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!
Countdown to Thanksgiving
November is one of my very favorite months as far as music therapy goes, because I have all sorts of fun Thanksgiving-related songs to use with my students. And as excited as I am about the holiday, I’m a little bummed that it is here so soon — because that means I’ll have to stop singing about it.
This month has honestly been a whirlwind, between my trip to Minnesota, preparing for conference, and spending the last 5 days in Atlanta (more on that soon). I feel like I barely had an opportunity to do the Turkey Dinner Dance or break out my favorite Thanksgiving tune of all: The Ten Days of Thanksgiving.
I only have two days with students this week before the holiday break, so I’ll be getting as much use out of it as possible in between today and tomorrow. By Thursday I’ll be more than ready for turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and all the yummy foods I’ve been singing about! Yum. What songs and activities are you using in the last few days before Thanksgiving?
Sunday Singalong: The Sneezy Scarecrow
There are lots of reasons I love attending the national music therapy conference, but today I’m adding a new one to the list: the opportunity to record my first-ever guest edition of Sunday Singalong!
Actually, it’s kind of funny that I had to come all the way to Atlanta to see Meryl Brown, who lives an hour north of me in Bloomington, Illinois. Meryl and I were in the graduate program at Illinois State University at the same time, and have since kept in touch via our state association and social media. She runs a successful private practice, Developing Melodies, and always has excellent professional advice to share with me.
When she told me about her scarecrow song on the first night of conference, I immediately asked her if she would mind sharing it in a video. She agreed, and Andrew Littlefield volunteered his guitar for her use. I must say, us music therapists are excellent team players!
Be sure to check out Meryl’s website and follow her on Twitter. I happen to know that she has many more fun songs like this one up her sleeve, and you never know…she just might be making another guest appearance here in the future.
Up, Up and Away!
As I type this, I’m sitting in the airport waiting to board my plane to Atlanta. #AMTA11, baby! (That’s the American Music Therapy Association’s national conference, for those of you non-music therapists).
I already wrote about the things I’ll be doing while in Atlanta, so I thought today I’d fill you in on how I pass the time while up in the air. Isn’t that an exciting blog topic!? ;)
- Candy is a must. I’m usually a pretty healthy eater, so I get my candy fix while traveling. Today I have a package of sour jelly bellies in my purse. Yum!
- Good tunes. I just bought She & Him’s “Volume 1” and “Volume 2” albums and have them loaded on my iPhone to listen to during my flight.
- Reading materials. I don’t have much time to read for fun, so I always stock up on magazines and bring whatever book I’m reading on the plane.
- Something to work on. For this particular flight, my project will be putting together my conference schedule (better late than never, right?).
And that’s really it. I always try to sleep on planes but rarely ever succeed. I’m hoping to catch a quick nap this time, especially, because a busy week lies ahead. Oops, gotta pack up…it’s almost time to board!
Is It Too Soon for Holiday Music?
No, not at all? Okay, great…glad we got that settled! At least, that’s my opinion. I consider November 1st to be the day on which I can officially start listening to holiday music without getting funny looks from my husband. Now that we’ve just about reached the middle of the month, my Christmas playlists are in heavy rotation.
Last year I wrote about my 8 favorite Christmas albums, and this year I’ve added a few more to the mix. My current favorite is one that just came out last month: A Very She & Him Christmas (I pre-ordered it on iTunes for $9.99, but you can get it on Amazon for $5 by following that link). You’ve probably heard of the actress Zooey Deschanel, who makes up one half of this duo. The other half is M. Ward, and together they have this great 60’s throwback sound that I really dig.
The sweet sounds of holiday music are already filling my studio, too. Just last Friday, one of my students recorded “O Little Town of Bethlehem” for a Christmas album we’re putting together as a gift to his parents. And I just picked up some new holiday piano books, which for some reason always motivate my students to practice much more frequently than their regular repertoire.
But I’m not skipping over Thanksgiving by any means — I’ll stick with turkey day tunes in music therapy sessions until December. The Ten Days of Thanksgiving is the perfect precursor to all the Christmas songs that I’ll be breaking out in a few short weeks.
What is your take on the official start of the holiday (listening) season? My husband just popped in and added his two cents: “No Christmas music until Thanksgiving!” Do you agree with him?
Sunday Singalong: Ten Little Turkeys
The other day while singing this song during a music therapy session, I completely blanked out when it came to singing about that 7th little turkey…oops! Isn’t it funny how the brain can fail you like that, even after singing a song year after year? Luckily I remembered that he “hid with the chicks” while recording the video.
When I sing this with my students, I like to pause before the number at the end of each verse and let them fill it in if they can. Another option is to have visual number cards available for pointing and counting down. Either way, “Ten Little Turkeys” is a November staple!
Friday Fave: Workflowy
I’ve lost track of how many times I have mentioned here on the blog that I’m a list-maker. I’ve also lost track of how many lists I have running on any given day — on a notepad in my office, in the “Reminders” app of my phone, a Pages document on my computer, and now, in the cloud.
