Cheryl Melody's Music Nurtures the Body, Mind & Spirit of Children
from Inside Out
Cheryl Melody's
Story
“Every word of every song
in every CD, class and performance nurtures a
child’s delicate soul from inside-out, helping to develop
self-esteem, foster nonviolent conflict-resolution skills, nurture
potential and creativity, while experiencing the pure joy of
expressive music making!
“ ---Cheryl Melody
Dear Friends of
Music and Children,
I share my personal story in order for you to gain a
glimpse of who I am, how and why this music has been created, and why it
could have an important place in the life of your child.
I also share my
story in order to inspire you to discover new hidden talents that speak to
your own growth, finding and owning your own “butterfly spirit.”
My
authentic middle name IS Melody & Music is in every one of my cells
I
have been singing in front of people since I was 3 years old, Melody is my
true middle name, and music is in every one of my cells. My mother is an
opera singer, actress and writer, my father is a poet and a jeweler of
hand-created products.
The struggles of my
childhood, and music’s magic.
When I was a child,
I experienced bullying, teasing, isolation. I was teased because of my
minority religion, because we weren’t as wealthy as others and because my
grandparents didn’t speak English. I kept this torment to myself, not
sharing it with my family. I tried to spare them.
Since music was the
one thing that really spoke to me as a young girl, I know that it would have
been a life saver if I had been introduced to songs which could have
encouraged me, given me guidance during these hard times. I would not have
felt so alone.
 A
Rainbow can Evolve out of a Bad Experience…
The hurt that I had
experienced from being bullied became my own healing, however. Through
specific original songs like “The No Bully Rap-Song, I gain inner
satisfaction from helping to create a more aware human being. I strive to
reach the inner awareness of a child who experiences…as Oprah would say…
that “light bulb moment of… “Aha!” Perhaps the child will suddenly realize
that words CAN hurt, and maybe they will choose to not be as mean to Johnny
or Joanie.
I recall the wounds
of my childhood, and BECAUSE of these wounds, I have created the type of
songs that come from my essence, my core, my life experiences, and my
education, with both a Bachelor and Masters Degree work in the field of
music education and creativity.
Each song is a result of my life as teacher, mother and “perfectly
imperfect” human being, who is still in the process of growing and learning.
The right kind of
musical communication and verbal tone of voice, as well as the conscious
choice of words within a song can help a child to never feel alone.
You
see, o ne
of my sincere intentions as a recording artist, composer, educator and
human being is to help children feel that they are never alone. I do
it through the warmth of my interpersonal oral and vocal style, my open
heart, and the quality and intentions of each song I write and sing. Each CD
grows WITH the child, and nurtures from inside out. Each CD is also filled
with opportunities to dance, sing, and imagine with delight!
I have a passion
for singing and teaching small, important ways to make a better world… an
internal personal world which can help to create a healthy planet.
I believe that
music can be a catalyst for positive growth, if it is healthy and
purposefully-written music, and if it speaks to the child’s world.
Teaching the Power
of Word
If
the lyrics in a
song shifts one person who was about to tease, bully, gossip...then my
investment in creating these CDs and concerts will have been worth every bit
of energy.
As an early
childhood specialist for 25 years, I also know that current research states
that children introduced to quality music at an early age will benefit in
ways that many other modalities cannot: Music can help children learn
more effectively, read with greater comprehension, listen and observe more
acutely as sensitive human beings, and become expressive music makers--IF
we feed them the food of music at an early age.
Over-emphasizing the goal of musical Perfection: The Taking Away of Joy for
Music.
I
experienced a mean, strict piano teacher when I was about 8 years old. She
made me play the same note on the piano over and over again until “it had
the perfect tone.” She also hit my knuckles when the tone wasn’t “perfect.”
Thinking about her makes me shudder right now.
As a college music
student and cellist, the goals of perfection seemed to take away the joy and
passion I had once experienced for the cello.
As I played a piece on my
cello in front of the student body, the professor took apart each note and
each phrase, until there was nothing…no joy, no passion-just fear, worry,
concern, terror, embarrassment. Once again, these
kind of negative experiences taught me how NOT to teach, how NOT to be!
My personal goal is to encourage
children and adults to explore the music inside of them without fear of
right and wrong, and not to worry about perfection.
It is your birthright to make
music, to sing, to dance with joy!
It is our
birthright to sing! It is our birthright to be music makers, sound makers,
and my goal is to provide music and words that provide the comfort to
express yourself without self judgment.
My intention is to
provide an open, warm, loving environment to own your birthright, encourage
your children and the child inside of you to enjoy the pure glory of the
vibration that sounds can provide within your body and outward.
