Tag Archives: Kindergarten

The Knight Marries the Prince

Posted on May 26, 2019 by dannyashkenasi

  A Kindergarten Original Blesses a Quaker Wedding   Friday morning I heard a wedding song I realized I would have to sing that night at an actual wedding.  Class K-1 at the Brooklyn Children’s School was the third kindergarten … Continue reading →

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Another Year, Another Trio of First Grade Operas.

Posted on March 29, 2018 by dannyashkenasi

Three first grade operas have performed in their classrooms in front of an audience of parents, grandparents and loved ones.  In three consecutive days 1-3’s “Diamond Kids”, 1-2’s “The Alicorns” and 1-1’s “Imagine” regaled audiences with stories, dialog, lyrics and … Continue reading →

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KINDERGARTEN’S POWERBALLADS

Posted on June 6, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

The Unlikely Occurrence of Kindergartners Composing Two Soaring Love Songs (and Their Perfectly Rockin’ Antidote) Usually five year olds consider overt declarations of love yucky.  So when kindergartners create their own original fairy tales operas, these don’t tend to end … Continue reading →

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K-2 Presents: THE WIZARD’S REVENGE (featuring the Garbage-Throwing Machine)

Posted on June 1, 2017 by dannyashkenasi

The Kindergarten K-2 class of the Brooklyn’s Children’s School just presented their original fairy tale opera, for which the children created the story, the lyrics and the melodies: Once upon a time there was a king, a princess and a … Continue reading →

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TROUBLE BUBBLES – The Songs from Childhood that Loom Large All One’s Life

Posted on November 11, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

I was three years old when Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” was released and became the one of the most popular songs of its time.   One of my earliest memories is of me, small boy hardly taller than … Continue reading →

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WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY when he makes his Kindergarten debut? – The Fairy Tale Opera 3

Posted on August 19, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

I’ve discussed how certain characters are most likely to make the cut when the Kindergartners vote on their three chosen Fairy Tale Opera protagonists/antagonists.  Dragons are extremely popular, being regularly featured, and populating two of the three Fairy Tale Operas … Continue reading →

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THE ENDURING POPULARITY OF DRAGONS IN KINDERGARTEN – The Fairy Tale Opera 2

Posted on July 18, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

Every year when I start the Fairy Tale Opera project in Kindergarten (at the Brooklyn Children’s School), I ask the class to make a long list of characters that appear in fairy tales.  Then the kindergartners choose three characters around … Continue reading →

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MERMAIDS AND WIZARDS AND DRAGONS: The Kindergarten Fairy Tale Opera Project

Posted on June 20, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

I have already written about how First Grade Operas are created by the students at the Brooklyn Children’s School, and posted one, two, three examples.  If the First Grade Opera Project is the creating original music theater equivalent of riding … Continue reading →

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Mister Danny and His Most Sung Song

Posted on April 18, 2015 by dannyashkenasi

I am a teaching artist. Which means that I freelance as a visiting music and drama teacher to conduct arts education projects in the classroom for limited time periods, usually 8-12 weeks, in schools all across the New York metropolitan … Continue reading →

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