The Bob Dylan of the Diaper Set

Hap Palmer's lullabies are at the heart of the latest
video in the veteran artist's 'Baby Songs' series.

By Lynne Heffley

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Put on a favorite CD and watch a chubby 1-year-old bop to the beat; cheer a tearful 2-year old with an impromptu dance around the room; soothe an infant to sleep with a rocking lullaby - music and young children are a natural.

No one knows that better than Hap Palmer, an award-winning, Woodland Hills-based singer-songwriter with a master's degree in dance education. He has been making rhythm and rhymes for children to move and fall asleep to, play and learn with, for 30 years. His efforts have garnered multiple Parents' Choice, American Library Assn., National Parenting Publication and American Video awards.

In addition to a long list of notable recordings as "Rhythms on Parade," "Peek-a-Boo and "We're on Our Way," Palmer's songs are the heart of the acclaimed "Baby Songs" video series, musical videos that feature real babies and toddlers just being themselves. The latest release in the series is "Baby Songs Good Night," created around songs from Palmer's album, "A Child's World of Lullabies."

Palmer, who also teaches music and movement workshops to professionals in the field of early education, embarked on his life's vocation after his interest in song-writing and his "day job" - teaching - "just kind of came together."

"When I started, I would sing folk songs to young children, and they kept wanting to jump up and run around," he said. "I kept trying to get them to sit down and pay attention to the song. I started getting the idea of writing songs that children could be actively involved with, songs using movement to teach basic skills like recognition of letters, colors, number concepts, vocabulary like ' Up and down,' 'fast and slow,' identifying parts of the body and directions in space, that kind of thing."

Young children learn about their world through physical movement, he noted. "They crawl around, they touch things, they feel things, they taste things. Their natural bent is not to sit in a chair and think about symbols, but to get up and move and deal with concrete objects. Movement tends to engage the whole child." Adults respond in the same way, he said.

"When I do teacher conferences, a lot of the workshops will be more lecture kinds of things where the teachers are sitting and taking notes and somebody's giving a speech. As soon as I get them up and moving, a whole sense of aliveness and energy fills the room. It's the same thing with children." Palmer would like adults to know that music can also be a special bonding experience with their children, one that's not just for the musically talented.

Parents shouldn't feel intimidated, he said. "Even if you sing a little off-key, if you enjoy singing and sing to your child often, they'll develop a love of music. You can make up little songs about things you're doing during the day; you can take familiar melodies and put your own words to them."

With infants and toddlers, just "putting on different kinds of music and holding the child and moving with the child is valuable."

For those who feel self-conscious about bursting forth a la Celine Dion or even with a chorus of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," Palmer offers a comforting reminder that a young child is "the most uncritical judge you'll ever be with."

" So, not only will it be good for the child, it'll be fun for you, too. Just relaxing, breathing fully, lengthening the spine and making your body alive and then letting the sound
come out."

What makes a good children's song?

"I don't think of writing down to a child. The characteristics of a well-crafted song are the same for adults as for a child: Lyrics that are clearly worded, and have a clear central idea, not obviously forced rhymes, a melody that expresses the feeling or the mood of the lyric - all those things are universal qualities of good songs."

Palmer has written songs about everything from roller coasters and hippos to a tooth-brushing tiger and potty-training. The subject matter is "almost limitless." As long as it's "appropriate to their developmental level." he said, "songs can be about just about anything, because children are curious and interested in everything."

Palmer, 56, doesn't worry about running out of ideas: He has a 3 year-old daughter and an 8 month-old granddaughter, and he works with second-graders in a class taught by his 30-year-old daughter. (He also has two sons and a stepson, ranging in age from almost 18 to 21.)
"Every so often, I'll be working on a record and I'll say, 'Well, I think this is going to be my last one,' but then more ideas come," Palmer said. "I feel very fortunate."

