I chose this book to accompany my interview with Grace because it's such a lovely picture of the cause and effect relationship of a journey from inspiration to reality and the serendipity that happens to cause one thing to lead to another until your dreams come true. Sometimes inspiration comes from a musical performance, sometimes it comes from a teacher, and sometimes it comes from a picture book Here's to the inspiration waiting for you and the serendipity along the way! Available wherever books are sold (and on sale at Amazon at air time for 40% off -- a perfect time to add it to your collecction.)

Listening to this week's guest, Grace Ludtke, on harp, feels absolutely ethereal. If you close your eyes, you can imagine yourself in Heaven amidst the angels.  This piece happens to be one of my favorite songs -- a beautiful song about making your dreams come true, and so, it seems doubly appropriate for this episode. Take a few minutes and listen to your troubles melting like lemondrops.  If you (like me) have a "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" playlist, you'll want to add this one for sure.

This episode (in my mind) has basically 4 different sections. You could teach each of them, interconnect, or you could certainly pull out additional topics from the book BECAUSE, or expand on some of them in various ways.

Section 1: Inspiration
You can talk to your students about what inspires them.  What inspired them to want to take dance classes or play basketball, etc.  Compare that to Grace's journey of being inspired by an illustration in a picture book. Have your students every been inspired by something they saw in a book. (Great time to bring in the book BECAUSE).  I would extend that conversation by talking about how inspiration by itself isn't enough. You have to give your inspiration legs. You have to follow through. You have to find out what it takes to make that dream come true and then pursue that. You have to practice/work hard/take lessons, etc.
**I was inspired to contact Grace when I read an article about her in OUR STATE magazine, and thought her story aligned beautifully to my mission for PBJamz.  Inspiration comes in all sorts of ways!
​
Section 2: BECAUSE by Mo Willems
This book is a great companion to this conversation. It shows that there are so many components to even a simple thing happening, and how, not only does inspiration have to strike, but there are MANY MANY More steps to be taken for your dream to become a reality.  There are certainly other topics you could bring in with this book. There is one study guide in the links section, but I'm sure there are many more for it as well.  This book could extend the learning in quite a few different directions.  There are a couple of read-alouds included on the YouTube playlist, but there are many more!

Section 3: Cause and Effect
Both Grace's real-life story, and the book BECAUSE contain so many examples of cause and effect.  I've included several videos in the YouTube playlist that you can use to help teach or cement the learning of cause and effect. There are lessons, explanations, songs, and more. Check it out if you want to expand in this direction.

Section 4: Grace and the Harp. 
This is a huge section, and I'll dig into it more deeply in the music teacher's section, so check it out there.

In the teachers' section, I shared 4 main topics and I believe all 4 of them translate well for music teachers as well, although how you teach them will be probably very different,

Topic 1: Inspiration
I think it would be amazing to search out how various famous musicians were inspired to follow music.  It would make a great bulletin board, a great research project, or a fun fact at the beginning or end of your music classes to talk about how inspiration comes from so many different places: church, family, holidays, picture books, concerts, etc. Talking with music students about what instrument they are learning and/or hope to learn to play and why.  The role of inspiration, and how it is simply the starting point. It requires learning, practice, and tenacity to become a musician.

​Grace was inspired as a little girl from a picture in a book, but it took lots of follow-up: finding a harp and a teacher, lessons, practice, practice, practice, and lots of tenacity. But the effect of all of that is that now Grace is sharing that knowledge and expertise with young harpists and with her students at Guilford College.  It started with inspiration, but it didn't end there. That was just the beginning.

Topic 2: BECAUSE
This book is a fabulous one for the music classroom not only because it starts with the inspiration of a concert and ends with the young woman having a successful music career. (although, YES! all of that, too!), but I think it's also a great book because it mentions how many people go into making a music event successful, which is a very important lesson for young musicians to learn! Be sure to check out the musical storytime videos in the YouTube playlist. You may find them to be perfect jumping-off points for music lessons related to this book.

Topic 3: Cause/Effect
While this is something students learn about in their reading classes, and sometimes social studies and science, it is also very apropos for music students. ie. if I'm inspired, what is the effect?  If I practice every day, what is the effect on my music?  If I'm not learning my instrument (or other music content), what is the reason/cause for that?  Helping students to be reflective practitioners starts early. They need to understand the cause/effect relationship and how their music learning is affected by their choices.

But, also, the scientific cause/effect relationships of music and how it is formed: 
When I stretch the trombone slide, it creates a longer tube. What affect does that have on pitch?
What causes the strings on a harp (or other string instrument) to vibrate?
What is the effect of vibrations?
etc, etc., etc.

Topic 4: Grace and the Harp
This is a great way to bring this instrument into your classroom, since most of us don't have a resident harpist or thousands of dollars to add one to our cache os instruments to demonstrate.
I've included videos in the YouTube playlist that introduce the harp, show the parts, demonstrate how to play, etc. as well as beautiful videos of Grace, herself, playing the harp, as well as the NC Harp Ensemble that Grace co-founded.  Also, different kinds of harps, why the strings are different colors, and other things I thought your students might find interesting.
Since it is a string instrument, you could talk about all the relative musical content to that:
pitch -- length of strings
how string instruments make sounds
etc.

