Free Download: “Little Red Apples”
This is one of many counting songs I’ve written, which focuses on counting both up to 5 and down from 5. I created simple apple visual aides (using red construction paper and then laminating) which my students can then manipulate as we count.
Click here to download the mp3 and lyrics/chords.
P.S. If you want access to my entire collection of over 200 songs (mp3, lead sheet, and instrumental track), videos, tutorials, and visual aides, plus ALL new releases from Listen & Learn Music, consider joining me over at Listen & Learn Plus!
My Fave Holiday Music Memory (What’s Yours?)
This picture basically sums up my childhood (well, minus the ridiculous sweater and growing-out-the-bangs hairstyle) — me getting ready for yet another holiday performance, which my poor, tortured brother is forced to sit through. His face really says it all, don’t you think?
As much as he disliked them, those holiday performances were something I looked forward to every year. Christmas concerts, special church choir programs, elementary school tours with my high school show choir, Madrigal dinners while in grad school — I loved it all! And now that my students are telling me all about their own holiday musical performances, I’m getting a bit nostalgic.
I would have to say that my very favorite holiday music memory actually took place while wearing the outfit pictured above, as it was my “uniform” for 6th grade show choir performances that season. I had my very first solo ever — a few lines from the song “Let It Snow” — and boy, did I take them seriously! I’ve had much bigger and better solos since then, but will always remember my first fondly.
I’d love to hear about your own holiday music memories, whether it is one from your childhood or adulthood. Please share in the comments!
How I Stay Productive…Even When I’m Sick
This past weekend was a bit of a bummer for me. I started losing my voice in the middle of the week, and woke up on Saturday with a full-blown cold. Turns out I’m not the only one: when Michelle, Kimberly, and I got together via Skype to record this month’s episode of our podcast, we realized that all three of us were under the weather! It’s just that time of year.
Being sick meant I had to cancel most of my weekend plans, which included providing music activities at Breakfast with Santa, recording some new songs for my students, singing in the choir at church, and making a “Sunday Singalong” video (thank goodness for my special guest this week!).
But even though I was stuck at home with no voice, I still managed to make the most of my weekend while getting the rest I needed to start feeling better. Here are the ways in which I stayed productive…and none of them involved leaving my couch!
- Learn new music. I’ve got some holiday gigs coming up, so I spent some time going through my Christmas songbooks and working on a few tunes. By working, I mean listening to recordings of them, and then playing them either on the guitar or piano (okay, so this does involve leaving the couch). It was hard to resist singing along, but the sound of my voice was so pitiful that even I couldn’t stand to hear it, let alone my husband in the next room :)
- Make lead sheets. I fell a little behind on making lead sheets both for performances and music therapy work, so I took this down time as an opportunity to catch up. Michelle Erfurt recently shared some excellent tips for making lead sheets here.
- Go shopping. And by this, I mean online shopping! I was able to buy almost all of my holiday gifts for friends, family and students over the weekend without stepping foot outside of my home. No traffic, no lines, no sales tax, and (in most cases) free shipping? It doesn’t get much better than that.
- Clean out the ol’ email inbox. All those unanswered emails that piled up throughout the week have now been replied to, and that’s a great feeling. I may have been a little cross-eyed last night from all those hours staring at the computer screen, but they were worth it.
- Tackle boring administrative tasks. There are many such items to do both on my computer and in my office that don’t require much thinking at all. I was suffering a bit from “sick brain” this weekend, so even when my head wasn’t so clear, I was able to cross a lot of these items off my list.
- Above all else, REST! None of the things I did over the weekend were overexerting, but I made sure not to go overboard. I took plenty of naps, drank hot tea with honey and lemon, and used my voice as little as possible. Now here I am on Monday morning, feeling one hundred times better and ready to take on a brand new week.
Do you try to stay productive when you’re sick, or do you prefer to hibernate both physically and mentally? (There are most definitely times that I have done the latter.) Let’s raise our cups of tea and toast to a (hopefully) healthy holiday season!
Sunday Singalong: Six White Boomers
I am pleased to welcome another special guest to the “Sunday Singalong” series: Michelle Erfurt! Michelle contacted me early Saturday morning, asking if she could share one of her favorite Christmas tunes here at Listen & Learn. And since I’m battling a particularly nasty cold and laryngitis, I was more than happy to oblige.
And what a fun song! I’d never heard it before, so now thanks to Michelle, I have another one to add to my ever-growing list. I’m looking forward to sharing some holiday songs myself in the coming weeks. Now if only my voice would return…then I’ll be all set to crank out a few videos before Christmas day (which, FYI, is exactly 3 weeks from now).
Friday Fave: Breakfast With Santa
One of my favorite December traditions is providing music activities for children at my church’s “Breakfast With Santa” event. This year’s breakfast is happening tomorrow, and it will be my 4th time putting on those reindeer antlers and making music with lots of excited children (while their parents take lots of pictures).
Reindeer have been the theme of the music room since year one, mostly because “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is a guaranteed holiday hit with children and I have written quite a few reindeer tunes, myself. I’ve changed my approach through the years, though; here’s my 2009 version, and my variation on a theme for 2010.
I’m looking forward to Breakfast with Santa because it’s always a super cheerful, no-pressure, chaotic-in-a-good-way morning. What better way to truly kick off the holiday season? I’d love to hear about your favorite December traditions and events…feel free to share them in the comments!
Making Musical Gifts with Students
Now that Thanksgiving is over, I know what I’ll be hearing about from my students throughout the next couple of weeks: the next major holiday! Whether they celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, giving and receiving gifts is an important topic for almost all of them.
