Early registration ends tomorrow!

Tomorrow, December 1st, is the last day for early registration for the Spring 08 semester. Register at my website: http://launahall.kindermusik.net/, or call or e-mail.

Top 3 reasons to register early:

3. Great to get it done before the December rush really hits us.

2. Makes life easier for your friendly neighborhood Kindermusik educator.

1. Because you'll receive a free Kindermusik CD as my thanks!

A Moveable Feast

It's hard to explain this one. Beautiful? Haunting? Click, watch, let me know your thoughts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUDIoN-_Hxs

500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art.

This video progresses more or less chronologically through time from 12th c. through 1946.

Turn up your speakers and bathe to Bach’s Sarabande from Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 in G Major, performed by none other than Yo-Yo Ma.

Want to know all about the paintings? I did, too. Click here for the artist, name of painting, and year painted. http://www.maysstuff.com/womenid.htm.

Now here's something interesting: 90 paintings of women, 2 painted by women. Discuss.

local art of global quality

This guy is a fellow parent at McKinley Elementary School, an author, and, as you can see from this pic, an amazing mosaic artist. Check it out: http://www.bryanjernigan.com/

He does lovely framed prints and posters, as well as smaller offerings like calendars and greeting cards.

His spouse, Julie Jernigan, is a jewelry artist, frequent (and terrific) substitute teacher at McKinley. I'm so glad the two of them and their lovely daughter are at McKinley school.

Who knows, maybe their art forms will work their way into your holiday gift-giving plans. I'll try to highlight some more local artists, teachers, musicians, and entrepreneurs in the coming weeks.

Where the world wide web ends

Shel Silverstein fans, run don't walk to have a look at this website for children by the author of timeless children's books, songs, and poems: Shel Silverstein.

Of course there are his amazing literary works and drawings, but the web design alone is well worth the visit. Lots of stuff "for kids only"--downloadables and what not. Have fun.

http://www.shelsilverstein.com/play.asp

Re-capturing our collective memory

"I have conducted interviews with many senior citizens who were asked to recall a song, rhyme, or game that could be played with a baby on their lap.1 Those citizens over 80 were able to offer a remarkably diverse repertoire. When other in the 60- to 80-year-old bracket were asked the same question, only some repertoire could be delivered. A third group between 40 and 60 recalled very little, and parents who were 40 years old and younger essentially "didn't know nothin'." What happened to this genre of literature that so perfectly fostered musical growth in infants and toddlers?"

- John M. Feierabend, Ph.D., Professor of Music, Hartt School

Kindermusik recaptures the songs, wiggles, bounces, and games that our great-grandparents knew, and they live again for a new generation.

Someone I'd like you to meet

Blog reader, this is John Feierabend, Ph.D., professor of music at the Hartt School, University of Connecticut at Hartford. I've just found this guy and some of his articles on-line. He's an excellent writer, and he makes compelling arguments for the absolute necessity of quality music education for young children. Check out the article "Music and Movement for Infants and Toddlers: Naturally Wonder-full" here:

http://www.giamusic.com/music_education/feierabend/articles/infants.cfm

"If we believe adults should be able to sing to their children and dance with their spouses and appreciate good quality music literature, then we must sing to our babies, and dance with our babies, and do both with quality children's music literature. Then when those babies become 30 years old, they will be musically sensitive and be able to provide an appropriate nurturing musical environment for their children."

Irish theatre in Arlington

My husband and visiting college-age niece went to a play last night at the Keegan Theatre, right here in Arlington. They said the play, the American debut of the wildly popular Irish play, "Alone It Stands," was terrific. 6 actors play 62 roles, telling the true story of the legendary day when the scruffy home rugby team most unexpectedly beat the visiting undefeated team from New Zealand in 1978. The reviews said that you don't have to know or care anything about rugby to enjoy this play, and it's true--Justin and I saw this performed years ago in York, England, and while I can only tell you that rugby uses a ball of some kind and looks rough and violent, the play was fast-paced, engaging, character-driven, and quite wonderful. Everything the Keegan does looks pretty good--emphasis on acting in "grey space" (with minimal props, sets, and costumes). Check them out at http://www.keegantheatre.com/.

My favorite turkeys

Love these guys. Love their crafts. I've kept pretty much everything they've ever made, which, of course, is unsustainable. I have to figure that one out. My friend Sharlene, a very talented professional organizer, talks about honoring the craft item for a while in a place of prestige in the house, and then moving it out. I almost do that. I honor a piece of art for a while, and then move it to the basement. Which is getting a bit crowded.