 Becoming
Your Own Butterfly
“Allow the
unknown to be part of your exciting journey in life” ---Cheryl Melody
In
my wildest dreams, I never expected to become an independent recording
artist, a national performer or a composer. Through the years, my primary
definition of myself was that of TEACHER. As a teacher, I founded an early
childhood music school called The Children’s Music Workshop.
I created my own approach based on early childhood research, my own
perceptions, heart and experience. I taught with my own unique style and had
a dynamic following of families who knew the value of early childhood
education. Babies through age 6 with adults participated interactively. It
was satisfying “work,” and the career felt “safe.”
Teaching children
is like breathing for me…natural, easy, effortless, from the heart. I could
have been happy with the role of “teacher” for the rest of my life-happy,
but not complete.
When one
Door Closes, Another Opens
While feeling a
sense of deep appreciation for the actualization of The Children’s Music
Workshop, I also began to feel restless. I sensed that I had many other
dimensions within myself that I needed to express. Songs with messages for
nurturing my own growth and a child’s growth were coming through me at
traffic lights, as I was driving, waking up, everywhere. Songs like “I’m an
Amazing Person Today,” “One Planet,” “You Can Do Anything,” and “If You Have
a Dream, and each song encouraged, inspired, taught, and mirrored warmth and
love.
I wanted each child
or adult listening to the CD to feel that I was their friend. I wanted a
child to never feel lonely. Children responded enthusiastically, while their
parents praised the messages of the lyrics in each song. The goal of having
a child feel that they had a friend in Cheryl Melody was something that was
verbally shared with me over and over again. It felt wonderful.
 I went with the
flow of what was happening to me, not really knowing where the composing was
leading. I also had a lot of resistance towards the unknown. It felt as if I
were trying on a new coat or two, and I felt fearful. The old coat felt so
much more comfortable.
It
is also hard to know when to close the doors to something you still really
love doing. It is hard to disappoint people who wanted The Children’s Music
Workshop to go on forever. I had heard the saying…”when one door closes,
another opens,” but several years passed before I was brave enough to open
another door permanently, and close this one.
In the Meantime… The Birth of
my first CD,
“Songs that Make the Heart Feel Good!”
I continued to
teach at The Children’s Music Workshop, while simultaneously creating my
first CD, “Songs That Make the Heart Feel Good.” Both adults and
children seemed to delight from the music and messages on this CD. I thought
just creating this album would be sufficient for me. I could keep my School
AND have the CD that expressed the essence of developing self-esteem,
potential and creativity.
The Birth of the
interactive program, “A Musical Imagination Adventure Concert!”
However, adults
would come to me and ask me where I was performing these songs. I heard this
question as “a message” that it was time to perform as well as to teach and
record.
People urged me to create a concert that reflected the messages of
the new songs. One morning as I lay still, I could envision the “MUSICAL
IMAGINATION ADVENTURE CONCERT,” and shortly after that, I began to
perform this delightfully well-received interactive program.
Still in the
meantime…New coats, old coats
I was expanding
parts of myself into the “new coats,” while the “old coat” of The Children’s
Music Workshop was still being maintained. It was not time to close the
doors to that wonderful school. I was waiting. I was “in the meantime.”
 The Birth of "World Peace-The
Children’s Dream"
During the same
time period, I was introduced to Robert Silverstein, a peace maker, writer,
children’s composer and all round great human being. We began to e-mail, and
one magical Thursday when I had a day off from The Children’s Music
Workshop, he asked me to look at a children’s story he and his friend, Steve
Diamond, had written called One Day in Peace (www.oneday.net).
As I read the story
on the internet, I could hear music in my head. I flew over to the
synthesizer I had bought the week before without knowing why I had purchased
it!
Out of my fingers came two songs, “The World Peace Anthem” and the “One
Planet” song. I could sense that this was a project that was supposed to be
part of my life in some way.
I wanted to expand the text, create more songs,
and narrate the parts of the children in the story. We all signed contracts
that offered me full creative license. The result: The CD and tape, “World
Peace-The Children’s Dream.”
I also wrote a 3 act musical for
Elementary school children, entitled “Peace Begins with Me,” and began to
form a new concert for older children and adults with the same title,
“Peace Begins with Me.”
The Oklahoma City Bombing,
the Butterfly, the Peace Concert...My Purpose on Earth
 During this time
period, I was also invited by Dr. Norma Leslie to sing my Peace songs in the
amphitheatre of the University of Oklahoma shortly after the horrendous
bombing. She had ordered the CD’s, “Songs that Make the Heart Feel Good,”
“Voice of the Angels-A Healing Journey” and “World Peace-The
Children’s Dream,” and felt strongly that the songs could help heal some
of the pain and darkness.