I do like to give my students a small gift before the holiday break, but I’ll save that for another post. Today I’m going to tell you about the gifts I’ve helped my students make to give to their families. I know you’ll be shocked to hear that they all involve music.
- CD containing recordings of current repertoire. This is the least labor-intensive gift, because my students (primarily those who take voice lessons) are already recording their current songs, anyway. I normally save those recordings to the students’ flash drives, but it’s super simple to create a playlist of them in iTunes and burn it to a CD. If the student is planning to give it as a gift, I’ll create a customized CD label using DiscLabel — I highly recommend this downloadable software for Mac users; for PC, I like Memorex’s exPressit Label Design Studio.
- Holiday songs or album. Let me qualify this by pointing out that as much as I love holiday music, not all of my students do; working on holiday songs is always optional. I do have many who choose to record 1-2 such songs for their families. Learning, practicing and recording an entire album (for my students, that’s 5-8 songs) of holiday songs is a huge undertaking, so only a few students have gone this route. They sure are proud of their hard work once that final product is in hand, and can’t wait to present it to their families.
- Video recording. For some of my students, especially those who receive music therapy, a video is the better option. Many of them already love to make and watch videos of themselves, so this is a fun way to let their families see their progress and new skills. (Of course, I always make sure to have full written permission before making such videos.) As far as sharing those videos go, there are two different routes I take. One is to save the video to a USB flash drive, and the other is to upload it to my Vimeo Plus account, where only those with the link can view it.
I have over 50 students, and not all of them are interested in creating musical gifts for their families. But for those who are, doing so is a fun and productive way to spend our December lessons. Do you help your students create gifts? And if so, please share the details!
Cyber Monday Music Sale!
While I’m not a fan of Black Friday, I must admit that I love Cyber Monday (its online counterpart). You’ve no doubt seen sales and deals popping up all over the internet, and Listen & Learn Music is no exception.
Starting now through Friday, all of my digital downloads are 50% off. That includes individual songs and entire albums. All you have to do is enter the code yay50 at checkout (you can pay using a credit card or PayPal).
These are only just a few of the albums up for grabs — there are almost 40 to choose from. I’ve written songs on just about every topic, so now is the time to stock up. Remember, the code is yay50 and here’s the link. Happy shopping!
Sunday Singalong: A She & Him Cover
This was a super busy week for me! Between getting back on track after my trip to Atlanta, the holiday, and two big performances, I barely had time to breathe — let alone record a “Sunday Singalong” video :(
But as I was downloading some video from last night’s gig, I had an idea: since I have mentioned the band She & Him several times here on the blog (and turned several readers into fans!), why not post a cover of one of their songs as today’s video? So that is exactly what I’m doing:
Call me lazy, but it’s better than no video at all…right? :) Next week I’ll go all out with more traditional Listen & Learn fare, and that’s a promise!
Friday Fave: Not-So-Black Friday
Last year, my friend Katie and I ventured out at 4 a.m. on the day after Thanksgiving to participate in the absolute chaos that is Black Friday. I do have to admit that we had fun, and I did score some great deals on items for my studio, but I am not sad to have missed out this year.
Instead, I slept in and then went to the Festival of Trees with my dad. This afternoon I’m going to eat some leftovers, work on a song with my mom, and maybe even start getting out the Christmas decorations (we’re putting up the tree tomorrow).
My poor husband has been outside stringing up lights all day, which might be even worse than fighting the Black Friday crowds. What about you? Did you brave the mania and take advantage of the sales?
So Much To Be Thankful For
Last night as I stood in front of a huge crowd of family, friends and strangers, doing one of the things I love most — singing and playing my heart out — I was reminded of just how much I have to be thankful for.
Not everyone is lucky enough to do what they love (for me, music) on a daily basis in various capacities. The fact that I get to share it with so many people, whether on a professional or personal basis, just makes life that much sweeter.
Reading through my past Thanksgiving blog posts (2008, 2009, and 2010) this morning, it’s nice to see that the things I was thankful for 3 years ago are still constants in my life now. My family, beautiful home, career, and students bring me joy and fulfillment every single day.
I’m celebrating all of the blessings in my life today with both my family and my husband Zach’s family (we have become pros at eating multiple holiday meals, which I’m not sure is a good thing!). Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
iTunes Match: Music in the Cloud
As I type this blog post, iTunes is currently uploading my music library into the cloud. Actually, it’s uploading the songs that aren’t available in the iTunes store — about half of my 8,741 song collection.
With that much music in my library, it’s always been a struggle to decide which songs to sync with my devices (iPod, iPhone, and iPad) and which ones to leave off. Inevitably, the song or album I’m looking for on a given day hasn’t been synced, so I can’t listen to it unless I’m at my computer.
That’s why I was so excited for the launch of iTunes Match, which makes my entire song collection available across all of my devices. For $24.99 a year, it’s a pretty sweet deal.
So now I’m utilizing two paid music services: iTunes Match and Spotify (for which I’m paying $10 a month). Spotify allows me hear songs I don’t already own, which comes in handy during lessons and music therapy sessions or just listening for pleasure. I can access them on my computer as well as on my iOS devices, whether I’m online or not. iTunes Match lets me do the same, only with the songs I already own. And since they’re stored in the cloud, I now have more space available on my devices.
I’ve also been reading about Google Music lately, which is similar to iTunes match except for the fact that it’s free. Have you tried any of these services?