强奸视频

Editor's note: 听Raffi听is celebratating 40 years of making music for children with a "Best of Raffi" album release and a national concert tour. In April, he performs in Chicago and Minneapolis, and in May he performs in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. He also regularly tours around Canada. Get the latest concert and music release information at听. 听Read our 2014 interview with Raffi, where he discusses music, learning, and his album Love Bug!

Beloved children鈥檚 troubadour Raffi has a new album, his first in 12 years. I had the opportunity to chat with Raffi about his new album, how children learn from music and the many ways he hopes children, teachers, and families connect with his new songs.听

Interview By: Susan Friedman

What was your inspiration for Love Bug? Why a new album now after 12 years?

Raffi:听Two years ago I returned to the concert stage after an absence of ten years. We called these family sing-along concerts, Beluga Grad concerts (Beluga Grads are the adults who grew up singing my songs). Many Beluga Grads were in the audience with their own children and I started thinking about the differences in childhood now versus then. I felt the impulse to write new songs for this new time.

What is this 鈥渘ew time鈥�?

Raffi:听Children today grow up with very rapidly developing digital technology. 听It touches all our lives and we don鈥檛 really understand all the ways technology and social media impact children. I wanted to create songs that bring children鈥檚 attention to things in the real world they might notice. This album is a full on celebration of the real world.

Can you share what you hope children, teachers and families experience when listening to the songs on this album?

Raffi:听Apart from the whimsy and laughter (I do get to bark like a dog here and there and I really enjoy that!) there are songs like 鈥淐ool Down Reggae鈥� and 鈥淲ater in the Well鈥� which are all about taking a deep breath in the course of a day. 听Everything that we do online is happening at such a fast speed. 听With a song like 鈥淲ind Chimes鈥� children can just listen to the sound of the wind.听 I鈥檓 creating a picture of how our world actually flows in real time with real world rhythms rather than the hyper-rhythms of the cyber world. It鈥檚 another opportunity to just take a deep breath and just enjoy the moment.

Listeners will hear mindfulness meditation implicit in some of these songs and at the same time this collection of songs is also at times very toe-tapping and robust. I see it as an album of breath and depth, and fun for the family on a number of levels. And I think there is much there for educators; there are plenty of opportunities to engage children in social and emotional learning.

What are some of the ways teachers can support children鈥檚 social and emotional learning with these songs?

Raffi:听Songs can be a vehicle for both learning about the world inside and outside of us.鈥淔ree to Play鈥� is a song that I think will resonate with both kids and teachers. Children will enjoy hearing about things they recognize and play with (for example there鈥檚 a reference to finger puppets.) 听There are many opportunities to ask the children open-ended questions and explore the songs.

In relation to the song, 鈥淟ove Bug鈥�, I think these questions help children understand and explore their own feelings.听 When children think about their own answers to 鈥淲hat do you think this song Love Bug is about?鈥澨� 鈥淗ow does it make you feel?鈥� 鈥� Might you draw your own love bug? 鈥淲hat would your love bug look like?鈥� They think about their own feelings and about their connections to others.

There鈥檚 another interesting song called 鈥淪eeing the Heart鈥� which also offers ideas for children to explore their own feelings and their connections to others in their lives. 听A mother and son I know inspired this song. The mother drew the shape of a human heart quite realistically and then her 10-year-old son saw his mother鈥檚 听drawing and on his own, without prodding, labeled the different parts of the heart with the most amazing words like 鈥減ump of flowing happiness鈥�, 鈥渉ate outtake valve鈥�, 鈥渞idge of foresight鈥�.

The boy titled his version of the drawing, 听鈥淭he Mind鈥檚 Way of Seeing the Heart鈥�, and it鈥檚 the inspiration for the title of my song, 鈥淪eeing the Heart.鈥� The song celebrates the mother and son connection that yielded this. 听I think there鈥檚 a tremendous opportunity for teachers to delve deeply into this heart metaphor鈥攈ow it strikes us, how it stirs us, how it might stir a child, how we鈥檙e connected, what we feel inside and about each other.

Anything else you鈥檇 like to add?

From the early excitement about the title song, I feel like a proud new papa with this album. I can鈥檛 wait until mid-July just to see how families, children and parents and teachers as well, will respond to these new songs.

Raffi is a songwriter and performer.听听And be sure to check out听, available now!

Susan Friedman is the Executive Editor of Digital Content at 强奸视频