Los Angeles Times
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1999

34 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY . April 10, 2000

Music
BY MOIRA MCCORMICK

Can A Jumbo Jet Sing The Alphabet
Hap Palmer
Ages 2 to 8

Fun and learning are so thoroughly, agreeably entwined on this new offering from Babysongs creator Hap Palmer that your preschoolers won't be able to tell which is which. Seasoned pro Palmer, who helped pioneer the use of music and movement in teaching basic skills, covers all the bases. There are songs dealing with letters, numbers, shapes, body parts, even "relating spatial concepts to basic fractions" - not to mention learning "hello" and "goodbye" in a dazzling array of languages ( try Yoruba, Macedonian, and Cantonese). Palmer gets tots moving, too, with sprightly, beautifully produced tunes such as "The Bean Bag" and "Boogie Down and Cruise." His amiable, I'm-your-buddy vocals suit these stylistically varied offerings wonderfully, making him, without a doubt, an essential component of the family music library."

editor's pick

FAMILY FUN MAGAZINE September, 1999

"Music & Moore"

New Releases Bloom in the Spring
By Deborah Moore

Hap Palmer is a name synonymous with quality children's music. A veteran performer and educator, Palmer has been delighting young children with his original music for over two decades. With numerous awards from Parents' Choice and American Library Association to his credit, Palmer has applied his unique formula for fun and learning to this latest release. A variety of rhythms, multi-lingual greetings and even basic arithmetic are presented in such a way, young listeners will enjoy singing along, unaware they're learning new concepts. This album, like previous releases, invites a lot of interaction and movement - just right for the pre-K through early elementary set.

Tribune Media Services
April 19, 1999
(syndicated to newspapers nationwide)

Kids'-music pioneer performs tomorrow
by Melinda Bargreen
Times music critic

WEEKEND FINDS

Chances are if you're a music-loving family with small children you're already very familiar with the likes of Raffi and Sharon, Lois and Bram. But you may not know the man whose career made all these performers possible: Hap Palmer.

Palmer is coming to Seattle tomorrow for a 1 p.m. engagement at the Moore Theater, the last in a first-rate series of children's artists engaged for 1988-89 by Linden International and its director, Chauni Haslett. A couple of generations of educators already revere him for his approach to children's music; so do the purchasers of his 33 albums, landmark discs that have spawned dozens of imitators.

Palmer's 20 year career as a guitar-playing singer/songwriter has its basis in the folk idiom, and he's the kind of performer who appeals instinctively to children: gentle, easygoing, up-beat. He's comfortable to listen to. His songs, many of them strikingly original, take the child's viewpoint to explore such topics as using the imagination and building good character values.

But he isn't afraid to be silly and fun. Among his most successful albums are such titles as "Walter, the Waltzing Worm" and "Tickly Toddle," and their gentle good humor is just the ticket for the youngster who might be overexcited or frightened by some of the more frenetic, maniacally energetic children's acts. His latest album, "Rhythms On Parade," is aimed at parents and teachers as well as at children, and it helps instill music teaching skills.

Like its four predecessors in the series, this concert benefits Children's Hospital and Medical Center.

The Seattle Times, April 1, 1989

UCLA Child Care Services NEWSLETTER

Hap Palmer:
Doin' What Comes Naturally

When hap Palmer played guitar for the retarded children in his special education classes, he got impatient; his students wouldn't sit quietly and listen - they got up and danced. Seventeen years and many albums later, he continues to encourage children to do what comes naturally. In a series of half-hour sessions this summer, the four- and five-year-olds at UCLA Child Care Services crawled under sticks, hopped over hoops and froze into statuary with the guidance and music of Hap Palmer, teacher, musician, dancer and composer of over thirty children's recordings.

"The goal at the beginning," Palmer says, "is to have fun." Easily seen, as half a dozen giggling children try to navigate around (or over or under) a new-fallen "tree," make their most unusual shapes" (resulting in Greco-Roman wrestlers and hunch-backed frogs), or wiggle their fingers about their necks, shoulders, heads ¡ and knees while Palmer noodles on his clarinet.

All this fun has a serious aim, emphasizes Palmer, who recently received his M.A. in Dance from UCLA. Besides the children's obvious delight, they learn to enjoy music and how their bodies move with music, and that not all movement is competitive. It is one of Palmer's goals to establish a "movement vocabulary," a way to connect a world of imagery to a vocabulary. This lexicon includes: actions - walk, run, twist, bend, shake; spatial knowledge - up, down, far, near; learning body parts; and discerning movement qualities - fast, slow, light, heavy, tense, loose.

The benefits for the children? It improves their understanding of language and its relationship to music, enhances their creativity and expands their movement possibilities. Coordination and motor skills are strengthened; by the age of eight or nine, children will then have enough general "movement knowledge" to make a more specific activity choice - ballet or baseball, hockey or gymnastics.

