Set list for our Women's History set at the WXPN Kid's Corner Fest (3/19)

Hey. Here's what we played at the World Cafe yesterday. If you want lyrics, lesson plans, or background info for any of these songs, just search for the titles on this blog. For sing-a-long videos, visit www.youtube.com/user/singalongwithlloyd.

I talked to a number of people about visiting schools in the Philly area in the near future. Please write soon if you'd like to do something before the end of this school year.


Lloyd
e-mail: thedeedledeedledees AT yahoo DOT com







Nellie Bly
Zora
Little Red Airplane
Sojourner Truth
Drum!
Do the Turnout
Baldy
Abbie Abbie Abbie
Put on the Dress
The Brooklyn Bridge Song
Tub-Tub-Ma-Ma-Ga-GA

Set lists for Mass MoCA school shows (3/18)

Hi teachers and parents! Here's a complete list of the songs we played during our two school shows at Mass MoCA on Friday.

Lyrics and background info for most of these songs can be found on this blog. Just search for the song titles. If you'd like to watch sing-a-long videos, go to www.youtube.com/user/singalongwithlloyd and scroll down through the uploads on the right until you find the song you want.

If you can't find what you're looking for, write me at thedeedledeedledees AT yahoo DOT com.

- Lloyd

9:30 am
Nellie Bly
Henry Box Brown
Growl Growl
Do the Turnout
Baldy
Abbie Abbie Abbie
Put on the Dress
¡Sí Se Puede!
Little Red Airplane
Zora
Tub-Tub-Ma-Ma-Ga-Ga

12:30 pm
Little Red Airplane
Nellie Bly
Aaron Burr
Henry Hudson
Put on the Dress
Baldy
¡Sí Se Puede!
Henry Box Brown
Growl Growl
Penny Farthing
Tub-Tub-Ma-Ma-Ga-Ga

That top photo of me about to go onstage was taken by Chris Johnson.

Set list for Women's History variety show March 12

Here's what we played at our March variety show at the Knitting Factory yesterday. The show was a big Women's History Month party so we sang about famous women -- and women in our everyday lives.

Audra Tsanos and Jen Milich from AudraRox were there to help us out. We backed them up on a couple of AudraRox tunes, the wonderful traditional song "Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot," and "Sisters Marching Strong," a great women's history anthem written by songwriter / poet Jen Waller (who had to miss the show due to a broken leg! feel better, JW!)

We were also excited to have Atticus (a Brooklyn middle schooler) join us to play his mandolin along with his teacher, Ari Dolegowski (AKA Moby Dee). His classmates Charlie, Sam, and Paris were, as usual, our emcees.

We've posted lyrics and sing-a-long videos for most of the Dees songs here. If you want lyrics, search for the song title on this blog. If you want a sing-a-long video, go to www.youtube.com/user/singalongwithlloyd and scroll down through the uploads on the right until you see the song you want.

If there's anything you can't find, write me at thedeedledeedledees AT yahoo DOT com and I'll send you direct links.

March 12, 2011 setlist
at the Knitting Factory, Brooklyn

Just the Dees
Abbie Abbie Abbie
Sojourner Truth
Little Red Airplane
Do the Turnout
Put on the Dress

w/ Audra and Jen of AudraRox
You're a Rock Star, Too (words and music (c)(p) AudraRox)
Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot? (trad)
Sisters Marching Strong (words and melody by Jen Waller)
Girl Power (words and music (c)(p)AudraRox)

Atticus Kaplan and Moby Dee (Ari Dolegowski)
great mandolin tune (I gotta ask Ari what it's called)

Dees + Atticus
Nellie Bly
Tub-Tub-Ma-Ma-Ga-Ga


until next time,
Lloyd

Hamlet with second-graders: a peek into the songwriting process

Many of you know that I write lots of songs with kids based on what they're studying. Right now I'm involved in three school songwriting projects, one of which is an original musical based on Hamlet with my wife's second-grade class.

I've found that people often don't totally understand the songwriting with kids thing until they actually experience it in person. I thought it would be fun to share one of my projects online so that teachers and parents can see how it's done.

