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!
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?
I spend most of my time writing children’s songs, providing music therapy to children, and teaching children how to sing and play instruments. Early on in my career, I realized that I was going to need a non-children-related outlet to keep me balanced, which is why I started writing songs and playing gigs for an older crowd.
I’ve kept that up over the last few years in different capacities — first as a solo act, and eventually branching out to perform with other musicians. This summer I met Matt Combs, and we quickly realized that our musical taste and style meshed well, as did our songwriting.
We’ve been hard at work for the past couple of months, writing music and preparing for our first gig in October. This week we launched our Facebook page, where we posted a demo album which includes two originals and some of our favorite covers.
I know most of you come here for content related to music therapy, music education, and children’s music, but I like to stray from the beaten path every once in a while and write about what else is going on in my life. If you want to keep up with my new pursuit, you can “like” our page below:
I’m always curious to hear about my colleagues’ endeavors outside of their professions. What do you do outside of work for fun and to stay balanced? Feel free to share links to your “for fun” blog, project, Facebook page, etc.
Just as the World Series started to heat up, I received this blog comment from Rene, a member of Listen & Learn Plus! and teacher extraordinaire:
Will you still be my music therapist when the Rangers beat the Cards in the World Series? How about a friendly “deal.” If the Rangers win, you sing “The Claw” on your Sunday Sing Along; if the Cards win you sing….do the Cardinals have a song? Ok, better yet…if the Rangers win you sing “The Texas Pledge Song” and if the Cardinals win AND if they don’t have a song…you write one and sing it? Have a super great day from your biggest fan in Texas.
I woke up on Saturday morning, still giddy from the Cardinals’ win and having all but forgotten about our little deal. And then I saw yet another comment from Rene:
Bravo, Cardinals and Cardinal fans. Though I am sad my Texas Rangers lost, the silver lining is we get to hear Rachel’s Cardinal song! Woo hoo.
Of course, she hadn’t forgotten! I wasn’t off the hook…so I whipped up “The St. Louis Swingers” and actually was pretty happy with the result. Thanks, Rene, for giving me such a fun topic to write about!
And congratulations on your team’s showing in the World Series; although they didn’t win, they played very well and gave the Cards a good run for their money. As my husband (an extremely avid Cubs fan) is used to saying, “there’s always next year”.
I can’t take any credit for discovering this video — I first saw it on Facebook, where it was shared earlier this week by my music therapist friends Lisa, Michelle, and Becky (among others, I’m sure).
I’m not sure about you, but I knew every one of those songs from the get-go. Just goes to prove that a song doesn’t have to have amazingly powerful lyrics to make it memorable or enjoyable.
Then again, I already knew that…most of the songs I write have lyrics meant for children under the age of 10, yet that doesn’t stop them from getting stuck in my head for days on end!
My favorite song featuring lyrics that aren’t lyrics would have to be Third Eye Blind’s “Semi-Charmed Life” (at the 2:00 mark in the video), because it had sentimental value back in high school :) What’s yours?
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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