Thursday, January 24, 2013
Registration for fall of 2013 begins!
I am very excited to announce that registration for my current students and siblings is now open! Please feel free to click on the link above and select your preferred class time for next fall. Registration is filled on a first come first serve basis, so if you have a sticky schedule, you may want to jump on it!
Registration will open to my waiting list and then the general public in February, so please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Welcome Back!
Hope you had a wonderful break and enjoyed some family time filled with lots of music! Now it is time to break out the new songs and have some fun in Blue Bugs! Our second semester of Let's Play Music is called Blue Bugs and we have lots of fun with our new bug rhythms! Make sure to clap the bug chant at home with your kids and use opportunities for teachable moments when they arise. "Hey, is that a butterfly? How would you clap But-ter-fly? "
" Ooo, look, The Very Hungry Caterpillar book, can you clap ca-ter-pil-lar?"
In looking ahead for next year, encourage any interest in keyboard/piano playing! Most of our LPM songs and lots of nursery rhymes (twinkle, twinkle, old macdonald, etc.) have very simple melodies and lots of familiar patterns the kids can tap out on their tone bells or on piano.
Encourage them to look for -mi-re-do, sol-sol-do, and sol-la-ti-do's in music.
I had so much fun teaching this past week and look forward to seeing everyone again this week for more great classes and lots of FUN!
In this cold and flu season, I really appreciate everyone being mindful of keeping others from getting sick and containing the germs when possible. I am setting a bottle of hand sanitizer at the entrance and as you enter for class, please remember to wash hands either with soap and water or with sanitizer to prevent the spread of germs and keep instruments clean, THANKS!
" Ooo, look, The Very Hungry Caterpillar book, can you clap ca-ter-pil-lar?"
In looking ahead for next year, encourage any interest in keyboard/piano playing! Most of our LPM songs and lots of nursery rhymes (twinkle, twinkle, old macdonald, etc.) have very simple melodies and lots of familiar patterns the kids can tap out on their tone bells or on piano.
Encourage them to look for -mi-re-do, sol-sol-do, and sol-la-ti-do's in music.
I had so much fun teaching this past week and look forward to seeing everyone again this week for more great classes and lots of FUN!
In this cold and flu season, I really appreciate everyone being mindful of keeping others from getting sick and containing the germs when possible. I am setting a bottle of hand sanitizer at the entrance and as you enter for class, please remember to wash hands either with soap and water or with sanitizer to prevent the spread of germs and keep instruments clean, THANKS!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Blessed with music and so much more!
I saw this video the other day and I was struck by how these children were so thankful to have music in their lives. Music is a gift and I am blessed to be able to teach and share it with so many. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and enjoy this amazing video.
landfillharmonicmovie.com
landfillharmonicmovie.com
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Music makes you smarter!
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).
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.
Happy Thanksgiving, I am very thankful for Let's Play Music and all of my amazing families!
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).
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.
Happy Thanksgiving, I am very thankful for Let's Play Music and all of my amazing families!
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
We are thankful for Let's Play Music!
All my classes are well into becoming musicians and having fun! I am no longer accepting students for the 2012-13 year. Please let me know if you would like to be added to my waiting list for next year. I am thankful for each of my students! What a gift to share music with all of you each week, blessings! Ms. Robin
Monday, October 1, 2012
The latest in LPM
The Let's Play Music Curriculum is made up of 6 sequential semesters. What this means if your child is a current student, they are in first year, first semester which is called Red Balloons. We will finish this semester up the second week of December. Blue Bugs begins in January of 2013.
The order is
1st year: Red Balloons, Blue Bugs
2nd year: Green Turtle Shells, Yellow Indians
3rd year: Purple Magic, Orange Roots
If you child has not yet registered and started Let's Play Music classes they have about 1 more week before registration closes for the 2012 year. Then registration will open again next year for Fall of 2013. If your child is already 6 or 7 years old this is their LAST chance to experience this awesome program. We only allow children to start in the fall and they must be between 4-6 years old when they start.
If your child is 3-5 years old, please let me know if you are interested to be added to the waiting list for next year. I am anticipating taking very few new students next year, so if you think you might want to try it, the waiting list reserves a spot for your child. I will e mail out the registration information to you in the spring.
Excited to have a few more new students starting last week and this week! We are learning so much about music and having a GREAT time! :) Ms. Robin
The order is
1st year: Red Balloons, Blue Bugs
2nd year: Green Turtle Shells, Yellow Indians
3rd year: Purple Magic, Orange Roots
If you child has not yet registered and started Let's Play Music classes they have about 1 more week before registration closes for the 2012 year. Then registration will open again next year for Fall of 2013. If your child is already 6 or 7 years old this is their LAST chance to experience this awesome program. We only allow children to start in the fall and they must be between 4-6 years old when they start.
If your child is 3-5 years old, please let me know if you are interested to be added to the waiting list for next year. I am anticipating taking very few new students next year, so if you think you might want to try it, the waiting list reserves a spot for your child. I will e mail out the registration information to you in the spring.
Excited to have a few more new students starting last week and this week! We are learning so much about music and having a GREAT time! :) Ms. Robin
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
In support of Solfeg
If you are new to using Solfeg or Solfeggio (The term Solfeggio is Italian, translations vary and can be used interchangeably.) and wondering more about why we spend so much time on incorporating it into Let's Play Music, here is a bit more information.
Solfege means rather than singing the note names (C, D, E , F etc.) we sing and play on syllables
(Do, Re, Mi, Fa, etc.) The popular song from the musical, "The Sound of Music" showed Maria teaching the children to sing by using the song " Do, a Deer." Let's Play Music has used this method of using music to teach musical concepts in all of our curriculum. Spoiler Alert: I can not wait to teach rhythm next semester in Blue Bugs, our bug chant is one of my favorites!
I was taught Solfeg for the first time in high school by our choir director. I remember thinking it was odd. It was also hard to learn, as a 16-17 year old, understanding how to add these syllables to the pitches we sang and using hand signs at the same time.
After watching my own 4 and 6 year old (both Let's Play Music first year students,) pick up the syllables and the hand signs with ease, I see now what my choir director was trying to accomplish with a bunch of high schoolers. They are able to relate pitch from their voices (a child's first instrument) to their tone bells and the piano!
We use Zoltan Kodaly's method of adding hand signs which allow the children to feel the major scale. The hand signs are structured in a a way that each one accurately links the pitch to its function within the scale.
We even use Solfeg "high fives" in class! Ask your child to give you a "Ti tap" or a "Do bomb." :)
Here is a great article in favor of using Solfeg with some interesting perspective if you would like to learn more.
http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=126
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