On Tuesdays, the mp3, instrumental track, and lyrics/chords for the newest songs are available to Listen & Learn Plus members for download. In addition, members are always welcome to request existing Listen & Learn songs and new song topics.
I’ve been out of school for 6 years now, but I still have a summer break at the end of May every year. It was a little more exciting when I worked at a school, because I got to celebrate along with the students and other teachers…but now that I’m self-employed, I’ll throw my own little party next Friday.
The transition into summer is a happy one for most of my students, but it never hurts to have a song to go along with it.
Get immediate access to this, plus over 100 other songs, lead sheets, visual aides, and valuable resources for only $9.99 per month…learn more about becoming a member or just subscribe below. You won’t be disappointed!
How do I know it’s almost summer break? Well that’s easy…it’s just about all my students can talk about these days! Most of them even have a countdown going, and can tell me exactly how many days are left.
I always enjoyed school, but that didn’t stop me from feeling super excited when summer break rolled around. And not much has changed; as much as I absolutely LOVE my job, I’m looking forward to having a little break before the summer session begins.
I wrote and recorded a song on this topic a couple of years ago, but wanted something a bit more original as we head into the last two weeks of the school year. Here’s what I came up with:
Most of my students have their last day of school at the end of next week, which coincides with the end of the session at my studio. Those two weeks I’ll have off will be busy ones, between my birthday, a trip to Austin, a visit from the lovely ladies of the Music Therapy Round Table, and of course, some quality pool time. Come on, summer break!
Happy Mother’s Day! If you’re a mom, I hope you are doing something fun today and being completely spoiled by your family. And if you’re not a mom, I hope you’re spoiling the moms in your life (like I will be doing!).
Earlier this week, I had a fun idea to set my newest song, Thank You, Mom, to a video slideshow featuring pictures of mothers with their children.
So I put out a call to the families in my studio, Facebook friends, and newsletter list asking for such pictures. I received almost 200 wonderful photos, and was thrilled with the finished video. Thank you to everyone who contributed!
And now back to your regularly scheduled Mother’s Day celebration. Thanks for stopping by to watch the video, and enjoy this special day!
Those of you who read my blog regularly know that I LOVE the ukulele. So of course I was super excited when my friend and mentor Lisa sent me a link to this book, which is available for free in the iBookstore.
I immediately downloaded the book, but then got distracted and completely forgot to take a look…until a couple of weeks ago, while sitting on an airplane with my iPad in my lap. Shockingly, my husband wasn’t as amused with the book as I was — but I think you will be!
The illustrations are great and the story is perfect for any child who has tried or is currently learning to play an instrument. I have so many students who really, really want to be able to play well, but they don’t quite understand that it takes a lot of hard work to get there.
Izzy doesn’t understand that at first, either; like my kiddos, she’s frustrated that she can’t make the ukulele sound good on day 1. But the more she practices, the better it sounds, and the story has a happy ending :) I plan to share this book with many of my own students.
The author of the book is Mollycules, and from the looks of her website, she has some other great books I’ll be checking out soon. You can download the book for free here or buy a hard copy on Amazon.
On Tuesdays, the mp3, instrumental track, and lyrics/chords for the newest songs are available to Listen & Learn Plus members for download. In addition, members are always welcome to request existing Listen & Learn songs and new song topics. Moms are pretty amazing people. They deserve much more than one single day out of the [...]
Holidays and special events make choosing a song topic so easy. With Mother’s Day coming up on Sunday, there was no question as to this week’s subject matter. There’s not much to write about this song that the lyrics don’t already say — the main message I wanted to send is that we should celebrate [...]
Truth time: I just returned home from vacation last night, and am feeling incredibly overwhelmed by my inbox, to-do list, and afternoon of music therapy sessions and lessons. That being said, here’s a fun video my husband sent my way last week that made me smile. Hopefully it will do the same for you! Well, [...]
On Tuesdays, the mp3, instrumental track, and lyrics/chords for the newest songs are available to Listen & Learn Plus members for download. In addition, members are always welcome to request existing Listen & Learn songs and new song topics. Back during my music therapy internship, one of my supervisors had a great little song she [...]
For most of my students, the guitar is an object of fascination. They want to hear it, touch it, and most of all, they want to play it. But as much as many of them want to strum those strings, there’s usually a bit of apprehension before they go for it. During a music therapy [...]
“Key Largo, Montego, baby why don’t we go…” The song Kokomo by the Beach Boys has been running through my head for the past week as I get ready to head down to Key Largo tomorrow! That’s the resort where we’re staying after a quick day at South Beach and overnight stay in Miami (we [...]
It’s time once again to give you the run-down of all of the wonderful Listen & Learn sponsors. I’m extremely proud to feature all of the following resources here on the blog — please take a few minutes to check them out below: Music therapist Emily Sevcik has recently merged her “Songbird Serenade” project under [...]
How is it possible that 2012 is a third of the way over already!? This year has flown by…probably because I have been so busy writing and recording all the songs you see pictured above! To celebrate the first third of what has already proven to be a great year, I’m giving away the MP3 [...]
On Tuesdays, the mp3, instrumental track, and lyrics/chords for the newest songs are available to Listen & Learn Plus members for download. In addition, members are always welcome to request existing Listen & Learn songs and new song topics. I can’t tell you how many parents have said to me, “Oh, all we listen to [...]
As a kid, I absolutely LOVED long car rides. My brother and I found ways to entertain ourselves for hours at a time, which was lucky for our parents. But I know very well that we were probably the exception, and most parents don’t have it quite as easy as mine did. When I put [...]
