Joey Alexander (born Josiah Alexander Sila; June 25, 2003) is one of the world’s most recognized child composer/musicians. Born in Bali, Indonesia, he began playing jazz at the age of six. Joey’s first album, My Favorite Things, was published in 2015 and his new album, Joey Alexander: Countdown, are both available from both iTunes and Amazon. To follow his career, bookmark his website. The website also includes several videos of him performing. This performance, at age 10, at the Lincoln Center in New York, one of the most prestigious venues for any musician, highlights his talents. Joey Alexander is playing “Round Midnight” by Thelonius Monk (1917-1982) and Cootie Williams (1911-1985). His music speaks for itself.
Young Creators
Young Performer: Natalie Schwamová, 11, Plays Mozart
Natalie plays Mozart variations on the melody for “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Use this music inspiration for theme-based individual or classroom writing projects. Mozart (1756-1781) wrote a set of variations on the theme of a French folk song, Ah! vous dirai je maman, in 1780, when he was twenty-five years old. In the English-speaking world we identify the theme with the children’s song, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, but in France and most of Europe it is identified with Ah! vous dirai je maman. This beautiful piece of music is here performed by the Czeck pianist Natalie Schwamová (born 1999) when she was eleven-years-old. Natalie brings grace and skill to this performance. Project ideas: Besides being a beautiful piece of music performed by a child, the idea of writing variations on a theme can be applied to creative creative projects besides music. For example, you could write a series of stories based on a one theme, or, a class could write a set of stories based on a theme with each child writing one of the variations.
Reading of “A Far Away Place” by Emmy Wong
Emmy J. X. Wong, 12 A very strong reading of “A Far Away Place,” first published in Stone Soup Magazine. This, and other stories read by their authors can serve as a model for a more formal classroom story-reading program, if you don’t already have one.
