Feb. Newsletter from Tom Hunter

[Tom Hunter - The Song Growing Co.]

A mostly monthly and periodically pithy letter with greetings, a story, something recommended, Tom's appearances, and more...

Greetings to you all from another frosty morning as the big and waning moon finds a place to hide behind the ridge to the west and the brightening glow to the east takes over - the daily drama of night becoming day.  The ground hog would definitely see his shadow here today..  Welcome to all you who are getting this newsletter for the first time.  We've had a big increase in sign-ups recently.  We love your responses to this newsletter, and soon we'll have a page on the web site sharing some of those responses (with your permission of course) - thanks for letting us know what you think.

THE NEW CD HAS ARRIVED, and we'd love to get them out of here and onto your CD players!  "Many a Mile" is a wonderful collection of songs good for singing and for listening, many old ones, some new.  Detailed information is available in a PDF flyer you can find if you click here.  As always, you can order at www.tomhunter.com/store.htm and please contact us directly for discount prices if you want to order more than five.  A special thanks to all of you who ordered and paid early.  You should receive your copies in the next couple of days.

A story:  A woman who licenses preschools in Washington recently confirmed what I've often heard - that she and other licensors love it when directors and teachers make a case for keeping something that may technically be against regulations.  Sometimes they'll even grant what the schools want if the rationale is persuasive enough.  She said she's amazed how many of us don't think very deeply about what we're doing and when she meets people who do the hard thinking, have some research in mind, and tell her why something is good for children, "I love those people," she said...  A note from a friend brought a related idea.  She said she'd recently had 3 minutes with the state authorities responsible for funding the agency she works for (helping children of poverty get what they need) - 3 minutes to say what she thought they should do and why.  Sounds like a good exercise for all of us: if you had 3 minutes with your director, principal, superintendent, licensor, or state legislator, what would you say?  You never know when your moment might come - it's a good idea to be ready.

Recommended:  I usually recommend books here but with the new CD done, CD's are on my mind.  If you want an instrumental collection of wonderful tunes (played by two good and long-time friends on guitar, autoharp and mountain dulcimer), I don't know a better CD then "Late Night Conversations."  I've been playing it in workshops during breaks and it's the one I listened to during some recent surgery.  Homes and schools should have it, and you can get it through us.

Feb. appearances: There are open dates in May and June, and some time for conferences and workshops in the summer and fall.
2/6-2/7  Santa Barbara - 4 preschool visits, presentation to parents Wed. evening
2/8-2/9  Orcutt (CA) - assemblies at four elementary schools
2/9  family concert sponsored by Santa Barbara AEYC, First Presby. Church, SB
2/10  family concert, SB AEYC, Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo
2/13 Kendall (WA) Elementary school - assemblies, teacher workshop, family concert
2/15  Parkview Elementary School, Bellingham, all day with primary classes
2/23-2/24 two family concerts - LA area and San Diego - sponsored by Bright Horizons, call us for more information
2/26-3/2  seminar for the Bureau of Education and Research ("Enhancing Early Literacy Skills With Music") - Mon Ottawa, Tues Toronto, Wed Cleveland, Thurs Pittsburgh, Fri N.VA - info: 800-736-2136
Dates in March and April are available on the web site.

The Store:  The new CD is front and center, of course, but our other collections of wonderful songs are also available.  And people are even ordering them in quantity - a school in New Jersey buying a CD for every classroom teacher, a school in WA getting a grant to provide at least one CD to every family who comes to a family concert.  Both seem like really good ideas!  Items are easily ordered on line through the web site -- click here to go directly to the store..   And for those of you who remember some mention a while back of a CD of songs for experiencing math concepts (with Kaplan and Teaching Strategies), it's coming.  Honest it is!  We'll let you know when it's in our hands.  Thanks to all who have sent such thoughtful responses to our booklet of five essays Visits to the Heart of Education -- many reports of how you've used them and many ideas about how to make them available more widely.  They're still available if you want to order one or more.

Our best to you all until next month regardless of whether or not the ground hog saw his shadow...



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THE SONG GROWING CO.
1225 E. Sunset Dr., #518
Bellingham, WA  98226
(360) 738-0340
fax: (360) 734-0295
songgrow at tomhunter.com
www.tomhunter.com
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