Carolyn Padelford Tuttle has been a life-long teacher and communicator. Born in Winchester, Mass., she attended Oberlin College (Ohio) then Harvard Graduate School of Education, receiving and Ed. M. in English and Secondary Education, later augmenting this to include certification in the Montessori Method and in teaching Latin.

She began her career by teaching English to Turkish girls in Istanbul for three years, followed by both public and private school teaching of English and Latin in the Boston area and in Albuquerque, New Mexico. While her own two children were young, she taught at several Montessori schools in Albuquerque, and along the way helped adults from other countries learn English as well.

Her asssociation with music began at home with the enthusiam of parents who loved music and encouraged not only spontaneous singing around the house but also years of lessons on  the Piano, Organ, and Cello. Ever since, she has loved singing and playing with community groups. As she says, "I grew up in that wonderful era when we all sang our hearts out, singly and collectively, at home and church, at camp and every conceivable gathering, and shared the same grand old songs and poems that will stick in our minds until we die."

Teaching young and old demands understanding and empathy. Music and literature combine communication and inspiration. All of that comes to bear in this book, dedicated to her Mother, who spent the last six years (of 96) in Dementia, including long years when she could no longer talk. Music and rhythm, the beloved old songs and poems, got through when nothing else could.