Congratulations . . . Anna Ouchy!  You are the winner of a copy of THIS IS MUSIC: STRINGS!

And the two ARCS of DANCE LIKE A PEACOCK go to:
LuAnn Johnston 
and
Julie Hauswirth

​Thanks, Rekha, for your generosity, and thanks to everyone who tuned in for this episode of PBJamz!  Keep watching, reading and commenting for more chances to win great books below!

All aboard for a train bound for glory!  Hop on for a great conversation with author, Alice Faye Duncan.  We talk black spirituals, Rosetta Tharpe, writing inspiration, interactive books, teaching tips, writing tips, and more!  Alice Faye is a delight: full of energy, very knowledgeable, and generous!  You don't want to miss out -- on the train or the conversation!  All aboard!

From Waterbrook Publishing comes this beautifully and vibrantly illustrated ride on the Glory Express.  Alice Faye Duncan adapts lyrics of an old black spiritual of the same name, THIS TRAIN IS BOUND FOR GLORY, made popular by Rosetta Tharpe and also performed by myriad other performers.  The illustrations are bright and welcoming and each passenger finds a way into the song -- and onto the train.  The overarching feeling of this book is a deep-seated joy, regardless of the struggles some of the passengers have obviously dealt with. I love the diversity of all the people on board, and my favorite spread is one where they are having an all-out jam session on the train.  Beautiful! There are some guiding questions at the end, a challenge to create your own verses to keep the song going, and a study guide on Alice's website. The book is bright, beautiful and it takes the old black spiritual up a few notches, turning it into an invitation for the ride of a lifetime.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Alice Faye and I mention her in the interview. . .) did an incredible rendition of THIS TRAIN IS BOUND FOR GLORY. In fact, there are a few different versions of her doing it, as well as other musicians.  For other versions, check out the YouTube playlist in the links section.  Also there is another episode of #PBJamz where we highlighted the book LITTLE ROSETTA AND THE TALKING GUITAR by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow.  You can catch it here.  This is a great piece for highlighting Rosetta's amazing electric guitar skills, her gritty vocals, and her sense of humor.  Since this is a spiritual, it speaks of Jesus, holiness, and things not allowed on the "train for glory." 

Teachers' guide for THIS TRAIN on Alice's website
Pinterest board with lots of train activities, various versions of THIS TRAIN, historical info about black spirituals, etc.
​YouTube playlist has the cups routine, music by Rosetta Tharpe, various version of THIS TRAIN, plus additional train music and more!
Lyrics and more
​

If you're riding the train, you need a snack that's not going to be a drippy droppy mess.  These peanut butter and jelly oatmeal bars seem to fit the bill.  Hearty, a bit nutritious and a lot delicious!  Perfect for a train trip -- to Glory, across the country or to the next town over.  Wherever you're traveling, bake a batch and take them with you, but you might want to make enough to share!  You can find the recipe here, along with lots of others (as well as fashion, holiday tips, and tons more) from Real Housemoms!

Congratulations, Debi Boccanfuso!  You are last episode's winner of a Lupe Lopez book signed by Pat Z Miller and e.E. Charlton-Trujillo!  Thanks for checking out PBJamz and thanks to Pat & e for their generosity!

I LOVE what I do here at PBJamz!  I have been blessed with learning about so many lovely books that integrate music in such amazing and interesting ways.  But I also have made some fabulous friends along the way.  This is Rekha's third PBJamz visit, as we are chatting about the third installment of her board book series THIS IS MUSIC.  I thoroughly enjoy talking with Rekha each time and hope that someday we get to meet live and in person.  Not only is she a great friend, but a fantastic author, musician, professor and more!  We love chatting -- talking music, teaching, writing, publishing, read alouds, and more.   You get just a little piece of our conversation here, but I think you'll find it a great way to spend 30 minutes of your time. Check out all the cool content below and be sure to leave us a comment to be entered for 3 generous book giveaways!  Keep reading to find out more!

This third installment picks up where the other ones left off -- we've kept a beat and we blew our horns.  Now, we learn about strings. Two of the things I love about this series is that Rehka does a wonderful job of introducing kids to multicultural instruments, AND she integrates great musical vocabulary throughout the series.  There's a lot to love though -- these beautiful and colorful illustrations (by Tania Yakunova), the interactive element of the book, the rhythm and musicality of the text. Rekha packs a lot into a little board book. By the way, just because it's a board book doesn't mean it's JUST for little kids.  Sure, it's perfect for them, and how wonderful to introduce infants, toddlers, and preschoolers to lots of musical content at a young age, but these books are also fabulous for introducing primary students to musical concepts:  how sound is made/what vibrates to create sound, families of instruments/ways to group sounds, musical vocabulary, the concepts that music is all around us and that you can create music yourself using everyday objects!  Because of that, they're equally wonderful at home, in a preschool/daycare setting, and in primary school! There's a lot to love in these little board books!

This song is better suited to the littles, but it's a lot of fun and goes through several different string instruments.  One thing that might be fun after the book is to make a list of all the string instruments you can think of and then sing them into this song.  If this is not right for you, there are lots more pieces below in the YouTube playlist and on the Pinterest board. Check the links section.

There are lots of ways you could use this book at home, in a daycare setting, or in a primary school setting.

• You could use it as an introduction to sound -- how it's formed, different ways to make it, how to create instruments of their own, etc. (I would suggest using this in conjunction with the other books in the series.)
• Because Rekha does a great job of showing different kinds of strings, you could use the book to talk about different strings and different string instruments
• You could use these books as a precursor to a sorting activity:  how do these things make sounds
• As a read-aloud, they are perfect with rhythmic text, rich vocabulary and opportunities for interaction.
• Check out the YouTube playlist and Pinterest board in the links section for even more ways to enhance and expand ways to use this book.

For music teachers, there are even more ways to use THIS IS MUSIC: STRINGS.

• You can also use it to introduce a sound unit, or a unit on the various musical families, based on how sound is made
  • Tap, beat, pat (keep a steady beat (Drums)
  • Blow (Horns)
  • Use the strings (Strings)
• There are a number of traditional and non-traditional string instruments that you could highlight.
• You could do a strings around the world after sharing this book and highlight string instruments from each continent
• Add these vocabulary words to your word wall
• Read aloud and listen for rhythm.
• Use this book (or the series) to introduce a project where kids make their own instruments from recycled materials
• Listen to samples of music from the various string instruments mentioned + more
• AFter doing that with all three books and do a little listening quiz to determine if students can recognize percussion, wind, or string instruments.
• Experiment with the vibrations of various "strings" -- this would be a great discovery lesson to provide strings, rubber bands, boxes, etc. along with various string instruments to find out more about pitch based on how the strings move. (STEAM)
• Use jump ropes or spring toys to demonstrate sound waves; talk about the differences in the vibrations of the ropes/toys.
• Together research the Earth Harp and divide students into teams to invent their own string instrument. (STEAM)
• Use a canjo/diddley bow to explore pitch based on length of string.

YouTube playlist with videos about strings as a family, specific instruments, songs, demonstrations, and lots more! These are perfect complements to THIS IS MUSIC: STRINGS

​Pinterest board with over 50 teaching ideas, photos of instruments, DIY instruments and various activities

These little PBJ kabobs remind me of treats on a string, which seems appropriate for this episode.  I found this on Pinterest, attributed to happinessishomemade.net.  I couldn't find the recipe on their site, but thankfully it looks pretty simple:
Cut a PBJ sandwich into small squares and layer on skewers with fruits of your choice (pictured are bananas, strawberries, and grapes it looks like.  You could vary this one in many ways depending on what you have on hand!  What a fun string of yums!