September 2009

Four Little Coins

September 30, 2009

Recognizing, counting, and using money are functional skills that every child is taught at some point in his or her education. I’ve been impressed so many times over the years by the creative methods that teachers use to teach the concept of money, and I can’t tell you how many different songs I’ve heard about [...]

Contest: Halloween Song Topics

September 28, 2009

Some people find this hard to believe, but I am not a huge fan of Halloween. You might even remember me mentioning this last year (most likely more than once!) but I just can’t help it. The decorations, costumes and everything else associated with this “holiday” give me the creepy crawlies. Regardless of my personal [...]

CD Project Update

September 25, 2009

In case you missed it, my goal of raising $2,000 (to create a CD for kids with autism and other disabilities) was met and SURPASSED on Friday, September 4. Not only was that the day Listen & Learn Music officially turned one year old, but it was also the very day I realized that this [...]

Friday Fave: Inspiration

September 25, 2009

Sometimes I feel like there are so many directions I want to go in life, so many things I want to do, that I can barely keep my head on straight. When I graduated from high school, my goal in life was to perform music. I spent my college years working toward that goal, until [...]

Songs For Teaching Blog

September 24, 2009

If you are a music therapist, educator, or parent and HAVEN’T heard of or visited Songs For Teaching, then you have been missing out on one of the best resources for educational children’s songs and materials on the web. I discovered this amazingly comprehensive website less than a week into graduate school, as I was [...]

All About Autumn

September 23, 2009

It is officially fall! Preparations are being made at The Hope Institute for this weekend’s Fall Festival, which include homemade scarecrows from each classroom (for a song about scarecrows, click here) and decorated leaves. Though “Fall Into Fall” has been our official song of the season since last year, I wanted to add another one [...]

Pajamas for Your Ears

September 22, 2009

When I was a freshman in college, I fell asleep every night listening to Jane Monheit’s aptly titled album, “Come Dream With Me”. I found it really soothing, and it drowned out any noise created by my roommate in our very small dorm room. The only downside was the discomfort caused by the headphones on [...]

Publicity, Performance, and Praise, Oh My!

September 20, 2009

On Thursday morning I got an email from my husband. It was a picture of the Illinois Times cover taken with his iPhone after he realized that I just happened to be on it! I had an idea that I might get a mention because of a show I was scheduled to play this weekend, [...]

The Best of Listen & Learn

September 19, 2009

In honor of being named today’s “Blog of Note” by the awesome team at Blogger, I have compiled a list of the posts that I think best represent Listen & Learn Music. A Cliff Notes of sorts for first-time visitors, and a walk down memory lane for those of you who have supported this blog [...]

Today’s Blog of Note!

September 18, 2009

Wow, wow, wow…I don’t even know what else to say. Oh, “Thank you, Blogger!” might be a good place to start. I am so thrilled and honor to be featured today as the Blog of Note, which can be found on Blogger’s homepage, the Blogs of Note blog, and Blogger’s Twitter page. Listen & Learn [...]

Friday Fave: Inaugural Guest Post!

September 18, 2009

Since launching Listen & Learn Music a year ago, I have been extremely fortunate to connect with so many wonderful parents, music educators, and fellow music therapists. Twitter and Facebook have also been wonderful tools for networking within the music therapy community, and I’ve gone from feeling completely isolated as the only music therapist in [...]

Music is for Ourselves, Too

September 16, 2009

I know I’m not alone in the fact that I am constantly forgetting this, and then being reminded of it every so often. Those of us in the music therapy or education field, particularly those who work with children, are so focused on how music can help our students and clients that we often lose [...]

The Leaves on the Trees

September 15, 2009

As I’ve mentioned, oh, just a few hundred times or so before, summer is the #1 season in my book. But there’s just something about the change in temperature, the beautiful colors, and the smell outside as fall approaches that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. The crisp air is so refreshing, and everything [...]

Tone Block Time

September 14, 2009

What a weekend! Saturday evening was the Celebrity Chef dinner at The Hope Institute, and my students did an AMAZING job singing three songs in front of an audience of over 300 people. Not only did we receive a standing ovation after the second song, but the entire audience remained standing and clapped along with [...]

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