Studio3Music Blog

Archive for the ‘Things We Love’ Category

Jan
1

I finally broke down and bought an iPad.

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Family, Things We Love

I’m an Android user all the way. And all my computers are HP. My phone allows me to create a mobile access point, so I can get on the internet wherever I take my computer. But I got tired of lugging my HP everywhere (I’m a homeschooling mom, and since I work full-time, too, I work anywhere I can at any hour of the day or night), so I bought an iPad in September.

And then I wondered why I waited so long. I love being able to access email and internet anywhere(thanks to my phone). Netflix is great for the kids on long roadtrips, Angry Birds is a whole lot better on a larger screen.I’m auditing a Latin class, and I never lose my notes, now, cause they are not on paper anymore.

I love the apps for my kids. My sports minded son had no problem learn those pesky 11′s and 12′s multiplication facts with Baseball Math. And we love Jellybean Tunes. But hands down, our favorite is Where’s My Water? (It’s all about physics and logical thinking), created by Disney.

The creators of Jellybean Tunes have a a blog called Moms with Apps, that promotes quality apps for kids and families.

So, tell me, what are your favorite apps – either grownup or kid-friendly? Leave me a note. I’d love to know.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who still loves her Samsung Galaxy ANDROID phone, and has no plans to trade it in for an iPhone.

 

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Dec
2

Singing Scales

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Child Development, Education, Things We Love

Kate swinging Up, Up, Up, Up and Down, Down, Down, Down

Every parent does it. Every parent to some extent brags, compliments and shares in the excitement of his or her child. I do it. I do it ALL the time. I am so proud of my girls. I think they are genius children and that they really could do no wrong. I sing my child’s praises to friends, family and acquaintances.

In fact, I am about to do it now. My youngest daughter, Kate, has been in the Kindermusik program since two months of infancy. We started her in Family Time, then in Village and now she is a thriving Our Timer. I watched as her progression over the past two years finally came to a head just this last week. I had Kate flying through the air on my legs when I thought – I should do this to the Our Time vocal warmup – Up, Up, Up, Up, Up, Up, Up, Up like a rocket ship… and Down, Down, Down, Down, Down, Down, Down, Down like a shooting star. (I know you just sang this scale exercise as you read that).  It’s addictive and the kids LOVE it.

I introduced this concept of using our scale warmup as a gross motor activity and by the second go-round Kate was singing it by herself.  The next day she was playing play-doh when I overheard her taking the compound containers and stacking them as she sang her scales up and down. My husband whispered, ‘She really is starting to connect things’! He was right. Kate has mastered her scales and she is applying them without my guidance. How proud am I?! Extremely. I want to scream from the mountaintop that my two-year old is a Kindermusik prodigy (though I know this is still just the beginning of her Kindermusik education).

Knowing that parents bask in the little glories of their children, we, as your Studio3Music teachers, want to hear about these milestones whether big or little, whether you deem them inconsequential or bigger than the 2012 Presidential election – tell us! We encourage our Studio3Music community of families to share these tidbits with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/studio3music.

All geniuses dress this way...

We love our kids, your kids and our community of loving parents. Each child is so different and special in his and her own way, and finding the joy in one another’s growth is only part of the full Kindermusik experience.

My personal next step: getting Kate on video singing her scales. This precious little toddler voice will be gone before I know it. Plus, when she’s 18 and on her first date (yes, she’s not dating ‘til 18) we will remind her that she is every bit as precious to us now as she was when she was two singing her scales wearing only her diaper.

-posted by Miss Kim, who is proud of her children and her Studio3Music Kindermusik community.

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Nov
22

Miss Allison’s Blessings

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Family, Things We Love

Once, a long time ago, I had to attend some seminar for work.  (It was my day job, back in my professional singer/actress/dancer years, but it had health insurance, so I took it fairly seriously!) It was a two day seminar, during which time I got paid less than I did to actually work, and although the seminar had some very stuffy and official sounding title, it really boiled down to the power of positive thinking.

