Curriculum & Philosophy

Talking Hands Talking Feet has developed Curriculum based Performing Arts programs since 2001 with over 2,500 children in four states. These national programs are becoming primarily web-based. Educators can find and download songs/dances/lesson plans to fit their curriculum needs. We are in the process of recording this valuable content. Talking Hands Talking Feet continues to work in the local community as well, developing new curriculum based performing arts school programs, recording music and dances, teaching at the Humming Grove Studio (THTF studio) and working with teachers in professional development.

*See the videos entitled “Arts Integrated Education” & “School Programs Documentary” for introduction to the Curriculum-Based Performing Arts Programs

Talking Hands Talking Feet is a whole human theater experience, integrating music, story and verse, movement expression, rhythm and coordination, humor and humanity. The developmental benefits have proven themselves over and over again.

“We believe that we make a real difference in children’s lives, giving them confidence to participate, express and create in daily life. Our program is easy to apply and affordable. – Melanie Zeir

“Arts integrated learning is essential to education and development. Children represent a colorful mosaic of learning styles and natural inclinations, and yet the experience of public school severely limits potential. The idea of “one model fits all” belongs with the factory education era and simply does not fit with the multi-dimensional integrative needs of 21st century children. Teachers, who are the true heroes in any school, struggle to incorporate multiple learning modalities amidst often frustrating and restricting demands of the standardized testing regime.
Public schools cannot be expected to accommodate the specific needs of every child. However, it is within reach of every public school teacher to incorporate arts integrated learning programs designed to support their curriculum.
We have found that virtually every subject, from math to social studies, language arts to the sciences can be easily expanded, explored, experienced through the media of music and movement. Children benefit by this integrative approach in multiple ways.” – Paul A. Zeir

Purpose
Talking Hands Talking Feet is an Arts Integrated Education Resource for children of the 21st century. It assists teachers and parents to provide opportunity for immersion, assimilation, call and response and connective learning processes for children in the context of a vibrant range of relevant subjects through the enhanced media of music and movement.

Mission:
Talking Hands Talking Feet creates a rich and varied range of National Standards Curriculum based inspired education songs with accompanying movements and instruction for educators and families to encourage arts integrated connective learning processes in children (ages birth -12). Our mission is to be a vital resource for educators nationally and worldwide.

Values:
Talking Hands Talking Feet content, character and methodology comes out of a deep value for humanity, the natural worlds and the sanctity and brilliant potential of each human life in development.

Our Aims and Purposes:

• To provide vital experience that demonstrates the value of the arts as essential to development and education.
• To create pathways of connection and learning through the media of integrated music and dance.
• To encourage and promote individual and ensemble genius and virtuosity.
• To generate the essence of discovery fortified with natural research ways and love of the pursuit of truth.
• To engender genuine belief and confidence in oneself and the mosaic of possibilities working with others.
• To encourage bold and versatile expression with quality content.
• To foster value and respect for oneself, one’s body, one’s family and one’s community life.
• To provide an ecology of safety and encouragement to the inner life of each person and their natural participation.
• To help develop skill and confidence in communication and human theater arts.
• To generate fun and inspiring process oriented work that promotes uninhibited creativity and ability to respond.
• To sponsor multiple learning modalities.

Music and Dance are brilliant educators. They are languages in their own right; "spoken" in every land, bridging the gap between people and places, allowing understanding that often surpasses words alone. More importantly, music and dance speak direct to the inner life wonder and ways of human beings. This is where Talking Hands Talking Feet music and dance education makes its start. Our foundation can be described around the following five point framework: Communication, Connections, Content, Creativity and Confidence

Communication

Music, song, dance and story-play encourage and promote greater range and fluency of expression in so many marvelous ways... switching on the natural intelligences latent in the human "orchestra". Our aim is to foster and help liberate the inherent love and joy of versatile and uninhibited communication.

Connections

Content

You become what you process. That's why content is so important! The songs, dances and stories used in our curriculum are packed with bright learning vitamins and values. The repertoire is huge; much of it is drawn from the rich inheritance of world folk and ethnic tradition. But most of the material is original, designed for various themes including:

• Human Body School –body parts and body systems including circulatory, respiratory and digestive, healthy lifestyles; nutrition, exercise, healthy attitudes and self respect.
  
• Home Planet Earth – conservation, sustainability, ecosystems, water, the solar system, world geography, cultural diversity, animals and their habitat and being good stewards of the earth.
  
• Math-A-Magic- patterns, counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, estimation, measurements of time, telling time through world time zones, opposites, calendar, geometry (3 dimensional shapes)
  
• America- cross cultural exploration of North, Central and South America.
  
• Seasons of New Mexico – the four local cultures, the beauty of the land and natural planetary cycles.
  

