Friday Fave: Listen & Learn Turns 2!

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Listen & Learn's 2nd BirthdayThey grow up so fast, don’t they? :) This month has been so incredibly busy that I missed Listen & Learn’s actual birthday (September 4, to be exact) but I figured it’s never too late to celebrate!  2 years and 485 posts is worth a little celebration, don’t you think?

My little website has been through a lot over the past 24 months.  It started as a wee blogspot blog, and then became a BIG blogspot blog when it was featured as a “Blog of Note” by Blogger last September.  But it outgrew its home this summer, and thus found a new one as a self-hosted WordPress site.  Now it’s bigger and better than ever, and it’s not done growing yet!

Listen & Learn has allowed me so many great opportunities, including having a songbook published, recording a studio album, and meeting hundreds of wonderful readers (both online and in the real world).  I have so many more plans for L&L — it feels like I’ve just gotten started!

I continue to be inspired by those of you who read, comment, and benefit from Listen & Learn, so I hope you’ll keep doing all of those things.  I can’t wait to share what I have up my sleeve in the coming weeks, months, and years.  Thank you so much for your support, and for helping me celebrate!

Is This Music Therapy Thing For Real?

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Music Therapy at HopeAs I looked at the faces of my colleagues during my first week on the job, I could tell they were all silently asking this question. But really, I couldn’t blame them. Here I was, this 23-year-old kid fresh out of grad school, in my first “real” job, doing something no one around me had ever heard of.  I put on a brave face, but I was scared.

Scared that I wouldn’t be taken seriously (I wasn’t, at first).  Scared that I wouldn’t know what I was doing (I didn’t, at first).  Scared that this place would be too much for me (it was, at first).  But time passed.  As I got more comfortable, I became a better therapist; as I became a better therapist, my colleagues began to understand — and even enjoy — this music therapy thing.  They saw the positive effects it had on our students, which was all that really mattered.

There are still lots of people who don’t “get” music therapy, who question its validity.  I’m lucky to have been able to educate so many people simply by doing my job, but my work is not done yet.  (Check out Kimberly Sena Moore’s video What is Music Therapy? for more on this topic, as well as a recent podcast episode I co-hosted where we explore this question in depth.)

Friday Fave: Letting Kids Shine

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singing starFor the last three years, a group of my students have performed at The Hope Institute’s annual Celebrity Chef event.  Tomorrow is the big night — after only two weeks of rehearsal, those kids will get up in front of 300 people and sing their hearts out.

No easy feat, right? I was a nervous wreck that first year, not knowing how my students would react to such a huge crowd (let alone singing into microphones with spotlights shining on them).  But as it turns out, I was the only one who was nervous — the students certainly weren’t!

I have learned that if you give kids the chance to shine, they will take full advantage of that opportunity (in a good way).  That was apparent during the Celebrity Chef performances, when my piano students competed in Festival, each time I invite a child to sing a “solo” during a music class or therapy group, and countless others.  Those feelings of inhibition and self-consciousness we feel as adults?  Yea, most kids are lucky enough not to have them.

There’s no better feeling than the rush of performing for a captive audience, except maybe the applause and words of praise that follow.  My students have experienced that before, and are looking forward to doing it once again tomorrow night.  This time I’m keeping my nerves at bay…I can’t wait to watch them shine.

Bonus Onus: Free Sheet Music + Visual Aide

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Sun and Music NotesThe first Christmas that my husband and I celebrated together, his family introduced me to a new concept. It was the “Bonus Onus” — an extra gift above and beyond what we had already received. I have grown to love that Rambach family tradition (I mean, who wouldn’t?) and today I’m going to give one to you!

You’ve probably noticed that if you sign up for my email newsletter, you get my “Weather” album completely free as a welcome gift. Those are the same weather songs I use with my students every day in the classroom and during music therapy, but there is another weather song that isn’t on that album.

“What Else Do I Need?” is a song that lists the extra things we need to wear in certain kinds of weather, like when it’s sunny, chilly, raining, or cold.  I sing this right after My Clothes & Shoes (another daily fixture).  I have a laminated visual aide for each type of weather which displays a picture illustrating the weather, the actual word, and the extra items of clothing or protection needed for that type of weather.

So my bonus onus to you is this: both the mp3 of “What Else Do I Need?” along with a pdf containing the sheet music & visual aides I use to go with it.  The downloads will begin as soon as you click the links.

Free Download: Audio MP3 and Sheet Music + Visual Aide

I hope you enjoy and get as much use out of this song as I do!  If so, you might think about joining Listen & Learn Plus, where I share downloads such as these (along with more cool stuff) every week.

“Wimoweh” {Animal Puppet Edition}

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Alligator Puppet

Mr. Alligator here is part of a set of animal puppets I received as a Christmas present a few years ago. (I owe my family members big time for helping me grow my music therapy instrument and prop collection when I first started my career!)  They are quite an eclectic bunch (the puppets, not my family members) and don’t have a whole lot in common, so I’ve struggled in the past with coming up for good uses with them.

Animal Puppets

Here they are in their little drawer: a lamb, parrot, rabbit, bear, mouse, and alligator.   See what I mean when I said eclectic?  They all live in different environments, so I couldn’t do a “forest” or “jungle” song…or could I?

That’s when I got the idea to combine all of those different environments into 1 song, using one of my personal favorites as a template.  Here’s my animal puppet version of “In the Jungle” — which can easily be adapted to include any puppets or stuffed animals you have lying around!

In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The parrot sings tonight,
In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The parrot sings tonight.

In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The parrot sings tonight,
In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The parrot sings tonight.

In the swamp, the mighty swamp
The alligator sings tonight,
In the swamp, the mighty swamp
The alligator sings tonight.

In the forest, the might forest
The bear sings tonight,
In the forest, the might forest
The bear sings tonight.

In the farm, the mighty farm
The lamb sings tonight,
In the farm, the mighty farm
The lamb sings tonight.

In the backyard, the mighty backyard
The rabbit sings tonight,
In the backyard, the mighty backyard
The rabbit sings tonight.

In the house, the mighty house
The cat sings tonight,
In the house, the mighty house
The cat sings tonight.

My students get such a kick out of making their puppet “sing” when it’s his or her turn during the song…but probably not as the kick my pup Sadie got out of Mr. Bear:

Sadie and the Bear

I can get away with a gratuitous picture of my dog because this post is animal-related, right? Ha! I’m curious: how do you get musical with puppets and animals? I’m looking for more ways to incorporate them, just because they are always such a hit. Do share!