Just in time for the holidays, a new Susan Salidor CD with 19 new songs and fingerplays!

It’s perfect for circle time, car time, bed time, ANY TIME!

It’s available now in the web store! Order your copy now!

Friends,

I hope you’ll join me on Saturday, March 2nd at 10:30am for a concert and CD release party for my latest recording, “Come and Make a Circle 3: Even More Terrific Tunes for Children and Those Who Love Them.”  I’ll be joined by my buddy Matt Yanny-Tillar, and we promise to sing past favorites along with songs from the new CD.  CMC3 is available for purchase and download at CDBaby and Apple iTunes.  You can also purchase it here at my website with a credit card or Paypal account, and I’ll have all of my recordings available at Schuba’s.  You can call JCYS at 773-281-2533 for advance tickets.

BTW, my daughter Hope Rehak will be performing at Schuba’s the VERY SAME DAY at “Mortified” in the evening.  Check it out at:http://schubas.com/Shows/12-10-2011+Mortified

Thanks!

Susan xo

January 27, 2013

Friends,

Hoping the new year arrived in your home with laughter, good health and hope for a wonderful year to come.

Our holidays were filled with lots of entertaining, decorating the most beautiful tree we’ve ever had, and with plenty of time for relaxing and enjoying each other’s company.  My family is back to work and/or school, and we in the Midwest are bracing for some icy cold weather as we count down the days to spring.

I’m only beginning to promote my newest release, “Come and Make a Circle 3:  Even More Terrific Tunes for Children and Those Who Love Them,” but many of you have let me know that you are enjoying the new songs.  I’ve got a CD release concert coming up at Schuba’s in Chicago on March 2nd, and I’ll be visiting a handful of libraries over the next few months to introduce my new songs and make some new friends.  Check out my Concert page for details.

I’ll also be updating the website over the next few months.  Check back for some new features, including links to short videos that will teach you how to use the material off of my Circle series recordings in the early childhood classroom to maximum effect.  I’ll be regularly updating the gallery pages, as well, so you can see me in action throughout the Chicagoland area.

Another new feature will be links to YouTube videos made from songs of mine from around the world.  It’s a thrill to see children in Korea sing and dance along to my songs, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Until that feature is up and running, take a minute to search YouTube using my name — I think you’ll be delighted and entertained by what you see.

I’m currently teaching at seven schools and thrilled to be doing so.  As always, my students give back so much more than I can possibly give them AND inspire new songs and new ways to sing old songs.  Over the last few years I’ve become ever more aware of the link between the mind and body and how important it is for young ones and old ones alike to use both sides of their brains as much as possible.  To that end, I’ve created and incorporated more movement and dance into my work, and the new CD contains some of the results of that effort, notably the tracks “Circling ‘Round” and  ”A Very Moving Medley.”  (Get it?)

I’ll end now but will be updating these posts more frequently in the months to come.  Meanwhile, I wish you warmth if you’re cold, happiness if you’re sad, and loving people to surround you always.

Susan S.xo

Friends,

I’m thrilled and proud to announce the early release of my new recording for 2013, COME AND MAKE A CIRCLE 3: Even More Terrific Tunes for Children and Those Who Love Them.  

I’ve been announcing this one forever, it seems, so it is especially satisfying to let you know it is available here at my website and at CDBaby.com.  Soon it will be available at Amazon.com and Apple iTunes, as is all of my other children’s music.

Like the other recordings in my Circle series, CMC3 is a reflection of the young children with whom I make music each week.  All of the songs are originals, except for the cover “Building a Better World,” a song by Peter and Ellen Allard I wish I had written!  Fully arranged songs and finger plays include a variety of styles and intruments, and my dream to one day record with an accordion has come true.  The talented John Williams can be heard on the song “Circling Round,” written to introduce children to circle dancing found in countries the world over.

Of course there are personal songs as well.  ”Every Little Bit of You” was written for my husband and partner in all things Jay Rehak.  I pay tribute to my daughter Hope’s fashion choices when she was a toddler in “Three Dresses” — 3 guesses as to what she use to wear!   “Sleep, Baby, Dream” was inspired by my daughter Hannah, asleep in my hotel bed with me during a freshman college visit last year.