As
I stepped onto the outdoor stage, a butterfly landed on my microphone and
another one on my shoulder. I looked at that butterfly as a sign that I was
in the right place for reaching out with my heart and my music.
As I sang the
ONE PLANET song, I witnessed people singing and coming off the bleachers
in order to hug one another and shake hands, unifying in the experience of
love, hope, healing and deep pain.
As I viewed this miracle, I knew…I
could feel my PURPOSE on earth…to unite, to help heal, to open
hearts…through my music, its messages and the way I love to communicate and
reach out. It was an awareness that changed my life forever.
Life
can offer such Magic…The call that changed my life
Then I received
“the call.” I received a call from Sr. Ellie Daniels from the Sisters of St.
Joseph, asking me if I would be willing to perform “Peace Begins with Me”
for 35 schools as part of a Grant. She said that they wanted the messages
that were in this concert… messages of hope, empowerment, and making a
positive difference by what we choose to say, do, think and feel towards
ourselves and each other.
This important call
meant that I could not maintain The Children’s Music Workshop schedule while
doing those important concerts. It was the call and the timing for which I
had been waiting. It was time to close the doors to the School.
Saying
YES to the New…
 I
said yes, and began to transition myself and the families who came to me.
Before I closed the doors, I created 2 more CDs, “Peek a boo, I Love You”
and “Let’s Pretend, & More.” These two CD’s contained over 60 songs
that I had sung at The Children’s Music Workshop.
They are the next best
thing to having me teach a child in person. I felt relieved that I had
created this concrete solution for the school’s parents and their children
as I closed the doors to the school they loved so much. I felt free to move
forward with new professional adventures now. What magic in life!
September 11th,
2001 and the concert, “Peace Begins with Me”
The ironic part of
stepping into my new concert, “PEACE BEGINS WITH ME,” was that in June of
2001 we had created the schedule of concerts…the first concert was to begin
on September 12, 2001. Little did any of us know that this concert would
take on a new meaning of importance.
The tragedy of
September 11th in New York City happened one day before the debut
of my first program of the Grant. There I was on September 12, 2001,
attempting to perform this Concert, and to put aside my own broken heart in
order to give the children and adults a sense of hope and empowerment amidst
the chaos they were experiencing.
Now I understood. I
understood that this program was “bigger than me,” and that I need to follow
it wherever it takes me. This concert continues to evolve. It is one that
teaches and entertains, builds character, nurtures hope, respect, love and
peace within ourselves and in our world, one person at a time. It is a
program that is for every one, and one that helps me remember how to BE the
change I am asking from others.
 The
Birth of a new CD, “CELEBRATE PEACE!”
Out of this program
evolved the birth of my CD called, “Celebrate Peace!” The entire CD is
filled with the songs I sing in my Peace Begins with me Concerts and
Ceremonies. Titles of songs like Mother Earth, Father Sky, One Planet, If
You Have a Dream, Peace is a Verb, The No Bully Rap, Simple Gifts, Stand
Proud, Shake Your Own Hand…all reflect the vital messages that come from the
deepest place of my heart and life experiences.
I feel a sense of
personal peace that these songs are on this CD, a living, breathing
representation of all I believe we need in order to create a respectful life
to ourselves and to each other. It is for children and adults, a whole
family or school experience, and a reflection of all the songs that I
perform in my concert.
Global Mission at 3
years old
I
have since performed the “Peace Begins with Me” concerts wherever I am
asked. I perform it in schools, libraries, churches, synagogues, spiritual
centers, anywhere and everywhere. Ever since I was 3 years old, I felt I was
on a mission, a global mission. I am still not clear how far reaching this
vision will take me, but I do feel that this theme and these songs, my heart
and my life perceptions are a large part of my Purpose in life.
The Fun of
Continuing to Work with Birth to 6-Year-Olds
While the Peace
Begins with Me concerts are a vital part of my life, it is also important
for me to balance myself by continuing to work with early childhood as well.
I continue to perform “Musical Imagination Adventure Concerts” for little
children, as well as performing personalized birthday parties filled with
Music, Movement and Imagination delight! I have such fun, and the children
bring lightness to my heart. When I perform these programs, I myself am a
child again, happy, carefree, innocent, creative, open, loving, energetic! I
have such fun singing, dancing, taking out my puppet, “Shy Mousie,” offering
imagination opportunities and storytelling, microphone time, parades…it is
hard to believe that I get paid to do such a wildly delightful job!