Cornucopia o' Thanks

May there be pie in your day today. May there only be football if you like football. May there be family. May there be lots of dirty dishes, but then lots of cheerful helpers to wash them. May there be leftovers for sandwiches tomorrow. May the cranberry sauce remind someone of Grandma, and may everyone raise their glasses to family members no longer with you. May you and your kids strut around the dining room table, with your elbows out and your knees up high, singing,

"Who's That struttin' round, lookin' mighty perky?

Looks like it might be old Mr. Turkey!

Gobble, Mister Turkey, that's a fancy way to talk,

Strut, Mister Turkey, that's a fancy way to walk!"

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.

Reveling with the Revels

If you live in the greater DC area, you may very well have already heard of the REVELS. Just in case you haven't, I wanted to be sure you knew about this wonderful singing, dancing, reveling group.

They do several performances and community sings every year. They are both professionals and talented community members--they hold auditions every year for both adults and children. Their performances draw upon the folk music of many cultures: Celtic, Tudor and Victorian English, French, Russian, Scandinavian, American Appalachian, Italian Renaissance, African-American, Gypsy—and different time periods.

The Christmas show is pricey (eye, there's the rub), but worth it. There are other shows and informal events through the year that cost less or are even free, so check them out.

Notice the morris bells just below this guy's knees? If you were in my summer camp, do you remember being morris dancers, making and shaking our own bells?

I think the Revels are cultural anthropologists, keeping traditional music alive so that we can pass it on to another generation.

Bird joy

My Thanksgiving wish for you: May you feast with your family, and when your favorite song comes on, may you get up and dance like this bird.

http://birdloversonly.blogspot.com/2007/09/may-i-have-this-dance.html

What's your wake-up song, Astronaut?

I love this strange video clip. Have a look.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=P_YS4Xw800Y

Reasons I like this clip:

1. I learned that NASA wakes their sleeping astronauts in the space shuttle each morning with music.

2. The astronaut, somewhere between her astrophysics classes, got to know and love that old English folk song.

3. Apparently, the astronaut's husband selected this song as a love note to her.

4. It made me think, hmm, what's my wake-up song on my first day in space?

What's yours?

Feathers song lyrics!

This is especially for Village families (class for children ages newborn through 18 months)....I'm so pleased to show you this! Click on this link for tons of information about our current unit, FEATHERS. There's weekly home activities and information about your child's musical development, AND, best of all, the lyrics to the songs we sing in class! Enjoy!

http://www.kindermusik.com/Lounge/FeathersJournal.pdf

Story of the Little House, Part 3

Okay, I haven't googled Carmen Wilkenson yet, so stay tuned for that....

But something else happened in this story. My children and I were walking home, and something lying on the grass in our side yard caught my son Jacob's eye. I thought it was a leaf. It turned out to be a newspaper clipping, and there were several more, scattered all over the side yard, clearly blown from the wreckage of Carmen's old house across the street. We gathered them up.

They were recipes. Based on the dates of the greeting cards I'd picked up before, and the style of dishes, my guess is they're from the eighties, but they could be from any time in the last 50+ years. Perennial Pie, Kathy's Dried Beef Rolls, Trawler's Crab Dip, Superb Brandy Alexanders, Spinach Brownies, Irish Bread, Shrimp Egg Foo Yung, Great Northern Bean and Beef Stew, Fruit Calico, and Brown Rice Supper Dish.

In memory of Carmen, and her recipe collection that found its way into my yard, I offer you her clipping for Irish Bread.

1 cup raisins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons shortening

3/4 cup milk

1 egg

3 teaspoons caraway seeds

nuts and fruits (optional)

Boil raisins for 3 minutes; drain and dust lightly with a little of the flour. Sift together the remianing flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Rub in the shortening with hands. Add the milk, egg, caraway seeds, raisins, nuts and fruits if desired; stir to combine. Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for approximately 1 hour.

Enrollment week--let's talk philosophy

Here we are at Friday of our enrollment week (already!). Thanks to all who have already signed up! If you haven't yet, my offer of a free Kindermusik CD for early registration is good until Dec 1st.

Below, in case you haven't come across it before, is Kindermusik's philosophy. While I was at the Kindermusik International conference, among several hundred other Kindermusik Educators from all over the world, and dozens of employee/owners from KI headquarters in North Carolina, I could see for myself that this philosophy is in action. I love teaching early childhood music, and I'm especially fond of teaching the Kindermusik curriculum. They do rigorous research, they use tight quality controls on their at-home materials, and they are constantly offering learning opportunities for educators and parents. They are doing great work.