I discovered today’s “Friday Fave” while catching up on my Google Reader one day last month. John Jantsch writes the blog Duct Tape Marketing (and also wrote the book The Referral Engine, which I loved and learned a lot from), so I have him to thank for this new resource.
Workflowy is hard to describe, because calling it a list-making tool would be selling it short. The interface couldn’t be simpler: it’s just a blank page where you can add items, and then add bullet points to those items, and bullet points to those items, and then notes to those items. My Workflowy account contains an outline of all of my to-do’s in every area of my life, broken down into the smallest detail.
When I sat down earlier this week to outline my presentation for the national music therapy conference (yes, this is happening next week, and yes, I am completely guilty of procrastination), I decided to go the Workflowy route. You can see a portion of my outline above. The entire outline is nested within the rest of my Workflowy space, and I can minimize and maximize it as needed. This tool is too cool!
You know what else is cool about Workflowy? It’s totally free. It’s also accessible anywhere. I can pull it up on my computer, iPhone, or iPad — there’s no dedicated app; just type the address in Safari, sign in, and there are my lists.
I’m going to stop trying to explain and just let you go check it out for yourself. Have you tried Workflowy, or do you have another favorite organizational tool?
Student Spotlight: Demi Lovato’s “Skyscraper”
Oh, didn’t I tell you that it is teen pop sensation week here at Listen & Learn? :) That wasn’t my intention, but I think featuring Justin Bieber and Demi Lovato within the same week qualifies as such.
Carrie has been working on this song in voice/guitar lessons for the last couple of months, and we finally got around to recording it last night. This is her singing AND playing the guitar:
Carrie has been taking lessons with me for over two years now, and we’ve recorded quite a few songs in that time. We were talking last night about how much fun it would be to go back and listen to those older recordings, and compare them to how she sounds now.
That’s exactly why I’m so insistent about recording my students’ work — there’s no better way to gauge their progress (not to mention, make parents and grandparents extremely happy!).
These Are Our Role Models…Who Are Yours?
I love the second week of every month, because that’s when we post a new episode of the Music Therapy Round Table podcast. This month, Kimberly, Michelle and I discuss our role models, both on a personal and professional level. As always, we bring three different perspectives to the table.
After we recorded this particular episode, I got to thinking about all of the role models whom I didn’t mention (you’ll have to listen to find out who I did mention). Here are just a few more people who I look up to both personally and professionally:
- Ingrid Michaelson (Singer/songwriter with lots of talent and savvy.)
- Tony Hsieh (Founder/CEO of Zappos. Read this book and you’ll understand why.)
- Zach Rambach (A.K.A. my husband, for his amazing work ethic.)
- All of my rock star music therapy colleagues.
I could keep going, but I think I’ll stop there and ask YOU the question: who are your role models? Feel free to comment on this post, or go have a listen to the podcast episode and let us know over there.
What Would Justin Bieber Do?
As much as I hate to admit it, these words actually came out of my mouth recently. But I have a good reason, I promise. Hear me out, okay?
I have a middle school student who has been taking piano and voice lessons from me for over two years now. This particular student is very sweet and always tries his best, but has told me on numerous occasions that honestly, he just isn’t that into playing the piano or singing.
However, his tune had changed when he came for his lesson last week. He looked at me very seriously and said:
“You know, Miss Rachel, I’ve been thinking. I really want to get more into singing, because I think I could be really good. You know, like Justin Bieber.”
I’ve never been struck by Bieber Fever, nor really seen the appeal at all, but I’m all for my students getting their inspiration anywhere they can find it. So I went with it. After sharing my excitement with my student over his new-found passion for singing, we got down to business.
One of the things we’ve been working on during his voice lessons is projection. I’m always searching for ways to help him turn up his volume, and today I knew just what to say. You guessed it:
What would Justin Bieber do?
My student answered that Justin Bieber would probably sing louder, and with more confidence. That he would smile, relax, and take bigger breaths from his diaphragm. Most of the directions I’ve been giving him for the past two years came tumbling out of his mouth, all because of this simple question.
He was a different singer for the rest of that lesson, and I’m hoping the trend continues. Thank you, Justin Bieber — not for your bubble gum pop songs, but for inspiring my student and countless other kids, I’m sure.
(Yes, I really did just thank Justin Bieber in a blog post. What is the world coming to?!)
Rainy Days and Mondays
Today sure is one of them…at least, where I live. But contrary to the lyrics of the Carpenters’ song bearing that same title, they don’t always get me down. In fact, sometimes they motivate me to buckle down and get to work. The sound of the rain, mixed in with my typing, makes for a pretty good soundtrack!
Another song on that soundtrack is my go-to “Rainy Day” tune, which I use with my students when we sing about the weather. I’ve been humming it ever since venturing out into the rain this morning, and thought I’d pass it along to you :)
(If you haven’t already, you can join the Listen & Learn newsletter and get the entire Weather album for free.)
After a weekend away, I have plenty to do to keep me busy on this rainy Monday. Aside from laundry and housecleaning, I have emails to return, videos to make, and presentations to prepare. Better get back to work!