Ukulele Giveaway!

Kala Waterman Ukulele Giveaway | Listen & Learn Music

What better way to end my favorite month of the year than by giving away one of my favorite instruments?! I’m SUPER excited to be teaming up with Kala Brand Music Co., Music Therapy Ed, Music Therapy Memes, and Music for Kiddos to give away not 1, but 4 Kala Waterman ukuleles.

The giveaway is happening over on Instagram, and the rules are simple. Head over to my latest post for the details, and then if you want 10 extra entries, simply enter your name and email address below and grab my free resource, “10 Go-To Instruments for Music Therapy” (spoiler alert: the uke is one of them!).

The giveaway ends at 12 pm ET on Tuesday, so make sure to enter ASAP! We’ll be announcing the 4 winners (one per music therapy account) on Wednesday at 12 pm ET. See you on Instagram…and I hope YOU win!

I <3 My Readers!

I love my readers!

Last month, Listen & Learn celebrated it’s 2nd birthday.  I asked my newsletter subscribers to share with me their favorite L&L post or song, and in return, I chose 3 responses to share with you.  Valerie K., Jess K., and Kathy S. will receive a physical copy of my studio album Time to Sing Hello in return for making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :)  Thank you to everyone who emailed me notes of congrats, encouragement, and reasons why you keep coming back to Listen & Learn!

Valerie wrote:

After meeting you about a year ago at the 2009 AMTA conference, I have been amazed at your persistence and ability to do what you do. . .through your blog and music. You are definitely an inspiration for the rest of us, reminding us that our work never ends as music therapists. We all have valuable insights and information to share with others. My favorite song so far is the Shaky Fruit song!!!! I have used it multiple times over the past 2 weeks and at times adapt the words/music to go with the flow of the session, but I always keep the doot-doot part the same! I really need to learn another song…haha.

Jess wrote:

I am a recently board-certified music therapist and I have already taken to heart much of what you have written about and included in your blogs. My favorite posts of yours so far have been Is This Music Therapy Thing for Real? and Home Recording Studio Essentials. The former has been incredibly helpful for me, as a new professional working with children with disabilities. There is a big difference between being a graduate student/intern in the field and being considered a “young professional.” While I am excited for this leap into the professional realm, I am also incredibly nervous. It has certainly been a great comfort to me to read an excerpt about your journey as a music therapist and to know that you were once in the same, scared but hopeful place I am! As for your home recording studio essentials—well, I am constantly searching for ideas from people on how they record their music.

Kathy wrote:

I would have to say the posting about your recording studio was one of my favorites (there are many!). Setting up a recording studio like that has been one of my goals for over a year now and it was very helpful and empowering to see the visual images and read the descriptions. I’m actually opening my Snowball mic today and getting ready to make my first Garageband recording! An aside – every time my seven year old hears me checking e-mail and listening to your songs, she always comes running and says, “That’s my favorite singer!” She’s a big fan of Taylor Swift also so that is quite a compliment :-)

I’m a big fan of Taylor Swift, too, so I definitely take that as a huge compliment!  Thanks again for the great responses.  Oh, and if you haven’t joined my newsletter yet, you should do it now — this month’s edition is coming soon!

Model Me Kids DVD Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to Lisa Casciola, who was randomly selected (via random.org) as the winner of the newest Model Me Kids DVD, “Model Me Going Places”.  Lisa is a fellow music therapist and studio teacher, and has a great website of her own, Kids Sing Studio.  I hope you enjoy the DVD, Lisa, and that your students can benefit from it!

As you probably know, I’m spending the week in St. Louis at Jupiter Studios, recording my new Listen & Learn CD.  I’ve been tweeting like crazy, so if you want to see pics and get frequent updates, make sure to follow me on Twitter.  I’ll write a post detailing my experience thus far later today, but for now, it’s time to head to the studio and start my 10-hour day!  I’ll talk to you all soon.

Giveaway: Model Me Going Places DVD

Last week, I announced my involvement in Model Me Kids‘ newest social skills modeling DVD, Model Me Going Places.  My original songs narrate the 12 scenes in the video, which is described on the Model Me Kids website as follows:

The Model Me Going Places™ video features children, ages 2-8, involved in activities in the community. It is designed to familiarize children with locations that may be challenging, and to help teach appropriate behavior in these locations through peer modeling. Each scene lasts between 2-4 minutes, depending on the chapter. At the end of each chapter is a storyboard summarizing the locations shown.

This video is narrated with music developed for the Model Me Going Places™ DVD by Rachel Rambach, a Board-Certified Music Therapist. This unique merger of video modeling and Music Therapy is designed to help teach skills in a way that appeals to the strengths of children with developmental disabilities.

Graphics and music are used to make the video appealing to children with Autism, Asperger Syndrome, and Nonverbal Learning Disorders. A high production value helps keep the child’s interest so that he or she will want to watch many times.

I couldn’t be more proud of my association with Model Me Kids, having provided musical narration for both this DVD and previously, Model Me Faces & Emotions. So I’m thrilled that this wonderful company was willing to provide a copy of the newest DVD to one lucky Listen & Learn reader.

It couldn’t be simpler: to enter, all you have to do is leave a comment (including your email address) on this post between now and Sunday, March 28th at 8 pm. I will use random.org to select a completely random winner, who will be announced on Monday.  Teachers, parents, and therapists…I’m talking to you!  Enter now for your chance to win this effective (not to mention fun and entertaining) resource.

SleepPhones, Superiors & Songs…Oh My!

First things first: it’s time to announce the winner of the SleepPhones Giveaway!  (I used random.org to select a random number from the list of comments.)  That lucky person….drum roll, please…is musicsparks!  Congratulations to you, and a big thank you to the rest of you for entering.  Don’t forget, you can receive $5 off your own pair of SleepPhones by using the coupon code “LALM5” when you order online. Stay tuned for upcoming giveaways, and as always, your regular visits to my humble home in the blogosphere are much appreciated!

Item number two on the agenda will be short and sweet, I promise.  I just have to take a few sentences to brag about my extremely talented piano students, all of whom scored “SUPERIOR” ratings at our local National Federation Junior Festival.  It was my first year as a member of the federation, so this was their first time participating.  It’s not easy to get up and play in front of judges and an audience, but my students looked and sounded like pros (as reflected by their high scores).  It was a proud weekend for this piano teacher!

Item number three is just a reassurance that yes, there ARE new songs coming your way this week!  I’ve had a lot of news and special items to share this past week, but I’m ready to get back to what this blog is really all about.  Tomorrow’s tune is about a VERY tall American icon who lives on the East Coast.  Any guesses?