Our homework on day one was to make a list of our blessings.  There were dozens of questions by the other participants- “what do you define as a blessing?  How many should we write down, should they be professional or personal? Will we have to read them to the class? Is there a minimum requirement?  Will we be graded?”  They seemed quite overwhelmed by the task.

I came back in the morning with a legal sized piece of paper, covered front to back.  The rest of them, the questioners, came back with a sticky note, or a grocery list piece of paper with a couple of things jotted down.  One gal had written her blessings on the back of a receipt from the grocery store- she’d stopped for milk on the way home, so it was a short receipt, and a very short list of blessings.  I immediately felt embarrassed…  and wondered if I had somehow missed the point of the assignment.  But no- I had heard correctly- I was sure of it.  I was, and still am, a diligent student, and have always done my very best with assignments- what’s the point in doing it if you’re not going to do it well?

When it came time to turn in our lists the instructor seemed non-plussed by the tiny little lists, and I felt even more embarrassed by my tome.  I turned it in, and she immediately picked it up off the table and looked at me- I was horrified.  I was sure I had done something wrong.  And then she smiled… glanced down at my list, read a little bit and then asked me if I would read it to the class… if she hadn’t smiled I would have said no, but her smile was joyful and her eyes sparked when she asked me to read it out loud, so I agreed.

Here are some of the things I put on that list:

God, family, friends, and friends I love so well they’ve become like family, music, a sister who is my best friend, a brother who is my best friend, my mom, also my best friend, my dad- yep- my best friend, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, The Beatles and the B-52′s, soft fuzzy sweaters, feather pillows, snicker doodles, and steak cooked to a perfect barely medium rare, good movies and popcorn with lots of butter, friends to enjoy the movie with, to hold my hand and dry my tears when sorrow was on my doorstep, cozy furniture and books- good books, picture books, fat books and skinny books so long as the had characters I loved, and mostly happy endings. The list went on and on…

When I got done reading my list, at that seminar almost 25 years ago, I looked up and most of the women were crying.  One of them actually said that she felt all those things were her blessings too – how come she didn’t think of them when she made her list, the other women nodded their heads.  The instructor said that was the point of the activity, to find the good things in our lives, every last one of them, big and small, important and trivial and to be mindful of them each and every day.

So I count my blessings often because if you stay focused on the best things in life, the not so wonderful things will be easier to tackle.

Happy Thanksgiving- and kiss your little blessings for me.

-posted by Miss, Allison, who says that she was the only one who got a 100% in the Power of Positive Thinking seminar. And a cash bonus!

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Nov
13

Glorious Together

Posted in Family, Things We Love

I can’t emphasize enough the immeasurable riches and benefits I’ve had in my life because of music and dance.  My parents say that I came into the world singing and dancing, and encouraged me at an early age to study both.  No matter what the ups and downs of life, I’ve had the enrichment, encouragement, outlet, and community of the arts.  Now that I am a Kindermusik Educator; I am blessed with the privilege and pleasure of nurturing the development of children and their families through the same kind of musical and movement activities that have so nurtured me.

I love doing the different dances and movement activities we regularly have in class each week.  Participating in open movement activities is great.  I love seeing the varied and creative ways grown-ups and children find to dance to music, and of course, scarves and streamers always help.

But, one of my favorite things is group dances.  Some are fairly simple circle dances and are easier to pick up; others are more complicated and take a few weeks before they really begin to click.  This process is greatly helped when we dance as one cohesive group.

I never require that everyone hold hands when we dance in a circle, but I always encourage it, because, that way we truly dance as a group.  This is important for several reasons.  First, it is much easier to learn and participate in dancing when we have someone else to do it with. Not only do we see each other around the circle, but we can feel each other as well.  We help each other dance by picking up on the collective visual and physical cues of the other bodies around us, which helps us to communicate better.

