Happy Top 10 Tuesday everyone! I’m so sorry for my lapse in weekly activities. I was traveling for a couple of weeks with very little internet access. I’m back now though and am ready to give you another awesome singable book for your musical summer reading list.
Bob Marley wrote the song “One Love” about universal love throughout the people of the world. To continue with his message, his daughter, Cedella Marley, adapted the song for a children’s book. Bob Marley’s original lyrics do not lend themselves well for age appropriate children’s singing, but his daughter quite successfully continued on with the theme of “One Love” in the most child-friendly way.
Here is a picture of the book cover:
Click HERE for a link to purchase the book on Amazon.
One other link, too! Click HERE to see a preview of this book on Youtube.
The Scholastic’s Book Fair came through one of the schools where I work this past Spring, and many of the teachers purchased a copy of “One Love.” A couple of the teachers told me that they were unable to sing the book to their students,however, because the words in the book, did not match up to the melody of the song. I was determined to make it right for all of them, so I got the book, too. I must be honest…I have re-written “One Love” a little adding some lyrics where it seems like they are needed. (Sorry, Cedella Marley…..all for the good of teaching children!)
So, here is “One Love” written by Bob Marley, adapted by Cedella Marley and with a little help from Yours Truly!
One Love
CHORUS
One love, one heart
Let’s get together and feel alright – 2x
(1)
What my family gives to me
What the flower gives to the bee
What Mother Earth gives to the tree
What I give back to Mother Earth’s family
CHORUS
(2)
Like the birds, I long to be free
Like the river runs to the sea
Like the music just feels the beat
I can feel it way down to my feet
CHORUS
(3)
When your hand reaches out for me
When we touch, a new world we’ll see
CHORUS
To hear the original Bob Marley melody, click HERE to hear the song (with his original lyrics) on Youtube.
Please do sing this song to your child and instill a love of reading with the book. Sing it enough with them so they learn the song, too, and can sing along with you read it to them.
This book is also a good opportunity to talk to your children about Reggae music and music from the islands. Click HERE for the Wikipedia link on “Reggae” music. You can continue the discussion by teaching about the musical term “syncopation.” These definitions are from thefreedictionary.com
Syncopation: “A shift of accent in a passage or composition that occurs when a normally weak beat is stressed “
or
“A shifting of a normal musical accent by stressing the normally unaccented beats.”
Reggae music is usually played with a high-pitched snare drum, but you can also teach your child about how steel drums used in some island music.
From http://www.arizonafoothillsmagazine.com
Here is a fun Youtube link of “Under the Sea” from “The Little Mermaid on steel drums:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-bTMbePj0A
I hope you have enjoyed this week’s Top 10 Tuesday music activity. Please check back every Tuesday for some more music fun. For a complete list of the Top 10 Tuesday musical instruments under $40 that will help promote music education in the home, click HERE. For an archive of all previous activities, click HERE. Until, next week, play one!