Christmas Carol Chord Maps

Popping in with a few chord maps for enrichment activities.

First year students - practice singing and pointing on the beat.  (If you have an Apple product, you can download an autoharp app and practice your strumming.)
Second year students - use the chord map to practice your chord transitions.  Play each chord in C position.

Download Chord Map PDF here.

LPM Corporate Site - New and Updated! Check it out!

The corporate website for Let's Play Music has been totally redone and WOW is it awesome?!

Now Registering for Sound Beginnings: Gold Stars Semester

Forms are available in person or on line at: http://fs11.formsite.com/lmpemilyr/form6/index.html

If you would like to come participate in a class, please contact me!

Building Language with Music

I randomly stumbled on an article on two-daloo.com, "Building Language With Music" (link here) about the power of music in building language skills. Little did I realize, until the end of the article, that my friend and mother of one of my cute level 2 students was the guest blogger.  She definitely knows her stuff and has helped me personally with some concerns about my own children.  Yay!  Katie!

Research has long shown that music helps "unlock" language abilities in the brain.  My experience teaching my son in Sound Beginnings has shown this to be true.

Top Ten Reasons to Know Your Primary Chords

Each year in Let's Play Music classes, students learn to hear and play what we call the "Primary Chords" and label them red, blue, and yellow.  These chords, also known as I IV and V or tonic, dominant, and sub-dominant chords, are a foundation for 90% of the music we listen to.  Here's a run-down from fellow LPM teacher Dave Meadows on the other Top Ten Reasons Primary Chords are Awesome!

10 - Memorizing is easier!
9 - Better feel for chord position.
8 -  Tension and Release: Hear the harmonies that aren't written.  Feel where the music is going...
7- Can do more with written music.
6 -  Easier to fake it! Cover up mistakes easier...
5- Recognizing key signatures.
4- Improvisation
3- Composition
2- Trust the experts.
1- IT'S FUN!

Let's Play Music isn't just any music class, it is a total musicianship program that uses the piano to give the students an amazing foundation!

Music is Good for the Brain: Another Possible Benefit

A great article from CNN about how early exposure to music benefits our brains.

Check it out:  http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/31/health/music-dementia-link/index.html

Ready... Set... and LET'S PLAY MUSIC

The countdown is down to one hand... are you ready?  Yay 5 more days until class starts.

I still have a couple more spots in first year LPM and in Sound Beginnings.  Contact me, or see my registration page above with any questions...  If you'd like to come see a class before enrolling, please contact me directly.

Fall Class Times are:
Let's Play Music (First Year) -Tuesdays 10:00, and 4:15  ages 4-6
Sound Beginnings - Tuesday 11:00 and Wednesday 10:30 ages 2-4

Recital Pictures!

I am so proud of these kids for a great job done at the recital.  These kids learned so much this year and we had a GREAT time each class.  

Thanks for all the parent support at the recital and throughout the year!

Scotland's Burning

Miss Emily

Sound Beginnings kids doing "Two Little Blackbirds"

We love our BUGS!!

LPM and Sound Beginnings kids doing their major scale hand-signs.  Amazing!

Sound Beginnings Sample Class

Come enjoy a free sample class of the fall curriculum for Sound Beginnings.  

Sound Beginnings, a similar class to Let's Play Music, is designed to give kids that are too young for Let's Play Music (2-4 years old)  a jump start on music and preschool concepts.  

Specific skills that will be covered this semester include:

feeling and keeping the beat
in-tune singing, pitch matching, head register
solfeg, major scale descending
tracking; reading preparation
singing & recognizing alphabet
phonemic awareness & phonics
developing relative pitch
low and high
enjoyment of classical music
developing recognition of theme and form
subdivision
dexterity
months
colors
manners
weather
name recognition

You're Invited

Please come to our 2013 Year-End Recital

Saturday, May 4th 2013

11:00 AM

Wasatch High School Little Theater

Featuring Students from Both Sound Beginnings and Let's Play Music

Sound Beginnings Instrument Day Inspiration

One of my favorite lessons each semester of Sound Beginnings is our last one where students get to bring and share about instruments (and instrumentalists) they love.  This relaxed and fun day is a blast!  Students are welcome to bring an instrument that is laying around the house, especially fun is when a loved one can play that instrument and show first-hand what is sounds like and how it works.  Last semester we had an uncle come along and play some Christmas songs on his trumpet since it was that season.  How proud those little boys were of what (and who) they got to share!