There are funny songs, too, like “What Kind of Pie Am I? and sweet songs, like “Back in the Day,” a meditation on what a young child can and cannot do at certain ages.

It is my wish that you listen, learn, enjoy and share these songs with the children you love.  My other wish is that your holiday, however you choose to celebrate it, is filled with the joy of friends and family, the blessing of good health, and with the hope of a better, more peaceful year ahead.

With love,

Susan

11/2/12

Friends,

I realize the title of this post is confusing.

I’ve been thinking about this song, written around 1995 and recorded for my very first CD for children, Little Voices in My Head.  When I released that recording, I had no idea if I would be able to make a living from writing and performing for children, or from work as a music specialist in preschool and kindergarten classes.  I didn’t know if any of my songs would strike the right chord for children, their teachers and their families.  Eight recordings and thousands of classes later, I know that at least one of my songs has enjoyed a long and happy life.

I’ve Got Peace in My Fingers, written for the preschool my daughters attended, the same school that first asked me to conduct music classes for toddlers, and the school where I have taught every Wednesday morning since 1993, is my youngest child.  I birthed and raised this song like one of my own children, and, like them, it has moved out of the house and lives somewhat independently on its own.  Sure, I get composer credit for it from time to time, but it has its own luster and appeal, and for that, I can’t take credit.

Every so often I search the internet for this song, keeping track of its latest incarnations, much as I track my other children using Facebook and Skype.  I am delighted to find videos of classrooms of children from Boston to France to Korea singing its simple words and melody or to read posts from teachers who sing its praises.

As a song, it’s not much: simple, repetitive, and short.  The recording runs a mere 1:38 minutes.  The YouTube video my husband and I made is sweet, yet it has received thousands of hits.  I’ve written over 100 songs since I first penned I’ve Got Peace in My Fingers, some of which are in my estimation much better songs — more interesting lyrics and melodies, fully arranged, more unique.  Why does THIS song enjoy the most popularity?

I now realize the answer to that question is not really important, nor is it mine to know.  I can brag all I want about my children to you, but in the end, YOU have to know them in order to truly love and appreciate them for who they are, not for how I feel about them, objective as I may be.

And so I’ve come to accept that this song, like my children, is of the world.

In the studio finishing up Come and Make a Circle 3, Summer 2012.

OCTOBER 2012

Friends,

It has been a while since I updated my letter!

Here in Chicago the weather is just turning to fall — cool mornings, chilly nights, and a carpet of red and yellow leaves on the sidewalks in my neighborhood.  My teaching schedule is full with daily visits to preschools in the city and northern suburbs.

I am putting the finishing touches on my new CD, Come and Make a Circle 3!  Now I need to work with my graphic artist to cross the “t’s” and dot the “i’s” on the copy for the CD booklet and send the artwork with the CD to be reproduced.  I am hoping for a December 1st due date.  I’d better have it done by then, since I just received 1,000 promotional postcards that announce the release in December 2012!

I’m just back from the Children’s Music Network’s National Conference held this year in Zion, IL, just about an hour from where I live on Chicago’s north side.  What a celebration!  Fabulous people with big, generous hearts, great singing, memorable songs.  Thanks to Carole Peterson and Lisa Heintz for organizing it, and to all of my CMN friends who make the conference possible on every level.  If you don’t know about the Children’s Music Network, check out our website at cmnonline.org for information.  I’m proud to say I sit on the CMN Board, and we are always looking for new members.  CMN offers up an impressive resource catalogue of songs and teaching strategies for anyone involved in music and children and has an active list serve made up of passionate teachers, singers, songwriters, librarians and others.

The summer went by quickly, but I was thrilled to be able to return to Nantucket for a week of singing.  Mollie Glazer joined me in concert once again at the Atheneum where we entertained a packed house of eager children and their families.  I also taught a World Music series for children at Big City Day Camp here in the city under the auspices of JCYS.  The 7-week camp was a highlight of the summer for me.  We sang and danced to music from West and South Africa, India, China, Japan, South America, Central America, and the Middle East.  Thanks to all of my campers for making me a happy camper!

Some of the super lovely pre-school teachers on Nantucket who came to my music workshop this summer.  Many thanks to Debbie for hosting our musical circle.  Remember, you all have beautiful voices and I like to hear you sing!