After an energetic session of jumping, laughing and "tree" -felling, the unanimous reply to the question, "What did you like best?" was a shrug of the shoulders and an excited, "Everything I liked best!"

UCLA Child Care Services Newsletter VOL. III, NO. 2 Fall 1985

Milwaukee Sentinel

Recording star educates kids

Whitewater--When was the last time you heard of a recording star who received a thunderous ovation for singing about taking of his diapers? It happened here last weekend during the keynote presentation at the 7th Annual Early Childhood Conference at the University of Wisconsin--Whitewater. The star was Hap Palmer, a Topanga (Calif.) songwriter and performer, whose educational recording sales have earned him a fold album, meaning his albums have sold more than 500,000 copies. "Today I Took My Diapers Off," was the tune that brought down the house for the 1,600 conference participants, including parents and early childhood educators who more than likely hoped that their youngsters soon would be able to sing along. The song also was indicative of the trend in early childhood music toward trying to reach a younger audience. "You go to a meeting like this, and you get inquiries, What do you have a 2-month-old?" said Betty Williams, the early childhood consultant for Educational Activities, which distributes Palmer's records. Palmerís works have reached a new height of success, partially due to an increasing awareness of the value of music to child development, Williams said. But for all of his 17 years of musical fame, Palmer, 42, is a friendly, laid-back artist who reminds one of a cross between comedian Steve Martin and Actor Mike Farrell. Palmerís parents nicknamed him, "Happy," as a child, and the name stuck. "I dropped the p-y to sound more adult-like," Palmer said. Although he wanted to play the drums as a child, his parents convinced him to take up the clarinet. "My sister brought me a guitar from Mexico. I saw that and it caught my fancy. It was nice to be able to play harmonies instead of single notes," Palmer said. "I basically taught myself to play the '60s folk music. I used to play at the hootenannies for the YMCAís. Hootenannies--how's that for an old term?" he said, laughing. After Completing a degree in education, Palmer became one of the first educators to realize the value of using contemporary educational music and movement in the classroom. "I was trying to be a music teacher, and the children wanted to move," Palmer said. His first record-- "Learning Basic Skills Through Music" -- was a hit for the way it helped to teach colors, the alphabet and other basics by allowing children to move naturally and happily as they learned. Part of Palmerís mastersí degree in dance education from the University of California -- Los Angeles was devoted to the study of what he called the "movement vocabulary" of children. Through Palmer's songs, children learn body parts: actions such as walking, twisting, stretching and hopping: use of space, such as front, back, side, high and low; quality of movement, such as fast, slow, loose and floppy, tight and tense; and relationships, such as over and under, outside, inside, around and face to face. Palmer said his music benefits children in three ways: -Language learned though experience is learned best. -Basic motor skills are learned in a much broader, non-competitive way than if the child only participated in softball, football or even ballet. -Children learn to move creatively, which enriches their imaginations and relates vocabulary to imagery.

Milwaukee Sentinel March 16, 1985

Hap Palmer - Past, Present and Future

by Pat Simms-Ellias

HAP PALMER, legendary singer/songwriter of some of the most adored songs for kids, is being brought to Long Island by Kids concerts and Overland entertainment, on Sunday May 17, for two shows, (1:00 and 3:30), at the Malibu in Lido Beach. In a phone interview from his home in California, Hap related how the transition from teacher to the famous voice behind the popular Babysongs videos came about.

Born Harlan G. Palmer III, and nicknamed Hap by his parents, he first became involved with music and children teaching special education. "When I first started doing music activities with the children, I would play the guitar and try to get them to sing folk songs of the day. they wanted to jump up, move and run around, and I kept trying to get them to sit down and pay attention. So, I wondered if I could somehow create songs that allow the children to get up and move - that's how I started writing. I put them on tape so I wasn't chained to the guitar and could get up and move with the children."

"The principal of the school was at t convention and told a representative of Educational Activities (of Baldwin) that she had a guy at her school who had stuff that was as good as what he had, so I got started making my first records." Initially Hap's music was used in the classroom by teachers to help children learn concepts in an enjoyable manner.

Hap feels the making of the Baby Songs audio tape into the video was the catalyst that brought his music into people's homes. The Baby Songs videos began when two mothers, who had been formerly employed in TV production work met in a pregnancy workout class. They loved Hap's audiotape and approached him about making the videos. After being turned down by many companies, Hi-Tops finally said yes. Now looking back on the success of the videos, I'm sure they're glad they did.

