What is your shipping policy for items purchased in large quantities?
Most information can be found in shipping and handling. For particular questions not covered, please contact us directly.
I would like to carry your books in my store. What is your wholesale policy?
We will provide a 40% discount for retailers. Please contact us directly to make arrangements.
I am a classroom teacher and I love your materials. However, I am not a singer or musician myself so how can I best teach the songs to my class?
The audio CD is very helpful and pitched within a child’s vocal range. You can play the songs and encourage your students to sing along. However, another idea is to involve a musical parent or your school’s music teacher.
I want to teach the foreign language songs (e.g. Spanish and Chinese) to my students, but I don’t speak the languages myself. Any suggestions?
The community can be a great resource! In our multi-cultural state, many children speak these languages. It is likely that you have these kids in your class. Enlist their help in going over correct pronunciation. You can also involve parents with this process. If this doesn’t work, look within your school for help.
We have so little time to cover anything other than the basics in my classroom. I’d love to include your songs in our social studies curriculum. Any suggestions on how I can do this?
This is a widespread issue. However, there are ways to integrate these songs in the curriculum. For example, when children are building a mission, they can listen to the songs from the Spanish Mission period and sing along. When you go on field trips (e.g. to the gold country) have the CD available in the car or bus. It is exciting to sing the songs originally sung by the miners! Remember, these songs are primary source documents. When you present a new era of California history in social studies, an introductory song can help students understand how people lived at that time, expressed in their own words.
Your plays sound great and I’d like to have my class perform at least one of them. How do I get started?
We will have a blog post addressing this very question. Each play includes an array of performance suggestions so it isn’t difficult to embark on this project. Because the plays are historically accurate, they are an intrinsic part of the social studies curriculum. Students learn historical facts and concepts through dialogue, costuming, music and dance. Enlisting the help of the music teacher would be a great idea. These plays are perfect for assemblies and performances.
I am a home school educator. How can I use your materials?
Our books and CD’s, They Came Singing and Days of Gold, present the entire history of California from its earliest inhabitants through the Gold Rush. Students will learn a multi-cultural and ethnically diverse perspective of history from the words of those who lived through the times. Each separate era of California history can be reinforced with corresponding songs, games, dances and extensive background information. For additional support in the home schooling community, please contact us.
I have a laptop and would like to have the books available as e-books with other ways to access the audio songs. I don’t have a CD player.
We are working on an e-book version of the books and plays, and alternatives to the CDs. We’ll keep you posted on the website!
Do your songs work well in a Kodály or Orff curriculum?
The partners are specialists in both Kodály and Orff and can attest to the success of these songs in either approach. We have a list of pedagogical concepts for each song. Contact us if you would like this list.
Are the Calicanto Singers still performing? If so, how could I schedule a concert?
The Calicanto Singers are no longer performing together. However, Los Arribeños, an affiliated group, can be reached via: www.facebook.com/californiafandangoproject. For other performance questions, contact us directly.
I’d like to arrange an in-service workshop. How long are your typical workshops and what topics to you cover? What do you charge for a workshop?
Our workshops can vary from 1 to 3 hours in length and they cover a range of topics. Some of our most popular are: Early California History Through Song (an overview), the California Gold Rush, and Spanish Mission and Rancho Periods. We can tailor any workshop to meet your individual needs. Please contact us and we can discuss the particulars, including price.
Do you have any piano arrangements of the songs in your books or choral series?
Yes, we do! Please contact us and let us know what song arrangement you would like and we can proceed from there.
Any other questions?
If you have any other questions, please fill out the form on our Contact page. We look forward to hearing from you!