Studio3Music Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Miss Analiisa’

May
18

Feeling Like a Failure

Yesterday, I felt like a complete, utter, failure. I’ve got a sensory child, and I’m also a home schooling mom of three. People often ask me how I do it, and to be perfectly honest, sometimes I wonder, too. Most days, I look (at least I think I do – please don’t crush my delusion) put together on the outside, but like teachers everywhere, there are days when we go, “Did they actually learn anything?”

Back several months. Rob had just finished vision therapy, which for us, was the missing piece of our sensory journey. We’d already done occupational therapy, physical therapy, water therapy, seen a sensory motor specialist, and finished speech therapy. At this point, you can meet Rob and you wouldn’t know he’s a sensory kid. I thought the rest of this schooling year would sort of be an all-come-together year. So much for my plan.

Do I have to post a picture relevant to this post? Just my dimpled Rob turning 10. Oh wait! Our grammar chant charts are on the wall. Grammar = homeschooling = relevant. It works.

Yesterday, I was doing Singapore Math with Rob. And suddenly, he looked at me and said, “I don’t remember how to divide.” Three weeks ago his violin playing took a huge leap backward. His biggest complaint was that (and I quote), “I can’t keep all the information straight in my head.” I’m having lots of trouble getting punctuation rules to stick in his brain, too.

I’ve noticed over the last couple of months that all he wants to do is PLAY. With his friends. And read. For hours. This from the kid who a year ago couldn’t read for more than 15 minutes without his eyes getting tired. That doesn’t mean, of course, that he doesn’t do school. He does. He likes grammar and history and anatomy and physiology especially.

But yesterday, I kept thinking, “How could we get this far and do division all the time, and suddenly, you can’t do it?” It seemed to appear so out of the blue, that I thought that perhaps I just had my head in the clouds and wasn’t paying attention and finally noticed what was going on. Where had I missed the signs?

So I emailed Jesikah, who used to be my assistant, and now bears the more lofty title of Director of Operations. She’s my email therapist, sometimes, too. (She’s also the mother of Rob’s best friends.)

I wrote –

He’s so struggled in some areas at school this year – it’s not a cognitive thing. His brain has just had difficulty processing all the information now flowing in (thanks to vision therapy). However, I feel like I’ve failed him somehow this year. We haven’t accomplished as much as we’ve needed to.

And then I got back the most amazing response –

The Montessori teacher told me recently that some years the children really pour themselves into academics, and some years their social/emotional development needs are so much that it is a distraction against academics and not much is accomplished there…but social/emotional needs are more important than academics – it is what makes us good husbands/wives, parents, friends, siblings, good students and even employees… At the end of one’s life, we always want to be better spouses, better parents, better friends…we never regret that we weren’t as academic as we could have been. Children have a knack for catching up academically, too.

You have not failed Rob. Perhaps, this is a growing year for him socially/emotionally, which is why school is so hard for him. Those other needs are more important at the moment, even if he is incapable of expressing those sentiments.

Thank you, Jesikah. The fact that as a fourth grader, Rob’s brain has felt the need to do something else for his development (rather than what I want it to do), is perfectly okay. So we’ll do a little math this summer, and practice writing a few friendly letters.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who wants to tell discouraged parents and teachers everywhere that it’ll be okay. Because it will. Even if you have to pull out of the violin recital at the last minute.There will be another one.

Tags: brain, learning, Miss Analiisa, parenting, sensory child

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May
10

5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Show

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Family, Symphony Concerts, Things to do

1. We discovered that puppet making is becoming a lost art. Our search for the perfect puppet took us all the way to New York City. The fabulous fish puppets you’ll see on stage are hand-crafted by the internationally renowned Furry Puppet Company.

2. Our brass quintet hails from Central Washington University. And instead of a trombone, they have a euphonium. Isn’t that breaking some unwritten, unspoken, unplayable brass quintet rule? Nope! Did you know that if you unwound a euphonium and a trombone, they’d be exactly the same length? Want to see that done? Come to our concert on Saturday!

3. For every minute a live production company spends on stage, an hour of rehearsal is required. But our rehearsals are never boring. Often they’re exactly like those funny outtakes you see at the end of movies. Or Psych.

4. Miss Allison (the star of the show!) and Michael (our delightful tenor) are married. In fact, they met while playing the parts of Laurey and Curly in the musical Oklahoma! It was love at first sight. Still is. 22 years later.

5. The 10:30 show is sold out, but there are a few tickets left for the 9:30 – so get them here!

What show you say? Swing Me High and Swing Me Low, our next Symphony Serenade concert for families. It’s at Benaroya Hall (Seattle Symphony) on Saturday, May 12 at 9:30 and 10:30. You’re invited!

