Greenhouse Music

Send us an email: [email protected]

Long before GPS, compasses, and maps, Polynesian wayfinders crossed the biggest ocean on Earth using only the stars, the waves, and the birds. 🌊 In this episode, Miss Delana (joined by special co-host Mr. Darien!) dives into the real history behind Moana's "We Know the Way": how master navigators like Mau Piailug memorized 220 stars, read the ocean like a drumbeat, and passed down a 3,000-year-old tradition through voice and song. Kids will play "What Would a Wayfinder Do?," learn a brand-new star chant, and write their own wayfinding song by the end of the episode. It's history, music, and ocean science all wrapped into one unforgettable adventure.

Moana We Know the Way, Polynesian wayfinding, celestial navigation for kids, Mau Piailug, Hōkūle'a, Pacific Ocean history, music podcast for kids, homeschool ocean science, star navigation, kids history podcast

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Explore the World of Music with the Greenhouse Music Podcast
🎶 Nurturing Young Minds Through Music Education 🎶

Discover engaging music lessons and inspiring stories designed just for kids! Visit us at greenhousemusicak.com and follow us on YouTube and Facebook for more musical adventures.

Send us an email: [email protected]

Happy Birthday, Part 2! Kid Questions About Music 
Welcome back, music makers! The birthday celebration continues. In Part 2 of our two-year anniversary special, Miss Delana finishes answering YOUR questions, and Willow joins her right in the studio.

Have you ever wondered whether animals can make music? Whether an elephant could really play an instrument? Or why some people see colors when they hear a song? By the end of this episode, you'll know all three, plus you'll sing along in a brand-new game.

In this episode:

🐾 Can animals make music? Singing whales, songbird "accents," and Snowball the dancing cockatoo
 🐘 The rescued elephants in Thailand who play real instruments with their trunks
 🌈 Why some people see colors when they hear music (it's called synesthesia!)
 🎵 More of your questions: the highest and lowest sounds in the world, why music makes us feel things, and the oldest instrument ever found
 🎂 SING IT BACK, our new echo game! Take a birthday trip around the world and learn "Lang zal hij leven," a real Dutch birthday song that's over 200 years old

Then take the birthday challenge: send us your Sound Hunt song from Part 1, record yourself singing our new Dutch birthday song, and go listen to an animal this week. Is it music? You decide!

New here? Go back and listen to Part 1, where we learned how a flute works, how music gets onto a CD, and why an orchestra needs a conductor. The two parts are two halves of the same birthday present. 🎁

Got a question about music? We want to hear from you! With a grown-up's help, record a voice memo and send it to [email protected], or find us @greenhousemusicak on Instagram and Facebook. Your question might be on the show!

The Greenhouse Music Podcast, the best music class you've ever heard. 🌱

Love the show? Leave us a rating and share it with a friend. That's how other music makers find us!

Support the show

Explore the World of Music with the Greenhouse Music Podcast
🎶 Nurturing Young Minds Through Music Education 🎶

Discover engaging music lessons and inspiring stories designed just for kids! Visit us at greenhousemusicak.com and follow us on YouTube and Facebook for more musical adventures.

Send us an email: [email protected]

It's our SECOND birthday — and this one belongs to you, music makers.

We asked kids to send in recordings of their questions about music, and you delivered. Voices from all over Alaska. A family in Salt Lake City. Kids as young as four. In this episode, Miss Delana answers them one by one! These are real questions from real kids, with real answers.

Best part? MORE are coming next Episode!!
Then stick around for The Sound Hunt: a simple activity you can do right now with three things from your kitchen. Kids find three objects, make each one sing, and put them in order from lowest to highest. Along the way, they discover something real about pitch: big things sing low, small things sing high. No instruments required, no supplies to buy.

And this is only half of it. There were too many great questions for one episode, so Part 2 arrives in two weeks with the rest, plus a favorite game we're bringing back for our birthday.

Got a question about music? Have your kiddo record a voice memo and send it to g[email protected]. Or send a DM on Facebook or Instagram Tell us what you're listening to, share a music fact, or ask Miss Delana anything. You might hear yourself on the show.

Perfect for homeschool families, elementary classrooms, car rides, and curious kids ages 6–10.

🌱 Greenhouse Music Podcast — the best music class you've ever heard.
greenhousemusicak.com | @greenhousemusicak

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Keywords

music podcast for kids, kids questions about music, music education for children, homeschool music curriculum, elementary music class, listener mailbag, how sound works for kids, pitch high and low, music activities at home, music podcast ages 6-10, anniversary episode, kids ask questions

Support the show

Explore the World of Music with the Greenhouse Music Podcast
🎶 Nurturing Young Minds Through Music Education 🎶

Discover engaging music lessons and inspiring stories designed just for kids! Visit us at greenhousemusicak.com and follow us on YouTube and Facebook for more musical adventures.