Just now I posted rough drafts of four songs for the Hamlet show. They're currently in "blah blah" form, which means that kids need to write lyrics to replace the nonsense sounds I'm making on these You Tube videos. They're going to do that for homework tonight -- and they have the option of using these videos to help them. Some kids work better when simply asked to "write a poem" and won't use these videos at all. Others will spend a lot of time crafting words to go with these little tunes.

Another option: Try having kids write lyrics to familiar tunes like "I've Been Working on the Railroad," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," etc. I do this with many classes. My wife's kids were ready to jump right into the original songs so I skipped ahead.

By the way, these tunes are all original, written by me, and copyrighted. Feel free to use them in your classroom or home for instructional purposes. Please write me at thedeedledeedledees AT yahoo DOT com if you'd like to use them in a performance or for any commercial purpose -- I'll say yes or no depending on what you want to do.

These are all working titles:

Tush Tush: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmiaA-TrGMs

Nunnery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv_0sPLyNKg

More Than Kin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaWT5HgCMl8

North by Northwest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YWKj6gC4X8


Lloyd

Set list and links for my shows at North Mianus School (CT) yesterday

Hi parents and teachers!

If you'd like to follow up on my concerts today at North Mianus, here's a complete list of all the original songs I played along with links to some sing-a-long videos and a couple of book recommendations.

If you'd like more info about any of these tunes, search for the titles on this blog. You'll find lyrics, book recommendations, lesson plans, and more. Also feel free to write me (thedeedledeedledees AT yahoo DOT com) if you have further questions.

If you'd like to buy albums featuring these songs, visit the Deedle Deedle Dees on CDBaby. http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/TheDeedleDeedleDees

Nellie Bly
http://www.youtube.com/user/SingalongwithLloyd#p/a/u/1/B_uDMQZQ7dI

¡Sí Se Puede!
http://www.youtube.com/user/SingalongwithLloyd#p/u/28/uPJW1u2YcD4
Read more about César Chávez in Harvesting Hope: The Story of César Chávez by Kathleen Krull and Yuyi Morales.

Battle of Brooklyn
http://www.youtube.com/user/SingalongwithLloyd#p/u/14/6B7M3Y5BCek

Aaron Burr

Henry Box Brown

Baldy

Little Red Airplane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oct7_K2XrPs

Tub-Tub-Ma-Ma-Ga-Ga
http://www.youtube.com/user/SingalongwithLloyd#p/u/8/uT-7sUm0CzU
Read more about Harriet Tubman in Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford and Kadir Nelson.

Play Your Hand

Vegetarian Tyrannosaurus Rex

Obedience School

Sojourner Truth
http://www.youtube.com/user/SingalongwithLloyd#p/a/u/2/hfhPYMfnJeQ

John Muir
http://www.youtube.com/user/SingalongwithLloyd#p/u/11/VRXbHgpjacc

Put on the Dress
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfwHRTweacE

I Can Put You Together Again

I Am the Hodja

All 28 names from our Twitter feature #todaysblackhero

In case you're not following us on Twitter (@ulyssessdee) or you missed a day, here's the complete list of people we name-checked with the hashtag #todaysblackhero through the month of February.

This is by no means an attempt to list the 28 GREATEST BLACK PEOPLE WHO EVER LIVED or anything like that. It's just a bunch of people I personally admire. Yes, there are two upright bass players on the list. There's also a businesswoman, a poet, a dressmaker, a congressman, a football coach, a pharaoh, and many others worth studying.

Look up the names you don't know. Ask us if you want background info on anybody, songs to use in your class or home, or lesson plans.

Harriet Jacobs
Ralph Ellison
Sojourner Truth
Ray Brown
Toussaint L'Ouverture
Tony Dungy
Marion Williams
Elizabeth Keckly
Fats Waller
Cool Papa Bell
Coretta Scott King
Jimmy Blanton
Phyllis Wheatley
Zora Neale Hurston
James Baldwin
Madam C.J. Walker
Jacob Lawrence
Kara Walker
Harriet Tubman
Mary McLeod Bethune
Frederick Douglass
Fannie Lou Hamer
Henry Box Brown
Hatshepsut
John Mercer Langston
Bessie Smith
Blanche Kelso Bruce
Oscar Micheaux