Sidewalk staff

WonderGirl drew a big "WELCOME HOME!" picture on the driveway a few days ago, and has been very proud of her artwork.  I decided to put her love of graffiti to good use and we played a beanbag game outside on a sidewalk chalk staff!  Since I don't have bean bags, I put some rice in lonely socks and tied them shut.

uh oh... need to add some ledger lines!

To start off, we played the Throw the Bag on a Space Note game, followed by Throw the Bag on a Line Note game.  Then we stepped it up to either one of us calling out a note name and the other trying to toss it there.

We both had a great time!  I'm seriously considering making a bigger staff and doing Staff Twister on a day that is slightly more cloudy.  I spent the entire winter indoors and I'm still not used to all this natural sunlight :)  Super summer fun!

Living Room Dance Party #14

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This morning as I was waking up, WonderGirl climbed into my bed, dragging her little one-octave toy piano onto the covers, and exclaimed she could play a song she'd heard on Little Einsteins.  Then she proceeded to play me the main theme to Smetna's Moldau!!  I don't think I could have been more proud!  I told her all about how it was written to sound as if you were floating down a river, hearing the waves roll and the distant sound from the banks, but at that point she was more interested in breakfast.  So I'm telling you.

It's not a long piece - just over 10 minutes, but it's still a bit long for an attention span. 

• It begins with beautiful rolling lines from the woodwinds, and as soon as it starts, pretend you are floating on the waves, getting bigger and bigger as the line drops into the strings. 
• About a minute in, the main theme starts and you float and glide all over the room. 
• Around the 3 minute mark, you hear proper dance music as played by a wedding on the banks of the river, and the dancing changes dramatically.  WonderGirl insisted I waltz with her.

After that, she and the Dude both wandered on, coming back in the room to dance when a familiar theme started to play.  It's such a lovely piece, great for dancing or background music.



Here's a lovely download version from Amazon with Leonard Bernstein: The Moldau (Vltava) - Symphonic Poem No. 2 from "My Fatherland (Ma Vlast).  Have fun!

PS - I also just added it to the Living Room Dance Party playlist on youtube.  I don't know about you, but we are really enjoying that! :)

Summertime practicing

I'm back!! Did you miss me?  I missed you!  We haven't been slacking in the music department, though - WonderGirl regaled the grandparents with her piano skills, and I had 7 shows - yes, seven!! with my bands over two weekends!  It was fantastic and I am super warmed up right now :)

But now we're back and trying to get into the swing of practicing again.  It's not easy after a vacation - especially when it's summer!  There are so many more interesting things to be doing!  I stumbled on this post by a fabulous blogger, Music for Tots that gave me some hope.  Her plan for summer practicing is to give her students easy folk tunes to learn to keep up their note and sight reading, and to learn lots and lots of them.  It keeps them active and having fun!

I love the Faber 5-Finger Melodies books, and I picked up their PlayTime Piano - Level 1: Rock 'n' Roll (Faber Piano Adventures) a few weeks ago to give the summer some excitement.  We've been having fun with Rock Around the Clock and other tunes that are enticing enough that WonderGirl has motivation to learn them without too much pushing from me.  I'm taking Music for Tots advice and going back and getting more easy music for WonderGirl to play around with!  She also posts some great free sheet music to snag online!!

Oh, and the Faber Chordtime books are no slouch either.  I'm a poor pianist at best, but I was able to play some really well-written and great sounding tunes this past Christmas with the ChordTime Piano Christmas (Faber Piano Adventures).

Tis the season to have fun with practicing!






PS - Are you on Pinterest??  Holy cannoli, what an awesome site!!  I'm here, follow me so I can follow you!

On a jet plane...

Posting will be sporadic at best for the next week or so - I'm heading out to the deep south with the whole family for a much needed vacay and 6 shows with my bands!!  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.  Happy summer, everybody!!!

Gee, I love G!!

Are we on G already??  Woohoo!!  We paid a little homage here to our favorite alphabet book, Dr. Seuss' ABC :)

Living Room Dance Party #13

My undying love for library story time is no secret.  I love the songs and stories it introduces to us - and I especially love how it's a place where I can go with my kids and teach them to sit and follow directions in a group setting.  Oh sure, I've carried one or both of them out kicking and screaming before, but those were merely battles - whereas I am winning the war.  Plus we have been seriously blessed to have the BEST children's librarians in the universe in our own fair cities.  No joke, they're all amazing.  And something that all the wonderful children's librarians we've ever had have all had in common was a love for Jim Gill's music.  

I've heard enough of him at story times and music classes that I decided I had to get an entire CD to check out and review for myself.  Sure, he's got some great songs, but how does a whole album sound?  I snagged his Jim Gill Sings Do Re Mi on his Toe Leg Knee from the library and turned it on in the living room.  Instantly, it was a dance party!  WonderGirl was jumping around, following all his directions and instructions, and the Dude - though too young to understand - loved the energy and was running in circles giggling hysterically (that's his way of showing appreciation).


I moved the CD into the car after a few days and it was a hit there as well.  I can't say enough about this album - it's just perfect.  I love Jim Gill's easy style and sound.  You know how some kid albums sound like they're trying way too hard with an in-your-face PLEASE LISTEN TO ME I'M FUN!!!!! attitude?  With Jim Gill you're invited to come join the fun.  It opens with my personal favorite, The Tempo Marches On - which is perfect for any age, as you march around the room while the tempo slowly speeds up.  I've heard that before and used it in preschool music classes and it's always a hit.  The rest of the album has silly, wacky, lots of physical activity numbers that WG has memorized and fallen in love with.  I totally recommend it for a Living Room Dance Party.  There aren't many things on youtube of Mr. Gill, but here's a great live performance of his Silly Dance Contest to give you an idea of how fun his music is.



Go forth, get some Gill and get silly!

WG's violin debut

This is a little ditty we call Leprechaun Song.  And it's her first performance on violin EVER!!  We only just introduced the left hand a few lessons ago.  I won't lie, I'm crazy giddy right now.  Great job, WonderGirl!!!!!!