TME Tuesday: Sharing the Work of Others

Today, I am going to do something that I rarely do - I am going to share the work of other people with you.

Now, I don't usually do this because it is a violation of copyright to take the work of someone else and claim it as your own (that's not what this is), and I feel somewhat violated when someone else takes one of my songs and passes it off as their own (it happened in the middle of a conference - stinking intern who came to internship after me - took one of my songs as her own). So, I have developed rules for myself when it comes to sharing the work of others.

Quite simply, I don't do it.

I don't take the wonderful therapeutic music experiences that my interns write (and they write LOTS of great TMEs) and post them on my website. It is not my intellectual property, so I don't do it.

I will, however, share copyrighted materials available for purchase to anyone and everyone. That's what I've decided to do today.

One of my favorite cartoonists and authors is Sandra Boynton. Her cartoons and books are wonderful, and she is an excellent composer and lyricist as well. I have many of her music compilations, and I recommend them to anyone with a client who is younger (and anyone who has a sense of humor)!

I enjoy her music and the recordings are great. I enjoy songs like "The Tantrum Song," and "No!" My students roll their eyes at me when I play these songs, but they also grasp the humor and sometimes even allow a giggle to escape! The books include sheet music as well as CDs for listening. I love them!

If you are looking for a musical gift for a young person in your life, grab Philadelphia Chickens, or One Shoe Blues, or Blue Moo, or Hog Wild, or Frog Trouble, or Dog Train, or Rhinoceros Tap, or Grunt, or - look there is one that I don't have yet - Bolero Completely Unraveled! Oh dear - I know what I'm going to be doing...

Sorry that there are no pictures (back to that whole copyright issue thing), but I encourage you to go to Sandra's website to see for yourself what you are getting yourself into. Be ready for grumpy ducks and bears that have tantrums and songs about bad babies and peas and lots of other great thoughts.

I wish I could write music like Sandra Boynton does. Maybe someday...

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