This Is The Man (a perpetual versification)

This is the Man

Who drove the Van

To pick up the Kids

Who had the Lids

To put on the Jars

Of jam in the Cars

That were parked on the Hill

Near the old Windmill

That made the Flour

Which was sold every Hour

To bake the Bread

For the woman who Wed

The Man

Who drove the Van….

RED©1983

Jibbidy-F and ACE, a way to remember the lines and spaces of the Grand Staff

Below is the cover of a piano book that I have used over the years with beginning students. It was this book that taught me a new way to teach students how to remember the letter names of the bass and treble staff lines and spaces. As you may be know, there are various methods used to teach the names of notes on the staff. Most of the time the student learns sentences that name the lines and spaces of both bass and treble clefs. For the treble clef lines sentences like "Every Good Boy Does Fine," "Every Girl Bakes Delicious Fudge," "Empty Garbage Before Dad Flips" are used. The spaces for the treble clef spell the word "FACE." For the bass clef lines, sentences like "Good Boys Do Fine Always" and "Great Big Dreams For America are used. The spaces are connected to the sentence "All Cows Eat Grass" or "All Cars Eat Gas."

What I find, however, is that the student may learn the lines and spaces using sentences but he/she, most often, forgets which sentence goes with which clef. In the book pictured, the lines and spaces are all learned at once by using clever "characters" name "Jibbidy-F" and "ACE."

I have included a "poem" to help illustrate what the book teaches.

Jibiddy-F and ACE

Jibbidy-F and ACE

Are my musical friends you see.

Keep them in mind

When you want to know the grand staff lines.

Jibbidy-F and ACE.

Remember to start at the bottom of the staff

With a G-sound as in giraffe.

Quickly say the letters

Until the note is found.

Jibiddy-F and Ace help us to remember better.

RED©1985

As illustrated above on the second grand staff, all the spaces of the staff are learned by starting with ACE and then GBDF.

The following staff illustrates only the lines by repeating the letters across the lines.

Practice and learn the names of both the lines and spaces of the grand staff. Let me know if you have success.

“Love's Long-Lasting Look for Today”

“Love's Long-Lasting Look for Today”

Slick covers say youthful looks

And sleek bodies are to be worshiped

In fleeting moments of

Sage less, ever-severing

Meeting of the sexes.

All are tempted to buy stock

In glossy, commercial fiction

Yielding no dividend,

No deposit, no return

Reality of dead ends.

Look around with eyes made

To see beyond what is seen

To find love springing up

From years of plowing, planting,

Harvesting the fruit from lives clinging to REALITY.

So many years are such a short time.

No time wasted on tomorrow

Or yesterday

When all you have is today—

Now-Time is time to lavish love.

Love’s beauty never fades,

For when it was first seen,

It was seen—Beautiful--

Ageless beauty,

Ever-present Loveliness.

“Friend and Companion,

Wealth untold is heaped

Upon this union when there is

None to lend or

To spend.”

Time is with these Dear Ones

For they have loved more

Today than Yesterday

And Todays always build

Better Tomorrows.

RED©2/27/1985

Who Am I?

Who Am I?

No recollection of non-existence.

Consciousness always present.

Even in sleep

The mental workings never cease.

Observation reveals that

Life has a beginning

And it has transition

In death.

Spirit, mind, and body

Work together to produce

Joys, thoughts, pleasures

Untold.

The triumvirate resists

Each other and

Sorrow, sin, and pain

Abound.

“Deep calls to deep…,”

“Fearfully and wonderfully

Are we made.”

A chasm needs filling.

The Creator, the God

Of the Universe,

Seeks out the

Human heart.

A marriage is celebrated.

A sabbath’s rest is proclaimed.

Redemption is accomplished.

The old gives way to the new.

Who am I?

In me I see a reflection

Of His glory,

A yearning to see Him fully.

A hope is placed within me.

A partnership is established.

In spite of needed refinements,

I am covered with eternal assurance.

Life is worth living!

Routines are the active ingredients.

Mountaintops are reflections

Of the finished product.

Who am I?

I am

Fearfully and

Wonderfully made!

RED©1983