-posted by Miss Analiisa, aka The Story Fairy, who gets to wear bathtub fish on her head this weekend. And a new pair of wings! (But on her back, not on her head.)

Tags: kindermusik, Miss Analiisa, music, Things to do

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Apr
28

It’s good to rhyme, sometimes.

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Family, Things to do, Things We Love

Today is Great Poetry Reading Day. And, apparently, Kiss-Your-Mate-Day, (but do you really need me to blog about that in detail in order to understand what the intention is)? I love poetry. Growing up, my Dad read to us from poetry collections after dinner, just as often as he read great books.

With its rhythm, expression, emotion and meter, music is poetry without words. Just like poems, music expresses the thoughts and feelings of the composer. In fact, lyrical poems are the form of poetry set to music. (Some of the best at that were Lennon and McCartney.)

A couple of days ago, I asked our Studio3 staff and some good friends of mine from all over North America (who are also musicians) to tell me what their favorite authors were. Were they ever passionate! And prolific in their answers! Which is a great thing.

By far, their number one pick for kids’ poetry was Shel Silverstein. Which was not surprising. This beloved writer has “the official site for kids”, so check it out.

Jack Prelutsky was a new one for me, but I wish I’d found him sooner! He was born in Brooklyn, NY, but lives right here in Washington State. In his bio on the Scholastic website, he says, “I have always enjoyed playing with words, but I had no idea that I would be a writer. There was a time when I couldn’t stand poetry! In grade school, I had a teacher who left me with the impression that poetry was the literary equivalent of liver. I was told that it was good for me, but I wasn’t convinced.”

He also is a musician, and on the audio versions of his anthologies, he sets his poems to music, often singing and playing his guitar. In 2006, the Poetry Foundation named Prelutsky the inaugural winner of the Children’s Poet Laureate award.

He’s written more than 50 collections. Here’s the name of just a couple to get you started at your library: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep, The Mean Old Hyena, Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems.

One of my favorite poets (when my sense of humor grew slightly more sophisticated) was Ogden Nash. He’s a lover of puns, and witticisms. Take his “Song to Be Sung by the Father of Infant Female Children”, for instance.

Poetry is good for grownups, too! Poetry can help us to slow down, think, appreciate, and express our own emotions more clearly.

Here is a list of favorites I collected (they were often mentioned my multiple people):

ee cummings, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Emily Dickinson, Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Lewis Carroll, John Keats, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Naruda, Bob Dylan, John Lennon

Some of Robert Frost’s poetry was set to music by Randall Thompson in a collection called Frostiana. Worth a quick search on YouTube.

Love Poems From God is a translation by Daniel Ladinsky of great saints and mystics from both western and eastern religious traditions.

Ten Poems to Open Your Heart, compiled by Roger Housden.

Heartsongs, by Mattie Stepanek. Mattie was an American poet who had six books of poetry published before he passed away just before he turned 14. All six books reached The New York Times bestsellers list. He suffered from a rare form of muscular dystrophy, and all three of his siblings also died from the disease. He started writing poetry at the age of three when his older brother died. My friend said his poems always warm her heart with his innocence and belief in humanity.

Not sure where to start? Pick something new. Poems are generally shorter than novels, so it won’t take you long to decide if you like a particular poet. (And you’re not in high school AP English anymore – you get to read strictly for enjoyment!) Someone suggested the website www.poemhunter.com. When you choose a specific poem, the site suggests others you may enjoy as well.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who suggests to go kiss your mate, and then have some fun with poetry today. She leaves you with this short ditty from Odgen Nash – “God in His wisdom made the fly, and then forgot to tell us why.”

Tags: learning, Miss Analiisa, music, reading, Things to do

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Apr
26

Music made me like math. (And I wasn’t even trying.)

Posted in Education, Music and the brain

I was a music major in college. I loved music. I didn’t love math. (Okay, I did rather like Geometry.) I always got A’s in math in high school, but it was hard. In my day, one only had to take 3 years of high school math to get into university. But once I got there, I was told I had to take two math courses to graduate. Ugh. The very last semester of my fifth year (my degree was a five year degree – it was supposed to be four, but explain to me how they expect you to fit 5 consecutive years of music theory into 4?), I enrolled in the required Algebra 103 class.

A week into class, I was thinking my SAT scores had put me in the wrong class. I double checked, but nope, I was where I was supposed to be. It had been SIX years since I had cracked a math textbook. And yet, this stuff called Algebra was easy! I finally understood math. It was all about patterns.

Halfway through the semester, my math professor called me into her office, and said that I really should be in a much higher level math, and had I considered a math minor? Uh, nope. I hated math. Well, wait a minute. I didn’t really hate math anymore. It made sense, and I actually liked being successful at it.