"I certainly was not trying to get into the home market or become a children's performer. I was very interested in the aspects of movement." Hap has a Masters degree in Dance Education. "We have a new video coming out called Follow Along Songs that incorporates the activity type of song into a children's video so someone can watch TV and be able to move along with some of the activities. A lot of the parents were finding, even with the Babysongs videos, children were were getting up and moving around, so it's kind of combining the ideas I've been expressing for 25 years."

Hap still works in the schools with children and presents workshops for teachers showing them how they can use music and movement with kids in the classroom. "I kept being asked to do concerts and I kept saying I don't do concerts, I work with children in movement kind of situations. I was apprehensive about doing concerts for kids at first because they would be in a fixed seat and not really able to move around. I thought I'd have to entertain them somehow and I don't really think of myself as an entertainer, but I've found I can involve the children actively since there are things they can do standing p in front of their seats, so I've been pleased to find I can incorporate a lot of what I have done into a concert situation."

Hap describes what we can expect at his concert at the Malibu in May--"about a third of the concert will just be me and the guitar. then I also do things where I will play tapes in the background and be able to get up and move with the children and show them different kinds of movement activities they can do. It's sort of a low-key kind of thing that gets the kids involved and actively moving. I always encourage parents to get up and move and families to do things together." At the Malibu there will be carpet mats for the audience on the dance floor directly in front of the stage in addition to the 300 seats right behind them. this arrangement could work out well with Hap's desire to get everyone up and moving.

When asked about the proliferation of children's music lately, Hap relates, "it's a very interesting phenomena. When I started out it was primarily Pete Seeger, Ella Jenkins, Burl Ives and myself. In some ways I think the proliferation of children's artists could be a positive thing because with budgets shrinking in schools and music programs being the first to be cut, I think children, in general, don't sing as well these days. You don't hear a lot of music on the radio they can sing along with and there are not a lot of opportunities in school, so my hope is that a lot of these children's music people will be getting around doing more live things and working with children more and spreading arts in schools."

Hap has written and recorded over 300 songs for children and his recordings and videos have received various honors including the Parents' Choice Awards, the American Library Association's and the American Video Awards. Many of his recordings come with activity guides to be used to augment the educational aspect of the music.

Hap produces and owns his recordings and does a lot of work out of his home. We discussed the joys and frustrations of being self-employed, juggling playing with the kids and then running into the other room to do some work. "I think there's value in children having some idea of what kind of work their parents do. The kids see me at the computer and recording and they have some idea of what work is like."

Hap reports on his future projects, "I'm coming out with two book/tape combinations for the songs "My Mommy Comes Back," (For those parents not familiar with this song, it has helped many children deal with separating in a positive manner), and "Today I Took My Diapers Off" (which is about potty learning).

Hap's concerts are recommended for the 1 to 8 year old age group, and kids are encouraged to bring their Teddy bears, and of course their parents. After Hap's 45 minute concert, "Fritzle & Friends" will perform for about 20 minutes. the last time Hap Palmer was in town both shows sold out, so if you want to assure your tickets, go to the local retail outlet listed in the add in Long Island Parenting News or call Kids Concerts at 785-7748.

from LONG ISLAND PARENTING NEWS . April 1992 Page 12

Biography by Mary Miche

When Hap Palmer started teaching, he would often play the guitar and sing folk songs with the children. It was a struggle to get the students to stay in their chairs and sing because they kept wanting to get up and move. So after a few exhausting sessions, he said to himself, why not work with this energy rather than against it? This motivated him to write songs which tapped the natural desire of young children to move and be actively involved. Hap also found that active participation was an effective way to reinforce the school curriculum, so he wrote many songs which involved children in activities such as moving and naming body parts, identifying directions as well as learning colors, numbers, and letters of the alphabet. After twenty years of writing songs for use in classrooms and day care centers, he expanded into creating music for audio and video cassettes that children and parents could enjoy in the home setting.

