenney Grant, two American Girl characters who believe in the importance of art and music, you might enjoy these other books about the arts. 

Fiction

Confusion is nothing new by Paul Acampora

Fourteen-year-old Ellie Magari's mother left shortly after Ellie was born, and now her mother has died, and Ellie does not know exactly how to feel about that. She is determined, with the help of her friends in the marching band (where she plays the glockenspiel), to make some kind of connection with her mother's memory.

Share a Story: Music Storytime

May 13, 2019 | strande

 

Did you miss our Music Storytime this week? Don't worry, here's what you missed, plus a few more suggestions so you can create your own tuneful storytime at home, complete with songs and stories.

Don't need a full storytime? Borrow a rhyme when you need a short distraction, or check out these materials and spend a few minutes reading together.

From Storytime

Because by Mo Willems

Music Makers in Real Life

March 4, 2017 | strande

March is Music in our Schools Month. Music makers come from all cultures and backgrounds, and sometimes the music we enjoy the most comes from surprising sources. Check out some of the musicians and composers featured below. When possible, links to their music are also listed. 

The cosmo-biography of Sun Ra : the sound of joy is enlightening by Christopher Raschka

A one-hundredth birthday tribute to the late jazz artist explores his observations about humanity's discriminatory and violent behaviors as well as his efforts to forge world peace through music with the Sun Ra Arkestra.

Listen: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra

Esquivel! : space-age sound artist by Susan Wood

Describes how Juan García Esquivel, a Mexican composer popular in the 1950s and 1960s, developed his experimental style of music, based on mariachi and other Mexican music, jazz, the human voice, and the use of unusual instruments.

Listen: Nuevo (featuring Jean Garcia Esquivel)

Librarians' Non-Fiction Picks: 2016

January 7, 2017 | madame librarian

The following Adult non-fiction titles were chosen as CPL librarians' favorites of 2016. Check them out today!

Raising the floor : how a universal basic income can renew our economy and rebuild the American dream by Andy Stern
Also available in: e-book

Advances in technology are creating the next economy and enabling us to make things/do things/connect with others in smarter, cheaper, faster, more effective ways. But the price of this progress has been a de-coupling of the engine of prosperity from jobs that have been the means by which people have ascended to (and stayed in) the middle class. Andy Stern, the former president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) spent four years traveling the country and asking economists, futurists, labor leaders, CEOs, investment bankers, entrepreneurs, and political leaders to help picture the U.S. economy 25 to 30 years from now. He vividly reports on people who are analyzing and creating this new economy--such as investment banker Steve Berkenfeld; David Cote, the CEO of Honeywell International; Andy Grove of Intel; Carl Camden, the CEO of Kelly Services; and Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children's Zone. Through these stories, we come to a stark and deeper understanding of the toll technological progress will continue to take on jobs and income and its inevitable effect on tens of millions of people. But there is hope for our economy and future. The foundation of economic prosperity for all Americans, Stern believes, is a universal basic income. The idea of a universal basic income for all Americans is controversial but American attitudes are shifting. Stern has been a game changer throughout his career, and his next goal is to create a movement that will force the political establishment to take action against s
omething that many on both the right and the left believe is inevitable. Stern's plan is bold, idealistic, and challenging--and its time has come.
 

SPQR : a history of ancient Rome by Mary Beard

Ancient Rome was an imposing city even by modern standards, a sprawling imperial metropolis of more than a million inhabitants, a "mixture of luxury and filth, liberty and exploitation, civic pride and murderous civil war" that served as the seat of power for an empire that spanned from Spain to Syria. Yet how did all this emerge from what was once an insignificant village in central Italy? In S.P.Q.R., world-renowned classicist Mary Beard narrates the unprecedented rise of a civilization that even two thousand years later still shapes many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, and beauty.

Put a Song in Your Heart

November 15, 2016 | strande

Music can inspire us during our worst times, or be the backbone of a celebration. Check out some of these stories about the people behind the music, and check the links for where to listen to their tunes.

Little Melba and her big trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown

A biography of African American musician Melba Doretta Liston, a virtuoso musician who played the trombone and composed and arranged music for many of the great jazz musicians of the twentieth century. Includes afterword, discography, and sources. Her music can be interloaned through MeL.

The music in George's head : George Gershwin creates Rhapsody in blue by Suzanne Slade

With rhythmic swirls of words and pictures, Suzanne Slade and Stacy Innerst beautifully reveal just how brilliantly Gershwin reached inside his head to create his masterpiece, Rhapsody in Blue. It's a surprising and whirlwind composition of notes and sounds and one long wail of a clarinet-dazzling and daring, just like George Gershwin himself!

Share a Story: Music Storytime

November 14, 2016 | strande

If you missed our Music Storytime this week, don't worry. Here are some of the stories and songs from this week's storytime, plus some suggestions to inspire a storytime that will get your toes tapping at home. 

From Storytime

Hiccupotamus by Steve Smallman

The jungle animals are having a musical celebration! Mouse squeaks, Bird tweets, and Centipede taps his feet. Then more animals hear the music and want to join in, as Monkey, Warthog, and Crocodile bring their own music-making talents to the group. But what is that silly Hippo doing?

Muggles, Music, and Mayhem

jonesw

Join us in a magical celebration of all things Harry Potter! Wizard Rock band Tonks & the Aurors will give a live performance at 1:00pm. Sip butterbeer, enjoy Potter-themed treats, play games, and try your hand at Wizard Trivia beginning at 1:45pm. You'll also have a chance to win movie passes to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!

Muggles of all ages are welcome and no registration is required.

Harry Potter by Halle Stoutzenberger is licensed under CC BY 2.0. 

Upcoming sessions

There are no upcoming sessions available.

2016 Family Music Fest!

welz

Music creates a soundtrack for our lives. It can enliven and enrich the lives of kids and the people who care for them from infancy and beyond. On Saturday, October 15 from 10:00 AM-5:00 PM we will host a day's worth of fantastic, energetic, diverse musical acts. Come and celebrate the beat within all of us. This program is designed for families and patrons of all ages. The schedule is as follows...

10:00AM - Music with Ms Carissa - Ms Carissa unleashes her tot rock for all to hear. She will be playing both her originals as well as some tried and true classics. Come and join her already huge local following. Recommended for families with kids birth thru 8 yrs old.

11:30AM - Detroit Pleasure Society - Traditional Jazz has never sounded so fresh and new. Check out Detroit Pleasure Society's bombastic and swingin' good tunes. Recommended for patrons young, old and everyone in between.

2:00PM - Drummunity - Lori Fithian lives to the beat of her own drum and challenges you to do the same. Experience the creation of and contribute to a real life, huge drum circle made up of all who wish to join the beat. All ages welcome. No previous experience required.  

4:00PM - Istvan & his Imaginary Band - Istvan used to play in rock bands. Then, inspired by the birth of his own daughter, he decided to start to write his own rock songs and share them with elementary school aged kids and their families all around Chicago. Now he's branching out even further to rock the socks off of families all over the place and he's even won a Parent's Choice "Fun Stuff" Award for his most recent album, Playtime. The music he creates is super fun and highly interactive. Don't miss it!

The Family Music Fest is made possible by the Friend's of the Canton Public Library and Vibe Credit Union.

Upcoming sessions

There are no upcoming sessions available.

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