The Kindermusik philosophy:
Every parent is the child's most important teacher.
Every child is musical.
The home is the most important learning environment.
Music nurtures a child's cognitive, emotional, social, language, and physical development.
Every child should experience the joy, fun, and learning which music brings to life.

Story of the Little House, Part 2

They scooped up the big pile of trash that was once this house, dropped the scoops into the skippers, hauled them away, and now there is bare earth. I watched it happen, and yet it's hard to believe my eyes when I look across the street.

Before they began the scooping, I did a strange thing. I pulled on a sweater, walked across the street, and tip-toed to the edge of the mess. Bricks, mostly, and other things so shedded that I couldn't tell what they were. Also: a deeply dented metal pot, the remains of a piece of wooden furniture, a coil from a stove burner, a completely intact white ceramic mug. And, right near my feet, a small bundle of greeting cards bound with a rubber band. They were dirty, but perfectly sound. I picked them up and hurried home.

I didn't look at them for a while. They were a collection of Christmas cards, and as one was dated 1988, I presumed they all were. What I learned:

- My former neighbor's name was Carmen Wilkenson.

- She had been a teacher. I think a loved teacher, as many students (perhaps late elementary age?) gave her cards.

- She was close to retirement in '88, as her well-wishers wanted to know if this were the year or not.

- She had some health difficulties that were a worry to her friends.

- She had some family in Texas.

I told my friend, Paula Birkenstock, about all this. She asked if I'd googled the name, Carmen Wilkenson. I think that's a great idea. Tune in next time to find out what I find out....

Enrollment week--let's talk price

At the big Kindermusik International conference in October, I heard a long-time Kindermusik educator speak on cost comparisons of common early childhood activities. She made the excellent point that with Kindermusik, all your costs are up-front. You pay once and you're done for the whole semester. Many other activities, she pointed out, sound less expensive than Kindermusik at first, but then other costs pop up: a special recital tutu or outfit, for example. Or a uniform. Or supplies fee. Or....If you compare Kindermusik against the total cost of many other activities, it starts looking like an even better value, especially when you consider the phenomenal benefits quality music education offers to each child.

And, if you register your child for Spring '08 semester by Dec 1st, you'll receive a free Kindermusik CD as my thanks!

The story of the little house

There is a ruined little house across the street from me. Well, there used to be until today. An old woman lived there, and she moved into hospice care just before we moved here 1 1/2 years ago. Soon after, she died.

Her children, caretakers of the house and all living far off, forgot to turn off the water in the house, and last winter a pipe burst. Thousands of gallons of water sat in the basement until someone noticed. The mold permeated the foundation, walls, etc, so completely, that the house couldn't be saved. The property was sold, and today the house was demolished. My children and I watched for a while from our living room window. With a wrecking crane, two enormous skippers, and about two hours, a solid little brick house that had stood there for more than fifty years became a trash heap. Note the tiered curtains still fastidiously draped on the window.

The old woman and her family, when they were young, had been the only people to ever live there.

I wish I had known the woman, or at least met her. A neighbor told me that she had been an author of children's books. I had a strong desire, as I watched the crane's arm push over the chimney like a stack of legos, to run over there and scream at them to stop. While I'm sure the new house will be fine, or at least I hope it will be and not obscenely huge on the small property, I just wanted us all to stop and consider the little house. The memories it must have held. The life that was lived there. Good bye, little house.

Enrollment week--Sweet Word of Mouth

Like me, for example. I was a Kindermusik mom before I became a Kindermusik Educator. I can't even count how many families I encouraged to come along with me and my kids to Kindermusik classes, and then they joined, too.

That's how I first found Kindermusik. A friend of mine, another mom in my first child's playgroup, said, hey, you need to come to this. You're going to like it.

Needless to say, I liked it. My son liked it. A whole, life-changing lot.

Enrollment week--Why Kindermusik?

Day two of Spring '08 enrollment week! Thanks to those who have already registered--and received their free Kindermusik CD! (You get one, too, if you register by Dec 1st!)

Why Kindermusik? This is why:

Kindermusik fosters growth in every aspect of your child's development. While I hope your child becomes a musician, I really do, Kindermusik isn't about producing child musicians. It's about helping children develop their innate musical skills, which lead directly to life skills. Like the little boy in this poster. The abstract thinking he's practicing in a Kindermusik class will serve him not just in school readiness, but in his whole life--like when he's President.