When he was nine years old, he told his mother that he wanted to play the drums. She said the drums were too noisy and bought him a clarinet. This was in the 50's, when rock and roll was becoming popular, so after a few years, he also took up the saxophone, which has a similar mouthpiece to clarinet. In junior high and high school, he played in the orchestra, the marching band, and the dance band. The summer before he went to college, his older sister Penny went to summer school in Mexico. She came back with a guitar. Hap got really excited about this instrument because he could sing a melody and provide harmonic and rhythmic accompaniment at the same time. During the 60's, he started singing folk songs and leading sing-alongs as part of his job with the Hollywood YMCA. He was also a member of the Chapman College pep band, where he played sax and clarinet. Because of all these different musical experiences, Hap was dabbling in a lot of different musical styles from folk music to Dixieland and jazz.

After he graduated from college and went into teaching special education, he was also working part time as a musician. Since there were a million guitar players, and not much call for clarinet and saxophone, he took up the electric bass. For several years he played with a group that performed in night clubs and restaurants on the weekends. When he was in his forties, he took up the flute just for his own personal pleasure but the guitar remains the instrument he plays most, because it is so easy to bring into the classroom and accompany himself as he writes and sings songs.

While teaching, he discovered he got more satisfaction writing for children, than being limited to writing salable commercial songs for adults, mostly limited to songs about relationships. With children's music, the possibilities are endless. He's written songs about everything from a hippopotamus to a roller coaster and is still fascinated with the breadth of topics about which he can sing.

EARLY CHILDHOOD MUSIC
A Parent-Teacher Resource

Hap Palmer: Composer

Hap Palmer has written and recorded over 200 songs for children. He is an instructor for the University of California-Los Angeles Education Extension and conducts workshops throughout the nation, as well as teaching classes in creative movement for children and tap dance for all ages.

ECM: What is the role of music in the education of young children? Palmer: The goal at the beginning is to have fun, but all this fun has a serious aim. Besides the children's obvious delight, they learn to enjoy music and how their bodies move with music, and that not all movement is competitive. It's one of my goals to establish a "movement vocabulary," a way to connect a world of imagery to a vocabulary. This lexicon includes actions (walk, run, twist bend, shake), spatial knowledge (up, down, far, near) discerning movement qualities (fast, slow, light, heavy, tense, loose) and learning body parts. This improves children's understanding of language and its relationship to music, enhances their creativity and expands their movement possibilities. Coordination and motor skills are strengthened; by the age of eight or nine, children will then have enough general "movement knowledge" to make a more specific activity choice--ballet or baseball, hockey or gymnastics.

ECM: How can music be used as an effective teaching tool in the classroom?
Palmer: I write songs that involve not only singing but moving, learning and the use of imagination, as well. My records contain a wide assortment of activities and are varied in approach, from specific tasks to problem solving and creative movement. The common element in these approaches is that all the activities are noncompetitive and non-comparative. the idea is to remove the child's preoccupation with ratings and rankings and encourage expression as an individual within the group. Al children can be involved and can experience success--which results in a better self-image.

ECM: What influenced you to study a musical instrument?
Palmer: When I was eight or nine years old, I told my mother I wanted to play the drums, but she said they were too noisy and bought me a clarinet. In the '50's, when rock and roll was becoming popular, I also took up the tenor saxophone. I played in orchestra, marching band, dance band and small combos through junior high school and the first two years of high school. Then I went through an adolescent male identity crisis and decided that tooting a clarinet was not something "real men" do. I quit music, went out for track, lifted weights and ate enormous amounts of bread trying to gain weight. The summer before I went to college, my older sister went to summer school in Mexico. She came back with a guitar--and I got really excited about this instrument. I could sing a melody and provide rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment at the same time, something I couldn't do with the woodwind instruments. This was during the '60's. I started singing folk songs and leading sing-alongs as part of my job with the Hollywood YMCA. In college I joined the pep band and started playing the sax and clarinet again, so I was dabbling in a lot of different musical styles, from fold music to Dixieland and jazz. After I graduated from college and went into teaching, I had aspirations of becoming a professional musician. Since there were a million guitar players (and not much call for clarinet and saxophone), I took up the electric bass. For several years I played with a group that performed in night clubs and restaurants on the weekends. My latest challenge has been learning to play the flute. I've always loved its sound.

ECM: How do you write your songs, and do you write the words of the music first?
Palmer: I've written songs in every way they can possibly be written. Sometimes I start with a lyric, sometimes with a melody. Sometimes they both come at the same time. I'll often start with a movement activity or a specific educational goal and work from there.

