Saturday, December 10, 2011

Our Angry Cloud Faces

It may not be in the ballet for "Waltz of the Flowers", but in our Let's Play Music puppet show we have an Angry Cloud! It comes out during the cello part of that song. It's so much fun making our Angry Cloud faces with fingers showing the rain that is ruining our nice spring day. Not to fear, the butterfly comes and chases the cloud away at the end.

Here are my students (in random order) being Angry Clouds on the last day of class for our Red Balloons semester.

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It has been a wonderful experience teaching Let's Play Music! I love how we get to have fun learning so many musical concepts. My students have learned to sing and play a major scale, to identify steps and leaps, to identify chord sounds by ear, to do the Solfeggio hand signs, to read notes on the staff and play them on the bells, to recognize themes in music, and so much more!

I'm excited for our next semester: Blue Bugs!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Video: Do Re Mi song on giant staff

Now it's my Tuesday class' time to shine! We were missing two students last week, but those who came had such a fun time pretending to be giant notes on a giant staff! We took "baby steps" up and "baby steps" back down while doing our Solfeg hand signs and singing.



I love how they got to use their whole bodies to help cement the concept of the staff in their minds! It's not just an abstract idea but something concrete that they can feel and experience.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Did you know...?

Music stimulates the mind, encourages creativity and helps to lay a foundation for learning that leads to higher intelligence and aptitude.

Preschoolers who studied piano performed 34% better in spatial and temporal reasoning ability than preschoolers who spent the same amount of time learning to use computers (Rauscher & Shaw. As reported in Neurological Research, February 1997).

Preschoolers who took singing and keyboard lessons scored 80% higher on object-assembly tests than students at the same preschool who did not have the music lessons (Rauscher & Shaw. As reported in Symphony, Sept.-Oct. 1996).

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Listening to Mozart’s Piano Sonata K448 was found to significantly increase spatial scores of college students on IQ tests (Rauscher & Shaw. University of California as reported in Nature).

In a study of medical school applicants, 66% of the music majors who applied to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. Only 44% of the biochemistry majors were admitted (Lewis Thomas, as reported in the Phi Delta Kappan, February 1994).

The very best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Valley industry are, nearly without exception, practicing musicians (Grant Venerable, The Center for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum, New York, 1989).

For the unborn child, classical music, played at a rhythm of 60 beats per minute, equivalent to that of a resting human heart, provides an environment conducive to creative and intellectual development (Dr. Thomas Veert, The Secret Life of the Unborn Child).

In 1994, it was reported by the college entrance examination board that students with coursework in music performance taking the university entrance exam (SAT) scored 49 points higher on the verbal portion of the test and 36 points higher on the math portion than students with no course work or experience in the arts.

It has been shown that high school music students have higher grade point averages than non-music students do in the same school (from Time Magazine June 11, 1999).

"It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the rest of musical perception." - Albert Einstein on his Theory of Relativity.

Plato once said "...music is a more potent instrument than any other for education..." Now scientists know why. Music, they believe, trains the brain for higher forms of thinking. After eight months of musical training, 3 year olds were expert puzzle masters, scoring 80% higher than their playmates did in spatial intelligence – the ability to visualize the world accurately. This skill later translates into mathematical/conceptual and engineering skills.

Smiley Yes kids, music lessons make you SMARTER! Smiley

"Right now, your child's brain is constantly being wired and rewired, and the experiences you provide will go a long way toward determining the structure of her brain." (Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D., The Whole-Brain Child"

Isn't it wonderful that parents can nurture their children's developing minds through the amazing, innovative program of Let's Play Music? I'm so thrilled to be able to teach it!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Videos: Magical Lamp Puppet Show

For many students, the puppet shows are their favorite part of class ... even when there's a scary genie in it!

For their last time doing the puppet show for "Aragonnaise" from Carmen by Georges Bizet, the children got to use props and dress-ups to perform it. It was pure fun!

Unwittingly, the students are learning to appreciate classical music as well as recognizing and distinguishing motives, themes and instruments.

Wednesday, 4 PM class:



Wednesday, 5 PM class:



My Tuesday, 6:15 PM class will get their chance to be spotlighted soon. (Due to my user error with the video camera, their puppet show didn't get recorded.)

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Fun & Special Moments

Doesn't it make you feel special when your child draws a picture for you? My own children have created many drawings for me over the years. But a couple weeks ago was the first time a student of mine drew a picture for me!

It was a drawing of me and her together. How sweet! She drew it on a page in her student manual, so I don't have a copy of it. (Maybe I should take a picture of it next time she comes.) Thanks Morgan!

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She's on the left with our Echo Ed puppet. The kids have a great time echoing Echo Ed and learning about his silly antics.

Another favorite activity is our puppet show.

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The students are learning to recognize themes in classical music. They are so good at it already! Last week they did the actions for each character in our Magical Lamp puppet show with their eyes closed!

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Everyone loves a turn with the autoharp.

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We can't forget our lively Red Balloon song!

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Teaching Let's Play Music is so rewarding. I know there will be many more special moments with these great students!

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P.S. I now have a Blog Button, which you can find to the right. You can even put the button on your own blog. Remember referring a student gets you a $20 coupon for tuition!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Hand-Clapping Songs Improve Motor and Cognitive Skills


A university in Israel conducted studies of hand-clapping songs which revealed a link between those activities and cognitive skills development in children, young adults, and university students.

Practicing motor skills while singing and staying on beat helps develop auditory processing, visual processing, and attention. Children—particularly those in first through third grade—who participated had neater handwriting, better writing skills, and made fewer spelling errors, too!

One researcher stated, "There's no doubt such activities train the brain and influence development in other areas." Even adults benefit by becoming more focused and less stressed. Who knew the songs weren't just for fun? Read Research Confirms Hand-Clapping Songs Improve Cognitive Skills.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

My Awesome Students

The first two weeks of class were great! I had so much fun, and I think my awesome students did, too!

Tuesday 6:15 PM Class

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Wednesday 4:00 PM Class

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Wednesday 5:00 PM Class

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What cute kids!

The first semester of Let's Play Music is the Red Balloon semester. One of the favorite songs is "The Great Big Red Balloon," which teaches how the staff makes the notes sound. The balloon goes up the staff and then back down in the song.

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Each student received their own real red balloon on the first day of class. So fun! I'm excited to see them build upon the concepts introduced in the beginning. There's so much exciting stuff in store!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Symposium 2011

When I learned that Let's Play Music holds a Symposium each summer for teachers, I was stoked! I was excited to meet other teachers and soak in the Let's Play Music vibe.

It was a day packed with classes, workshops, presentations, motivational speakers, announcements and goodies. There were even professional photos taken by the event photographer Cherie Mask.

The attendees

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The administrative board

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Having a good time

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