Zip Code Boogie Video

Here is the link to the performance (not perfect) of my Zip Code Boogie performed this morning.  But you get the idea.

Zip Code Boogie

One of the people in the Village Pipers gave me some information and encouraged me to send in my Zip Code Boogie to the American Recorder Society for their Members' Library.  If they chose my piece to put in their newsletter, lots of people will see (and maybe even use) it, even if I don't get paid for it.  I still retain copyright.

I sent the contact my piece, and he said that he liked it, but we'll see if they chose to use it.

Stay tuned!

All jazzed up from that, I started arranging Jingle Bells in 3/4 for our Christmas gig.  I'm calling it the Jingle Bell Waltz.

Kindergarten Lessons

I have been using the Game Plan curriculum by Randy Delelles and Jeff Kriske, especially for first and second grade for a number of years now (since they came out), but they finally came out with the Kindergarten book last spring which I bought immediately.  The book which covers an entire year's worth of lessons cost $95 which is a bargain in my book.

I have been getting a little tired of my Kindergarten lessons, so this year I am completely changing over to these plans.  This afternoon I went through the lessons from Sept - Dec and wrote down which ones I'll use on which day, and now my planning is done for three months.  Well, I still have to make some of the visuals since I did not buy that set (which is a little pricier), but I am very excited to try out new ideas from two masters of music education.

How Music May Help Ward Off Hearing Loss

While on my morning workout today, I heard this npr podcast about the effects of training your brain through music and if you spend a good portion of your life interacting with sound, then your nervous system makes many "sound-to-meaning connections."

I would love to work on making my students better listeners for various reasons, and this is just one more.

Teaching Improv

I try to teach a little bit of improv to my recorder and string students.  I have great aspirations, but never spend too much time on it.  This morning on my walk, I listened to this story on NPR about improv with Alzheimers patients, and it gave me an idea that is an easy first step to improv.  On recorders, our first notes are B, A, and G.  After we learn B, we can go around in a circle and have each person play B in whatever way they want to.  Long, short, in a little rhythm, loud, quiet, etc.  I can imagine that students will be initially shy, but if we make this an easy warm-up every time, as well as making it more complex (Bs and As, then all three notes), it will become easier for them to think of something in their mind and then translate it to an instrument.

I would also like to try this with my string class.  At first we could do it with plucking open strings and gradually add fingers and bowing, as we learn it in class.

Tenor Recorder

Today after recorder practice, I brought home a loaner tenor recorder to practice on....

Gigs Galore!

After a two-week summer vacation, where I did not play any instrument, I am back with a vengeance!  I have four gigs coming up in the next month and a half, so I'm practicing violin, viola, and soprano recorder.

First up is a wedding next weekend - playing viola in a trio.
Second is a church gig - playing viola in a quartet.
Third is a recorder gig.
Fourth is our Celtic Duet gig for Friday Nights Live! in Claremont (violin).

I'm feeling very much like a musician these days!