Send us an email: [email protected]

In just four days, composer Sergei Prokofiev created one of the world's most beloved orchestral pieces—and he did it to teach children about musical instruments. Peter and the Wolf is pure genius: every character gets their own unique instrument sound.In this episode, Miss Delana uncovers:✓ How Prokofiev uses instruments as storytelling (the flute is the bird, the oboe is the stubborn duck, the French horns are the lonely wolf)✓ What a "leitmotif" is and why it matters for music and movies✓ How composers make intentional choices to make us FEEL things✓ An Eastern European folklore secret hidden at the end of the piece 

Kids will play the interactive "Instrument Story Detective" game listening for 8-10 second instrument clips and discovering which character they represent. Perfect for music class, homeschooling, or family listening. 


Share YOUR favorite musical character with us! 

Email:[email protected] or visit greenhousemusicak.com.

Recommended listening: Leonard Bernstein's 1960 recording

 (available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube).

Support the show

Explore the World of Music with the Greenhouse Music Podcast
🎶 Nurturing Young Minds Through Music Education 🎶

Discover engaging music lessons and inspiring stories designed just for kids! Visit us at greenhousemusicak.com and follow us on YouTube and Facebook for more musical adventures.

Send us an email: [email protected]

What happens when you hear music in TRAIN WHEELS?

In January 1924, George Gershwin learned about the biggest musical opportunity of his life from a newspaper. He had 

weeks to write a masterpiece—but here's where it gets wild: he composed Rhapsody in Blue in just 11 DAYS on a train ride 

to Boston, listening to the clickety-clack rhythm for inspiration.

This episode is about so much more than one song:

✓ The story of how a 25-year-old kid broke the rules and blended JAZZ with CLASSICAL music (when critics said it was   impossible)

✓ The PERSONALITY of a masterpiece: why Rhapsody in Blue sounds sassy, restless, soulful, and proudly American all at  once

✓ The famous clarinet glissando that was supposed to be a JOKE but became permanent legend

✓ How old and new collided during the Gilded Age—and created genius instead of conflict.

✓ A stunning performance by Hayato Sumino playing MELODICA and PIANO simultaneously (yes, the instrument from Bluey!)

✓ How to become a SOUND COLLECTOR and find music in the world around you

Rhapsody in Blue isn't just a pretty song. It's the sound of history, conflict, and hope all mixed together. By the end, you'll understand why it still moves people 100+ years later.

🎵 The best music class you've ever heard.

Support the show

Explore the World of Music with the Greenhouse Music Podcast
🎶 Nurturing Young Minds Through Music Education 🎶

Discover engaging music lessons and inspiring stories designed just for kids! Visit us at greenhousemusicak.com and follow us on YouTube and Facebook for more musical adventures.

Send us an email: [email protected]

What if you could play music without ever touching your instrument? This week, Miss Delana takes music makers on a tour of the strangest, most wonderful instruments most grown-ups have never heard of — the hands-in-the-air theremin, the moaning waterphone, the shimmering cristal baschet, the singing saw, and the glass armonica that Benjamin Franklin loved more than any of his other inventions (and that some people once feared could drive you mad!). Play our new listening game, Name That Weird Sound, and take home a challenge: invent your own instrument. Because anything that vibrates can make music  and the world is full of undiscovered sounds.

 Perfect for ages 6–10, homeschoolers, and elementary classrooms.

SEO Keywords:

weird musical instruments for kids, theremin for kids, glass armonica, Benjamin Franklin glass armonica, waterphone, singing saw, cristal baschet, unusual instruments, music education podcast kids, homeschool music, children's music podcast, uncommon instruments day

Support the show

Explore the World of Music with the Greenhouse Music Podcast
🎶 Nurturing Young Minds Through Music Education 🎶

Discover engaging music lessons and inspiring stories designed just for kids! Visit us at greenhousemusicak.com and follow us on YouTube and Facebook for more musical adventures.

Send us an email: [email protected]

 140 years ago this week — on July 5, 1886 — seven farm kids from a Dakota Territory family named Bower made the entire U.S. Army brass band pack up and walk off a wooden platform in Rapid City. And nobody had even INVITED them to play. In this episode Miss Delana tells the true story of the Bower Family Band — meets the whole brass family of instruments (cornet, trumpet, trombone, tuba, baritone horn) — plays five rounds of Real or Ridiculous? — and finds the surprising Disney and Sherman Brothers ending. Perfect for homeschool music class, elementary music teachers, and Fourth of July family listening.

KEYWORDS: Bower Family Band, kids music podcast, homeschool music, brass band history, Fourth of July music for kids, Sherman Brothers, Disney family band movie, elementary music education, music history for children, South Dakota history for kids

Support the show

Explore the World of Music with the Greenhouse Music Podcast
🎶 Nurturing Young Minds Through Music Education 🎶

Discover engaging music lessons and inspiring stories designed just for kids! Visit us at greenhousemusicak.com and follow us on YouTube and Facebook for more musical adventures.