ECM: What musicians and singers have influenced you most?
Palmer: When my dad was in college he used to provide music for parties, so he had a great collection of swing. When I was a child I used to love taking these records to my room and listening to them. People like Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller were my earliest influences. When I took u the guitar, I was influenced by singers of the folk era, people like Harry Belafonte, Odetta and Joan Baez. Later I got more into jazz and pop, listening to performers like Nancy Wilson, Herbie Mann, Nina Simone and Linda Ronstadt. Then I went through a country-music phase with singers like Merle Haggard and Ricky Skaggs. Recently I received a master's degree in dance and was introduced to new or avant-garde music, which uses a variety of scale modes and time signatures and sometimes an atonal or arithmetic quality. Basically, I like music of all kinds and have tried to incorporate different styles in my education records, depending on the goals of each song.

ECM: How--and why--did you begin making albums for young children?
Palmer: My first teaching job was at a school for the trainable mentally retarded in East Los Angeles. I would often play the guitar and sing folk songs and traditional children's songs with the students. My second year, the principal asked me to become the school's music teacher, and I had a different class coming through every 20 or 30 minutes. It was a constant struggle to get the children to stay in their chairs and sing, because they kept wanting to get up and move. During this period I started writing songs that tapped this natural desire of young children to move and be actively involved. At the time I had no ambition of using this material beyond my own classroom, but the principal recommended submitting the tapes to an educational record company. I remember when the area representative from the Educational Activities Record company came to visit my class to see a demonstration of my material. I said, "Class, we're going to do that song about colors now." One of the students groaned, "Oh, no, not that one again!" Somehow I survived this initial meeting and have been making records for the company ever since. I started creating music for a broader spectrum of children after my first record received interest not only from special-education teachers but also from preschool teachers, teachers at early elementary levels, and teachers of music and physical education.

Early Childhood Music Vol. 4, No. 2 Holiday Issue November/ December, 1987

How to Develop Your Child's Gifts and Talents
During the Elementary Years
by RaeLynne P. Rein, Ph.D. and Rachel Rein

A Conversation About Creativity With Hap Palmer

Hap Palmer is an innovator in the use of music and movement to teach basic skills and encourage the use of imagination and creativity. Hap is a musician, singer and educator whose goals are to write and record songs that reflect children's experiences and make learning enjoyable. For more than twenty years, Hap's recordings have been widely used in schools and day care centers. His recordings and videos have received numerous honors, including the Parents' Choice Award, and American Library Association Notable Recording designation, and the American Video Award. He also conducts workshops and presents concerts throughout the nation and has taught courses for various education extension programs. His educational background includes a master's in dance education from UCLA.

Q: How and why did you start writing and performing music for children?

A: As a classroom teacher, I wanted to create music that children could participate in actively--music they could sing and move with. I also found that active participation was an effective way to reinforce the school curriculum, so I wrote many songs which involve children in activities such as moving and naming body parts, identifying directions, as well as learning colors, numbers, and letters of the alphabet. After twenty years of writing songs for use in classrooms and day care centers, I expanded into creating music for audio and video cassettes that children and parents could enjoy in the home setting.

Q: Why is music important in children's lives?

A: Music is an important part of the human experience and children should be exposed to music at a young age, along with other creative activities such as art and dance. we need to introduce children to a variety of artistic forms, then allow them to choose to pursue what catches their fancy. The arts are not isolated subjects. they relate to other areas of a child's growth and development. Music can involve the whole child--mentally, physically, and emotionally. It can also aid in the development of motor skills, language, and creativity.

Q: What does creativity mean to you?

A: Flexibility, curiosity, open-mindedness. The ability to see different options and solutions to problems, and to see a variety of ways tasks can be accomplished. It's a way of thinking that includes not only the arts and literature but also science, mathematics, and everyday life situations.

Q: Did you exhibit qualities of creativity as a child?

A: I was fond of asking questions that began with "What if...?" Things like, "What if we attached wings to the care and drove real fast, would we fly?" or "What if I wrapped myself up in mattresses and jumped from the top of the house?" I would string these ideas together ad nauseam until one of both of my parents would say, "What if you stopped talking and finished your dinner?" I started lessons on the clarinet and saxophone when I was nine years old. by seventh and eighth grade I was playing in bands and small combos. I really enjoyed improvising, responding to chord progressions, and creating melodies. I was playing by ear and only later in college began to learn the theory of harmony. I realized there is a balance between knowledge and intuition; they are equally important in the creative act.

