This collection of more than 170 songs and chants without words, including six previously unavailable in North America composed by Edwin E. Gordon, is for anyone looking for more songs organized by tonality and meter to use in their Music Learning Theory-based classes.

Like the first volume, these songs and chants are an excellent resource for bringing young children through the various stages of preparatory audiation, from acculturation to imitation and assimilation.

The melodies in this collection are organized by tonality: major, minor, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian, multitonal/multimodal; chants are organized by meter: duple meter, triple meter, unusual paired meter, unusual unpaired meter, and multi-metric.

As with the first volume, these songs and chants present a rich and varied musical syntax, and they are also a great way to hold a child’s attention.

Intentionally without lyrics (so children concentrate on the music and are not distracted by the words), these songs should be sung by an adult using a conversational and relational approach rather than as a formal musical performance.

If left free to move around the classroom and to enact movements while listening to these songs, young children will spontaneously babble and vocalize—the earliest forms of autonomous “creation” in response to the music. Enjoy!

Andrea Apostoli is an author, musician, and educator living in Italy. He is president of the Italian Gordon Association for Music Learning (aigam.org). Elena Papini is trainer and supervisor for the Italian Gordon Association for Music Learning (aigam.org). She is also a Music Moves for Piano instructor and Director of the Amadeus School.