Send us an email: [email protected]

Happy Father's Day! 🎼 In Episode 128, Miss Delana takes kids on a musical family reunion with the four famous sons of Johann Sebastian Bach — Wilhelm Friedemann, CPE Bach, Johann Christoph Friedrich, and Johann Christian. Each son became a remarkable composer... and each one found a completely different musical path from his father. Along the way, we'll discover why CPE Bach was once MORE famous than his own dad, how Johann Christian Bach befriended a young Mozart, and what it means to find your own musical voice when you come from a legendary family. Perfect for Father's Day listening! Includes Real or Ridiculous?, a listening recommendation (CPE Bach's Solfeggietto), and a creative challenge for young musicians. For ages 6–10 and the grown-ups who love music with them. | greenhousemusicak.com | @greenhousemusicak

Support the show

Explore the World of Music with the Greenhouse Music Podcast
🎶 Nurturing Young Minds Through Music Education 🎶

Discover engaging music lessons and inspiring stories designed just for kids! Visit us at greenhousemusicak.com and follow us on YouTube and Facebook for more musical adventures.

Send us an email: [email protected]

You already know his songs. You just didn't know his name.

"It's a Small World." "A Spoonful of Sugar." "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." "The Bare Necessities." One man — working with his brother at a piano in Burbank, California — wrote songs that have lived in your brain since before you could read. His name was Richard M. Sherman, and he was born on June 12th, 1928.

In this episode, Miss Delana cracks open the secret formula behind the most unforgettable songs in Disney history — and it turns out, it fits in three words.

What you'll discover in this episode:

• The three-word formula Richard's dad gave him that changed everything (it's simpler than you think)
• How a five-year-old boy's trip to the school nurse accidentally wrote one of the most famous songs in movie history
• The wild true story of why "It's a Small World" was written in a single afternoon — and why Richard thought nobody would remember it
• What Walt Disney quietly asked for every single Friday afternoon — and why it might be the most moving story in all of music history
• Four rounds of Real or Ridiculous? — Sherman Brothers edition. Warning: the real ones sound completely made up.

🎧 This week's listening pick: "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins — Walt Disney's personal favorite song, and the one that started it all.

📚 Listen back: Episode 126 (The Drummer Boy Who Wouldn't Quit) · Episode 9 (Lin-Manuel Miranda)

Whether you're a homeschool family, a classroom music teacher, or a parent who just wants their kid to fall in love with music — this episode hands kids a songwriting secret they can use today.

The Greenhouse Music Podcast: the best music class you've ever heard.

🌱 Free worksheet + resources: greenhousemusicak.com

 📲 Follow us: @greenhousemusicak

Keywords: Richard Sherman, Sherman Brothers, Mary Poppins songs for kids, how to write a song for kids, Disney songs history, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, It's a Small World story, music education podcast kids, homeschool music podcast, children's music podcast, elementary music class, music for families

Support the show

Explore the World of Music with the Greenhouse Music Podcast
🎶 Nurturing Young Minds Through Music Education 🎶

Discover engaging music lessons and inspiring stories designed just for kids! Visit us at greenhousemusicak.com and follow us on YouTube and Facebook for more musical adventures.

Send us an email: [email protected]

In this Memorial Day episode of the Greenhouse Music Podcast, Miss Delana tells the true story of Johnny Clem, the famous young drummer boy from the Civil War who refused to quit even after being told he was too small.

Kids will learn how drums were once used as a real-life language on the battlefield, with different drumbeats telling soldiers when to wake up, march, charge, fall back, and rest. This episode also includes a big Memorial Day edition of Real or Ridiculous?, featuring surprising facts about patriotic music, Taps, The Star-Spangled Banner, Irving Berlin, and John Philip Sousa.

This episode is perfect for elementary kids, homeschool families, music teachers, and anyone looking for a meaningful Memorial Day music lesson for children.

In this episode, kids will learn about:

•  Johnny Clem, the Drummer Boy of Chickamauga 
•  How Civil War drums were used for communication 
•  Memorial Day music and military traditions 
•  The story behind Taps 
•  Patriotic songs and surprising music history 
•  Perseverance, courage, and the reminder that you are never too small to be brave 

Plus, Miss Delana shares a listening challenge featuring Vitamin String Quartet and recommends past Greenhouse Music Podcast episodes for more learning.

Johnny Clem, drummer boy, Civil War for kids, Memorial Day music, Drummer Boy of Chickamauga, music podcast for kids, homeschool history, kids history podcast, Civil War drums, military music for kids

Support the show

Explore the World of Music with the Greenhouse Music Podcast
🎶 Nurturing Young Minds Through Music Education 🎶

Discover engaging music lessons and inspiring stories designed just for kids! Visit us at greenhousemusicak.com and follow us on YouTube and Facebook for more musical adventures.