How Does A Garden Grow?

April is National Garden Month, so what better way to celebrate than by singing about it? Okay, planting a garden is the best way, but right after that comes singing about it! The song mentions common gardening tips, picking the right spot, tilling the soil, etc. More than that, it celebrates our connection with things that grow from the earth. Which might also be a nice tie-in to your school's focus on Earth Day. If you use the piece in performance, it's a natural for costumes and props – sun hats, gardening gloves, seed packets, hand tools, even a basket of harvested bounty like tomatoes or flowers. A setting that includes real or projected images of gardens and/or plants, especially flowers, would be appropriate for a springtime presentation.

Would you believe this tune was originally written and recorded in 6/8 time? It most definitely has that feel. That said, the music was tough to read – dotted eighth notes being the chief offender. To make it more kid-friendly, we went ahead and converted it to 4/4 and added triplets to create the proper feel. (So now it's also a great teaching and reinforcement song for learning triplets!) To aid your singers if needs be, nylon guitar plays the melody throughout. Listening to our studio singers perform it will help in learning it as well.