Hey, Kids, It's Spring 08 enrollment week!

Ready to enroll? Here's my lovely enrollment poster, sported by my favorite Kindermusik graduate and an all-around great kid, Jacob.

Does talking of Spring enrollment annoy you just a little bit, when there is still Halloween candy around your house, you've got a Thanksgiving meal to contend with, and don't even get me started on all the holiday hullabaloo lying ahead?

Well, I sympathize. Seems kinda early to me, too. I KNOW, trust me, that there's a lot going on, and that's exactly why I bring it up now, before December really hits.

Enroll for Spring Semester by December 1st for your FREE early enrollment gift: A professionally-produced, oft-asked-for, fun-for-everyone Kindermusik CD!

It is continuous re-enrollment, not just one semester, that really reveals Kindermusik's benefits to your child's growth.

Click here to enroll online: http://launahall.kindermusik.net/.

Girl with long hair plays glockenspiel

May I share with you this chalk drawing, made by Leah, my daughter. When I asked her what she calls this drawing, she said, Girl with Long Hair Plays Glockenspiel. Note the floating musical notes and bass clef. Thank you, Leah!

Interactive Music Website for Kids--check this out!

I just heard from my piano teacher from years gone by, the wonderful Linda Noland who now teaches music at an elementary school in Illinois. On her website there was a link to one of the coolest website I can remember seeing. It knocked my socks off! It's the New York Philharmonic's "Kidzone," absolutely packed with games, tons of information, sound clips, even directions for making wonderful homemade instruments. It knocked my socks off--come take a look! Especially for your Imagine That!, Young Child aged, or older children. The site: http://www.nyphilkids.org/main.phtml

Enjoy!

Thanks, Linda, for both the link and the cool piano icon with flying notes! So great to hear from you!

The Music to Reading Connection

Powerful links exist between quality music education and academic achievement, especially for pre-readers and emerging readers. In short, kids who take music learn skills that boost their abilities in all other subject areas.

Here, a few summaries (thanks to Molly McGinn for these, senior writer for Kindermusik International):

Preschoolers who were given music keyboard lessons improved their spatial-temporal reasoning. A peer group, who were given computer lessons, showed no improvement. Spatial-temporal reasoning is the abstract reasoning that is used for understanding relationships between objects such as calculating a proportion or playing chess. Spatial-temporal reasoning is important in subjects such as mathematics and science.
source: Educational Leadership, November, 1998, p.39Association for Supervision and Curriculum Developmentarticle: The Music in Our Minds Norman M. Weinberger, Professor of Psychobiology at the University of California, Irvine, referencing research of F.H. Rauscher, G.L. Shaw et al, 1997, Neurological Research , 19, 2-8

First graders who received instruction in music listening had significantly higher reading scores than those first graders who did not receive the instruction but were similar in age, IQ and socioeconomic status. The same teacher taught reading to all the students. Those given music instruction were taught for 40 minutes a day for 7 months and learned to recognize melodic and rhythmic elements in folk songs. They scored in the 88th percentile for reading performance and the non-instructed control group scored in the 72nd percentile.
source: Educational Leadership, November, 1998, p.38 Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development article: The Music in Our Minds Norman M. Weinberger, Professor of Psychobiology at the University of California, Irvine, referencing research of Hurwitz et al, 1975, Journal of Learning Disabilities, 8, 45-51

Elements of music and reading are highly related in first graders. Students were tested on various elements of music and reading and a strong relationship was found between a student's awareness of pitch and their ability to sound out material in reading--material that included standard language and phonetic material.
source: Educational Leadership, November, 1998, p.39 Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development article: The Music in Our Minds Norman M. Weinberger, Professor of Psychobiology at the University of California, Irvine, referencing research of S.J. Lamb and A.H. Gregory, 1993, Educational Psychology, 13, 19-26

For more, visit Americans for the Arts

Laugh, Kookaburra

Over the weekend, my children and I and some good friends took in the National Zoo. Have you been lately, and have you stopped at the Bird House? It was wonderful, and I was especially pleased to see a Kookaburra there--just like we've been talking about and singing about in my Village class! We've also been talking about birds in Imagine That! and Young Child, and I think all will enjoy that Bird House. Owls, Birds of Paradise, great big spotted hens, ducks, a sweet little guy called a mousebird--and on and on. Definitely worth a visit.

