Page 33 - Creature Feature Book

About Creature Feature

Creature Feature began as a composition project to introduce elementary students
to music notation and the relationship between sound and symbol. Third graders
created original melodic lines and then chose a creature that each melody would
represent. With the help of expressive tools such as speed (tempo) and volume
(dynamics), along with a little imagination, the children's notes came to life as
leaping frogs, creeping slugs and fluttering hummingbirds. These very different
pieces are brought together in Creature Feature to present some of the nuts and
bolts of music's written language as well as to show that the real magic of music
goes beyond notes on a page.

Jane Singhal holds a Bachelor of Arts in music from Yale and a master's degree in
Russian Studies from Princeton. A violinist, vocalist, and music instructor, Ms.
Singhal devotes her time to teaching children and impressing upon parents the
need for enriching and engaging music materials at home and in the schools. She
is the author of Applause, a violin method and repertoire series, and Move Over,
Mozart, an elementary music curriculum, as well as articles on the importance of
skills-based music instruction. Ms. Singhal lives in Belmont, California with her
husband and two daughters in what one of her youngest students has dubbed
"The Singing House."

Daria Kingman, an art teacher and free-lance commercial artist since 1973, is
currently the art specialist at Hilltop Elementary School in Mendham, New Jersey.
Ms. Kingman's comprehensive art program gives young students the technical and
observational skills they need to appreciate and create art in any media--from
pastels to computers. As president of the county chapter of the Art Educators of
New Jersey, she carries her passion for teaching and children outside the
classroom, organizing numerous exhibits of children's art work throughout the
year. Ms. Kingman resides in the New Jersey countryside, where she tends a
large vegetable garden, fish pond and many flower beds and pursues biking,
hiking, skiing and flying as well as raising two children--her greatest projects.