Shake Your Way to the Best Spring Ever

April 9, 2015

SHAKERS!

Here at Rockness Music, we love shakers and we Love spring time.  They both represent a time to relax and renew. Warmer weather gives us time to head outside – playing with shakers gives you an excuse to let loose and have fun with your toddler.

We rock out with shakers all year long. Now that spring is here we see a whole other level of dancing and grooving in our music for toddlers classes. The snow is finally melting off the car and we can take our sneakers out of the closet and get back to playing outside.  That awesome energy translates into our classes as everyone is excited to dance, shake and celebrate with the warmth and sunshine.  With songs like Growin’ Bigger we learn what plants need to grow and how to act out the growth of a plant. Together we usher in warm breezes and beautiful flowers.

Shakers provide a forward motion feeling that really moves the song along and keeps the babies and toddlers bobbing their heads to the beat. Their rattling sounds are a perfect accompaniment to the rhythm of a song.

But where do these magical instruments come from?

The term shaker applies to several instruments throughout history such as a rainstick and maracas. Maracas were originally dried gourds that had dried beans inside of them and were initially very popular in Latin American countries.  Rainsticks were bamboo, or cactus cylinders that were filled with pebbles and had a slide like design inside to slow down the movement of the pebbles.  Possibly originating during the time of the Aztecs rainsticks were meant to encourage the rain for the growth of crops.

We’d love to hear from you?  How can you use shakers outside of Rockness Music classes.

Before bed, maybe to burn off  some energy with your children.  Turn on Shake Around, a classic Rockness Music song (written by founder Michael Napolitano) and dance the end of winter away. Before nap time you can do a little shaking and dancing to Shake It another Rockness Music favorite before the baby gets in a couple of ZZZ’s.

You can find shaker sounds in music all over the world including popular american music such as Jazz, Pop, Funk, Rock and Dance.  Now that’s a lot of shaking.  So head outside, turn up the tunes, and get to shaking!

Bonus:

Make your own shaker, with a small Milk Carton, dried rice and some tape. You can even decorate the box!