Today I want to share one of my most frequently used web-based resources of all time: RhymeZone. I discovered this website shortly after I started writing my own music therapy songs, and still use it every single time I write a new song.
There are probably plenty of rhyming tools out there, but I like this one for its simplicity. All you do is type a word into the box and hit the “search” button — then all of the rhyming words pop up, organized by number of syllables. Not only can you search for perfect rhymes, but other searches available are near rhymes, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and more.
I just discovered that RhymeZone now has an app available for $2.99, which might come in handy for songwriting on the go. But since I write all of my songs on my Macbook, I’ll stick with the web version. When I write a song, I keep RhymeZone open in my browser from start to finish and probably use it at least 20 times before the lyrics are finished.
Have you used this site, or do you have another favorite rhyming tool? I’m always looking for new songwriting resources…so if you have ’em, send ’em my way!
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.
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 our moms not only on Mother’s Day, but every single day of the year. I know I do!
I’m lucky to have a pretty darn amazing mom. She’s been such a wonderful role model for me throughout my life, and I want to be juuuust like her when I grow up :) Somehow between working full time, earning her doctoral degree, and the 9,346 other things she has going on, my mom manages to support all of my endeavors AND attend each and every one of my performances (even the late-night ones!).
Moms make the world go ’round, indeed. How are you helping your kiddos celebrate their moms on Mother’s Day? And if you’re a mom yourself, yay for you and keep on being awesome!
Welcome! I’m Rachel Rambach, board-certified music therapist and creator of Listen & Learn Music — educational songs and musical materials for children. I love sharing my work with you, along with my behind-the-scenes creative process, adventures in business ownership, and life as a mom of two.
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