DESCRIPTION: Juliana is standing in a turquoise room. She has long brown hair, and is wearing a red button-down.
JULIANA: Thank you for joining us! We're excited that you're here! At Daniel's Music Foundation we believe in meeting our musicians where they are most comfortable, whether in person at our New York City music center, at our online Zoom events and classes, or through our on-demand video library. Check out the description box below for all the ways you can join us and participate. Now, please enjoy the video and we appreciate you tuning in.
DESCRIPTION: The Daniel's Music Foundation logo is shown, featuring the name of the foundation stacked next to a treble clef on the left.
David is sitting in a light blue room. He has light brown hair parted to the side, and is wearing a dark green polo shirt. Next to him is a guitar, an amp, and several bongo drums.
DAVID: Hello, my name is David and I'm a music instructor and the early childhood music specialist at Daniel's Music Foundation, which is one of my favorite places to be. And I'm glad you're here.
DAVID: In this video, we will be singing and adding some American Sign Language to two traditional children's songs, including The More We Get Together. And Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
DAVID: Sign language is a system of communication using visual gestures and signs. It's a language that uses our hands, faces and body to speak. Please, keep in mind that there are words that have multiple signs, as there are different sign language systems in place all around the world and in multiple ways to sign the same word in each system. I gathered these from ASL or American Sign Language.
DAVID: Let's get started and begin with The More We Get Together. A song I like to use in class, particularly at the beginning of the school year, to help frame and associate school with feelings of positivity. I will sing it once through using American Sign Language for the words more, together, happy and friends. And then I'll break it down so we can do it together. OK? Here we go.
DAVID: (SINGING) The more we get together, together, together. Oh, the more we get together, the happier we'll be. Cause your friends are my friends, and my friends are your friends. Oh, the more we get together, the happier we'll be.
DAVID: Let's begin with more. More can be made by putting your fingertips together on one hand, putting your fingertips together On the other hand. And bringing the two hands together. So that all the fingertips meet in the middle. Say it with me. Say more. Good. Say and sign more. Say and sign more.
DAVID: Next is together. Together can be made by placing your fists together with your thumbs up. And moving them as one in a small circle like you're stirring. Good. Say and sign together. Say together. Say and sign together. Say together. Very nice.
DAVID: Happy is next. Happy can be made by taking your open hands, facing your body and brushing up to your chest a couple of times. Say it and sign it with me. Say happy. Good. Happy.
DAVID: Friends comes next. It's like your fingers are best friends and giving each other a hug. For friends, you're going to curl your fingers down and you're going to take turns with which one is on the top. Back and forth. Back and forth. Say, friends. Sign and say together. Friends. Sign and say together. Friends.
DAVID: Let's try it all the way through. And if you need to go back and rewatch the words, you certainly can. One, two, three.
DAVID: (SINGING) The more we get together, together, together. Oh, the more we get together, the happier we'll be. Cause your friends are my friends, and my friends are your friends. Oh, the more we get together, the happier we'll be.
DAVID: Excellent ready for more. Great. On to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is a very popular, traditional children's song that shares a similar melody to the ABC song and to Baa Baa Black Sheep.
DAVID: Knowing the song by heart can allow us to make it more inclusive by adding signs for nine of the lyrics in the song. We are going to learn the signs for the words twinkle, little, star, wonder, you, above, world, diamond and sky. Those nine.
DAVID: Let's start with twinkle. We take our hand and we put our middle finger pointing down. And we take our other hand and point our middle finger down and we shake one, and we shake the other. We say, twinkle, twinkle.
DAVID: Next the word is little. Little we bring our hands together almost like we're about to clap. But our hands never touch. We say little. Good. Hands come together, when we say little.
DAVID: Next is star. For star, we use our pointer fingers looking up, and then we alternate which one rises. We look up at the sky and it's almost as if we're pointing at all the stars that are up there. Good.
DAVID: The next is wonder. For wonder, we point to our temple with our pointer fingers and we kind of spin them around. We kind of circle our temples with our fingertips to say wonder.
DAVID: Above is next. For this, we put our fingertips together and then we take one hand. And we raise it up over the other hand, we say above.
DAVID: Next is world. For world, we make a W with both hands. That means we use three fingers, our pointer, our middle and our ring finger on both hands. And then we spin them around each other like the world rotates. We say world. We say world. Good spinning.
DAVID: The next one is diamond. For diamond, we make the letter D in sign language by touching our thumb and our middle finger and pointing up with our pointer finger. Then we take that whole letter D and we touch our hand on the other side where we might have a ring. We say diamond. We tap it twice. Say diamond. Good.
DAVID: For sky, we take our hand and we go across our body and we bring it right over. We sweep it across from one side to the other. We say sky.
DAVID: Next is you. And this is a very polite way to say you. If you take your hand and you lend it forward, almost like you're reaching for someone else's hand. Say you. Right, outstretch your arm. Place out your hand. You.
DAVID: I think we're ready for Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
[GUITAR PLAYING]
DAVID: (SINGING) Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, how I wonder what you are.
DAVID: Let's try it one more time. That sounds lovely.
DAVID: (SINGING) Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, how I wonder what you are.
DAVID: Thank you for making music with Daniel's Music Foundation today. And remember to stay in the know and to help us grow, click on the subscribe and notification buttons below. I can't wait to do this again real soon. Until next time, take care.
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