Students at Strings, Keys, and Melodies Complete the Sentence, "This Year I..."

A few weeks ago, I had my students think about what they had accomplished this year in their music classes.  I gave them a paper with the words "This year I..." written on it along with a stick figure.  Each of them took the time to think about what they had learned and accomplished this past year.  Then they colored the stick figure to make it look like themselves.

I taped the pictures on my front door.  The students and I love reading what everyone wrote and looking at their self portraits.  I wanted to share this with parents and readers so that you can enjoy what they came up with too!  

I am very proud of my students.  We really worked hard this year and made a lot of great music!

Singing Emotions: A Simple Singing Game

A simple singing game

When we talk, we use the tone and the mood of how we say the words to convey our feelings.  

Sometimes we use the same exact words but we change their meaning by changing our tone.

When we answer the question, "How are you?"

We may answer "I'm fine."  

If we say it with a smile on our face and in a pleasant way, it will mean we are happy.

If we say it sarcastically or angrily it will convey that something is wrong and we are really feeling the opposite of fine.

Singing is just like speaking.  We can change the emotions of the words by changing the emotions and moods of our singing voice.

Pick a song everyone knows such as Jingle Bells; Row, Row, Row Your Boat; or Happy Birthday

Have everyone sing the song using different moods.

I have a die I found from an old game that has emotions on it and I have my students roll to see how we are going to sing the song.

Emotion ideas:  

Happy - it is your birthday and you have a pile of presents to open

Sad - your pet has just run away from home

Laughing - everyone loves to laugh their way through a song!

Goofy - sing as silly as possible

Angry - you are really mad because someone has just kicked your dog!

Scared - you are afraid of the monster under your bed

In love - you are very much in love and feel wonderful

Gross or weird - this is another popular one, especially with the boys!

The whole point of this exercise is to show that it doesn't matter what words you are singing but you can control the mood of a song by thinking of that mood and making your voice match your ideas and thoughts.


                          

ABC's of Music Practice

26 Ideas to help practicing at home!

Happy New Year!  

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.

I am looking forward to a new year of blogging with more fun and creative music ideas.

A lot of parents have been asking me how to get their child to practice their instruments at home.  It is important to have the right expectations especially when dealing with children in the 3-8 year old range.  At this age we need to keep music fun and interesting in order for their love of music to grow and grow.

So to help with music at home, I have come up with 

ABC’s of Music Practice

Appreciate all efforts to sing and play

Believe everyone has some musical ability

Consistency-practice everyday!

Delight in accomplishments – no matter how small

Enjoy yourself and music

Find favorite songs and artists, listen to them and copy what you hear and like

Get the new assignments from your teacher

Have a set practice check list:  Posture, warm-ups, old songs, new songs, and listen everyday

Ignore the moaning-children will moan but don’t listen to it and keep going

Juggling too many after school activities will slow down progress

Kick start your day by practicing before breakfast!

Listen to good examples on CD’s, YouTube and live concerts

Muscles- build music muscles by playing and singing scales, arpeggios and chords

No quitting!  All desirable goals take time and hard work!

Orchestra and opera- listen and dream about playing in the orchestra and singing in an opera

Posture- are you sitting correctly at the piano, holding your violin correctly, 

standing tall for singing?

Qualify for a prize – fill out your practice charts and get a prize!

Relax –don’t hold tension in your shoulders, back or knees

Share your gift of music with others – play at recitals, for the family and at nursing homes

Time – play or sing each song at least 3 times before moving on to the next song.  Practice time for 3-6 year olds will only be 5-15 minutes per instrument.  Older 

children will be able to play longer.

Unite with other musicians- play in recitals and group classes

View lessons – as parents it is important to watch your child’s lessons, at least once 

in a while, so that you can help them at home

Warm-ups are important exercises to build strength in muscles

eXpect mood swings, waning interest, tired days from your children and lighten 

the load for the day but don’t quit!  Good days are just around the corner

You and your children can do it!

Zero in on strengths and weaknesses-Point out where your child is great (good rhythm, good listening skills)!  Some songs require extra practice before they are mastered so just gently encourage playing it one more time!

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Print PDF Version

Enjoy!

5 Essential Steps for Voice Practice at Home

Here is a check list for practicing voice at home.

1. Stretch - Make sure you stretch and relax your muscles before you start your voice workout. 

• Do neck rolls to relax your neck muscles.
• Reach for the sky and stretch your waist and chest.
• Touch your toes.

2. Breathing Exercises – Singing is all about exhaling so work on lengthening and controlling your exhale.

• Inhale for a count of 10 then exhale for a count of 15.  Work up to doing this 10 times.

3.  Lip and Tongue Trills – loosen your lips and your tongue by doing trills to one of the scales.

• A lip trill is when you relax your lip muscles and blow so your lips flap, such as when you make a motorboat sound or blow a raspberry.
• A tongue trill is like when you purr like a cat or roll your r’s.

4.  Warm-up Scales – Singing scales will warm up your throat, your vocal chords and stretch your range.  Just like lifting weights where you gradually increase the weights so you can lift heavier and heavier weights, you need to gradually stretch your range in order to sing lower and higher, until you reach your full range.

• Sing with the CD I have given you, play the piano for different scales or sing with my warm-up video.

5.  Song – Now it is time to practice your special piece.

• Break the song up into sections and sing each section one at a time.  Go over the section until it sounds good.  Remember to work on the techniques your teacher has given you.
• Then sing the entire song all the way through.

Tips and Tricks - For more tips read 10 Habits for a Healthy Voice

• Remember to drink lots of water before you begin practicing and all day long to keep your entire body, including your vocal chords, hydrated.
• Remember to open your mouth!
• Remember to breath!
• Most importantly, have fun!

For more voice tips read 10 Habits for a Healthy Voice.