I also continue
to teach workshops and seminars, compose personalized songs for websites and
for children and adults, compose each day, creating new songs for my future
CDs, and continue to perform in adult venues as well.
I am open to
the unknown, and try to listen to my butterfly spirit. I hope you will
listen to your butterfly spirit too.
 Each CD builds the
foundation…
The early childhood
CD, “Peek-a-boo, I Love You,” contains words that are “healthy” for little
ones to absorb, and is also filled with 32 activities that can enhance a
sense of beat, rhythm, tempo, melody, creative movement and nurture
self-esteem.
After this 1st
basic CD, all the other CDs that I’ve created add to this basic foundation,
and enhance your own efforts for raising children that are conscious,
sensitive, healthy human beings, both inside and out.
The uniqueness of
being an Independent Artist
I
am self-motivated to remain an independent artist not owned by any larger
entity who may tell me “how to be” and “what sells.” My basic goal is to
create sing-able songs with messages of respect for self, each other and the
earth, messages that are intrinsic in the content of the CD’s, “Peek-a-boo,
I Love You” “Let’s Pretend, & More!”
“World Peace-The Children’s Dream” “Celebrate Peace!”
“Songs that Make the Heart Feel Good!” “Peek-a-Boo, I Love You” “Voice of
the Angels-A Healing Journey,” and in all songs that are being created for
the future.
My Philosophy and
Oath to you
I offer my CDs,
tapes, personalized songs and concerts to you accompanied with my oath that
they are coming from the most sincere part of my authentic self. All the
music comes from my belief that music has a healing power, that words can
heal and create awareness, and that each person has a right to express
themselves freely, without fear of right and wrong and perfection. Every
song comes from the core of all of my knowledge, expertise, experience,
heart, wounds, joy for music, lightness, creativity, seriousness and
sensitivity. The songs are ageless. An adult enjoys them as much as a child,
and is a natural way to reach the heart of both child and adult. I am
grateful to be able to share my Gifts with you.
In my website, you
will hear sound samples of each CD. If you need guidance as to which CD
would fit your needs, please let me know. We will work together to find the
music that can help reinforce the joy and intentions of your own heart into
the hearts of the children that surround you.
Warmly,
Cheryl Melody
www.cherylmelody.com
www.soundhope.com
CHERYL MELODY: B.M. Ed., M.A.
MUSIC SPECIALIST: Birth
through Adults
Experience: 25 years
Founder &
Educator: The Children’s Music Workshop-Birth to 6 with adults.
Original,
Experiential approaches
Teacher-Training Facilitator: Seminars & Workshops
Keynote
Speaker & National Conference Presenter
Adjunct
College Faculty.
ASCAP
Independent Recording Artist
Concert:
Peace Sound Healing Ceremonies
Concert:
“One Spirit” Concerts
Playwright: 3-act musical-Elementary School ages: “Peace Begins with Me”
“Peace
Begins with Me-A Teaching Concert” Ages 5-11 years
“Peace
Pals Concerts” Ages 3-5 years
“Musical
Imagination Adventure Concerts” Birth to 8 years
Birthday
Parties: Music, Movement & Imagination Interactive Celebrations
Adult
Concerts
Independent ASCAP
Recording Artist:
Original,
interactive sing able songs!
Lyrics
celebrate self-esteem, potential, creativity, conflict-resolution,
non-bullying, approaches, diversity celebration, respect for self, each
other and the earth.
Parents’
Choice Recommended Award
CDs and Cassettes for various age groups:
“Peek a
boo, I Love You” Birth-6 years; 32 interactive activities
“Let’s
Pretend, & More!” Ages 4-8 years; 28
repertoire-rich activities! (Parent’s Choice Recommended
Award)
“Songs
That Make the Heart Feel Good!” Ages 2-8 Self-Esteem, potential,
dramatic play, joy!
“Celebrate
Peace!” Whole Family CD, Ages 4 through adult
“World
Peace-The Children’s Dream” Ages 4-10 years; Storytelling with important
messages and music
“Voice of
the Angels-A Healing Journey” Adults; Relaxation
Music
filled with nurturing words and original music
Personalized, original songs written for your child, and placed onto CD-R.
“The song Cheryl Melody wrote for my four year old
child, Alexa, is a true SONG TIME CAPSULE of my child’s essence and life!”--
Sally Kourante
Original
Website theme songs
Original
Personalized songs written for favorite adult
Playwright:
3 Act
Musical for Elementary Schools and Middle Schools: “Peace Begins with Me” |