Sometimes a real instrument isn't accessible or the process of creating one and exploring the ways that sound is produced as it is created is more desirable.  The following are a few links to some inspiration for a home-made instrument.

• Rainstick (my cute sister-in-law made this one.)
• Paper Plate Banjo
• Drums, Egg Shakers, Bell Shakers, Cardboard Guitar, Etc
• Easter Egg Maracas
• Drums (and an experiment on how sound is made)
• DIY Instrument Kits  (good visual inspiration.  Love the jingle bell bracelet.)
• Wind instrument Craft

Benefits of Music Education

What are the benefits of music education?  Besides being really fun, music is a great brain booster by helping to develop areas of the brain associated with language and reasoning.  Music also helps develop the ability to think creatively and to solve problems.  Those involved in music also tend to do better on standardized testing.  (To read more benefits of music click here.)

Sample Class March 21st 7-8

I will be holding a sample class for all interested in previewing what Let's Play Music is.  If you, or a friend are interested in attending this class, please contact me directly.  (letsplaymusicwithemily@gmail.com)

Online Registration for 2013-2014 Classes

With kindergarten and preschool registration starting up, that means it is time for us to also be thinking about fall registration for Let's Play Music and Sound Beginnings.  I'm proud to say that online registration is now available at the following links.

Sound Beginnings "BLACK SPIDERS" Semester:
 http://fs11.formsite.com/lmpemilyr/form10/index.html

LPM Red Balloons/Blue Bugs (First Year Classes):
 http://fs11.formsite.com/lmpemilyr/form7/index.html

LPM Green Turtle Shells/Yellow Arrows (Second Year Classes): http://fs11.formsite.com/lmpemilyr/form9/index.html

Truly A Sound Beginning

Sure singing and playing with our kids is fun, and we feel good about it, but what does it do for our kids?  And what can babies actually learn?The National Association for the Education of Young Children, which exists to advocate and educate for young children, says babies benefit more than we think!  Click below to read on:

http://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/music-math-more/10-ways-babies-learn-when-we-sing-them

Benefits of Early Music Education

Since you are reading this, you are one who won't be surprised to know the benefits of music at an early age. But, did you know that those benefits stretch beyond the years of early childhood?  Click to read more...

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/early-music-lessons-have-longtime-benefits/

Helps for Keeping a Steady Beat

When children practice, especially as things get easier, the tendency is to get faster and faster until they've raced through the song.  Speed racing is never a good thing when it comes to practicing :)  As the rhythms are introduced with the bugs, the tempo can really vary depending on how well their hands are able to clap them.  In second year students are introduced to the metronome.

One sure way to help them feel the beat and start internalizing it along with the "BUGS" is to use a metronome.   In LPM we sometimes refer to it as the "BEAT BUG., or TICK TOCK"  Metronomes are an invaluable tool when learning music and the sooner students are exposed to one, the easier it is for them to practice with one. They can be inexpensively purchased at local music stores or online and are great to have in preparation for learning the piano starting next semester.  However, if you aren't able to get a metronome there are some great apps and online tools.

For iPod search the app store under the music category and there are several to choose from.

For those who want an online metronome try this website:  http://www.webmetronome.com/

When practicing with a metronome it is a good idea to start slower then work your way up.  For clapping our bug rhythms I would start at about a walking tempo, around 60 beats per minute, then work your way faster when your child can easily clap all the rhythms at that speed.

Happy Practicing!

Sound Beginnings - Shapes Coloring Page Link

This semester in Sound Beginnings we are exploring shapes.  As I was browsing the web, I found some awesome shape coloring pages that you could use in addition to our weekly "assignment."  Great for cutting out and making faces just like we did in class.

Crayola Shapes Coloring Pages
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