It didn’t take me long to figure out why. If you’ve ever spent time in the dungeons of a music department, you’ll soon discover that 95% of the double majors are music and some sort of math or math-heavy science. The french horn and bassoon players (being generally both the smartest and funniest and strangest of the music breeds) are the astrophysicists, the biochemists, and the aeronautical engineers. (Oh, please, don’t send me nasty emails if you are a clarinet player with a job in the field of quantum mechanics. I’m sure there are brilliant clarinetists out there, too!)

I realized that my 5 years of music theory was, like math, all about patterns. The music had somehow trained my brain to comprehend math.

Years later, when I started learning about how music helps develops the brain, I found a much more sophisticated answer. Imaging studies have shown that mathematical processing and musical training activate the same areas of the brain.

It appears that early musical training begins to build the same neural networks that will later be used to complete mathematical tasks. Although I played an instrument starting in 5^th grade, I didn’t really have any good musical training – theory, private lessons, Kindermusik, etc.

So, my years of music theory, ear training, piano, conducting, private lessons and singing in college really did help those neural networks to grow. How I wish I’d had music training when I was very young, all the way through high school. I might have liked math better.

Of all the academic subjects, music and math are the most closely related. Music and math both require lots of counting. Within that counting, there are musical intervals, (the difference in pitch between two notes), and the math counterpart, arithmetic and geometric sequences.

Playing music also requires an good understanding of fractions, including adding and subtracting them. Reading music notes is dependant on comprehension of ratios and proportions – how long is a half note compared to a quarter note? How do you play triplets against sixteenth notes? Geometry is used when remembering finger and slide positions.

My heart introduced my children to music for love, and joy, and pleasure. My head introduced music to my children so I could give them the very best start in life. Even if they don’t follow in my footsteps and become a music major, they’ll still reap the benefits their musical experiences.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who is tickled when her violin playing 4^th grader asks his instructor to “teach him some theory”.

Tags: brain, kindermusik, learning, Miss Analiisa, music

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Apr
6

Life With a Tornado

Posted in Child Development, Family

My niece Macie turns one year in a month. Right now, she’s at that annoying stage where she sits in her high chair, looks you straight in the eye, gives a cheeky grin, and drops her cup onto the floor.

My sister finds it annoying. I find it hilarious. Of course, I’ve been-there done-that three times, and it’s been five years since one of mine played that game. Because I’m the auntie, I can call it cute and be glad I’m no longer scraping food off the walls.

What this all means is that 11 month old Macie has moved from the this-is-all-about-picking-things-up stage, to the what-will-happen-if-I, what-does-it-feel-like, what-noise-does-it-make stage.

But let’s back up a moment. I’ve got to get you caught up. These fine motor skills began at about 2 to 4 months of age, when she inaccurately swiped at objects. Sometime after 3 months, she could hold small objects in her hand, and within a couple of months, could transfer those objects between her hands. Between 5 and 9 months Macie could first rake at objects with her whole hand to pick them up, and then moved on to picking up small objects using her thumb and index finger. We call this a pincer grasp.

She’ll use this grasp to string beads, close a Ziploc bag, color, hold her glockenspiel mallets in Kindermusik Young Child, build Lego creations, and cut with scissors.

As Macie’s grasp became more precise, she explored objects by moving, twisting, turning and shaking them. Now at almost a year, she’s just about ready for my favorite classic of baby toys – the Tupperware shape sorter, which combines the rotating, moving and flipping skills she learned earlier, which a little cognitive thinking.

When she first learned to sit, Macie would prop herself up on one arm, and explore her playthings with one hand and her mouth. As she learned sit without help, both hands became free to be used to answer her questions about the shape, texture, size, hardness, and weight of objects. She’s using her mouth less (though a lot of children remain really oral for a couple of years, and that’s perfectly okay).

Which brings us back to the cup throwing. And the banging, shaking, squeezing, tapping, twisting and flinging. Is my sister annoyed? You betcha. Her living room floor currently looks like a tornado hit it. So does Macie’s room. And the dining room. And sometimes even the bathroom. (And even the hallway, which occasionally gets mummified by an unwound roll of toilet paper.

But rather than get angry when our babes make a mess, keep this in mind: You already know what a balloon does when you kick it, what noise a cup makes when you throw it, just how fast you can unwind toilet paper (and how long it is!), how scratchy brush bristles feel on your skin – but your little one doesn’t. Someone, long ago, let you taste, touch, feel and manipulate objects. And then helped you learn how to pick up your tornado.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who suggests you make an ever-changing sensory box filled with varied objects like a sponge, a wooden spoon, a rock, a piece of sandpaper, a feather duster, and egg shaker, a pan lid, a real flower, a jingle bell stick and a stuffed animal for you to explore together.