| Friendship and
Goodwill |
| A collection of songs intended to foster
friendship, |
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compassion and respect among children |
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I created this new compilation CD as a surprise
gift for a group of young public school students in
Seattle I was asked to sing for recently.
Friendship and Goodwill was the title and to make it very special
to them, I subtitled it; Songs for Mr. Rowe's 5th
Grade Class and printed all their names on the back
of the cover. I could never have imagined how much
these kids would enjoy my songs. I've had ten and
eleven year-olds stopping me all over this part of
the city to tell me how much they enjoy the CD. The
greatest surprise though, was that their music
teacher so liked my song, By A Friend, that
she plans to teach it to children throughout the
school.
I can't imagine a higher
honor than children singing my songs. What is
particularly satisfying to me is that these are the
songs that I wrote for myself, natural expressions,
not songs I intentionally fashioned for children.
They are songs that people of all ages love and it
pleases me to think that these very songs that came
from my life and dreams are songs that might
encourage children and young people to respect each
other; to listen to each other's feelings and to
honor every living thing on this planet.
After writing about this
on my website, several folks from around the country
wrote to ask if they might buy a copy for their
children. It surprised me and gave me the idea to
make up a few copies to take to my concert last week
in Southern California. My next surprise was even
greater: people in the audience swarmed the CD table
and bought all 16 copies I'd made. I could have sold
fifty if I'd had them. The parents and the teachers
in the audience, a school principal and a couple of
officials from school administrations were
overwhelmingly supportive of my idea of sharing
songs of Friendship and Goodwill with children in
schools.
I've decided to explore
the idea further. There is probably not a parent in
the country not worried about violence and danger in
our schools. I believe that one thing that can be
done is to foster compassion and friendship and
respect among our children. My hope is to sing for
them more often and to begin to manufacture and
distribute these CDs for no cost to schools around
the country. I'll be seeking grants or sponsors to
help me accomplish this. If you have ideas, please
let me know. And if you'd like a copy for kids that
you know - of any age - you may order copies of Friendship and Goodwill
by clicking here. |
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