Notes
Sam Massarsky's 'MUSIC TIME' is an iParenting Media Award Winner For Outstanding Children's Products for 2007. KID-TESTED, PARENT-APPROVED, AND TEACHER RECOMMENDED !!! It’s been an interesting musical journey from being a song leader and camp counselor in the “60’s' playing music for young children at summer camps, to the folk and rock music scene in the coffee houses and clubs along the Jersey Shore while attending Monmouth College in West Long Branch, to the West Coast clubs and the street music scene at Fisherman’s Wharf and Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco and graduating from San Francisco State University. It seems now as if it’s come full circle to do what Sam Massarsky has always enjoyed the most. Affectionately known as 'Sam the Music Man' by hundreds of children and their parents, he's the pre-school “Music Specialist' teaching classes at several Marin County pre-schools as well as a performer presenting children's music programs in the S.F. Bay area. When he observed the need and interest for more complex, challenging, and more “sophisticated' songs in young children beyond “Twinkle Twinkle' and the usual “ABC' song, Sam knew it was time to create a program that challenged children in a manner that was fun and at the same time helped kids become more aware of their own musical capabilities. 'One of the most important things we can do as teachers (and parents) is to help recognize and create interesting and challenging opportunities for our kids,' Sam says, 'My music sessions are not set up as just a classroom activity, but as an experience for the kids (and me) to grow and develop in. Within each music session that combines entertainment with an underlying lesson plan that actually includes music theory, harmony, rhythm and rhyme...is an opportunity for each child's creativity to emerge.' In his classes, kids learn about manners, and playing, and friendships, and respect, and dinosaurs, and the ABC's, and other 'kid essentials' while at the same time gaining experience with the 'how to's' of musical play and song through music that they can relate to. They even get to make up their own songs about things they want to sing about. They learn to use their bodies as musical instruments to learn percussion and rhythm, and definitely put to rest the myth that most 3 and 4-year-olds cannot snap their fingers in rhythm. For after they are in Sam’s class, indeed they can ! From the new remixed version of “THE BABY SONG' originally recorded in 1996 with infant son Alex singing along, to the “HELLO HELLO' greeting, the welcoming invitation to join in singing and clapping in “MUSIC TIME', the rousing rocking and rolling to the sing along “ROCK & ROLL ABC’S', the inevitable never ending “QUESTIONS', to “QUIET TIME' where we learn to appreciate all the sounds around us, and finally the 'GOODBYE SONG' to end the journey until next time, this MUSIC TIME CD will take you and your kids on a musical excursion that’s fun and thought provoking. It’s got a flavor of 60’s Rock, Country, and folk styles with original words and music that Mom and Dad can really appreciate too. Kids love to listen to the song 'Questions' because it makes them laugh, but Mom's and Dad's love it for another very special reason as well. With the added skills and talent of musician/singer, sound engineer, and good friend Jon Zobler at BIGsurSOUND Studios who put his own special touch on this project, Sam has created a great music CD that you and your kids will want to listen to, and sing along with again and again. We know you will enjoy it ! You can contact Sam at: SAMTHOLOGY@COMCAST.NET or write to: S.J.Massarsky P.O. Box 1388 Novato, California 94948.
