Tim and Abi

Aiken Drum has been a favorite in our house for a long while. It’s an old Scottish folk song about a man who lives in the moon, plays upon a ladle, and is made completely of food.

Each article of clothing that he wears is its own special dish, including a buttons made of penny loaves and breeches made of haggis bags. (What are haggis bags, you ask? Haggis is a savoy pudding made of sheep parts- you can read more here if you want the full details. 😉 )

We decided to make our own version of the song that was more accessible to today’s listeners. Our buttons are made of cookies, and pants made of zucchini.

Last summer, we introduced the song to kids at a local music camp that we lead. We taught the kids how to play and sing the song, and at the end of the week we played it for an audience. Our band was complete with poster board food-shaped costume pieces donning each child, and one girl proudly tapping on a ladle just like Aiken.

The song opens up a lot of possibilities for creative play, artwork, and even creative eating. We hope you enjoy Aiken Drum as much as we do!

Greetings! We are so glad you’re here!

While this may be our first official blog entry on this website, we already know many of you and have been honored to make music with you and/or your kids over the years.

We recently grew our own family. Our fourth child was born in November of 2018, and we are just smitten with her. As is to be expected, however, we have had to make adjustments to our work schedules to be present with and available for our kids.

Due to some of these changes, our lesson and gig availability is somewhat limited during this delightful stage of life. However, we have been using some of the cracks in our day to work on a fun behind-the-scenes project.

We are working on creating videos and additional resources that help to provide music education for all ages. While we have big ideas and plans, we are starting at the beginning: using drawing to bring life to simple folk and original songs for our youngest listeners.

So, we welcome you to listen to one of our earliest videos. Be gentle on our drawing skills, and enjoy the thing for what it is: a fun introduction to a classic folk song. Share it with your children and your friends. And, be sure to check back in regularly for updates. We’ve got a lot more coming!