Until you go, here's a recording of an Australian Kookaburra's famous laugh, just as we sing about in the well-known old folk song. http://home.iprimus.com.au/punkclown/Punkclown/Kooka.htm

Have I got the holiday gift idea for you!

Looking for a gift that isn't "stuff"? Looking for a gift that won't only delight the receiving children immediately, but will benefit them for the rest of their lives?

A gift certificate for Kindermusik! Available for class tuition, tuition plus At Home Materials, or for specific dollar amounts.

Kindermusik--A Good Beginning Never Ends!

Learning music early

Here's another quote from "This is your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession," by neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin. I really like this book and recommend it to you!

"We know that there are critical periods for acquiring new skills, such as language. If a child doesn't learn leanguage by the age of six or so (whether a first or a second language), the child will never learn to speak with the effortlessness that characterizes most native speaker of a language. Music and mathematics have an extended window, but not an unlimited one: If a student hasn't had music lessons or mathematical training prior to about age twenty, he can still learn these subjects, but only with great difficulty, and it's likely that he will never "speak" math or music like someone who learned them early. This is because of the biological course for synaptic growth. The brain's synapses are programmed to grow for a number of years, making new connections. After that time, there is a shirt toward pruning, to get rid of unneeded connections." [italics mine]

We help our children form new neurological connections every day in Kindermusik. Yahoo!

Why music?

This is reproduced here thanks to the Public School District of Clarence, NY.

Why Music?

Music is science.
It is exact, it is specific and it demands exact acoustics. A conductor's score is a chart, a graph which indicates frequencies,intensities, volume changes, melody and harmony all at once and with the most exact control of time.

Music is math.
It is rhythmically based on subdivisions of time into fractions which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper.

Music is foreign language.
Most of the terms are in Italian, German or French; and the notation is certainly not English - but a highly-developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language.

Music is physical education. It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lip, cheeks and facial muscles in addition to extraordinary control of the diaphragm, back and stomach muscles, which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.

Most of all, music is art.
It allows the human being to take all these dry, technically boring (but difficult) techniques and use them to create emotion. This one thing science cannot duplicate:humanism, feeling emotion, call it what you will. That is why we teach music! Not because we expect you to major in music. Not because we expect you to play or sing all your life. But, so you will be human, so you will recognize beauty, so you will be closer to the eternal, so you will have something to cling to, so you will have more love, more compassion, more gentleness, more good - in short -more life.

Have you met Dan Zanes?

I've recently discovered this musician. Folk music sort of aimed at children, but totally ear-friendly for everyone in the house. He was once the lead singer of the Del Fuegos--pretty well known in the 80's. Then he had kids, started hanging out with other parents, and decided to record some music that wasn't for kids, and wasn't for adults, but was music the whole family could enjoy together. His new band, Dan Zanes and Friends, has recorded Rocket Ship Beach, Family Dance, Night Time!, House Party, and the new (pictured here) Catch that Train! Here's a link to a YouTube video of Dan Zanes' song "Jump Up." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPhEIkChNE8 Good stuff! I think I'll be posting more about this guy....

WETA's new campaign

I love this artwork! Actually, this came out rather small here, so perhaps you can't tell, but her whole head is composed of musical notes and treble clefs. This advertisement whizzed by me on a public bus recently. I was one of the people in the greater DC area who was really excited when WETA switched from talk to classical music. They do it well. Their website, should you wish to have a look at their programming, is http://www.weta.org/

Speaking of Pumpkins

Here are the pumpkins that my two children, Jacob and Leah, carved. Jacob, the 2nd grader, used a pattern and spent a huge amount of time on his creation. Leah, the Kindergartener, did hers free-hand, and pretty fast. I think both pumpkins are gorgeous, and interestingly reflective of their creators.

Justin and I carved our own pumpkins, too. While driving around town and admiring pumpkins on doorsteps the last couple of days, it occurred to me that carving pumpkins is one of the last places you see adults being artistic in public. It's lovely--it's my favorite part of Halloween. It reminds me of a Kindermusik class, one of the few public places adults get to sing and dance. Yahoo!

Why Music? -- Watch This

Here is a brief video clip of the wonderful Juli Kowallis, long-time Kindermusik Educator and Trainer, discussing what happens in the brain when we listen to, make, and move to music.

I met Juli at the Kindermusik International conference in October, and she's just as lovely in person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLhJHLSkvLA