Melanie is my daughter’s music teacher. She is a fantastic musical spirit with a gorgeous voice. In a time when full-time music teachers are few and far between at the elementary level, Melanie is a freelancer, paid by parent and community fundraising, who comes to school several times a week and makes our students’ mouths and hearts sing. When my daughter was in Kindergarten, I was lucky enough to volunteer in the classroom on the day that Melanie visited, rolling into the room with her keyboard on a cart, and you could see that it was one of their favorite times of the week.
Melanie’s music is brilliant. She has a way of really connecting with what kids want to hear and sing. Some of the songs are simply goofy and fun (“Old Dan Tucker” and “All Around the Kitchen” are two of my daughter’s favorites). Many of her songs have curricular ties with elementary school subject areas (check out “The Spelling Game” and “Symbols of My Country”). Many songs provide children with character and self-esteem building messages - my all-time favorite is “We are One” from her album, Believe.
Every other year, Melanie does something spectacular with our school. With input from the kids, she composes an original musical on an inspirational theme (my daughter has participated in “Simply Green” and “Operation Hope”). These shows are among the highlights of the children’s experience in elementary school. As I write this article, I should be basking in the glow of last night’s production, intended to be about friendship and believing in oneself, but the show had to be postponed, because Melanie is valiantly battling a particularly vicious case of breast cancer.
With all the controversy over groups that fight the breast cancer battle, people don’t know what to do anymore to contribute to the cause. If you have kids (or if you know someone who does), please consider helping with Melanie’s fight by purchasing her songs and albums through Amazon or iTunes. You’ll help a family, not a bureaucracy, and share Melanie’s gift with a lucky child.
This is a link to “We are One” on iTunes… you can get to the rest of her music from there.
Or Download “Believe” on Amazon.com