Grace was inspired as a little girl from a picture in a book, but it took lots of follow-up: finding a harp and a teacher, lessons, practice, practice, practice, and lots of tenacity. But the effect of all of that is that now Grace is sharing that knowledge and expertise with young harpists and with her students at Guilford College.  It started with inspiration, but it didn't end there.

 byIn lieu of "writing tips" from an author this week, I want you simply to revel in the thought that one day, someone might read one of your books or see one of your illustrations, and it might inspire their life's work, and it might have a ripple effect. like Grace's story. Because she read a picture book with a picture of a beautiful blonde woman playing the harp, she took lessons and became an amazing harpist, and now is teaching children and college students to play the harp too.

DON'T STOP WRITING! THE WORLD NEEDS OUR STORIES! 

Can you imagine if that book had not existed?  Grace wouldn't have been inspired by it She might not have learned to play the harp. She wouldn't be teaching harp. She wouldn't have co-founded the NC Harp Ensemble. And the world would have a lot less music in it!

KEEP WRITING AND DRAWING!  YOUR BOOK MAY JUST BE THE INSPIRATION SOMEONE IS NEEDING!

Remember when the story or the illustrations aren't coming together. . . don't forget when the querying trenches are hard.  Keep this in the forefront of your mind to help you KEEP MOVING FORWARD!  One day, your work may inspire someone and set them on an amazing path!

YOUR BOOK OR ILLUSTRATIONS MAY CHANGE SOMEONE'S STARS!

Don't quit or give up. Keep writing, keep drawing, work on your craft, just like Grace worked on hers. One day, someone may write an article about how THEY were inspired by YOU!

OUR STATE magazine article link about Grace

YouTube playlist with the interview with Grace, music from her and the Harp Ensemble as well as videos related to the book BECAUSE by Mo Willems, and other videos that teachers could use in conjunction with either of those (or both!

Pinterest board full of great images, links, teaching ideas and more related to my conversation with Grace, including: harp, string instruments, cause and effect, BECAUSE by Mo Willems and more.

NEA study guide for BECAUSE

RIF activities for BECAUSE

AndWebsite: www.graceludtke.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/harpist.grace
Facebook: www.facebook.com/harpist.grace/
YouTube: Grace Ludtke - YouTube

North Carolina Harp Ensemble
www.ncharpensemble.org
Instagram: www.instagram.com/ncharpensemble
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ncharpensemble
YouTube: North Carolina Harp Ensemble - YouTube


Grace is generously offering a school visit (in person if you're close enough geographically or virtual if it's too far for her to travel.)
AND
I'm offering a copy of the book BECAUSE by Mo Willems
To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment below!

​Happy Birthday to PBJamz!  And thank you, Grace, for a lovely celebration conversation! Here's to our next year of music, picture books, teaching, reading, and writing!

SOULFUL STRUTTIN' is a joyful peek into one family's Sunday routines and traditions that include cleaning, music, and gumbo. Hammond takes the mundane and adds soul, music, layers, and such joy!  This book is perfect for families teaching children responsibility at home, teachers focusing on language and writing in a classroom, music teachers who want to dive into a bit of jazz or N'Awlins music, librarians hoping to share a rich book full of layers, young (or old) chefs-in-training who want to learn to make a rich gumbo, folks who have an affinity for Louisiana or jazz/R&B/soul music.  Basically, it's perfect for pretty much anyone.  It will put some pep in your step, some mean in your clean, and some music in your heart!

Since this was one of Julia's inspirations for this book, I had to include it!  I like this version to share with students because it shows the instrumentation. Introduce them to some classic soul. "Soulful Strut" by The Young-Holt Unlimited is a soul-jazz song that blends elements of jazz, funk, R&B, and soul. The song was released in 1968 and was a million-selling single.  Also, check out Julia's playlist in the links section, and the full YouTube playlist in the links section as well for more musical connections.

• Brass family
  • Trombone
  • Tuba
  • Trombone
  • Trumpet/Cornet
• Second line parades
• Jazz (N'Orleans)
• Louis Armstrong
• Song list in the back of the book

If I were using this book, I would pull some of the songs from the playlist for some body percussion/steady beat work, use lots of Dixieland and LA Jazz, learn the members of the brass family, do a musician study on Louis Armstrong, and more!  There is so much fun to be had with this book. Have a second line parade around the music room -- or around the school and see who joins in.

Pinterest board full of links and activities for families, schools, teachers, daycares/preschools, libraries and more to expand learning from this book. The board includes lessons, activities, printables, and more surrounding chores, jazz, brass family, Louis Armstrong, cleaning with kids, gumbo, Louisiana. . . . chock full of goodness!

Julia's SOULFUL STRUTTIN' playlist

YouTube playlist full of music activities, songs, dances, introduction/demonstration of brass family, jazz, soul, R&B, play alongs, karaoke, performances, etc.
​

Julia's website

Twitter/X

Instagram

Goodreads

To order SOULFUL STRUTTIN', check out Julia's links on her page.

To review SOULFUL STRUTTIN':
On Goodreads
On Amazon
On Barnes & Noble


Julia has offered a WINNER'S CHOICE for her giveaway!  If you are chosen as the winner, you can choose:

• A copy of SOULFUL STRUTTIN' or. . . .
• A picture book critique by Julia or. . . 
• An "Ask Me Anything" session  (length and platform according to Julia's preference)

To be entered into the giveaway, simply leave a comment below by Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 11:59 PM EST.