Make your own panpipe

WonderGirl was reading one of her science experiment books this morning and found a page on musical instruments, along with directions to make your own panpipe out of straws, cardboard and tape.  "It looks so easy mommy, can we please make it?? Please??  Please??" she begged.  It looked simple enough, so I found her some straws and a piece of cardboard, but my busy to-do list prevented me from doing anything else.  I told her to read the instructions and I'd get back to her when I had a free moment.

A few minutes later, she came to me and asked me to show her how to play it.  She'd read all the instructions,  found the tape (and cut it - a miracle in itself!)  and did it all herself!!!  I was flabbergasted!!!

I love having a 4 year old that reads!!  The instructions were super easy - cut pieces of straw into different lengths, tape them together on a piece of cardboard, and blow over the tops of them.

I asked her to tell me which ones made higher and lower pitches, and she had a fun time figuring it out (the short ones were higher pitches, the longer ones were lower pitches).

A science experiment that's so easy a kid can do it on their own!!  I love it!  Draw a prototype, write a few instructions and let your wee one try it themselves.  It was such a hit, she even had a rabid fan trying to rush the stage!

Practicing tip - timers!

I found this nifty science activity via Pinterest and then put it to good use.  It's pretty self explanatory - there's one empty glass and another with water and food coloring, and a piece of paper towel running from one to the other.  Give it some time, and the water walks from one glass to the other!  A loooot of time.... we started this about 2:30 this afternoon and it's about halfway done now.  But that wasn't our initial goal...

I set it up and we eagerly watched the color creep up the towel.  I put it within eye shot of the piano, and had WonderGirl work up two new songs in her book.  When we spied the first drops of water in the other glass, piano time was done!  It was a good 30 minutes of pure, excited practicing time, and no "when will I be done??" questions.  It wasn't up to me - it was up to science :)  I'll experiment with smaller glasses and shorter towels for quicker practicing days - and all different sorts of "timers!"

Emergency musical intervention

I sewed these up for us to wear for the 4th from 2 tees!

Have you been having a lovely summer?  We were - and still are, except for an unwelcome visitor this week in the form of a cold for the poor 1 year old Dude.  I had to come home from a play group this  morning because of his hysterics - and it was just across the street!

When we got home, I knew I had one of two choices - turn on Nick Jr. or try to find something he wouldn't scream at.  I got out my trusty laptop and opened this page I'd pinned into my Kid-y board on Pinterest (are you on Pinterest??  I want to follow you!!!):

http://counting-on-me.blogspot.com/2011/05/101-things-to-do-with-your-toddler.html

While he rolled on the floor screaming, I scrolled down as fast as I could and spotted this gem:

36. Bang on Pots and Pans with a spoon

I ran to the pantry, grabbed some pots and utensils, put them in the living room and waited.  It was about 3 seconds until the air was filled with a cacophony I far prefer to tantrums.

I grabbed some utensils of different materials and watched them experiment with the sounds.

Then they got clever and tried some of their own...

What about a truck, or a train whistle?

What about 3 different spoons they use regularly? (WonderGirl grabbed these from the drawer on her own!)

What about a hippo flashlight?

Or a puppy?  (the nose is plastic so that was a neat surprise for the Dude)

What about just using your hands?

WG put them in order of smallest to largest and tested out the pitches that way.

What about stomping with your feet??  (I only let that fly for a minute or so :)

And magically - I finally saw this again:

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!!!