Deaf Child in Music Class

At school this year we have a new student who made herself known to me by talking and signing at me when I came to introduce the instrumental music program at the assembly a few weeks ago. I had to let her know that I don't know sign language. Today she showed up in the music room for general music and let it be known immediately that she needed to sit up front.  Soon her sign language interpreter came into class and we were off and rolling.  Turns out she wants to take violin class, so I made sure her teacher knew how to take care of that (and quickly).  Also turns out that she has a cochlear implant, so I will soon find out how much she does hear.

She is not shy and appears to have a great deal of confidence.  It will be quite interesting and I know I will probably learn more from her than she will from me.

Orff Workshop

Here is a short snippet of a video of the fun we had at our ICCAOSA workshop this morning.  I was playing the big bass bar and filming at the same time.  The title of the workshop was World Drumming at Your Fingertips, which included singing and playing the Orff instruments (and a few found sounds, too).

Recorder Class

Today was my first day of recorder class - the 3rd graders at Vista.  I have been teaching recorders for about 6 years now, and the 2nd graders anxiously await the day they can start learning.  In the past I have taken orders for recorders, collected the money and put in the order, and everyone keeps asking if the recorders have arrived yet.  This year, West Music had a "free shipping day" in July, so I ordered 40 recorders on spec.  They have been sitting in the music room since August and for some reason, the 3rd graders knew that if they brought $3, they could get one to have at home to practice.  I had not sent out a notice yet, but today I had 12 kids who had already brought in money and were very happy campers as they took their new recorders home so they can practice B B B.

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.