Q: What did your parents do to encourage your creative abilities?

A: I remember my parents encouraging creativity by not meddling or fussing over me much. I had great amounts of unstructured time and a garage full of things that I could fiddle with, things like tools, wood, wire, pars of old pinball machines, electrical gadgets (old motors, record players, amplifiers, speakers), and screws, bolts and nails of every size. My father had all these things organized sorted and labeled in boxes. Much to his understandable annoyance, I never learned to put things away. We also had boxes of old clothes and a large collection of records--jazz, swing, classical, and musicals--I was free to play. there were times when my parents would discourage creativity. I liked to invent and make my own gifts, things like a flower inside an empty toilet paper spool attached to a wood base. My mother finally told me one day that these were not real gifts. they were just junk. Another time my sister and I were making up a play with some neighborhood friends. We were laughing and jabbering away, wearing old clothes we'd found in the garage, when my mother suddenly came in and got very upset. Her reason? We were ruining the things she's saved to give away to Goodwill. Looking back on these memories, the main thing I would tell parents is to relax. If a child has a drive to create, nothing you can do will stop it. so why not encourage creativity?

Q: What did your teachers do?

A: Creativity and imagination were not encouraged in my early school years. I struggled to focus my mind and learn basic skills, which I realize as an adult are also necessary for creative pursuits. My kindergarten teacher sent a not home to my parents saying that I was one of her problems. She wrote, "Hap is interested in everything, and can apply himself to nothing." When I was in third or fourth grade, we had a school talent show. I had nothing prepared, but I had a sudden spontaneous urge to get up on stage. Claiming I had a comedy act, I got up and started improvising. I ran over to a speaker and said, "This needs fixing." I got inside the enclosure and pantomimed wiggling wires. Then I pretended to get an electric shock. I leapt back and rolled all over the stage. As all the children laughed, the teacher came up and pulled me off the stage, saying something like, "You don't know what you're doing." This, of course, was true, but it could have been an opportunity to show how one moves from the brainstorming phase of creativity to act on an idea.

Q: Was there anyone else who was a major influence on your creativity? How so?

A: I met the people who had the biggest influence through books. In junior high school I enjoyed reading biographies, and many of them were about creative people. I was especially fascinated with Will Rogers and Thomas Edison. I took hope from the fact that Edison, like myself, was a poor student. Books gave me insight into how creative people worked.

Q: Are there any special activities you would recommend to parents to foster creative though and action in their children?

A: Provide opportunities for exploring and experimenting. Have lots of materials available for children to choose from. some examples:

Arts and crafts: paper, felt tip pens, clay
Drama: kitchen utensils, old pans, plastic dishes, old clothes in a costume box for playing make-believe
Music: rhythm sticks, tambourine, drum, woodblock, triangle, bells, cassette player with recordings of a variety of musical styles
Dance: provide young children with opportunities for movement exploration, rather than emphasizing competitive sports and formalized dance training. As children mature, let them choose the disciplines that catch their interest. Take children to classes and lessons when they are interested and when they ask for them.

Q: Any other helpful hints for parents?

A: Recognize that creativity often occurs in stages. first is preparation, when children become familiar with materials by exploring and discovering. this is followed by the generation of ideas, or brainstorming. for a free flow of ideas, don't pass judgments during these processes. Let evaluations come primarily from the child. Creativity is a peculiar paradox of both freedom and disciplining. There are techniques and principles inherent in any pursuit, which enhance and guide the creative impulse, and creative bursts often follow periods of patient, persistent effort. Ideally, the discipline should come from within the child. As children mature, let them delve into what excites and interests them. Children are more likely to excel in those pursuits that are chosen by them rather than those imposed by adults.

Q: Are there any particular resources you would suggest to parents?

A: There are many excellent books on creativity that will help you evaluate programs and classes you are considering for you child. three I particularly recommend are: Creativity is Forever by Gary A. Davis (1983, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co.); Imagination by Harold Rugg (1963), Harper & Row); and Teaching ; From Command to Discovery by Muska Mosston

Hap Palmer has received numerous awards including the Parents' Choice Award, the American Library Association Notable Recordings Designation, the American Library Association Best of the Best for Children, the National Parenting Publications Award, and the American Video Award. A summary of Hap's awards can be found here.