by Rachel | Uncategorized
Can I tell how you excited I am about tonight? The Third Floor Music Festival is an event being put on by our local arts center here in Springfield, and I’m thrilled to be included in the lineup.
10 of Springfield’s most talented musical acts will be performing at the festival, and frankly, I’m still a little stunned (in a good way) that Rachel & Matt is one of them. After all, Matt and I have only been playing together for a little over 8 months, and we don’t have the name recognition the other acts do just yet. But we’re working on it, and hopefully playing in the festival tonight will help with that!
Each act plays for 30 minutes, with the exception of the headlining band, who will play for 90 minutes. Matt and I have chosen 8 of our original songs to showcase during our set, and have been practicing every night this week to get them down solid. 3 of those songs are less than a month old and have not yet been performed live.
For those of you Springfield friends reading this, we’ll take the stage at around 7:15 pm and would LOVE to see you there! The buzz has been going strong and we’re hoping for a huge turnout. It’s going to be a fun night…doesn’t get much better than 7 solid hours of live music performed by local musicians!
by Rachel | Uncategorized
Yesterday during Sergei’s piano lesson, we were working on C chords. Forming chords is a new concept to him, and when he was having trouble getting his 2nd and 4th fingers to stay out of the way, I introduced him to the pencil trick.
I’m not sure where I came up with this idea, but I’m positive that there are others out there who use it as well. As silly as it looks, the “pencil trick” really does help my students get the hang of playing chords.
Sergei was more than happy to serve as my hand model for the photo above, though just a few moments after I snapped the picture, he was ready to put the pencils down and play his C chords without them. Success!
Do you have any funny-yet-helpful little tricks like this that come in handy with your students? My motto when it comes to teaching is whatever works — no matter how seemingly ridiculous or silly. Long live the pencil trick in my studio ;)
by Rachel | Uncategorized
The gang is back together again! Last summer we had our first-ever “Meeting of the Minds” in Florida, and this year we’re on my home turf in Springfield, Illinois.
The Music Therapy Round Table is a podcast hosted by myself, Michelle Erfurt, and Kimberly Sena Moore. We’ve been working together from our respective states (Illinois, Florida, and Missouri) for the past two and a half years, and after launching Music Therapy Pro last August, we’re putting our heads together for the next wave of brainstorming and project planning.
While we will be spending most of the weekend getting some serious work done, we always factor in some “fun” time, too. This afternoon we have plans to hit up the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, followed by dinner at one of my favorite downtown restaurants.
And now I better get back to work…hope your weekend is as productive and enjoyable as mine promises to be!
by Rachel | Uncategorized
Don’t go wishing me a happy birthday just yet, because the big day isn’t actually until Tuesday. But who doesn’t love an extended celebration…especially when it’s a milestone year? No, I’m not turning 30 quite yet, but this is the beginning of the LAST year in my 20s, which is a pretty big deal!
My husband and I celebrated my 29th birthday last night with an amazing dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, and my family and friends are getting together tonight for what has been dubbed Rachel’s “I’m Not 30 Yet!” Birthday Party. I’ll be spending my actual birthday in Austin, Texas — a fun little mother/daughter trip courtesy of my awesome mom.
28 has been a pretty amazing year, between launching my full-time biz, taking a few wonderful vacations, and seeing my family grow (I got a new niece earlier this week!). But I have a feeling that 29 might be even bigger and better, both professionally and personally.
Thanks for stopping by and taking part in my birthday festivities! I hope your weekend is filled with lots of great things, too!
by Rachel | Uncategorized
Today I want to share one of my most frequently used web-based resources of all time: RhymeZone. I discovered this website shortly after I started writing my own music therapy songs, and still use it every single time I write a new song.
There are probably plenty of rhyming tools out there, but I like this one for its simplicity. All you do is type a word into the box and hit the “search” button — then all of the rhyming words pop up, organized by number of syllables. Not only can you search for perfect rhymes, but other searches available are near rhymes, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and more.
I just discovered that RhymeZone now has an app available for $2.99, which might come in handy for songwriting on the go. But since I write all of my songs on my Macbook, I’ll stick with the web version. When I write a song, I keep RhymeZone open in my browser from start to finish and probably use it at least 20 times before the lyrics are finished.
Have you used this site, or do you have another favorite rhyming tool? I’m always looking for new songwriting resources…so if you have ’em, send ’em my way!
