Who are Renee and Jeremy, you may be wondering? Well I don’t actually know them (which means we’re not actual BFFs), but I do know that I really love their family-friendly children’s music.
I was searching for new play-along tunes to use with my little Church Mice when I discovered this duo in the iTunes store. I listened to clips of almost every song on both their albums — It’s a Big World and C’mon — and couldn’t find a “just okay” one in the bunch. Renee & Jeremy describe their music being “for people of all ages” and I would have to say they are right on.
Renee & Jeremy are right up there on my list with Elizabeth Mitchell and Little Miss Ann, among others. Who’s on your list of “musical BFFs” at the moment?
The way I spend my morning almost always dictates how the rest of my day will go. This has been the case since college, but it has become even more true now that I work for myself and have the responsibility of structuring my day.
There’s no big secret to how I jump start my mornings, but there are a few key things I do that have really seemed to work as far as setting a positive tone for the day ahead. A typical morning for me:
Wake up early. I set my alarm for 5 am almost every day (and if you think that’s impressive…my husband is out the door by 4:30!). I love the feeling of having a few extra hours to accomplish things, starting with…
Work out. My early morning trips to the gym began on January 1, 2008, when I made a New Year’s resolution to get into great shape for my August wedding. It worked, and I’ve continued them ever since. I feel incredibly energized and ready to take on just about anything afterwards!
Coffee. The first thing I do when I get home is make myself a cup. A little caffeine goes a long way :)
Eat breakfast. My mom would always nag me to eat breakfast growing up, and I begrudgingly did. Now I know that I won’t get far without it, so I’m sure to eat something with my coffee while I check email and catch up on blogs.
Get some fresh air. My dad and I have been biking several mornings a week for the past month, and I am hooked. The gym is okay, but it doesn’t compare to being outside — especially on beautiful Indian summer mornings like today.
Dress for success. There are plenty of mornings that I could happily spend in my pajamas, lazing around my office. But on days where I take a shower first thing and put on a cute outfit, somehow I’m much more productive. The way I dress definitely affects my attitude!
Listen to music. I have a “get pumped” playlist that I listen to on my Spotify app while I get ready in the morning, and it really gets me going. This is probably one of the most important elements of my morning, actually.
Set some goals. I’m a list maker, as many of you know. Having a definitive list of goals in front of me at the beginning of the day gives me direction, and sets a course of action until my first student arrives at 3 pm.
I have to admit that I am guilty of skipping several of these steps this morning — although I did have coffee, breakfast, and an awesome bike ride. I’m off to listen to some tunes as I get ready for my day, and then attack the to-do list waiting for me on my desk. How do YOU jump start your morning?
In all my years of voice lessons — beginning at the age of 12, all the way through college — I don’t remember singing any “pop” songs. My repertoire was made up of foreign language arias, art songs, and show tunes. And while I’m a lot more lenient with my own students’ repertoire choices than my teachers were with mine, I like to maintain a little bit of tradition (no pun intended).
It doesn’t get much more traditional than Fiddler on the Roof, where the song “Far From the Home I Love” comes from. Emma did a beautiful job singing this song, and even used it as an audition piece for the musical in which she was recently cast.
Though many of my students would be perfectly content singing Taylor Swift and Greyson Chance songs exclusively, I love that they humor me by balancing them out with songs that won’t be on the radio anytime soon. The best is when they end up actually enjoying those songs, which is usually the case!
For someone who isn’t the biggest fan of Halloween, I sure have written enough songs to make it appear otherwise! This is one of my older tunes — it’s been around for a few years, but I still like to pull it out from time to time.
It seems to be pumpkin weekend here on the blog, and in real life as well. It’s only the second day of October, and already I’m seeing orange everywhere I go. I guess I might as well jump on the bandwagon and pull out my decorations. Oh, and I should also go pick out that pumpkin I mentioned in the video!
It’s been awhile since I wrote about one of my favorite apps, so that is exactly what I’m doing today. Tabs is an app for both iPhone and iPad by Ultimate-Guitar.com, which is my go-to source for chords to just about any song you could ever think of.
The app itself costs $2.99, but there is also a subscription fee you must pay before accessing songs. However, the fee is nominal — I paid $5.99 for 12 months of full access to over 300,000 songs.
This is one of the most frequently used apps on my iPad, because my students and music therapy clients are always requesting songs that I don’t know off the top of my head. The app allows me to search for any song or band/artist, transpose songs to any key, look up a chord if I’m not familiar with it, and even auto-scroll the song so that my hands don’t have to leave the guitar or piano.
My favorite features are playlists and favorites. I can save songs to separate playlists for each of my students as well as keep a running list of favorites for myself, which motivates me to sit down and practice when I have a bit of downtime. I have always loved the website, but now instead of printing out sheet after sheet, I can just grab the iPad and play.
Have you tried this app yet? If so, what are your thoughts — and how do you use it? And if not, I’d love to hear your preferred method for finding chords/tabs to songs and using them in sessions or lessons.
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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