What is more, being better communicators leads us to another one of my favorite benefits; when we dance together we create community.  It is my belief that group dancing is one of the fastest and best ways to create a safe and nurturing community in my classes.

Sometimes when I undertake to introduce a new dance to a class, I wonder what the outcome will be.  Will I explain it well enough? Will everyone get it? Will they like it? Usually by the time everything is said and done, all my concerns have flow out the window.  We all get up, we all might feel a little silly or vulnerable at first, but quickly realize that we can and will do something wonderful together, and in this place it is ok to be silly and vulnerable.

I see the confidence and courage of both children and adults take a steady climb upward when they feel the comfort and security created by dancing together.  We know in that moment as we see the smiling faces of those we are dancing with all around us that we are doing this thing together as a team.  It only works if we all work together to make it happen, which results in such a feeling of delight, accomplishment, and solidarity. Even if there are a few bumps and hiccups along the way it doesn’t matter, because hey, we did this thing together and it is glorious!

-posted by Miss Meresa, who thinks the world would be a happier more peaceful place if we all danced together.

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Nov
10

A New Holiday Tradition

Posted in Family, Symphony Concerts, Things to do, Things We Love

Oh, I love Christmas…the beautiful wreaths, the cookies, the carols, the bows ribbons and wrappings, the Yorkshire pudding.  I love decorating the Christmas tree, and shopping and rehearsing for Christmas Eve mass, and I love going to mass on Christmas Eve, and singing all the beloved old carols and the new ones, too. I love making my lists of gifts and deciding what to get for my family (except for my husband’s dad – he is so hard to shop for!) And I still wait anxiously to open my own gifts.  (Although I may have recently joined the same category as my father-in-law…)

It’s the traditions that make Christmas and any holiday or special event stand out in our memories.  Would it be Easter without dyed eggs and chocolate bunnies, or the Fourth of July without hotdogs, apple pie and fireworks, or a wedding without rings?  The answer: of course it would, but it might feel kinda funny, especially at first.

But every one of today’s traditions, once upon a time, were new additions to a time honored event.  “Joy to the World and “Silent Night” had premiers and were the new kids on the block.  They had to worm their way into the hearts of the people and become a tried and true Christmas tradition.  So over time the traditions of all our beloved holidays have changed.

I’ve added a new tradition to my Christmas – the family concert at the Symphony.  So a part of my Christmas preparations now is writing a script (and it’s all new this year) creating props, (all those are new, too) picking the music, (all new- well, all new old music, I guess is the better way to say that) and writing new music that none of you have ever heard before.

I’ve been deciding what kind of wacky things the Story Fairy will say and do, and wear on her head, it’ll be all new wackiness, but she’ll still be bossy (that’s traditional, after all) figuring out what Stacey and Michael will argue about and who gets to cry (Stacey is so funny when she cries…) crafting a story- yes, it’s all new and working with the arranger (he’s new!)  and the illustrator.  She stays the same, thankfully! I’ve grown accustomed to her style, and love her work, which will be –don’t be shocked – all new.  And we are adding a new twist. We have invited a choir to join us for the story… there will be lots of voices singing out with Christmas and Hanukkah spirit.

Things are starting to move quickly now in our quest toward an all new Holiday Symphony Serenade Show. The illustrations have already been sent to the photographer.  The arranger is working on the lullaby this weekend, our first read through was on Sunday, and Michael and I will begin building a very large Menorah in our garage sometime this week.   The Story fairy will be welding the Shamash – you just can’t miss that!

If you’re reading this and you feel kinda mystified, then you need to add our concert series to your Holiday Traditions.  Your children will love it and you will love it.  It’s a great way to spend a Saturday morning.  There will be group singing, of course, and a bounce, and some giggles, great harmony, a steady beat and a story and a snuggle.  If you now exactly what I’m talking about, get your tickets right here…. ‘cause it’s ALL NEW…..

-posted by Miss Allison, who will see you in the lobby after the show!

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