Last spring, I chronicled the renovation of my new studio right here at Listen & Learn. I asked readers for decorating and organizing suggestions, and was thrilled to receive a boatload of ideas from the wonderful Susan Seale, who has a music and movement education studio of her own.
The pictures Susan sent me of her studio sparked a fun idea: why not showcase the places where my readers create, teach, and facilitate musical experiences? So this is the inaugural edition of a new series called “My Musical Space” — beginning with Susan’s beautiful studio. (Click the pictures to view larger versions.) Let’s start with the entrance and waiting room:
“These are photos of the hallway, looking into the office with it’s busy-ness and the organized but extremely busy storage beside the office (and thankfully out of view of my clients…when I have the curtain drawn).”
“I have a ton of equipment and movement props that are organized into cupboards made for me:) Storage for ukuleles and orff instrumentarium, puppets, percussion, rainsticks..super long ones!”
“The floors are fun here…specially designed pattern in the music room to facilitate movement with the very young. Two pianos. I don’t know if you can see in the photos, but I have a tree net scrunched up hanging on the wall beside the ball bag. I hang the net across the opening to the piano area and store big instruments like the cello and such behind the net during my baby classes…to keep babies and instruments safe.”
Thank you so much, Susan, for giving us an inside look at your amazing musical space! You can learn more about Susan, her studio, and all her brilliant ideas by visiting her blog, Make Me Musical.
Readers: if you’d like to submit pictures and captions of YOUR musical space for an upcoming feature, please email them to me. Keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be a studio; maybe your musical space is your car, or a corner of your living room, or the closet-sized office where you work (I used to have one of those!). Whatever it may be, I’d love for you to share with us.
I’m always learning new music, whether it’s for a music therapy session, voice student, performance or gig. Many times I might have the words or lead sheet with chords in front of me, but not necessarily the melody line — which means I need to have it down pretty well.
My go-to method for learning new tunes is to either download the song or record it (if I wrote the song myself) and then make a playlist that goes everywhere with me. Spotify has come in very handy for this purpose, since I have the app downloaded on my laptop, iPad, and iPhone. I listen to the songs in my car, while I get ready for my day, at the gym, or while I’m doing mindless tasks at the computer.
This method works well enough, since it allows me to multitask. But I always wonder if there is a better way…now more than ever, because I have a gig coming up in less than a month that requires me to learn about two hours’ worth of new music!
So I’m curious: how do YOU go about not only learning new melodies, but getting them to stick? Please share your own method in the comments!
What better way to start the week than with a free download? Better yet, a free download from one of my favorite children’s musicians? If you haven’t already, go grab Justin Roberts’ Snack Pack EP from Amazon.
Big shout-out to my friend Lisa Casciola, who not only gave me the heads up about this free download, but also introduced me to Justin Roberts in the first place. She gave me a copy of his Yellow Bus album way back during my internship, and I still play songs from it for my students to this day.
Have you downloaded any other great music for kids lately? I mean, of course, besides any song or album from the Listen & Learn collection ;)
On September 11, 2001, I was getting ready for my first class of the day when I heard the news on the Today Show, just as it was happening. I watched as the second plane hit the Word Trade Center, and then I went to class. The rest of that day is a blur; all I remember is sitting in the basement of the student center with what seemed like the entire student body, watching hours of news footage and feeling completely numb. I was a college freshman, one thousand miles from home.
You’ll probably read and hear dozens of stories like this today — I already have, just scrolling through my Facebook news feed. Ten years may have passed, but I think for all of us, the tragedy of 9/11 is still as fresh and raw as if it happened just yesterday.
Today is about remembering those who died, those who risked their lives to save others, and those who have fought to protect us. Today is about calling your parents, hugging your child, and being thankful for every single one of life’s blessings.
Today is the first completely and utterly BLUE day we’ve seen in months. When I say blue, I don’t mean blue skies; I mean blue as in clouds and pouring rain. A real bummer of a day, truth be told.
So why in the world is this the topic of today’s Friday Fave? Well for one, we really needed the rain. And two, this blue day gives me the perfect opportunity to participate in Music Sparks’ Blue Challenge!
I’m always putting together playlists to suit or shape my mood (for example, here are 10 songs that just make me feel good), so why not make one for a blue day like today? I have a long list of projects to work on before my first student arrives this afternoon, so here are the tunes that will serve as my soundtrack:
It’s funny, but as I listened to these songs, I actually started to feel less and less blue. Surprising, considering every one of these songs has either the word “blue” or “rain” in the title! What songs are on your “blue day” playlist?
Fellow bloggers: you should participate in the “Blue Challenge” over at Music Sparks, too. You still have two days to do so! A big thanks to JoAnn Jordan and Laura Crum for coming up with such a fun idea.
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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