My dear friend Mollie, her son Isaiah and me resting on a bench and enjoying the view at Surfside Beach after a bike ride, June 2012.

My Hannah and Jay in Ocean Isle Beach, August 2012.

Jay’s goddaughter Klara from France visited us this summer with her mom and sister.  Here she is at Millenium Park in Chicago with our beautiful Hope, who returned to us from Denmark at the end of August, 2012.

March 2012

If your sound is “on” you’re listening to a cut from my new CD, Come and Make a Circle 3, due out Fall 2012.  I know, I know, I’ve been announcing this CD for a while now.  No worries, however.  I’ve been in the studio on and off for a year and am making significant progress.  I know it will be a worthy addition to the Come and Make a Circle series of CDs, both of which are winners of the Parents’ Choice Award.  Visit this website again in a few months to hear more about the release date and thanks for your interest!

Dot and I have been performing and perfecting our show for over ten years at schools and congregations throughout Illinois.  We always have a great time and truly love working with one another.  Our show is a story and music program that we like to think seamlessly combines the two art forms.  Dot generously allows me to act in some of her best-loved stories, and I love it when Dot adds her harmony vocals and relentless, positive energy to my songs.  It is a delight working and playing with the best, most original storyteller in the Chicago area.

Friends,

Happy New Year one and all!  I hope the new year finds you happy and healthy, though I can’t help but think we’ll need lots of laughter these next 10 months as we face another presidential election.

As January draws to a close, I’m grateful for the nine different sites that employ me and the hundreds of children I see over 26 classes each week.  In addition, I am still at work on my new CD, Come and Make a Circle 3:  Look What I Can Do!   Still can’t say for sure when it will be released in its entirety, but I will be posting songs as they are mixed and mastered at this website so you can hear how the project unfolds.  My friend and recording engineer Victor Sanders (Lakeside Media) is helping me create the 8th CD of my children’s music career!  I’ve got tons of new songs and poems and some of the most wonderful musicians in town helping me make the CD sound fabulous.  Most of the songs are original, but one cover song is Peter and Ellen Allard’s “We’re Building a Better World,” a song many of you have heard me sing in class and concert.

I had a great time with the fine people of Oak Park last Sunday as we raised the roof of Wonderworks, the much-cherished children’s museum located on North Avenue.  Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of performing there with my musical buddy Matt Yanny-Tillar, my storytelling friend Dot Kane, and solo.  Sunday’s solo concert could not have happened without the help of willing dads and moms as backup singers, dancers and musicians.

Please join me at Schuba’s on Saturday, February 11, 2012 as we do a little fundraising for JCYS Lakeview Family Center.  Call 773-281-2533 for ticket information.  We had a blast at last year’s February concert and lots of families stayed to enjoy the delicious food from Schuba’s brunch menu.

Check me out on Facebook, if you haven’t already.  I’m trying to be as media savvy as possible these days, so I’m commiting to posting events, news, photos and video as often as I can and driving my daughters crazy as they guide me through the various machinations of social media.

As I enjoy our late-blooming winter in Chicago, I send all of my friends across the country wishes for snow to play in, rain to jump in, arms to hold you, and music to serenade you.

Susan S.xo

December 2011

Friends,

Our daughters are home and all is right with the world, or so it seems.  I am looking forward to our annual celebrations of Hanukah and Christmas with Ali, Hope and Hannah as we honor the traditions of both sides of our families.

The fall has been a busy time of transition and creativity for both my husband Jay and me.  Jay had a commissioned play produced at his high school, “The Fortune Teller’s Price.”  His play was part of an evening of short pieces that won raves from audiences for 8 performances earlier this month.

I am in the studio (again!) working on Come and Make a Circle 3:  Look What I Can Do!  One of my new songs is what you are hearing upon visiting my website.  It’s called “Wiggle ‘Til the Cows Come Home,” and I hope you like it.  In the spirit of the many holidays celebrated at this time of year, I’m also offering a free download of my song “What Is Peace to You?” recorded some years ago with the Chicago-based folk band VOICES.  Simply click here to get it:  13 What Is Peace to You-

I wish you the merriest of holidays and hope that you, too, are able to be closest to the ones you love.

Susanxo