Creativity

Our teaching methodology is process oriented with focus on the quality of content generated between ourselves and the young participants. It works by invitation, contagion, immersion, repetition and transference, sprinkled with a good dose of joy, delight, fun and laughter. The result is a kind of spontaneous creativity that'll knock your socks off! Here's some of what we do to make it happen:

• Musical Warm-ups
• Physical Warm-ups
• Rhythm Exercises
• Rhythm Games
• Mind Liveners
• Memory Sequence Songs
• Color Songs & Rhythms
• The World of Instruments
• Follow Your Ear - Improvisation Training
• Original Theme Songs with Movement Expression
• Percussion and Instrument Accompaniment
• Color Dances
• Story Plays
• Musical Concepts
• World Songs & Music
• Composing Song and Dance
• Choreographed Form Dances
• Story Dances / Creative Dance

Confidence

Confidence is the natural result and overspill of being able to do; being able to COMMUNICATE with growing versatility, wit and perception; being able to make new CONNECTIONS with growing sensitivity and awareness; being able to express oneself using a broad spectrum of quality CONTENT; and being able to respond CREATIVELY with insight and self-generated enthusiasm, These are all ingredients of genuine self trust and CONFIDENCE.

We have seen so many young lives grow into bright confident respectful and very talented individuals. We are so honored and inspired that Talking Hands Talking Feet® has played a significant part in their lives. We invite you to check it out for the children in your care and for you too!

Kaleidoscope! Ages 8-12 & Teens
Encompassment of Work

1. Core Qualities
2. Rhythm & Coordination Training
3. Rhythm & Music Training
4. Dance & Movement Training
5. Song Composition & Singing
6. Theater Arts Training
7. Language Arts Enlivenment
8. Human Body Discovery
9. Natural Worlds Discovery
10. World Cultures Research

1. Core Qualities:
These are the principle values and qualities fundamental to our program and up front in us as educators: trust, value, care, confidence, respect, versatility, quality, creativity, consistency, cohesion, discipline, regularity, constancy, diversity, integration, content, companionship, encouragement, team work, discovery, virtuosity, humor, fluency, humanity, honesty, humility, patience, perseverance, willingness, kindness and generosity.

2. Rhythm & Coordination Training:
All of the following areas include a progression of multiple exercises. We have highlighted the progression in Thai Stick Dancing as an example.
  a. Co-ordination exercises.
  b. Rhythm exercises. Dancing body rhythms and body rhythm sequences.
  c. Rhythm sticks.
  d. Thai sticks.
     i. Basic familiarization
     ii. Improvisation
     iii. Partnering patterns with hands & feet
     iv. Multiple sticks
     v. Choreographed patterns
     vi. Including other media - throw sticks, balls, hand patterns, singing.
  e. Basket Ball rhythm work - Pentaball

3. Rhythm & Music Training:
  a. Multiple rhythm exercises.
     i. Hands & Feet
     ii. Drums & Sticks
     iii. Boom whackers
     iv. Various percussion instruments
  b. Color rhythm work
  c. Color music work
     i. Color modes
     ii. Catching and matching the frequency
     iii. Frequency modulation
     iv. World music comparison
  d. Composition & improvisation training
  e. Instrument training
  f. Ensemble play & performance training
  g. Notation
  h. Instrument making workshops

4. Dance & Movement Training:
  a. Dance improvisation and choreography -
     i. Creative dance grids
     ii. Movement through color
     iii. Story dances
     iv. Opening up themes and researches
     v. Specific messages
     vi. The 3 R’s through movement
     vii. Form dances
     viii. Moving triangles
  b. Movement enactment of songs
  c. Performance training

5. Song Composition & Singing:
  a. Rhyming mind liveners
  b. Lyrics and poetry immersion
  c. Writing songs
  d. Vocal training
  e. Ensemble singing

6. Theater Arts Training:
  a. Storytelling
  b. Oratory
  c. Story enactment
  d. Song enactment
  e. History enactment (micro-musicals)

7. Language Arts Enlivenment:
  a. Mind liveners - mental fluency exercises
  b. Vocabulary building exercises
  c. The love of language discovery including bilingual song exploration
  d. Working a theme with phrases, poems, notions and ideas as a platform for composition of music, dance, song, story…
  e. Lyrics & poetry
  f. Song & story composition
  g. Oratory arts
  h. World folklore and mythology

8. Human Body Discovery:
The workings of the human body through theater, music and dance. Going into depth and appreciation from basic anatomy, the balances of the many systems into specifics such as the workings of the immune system.

9. Natural Worlds Discovery:
  a. Understandings of nature expressed through theater, music and dance.
  b. Deepening discovery work
  c. Field trips - to do our work ‘in the field’!

10. World Cultures Research:
  a. Comparison work through the medias of music, story and dance
  b. Discovery grids: color, number, symbol, planetary cycles, shapes & form, language, imagery, geography…
  c. Learning folk styles from around the world