Track Your Practice This Week With a Thanksgiving Coloring Page!
The big week has finally arrived and with all the exciting events about to come, let’s make our practice time even MORE fun! This week, instead of filling out a time table chart, use a Thanksgiving printable coloring page to track your practice. Each time you practice a piece, color in a section of the page.
Can you fill it before Thanksgiving?
You can download a very cute Thanksgiving coloring page and use it as a place mat at your dinner table! ( there are other printable Thanksgiving table setting pieces on the Alpha+Mom site too!)
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!
Weekend Events for Kids in Norman
If you’re like me, the weekend before Thanksgiving is full of preparations for the big meal. Whether or not you are hosting, there’s a lot to be done and the time is quickly winding down. But before the true rush sets in, take a break today, and enjoy some music by our young local musicians at the Depot Centennial Celebration:
12:00-12:45pm Norman High School and Norman North Bands will be performing
5pm – 6 pm Broadway Kids from The Studio of the Sooner Theatre
Come out and support your local youth musicians!
Make Your Thanksgiving Blessing Memorable With This Easy Sheet Music
Parents -
Are you hosting Thanksgiving? Are you looking for an interesting way to involve your child in the big meal? Why not have your young piano player perform the Dutch hymn, We Gather Together as part of your meal’s blessing! Your student should be able to learn this arrangement for Very Easy piano in no time and give a stellar performance for the big family gathering. Click the turkey to download the FREE sheet music now!
We Gather Together Sheet Music for Very Easy Piano
The Musical Alphabet: Building Blocks to Reading Music
Although philosophies vary from piano teacher to piano teacher, we all agree that at some point, your child will need to be able to recognize their ABC’s (up to letter G) and be able to put them in order starting on any letter. This is a basic skill for school as well, and something that we, as parents, spend a lot of time focusing on during play time with our youngsters. Think about it – how many toys are in your house RIGHT NOW that have at least A-B-C on them? If your house is like mine, quite a few.
All young music students need to learn the musical alphabet, which consists of only 7 letters A-G. Many small children can already identify A-B-C so if you think about it, you’re already almost half way there! So how can you help your child learn to identify and order the letters of the musical alphabet? By playing games!
What You Need:
A set of alphabet blocks with letters A,B,C,D,E,F,G
or
You can download and print a set of cards below:
Dinosaur Musical Alphabet Cards
Hippo Ballet Musical Alphabet Cards
Matching Game: (appropriate for ages 3 & up)
If your child is just learning to recognize their ABC’s, you can use the cards to help them learn. Place one ABC card (any letter) on the floor and tell your child what letter it is. Ask your child to find their card that matches yours, and to put it right under yours. Then ask them to say the letter. Repeat this process with all of your letters. You do not need to do them in order and in fact, it’s better that you don’t. By keeping the letters out of order, you are making sure your child is learning the letter, not the pattern of (ABC).
If your child can already recognize their ABC’s, you can play a slightly different version. Place a card on the floor (again, any card, NOT in order) and ask your child to tell you what letter it is. Once they tell you, ask them to find theirs to match, and place it underneath yours. Continue until you have used all of your cards (you can print multiple sets and repeat the matching over and over too).
Once your child can easily recognize their ABC cards, there are many games we can play with our cards. I’ll be posting more of those over the coming weeks, so stay tuned!
Weekend Events for Kids in Norman, OK
A quiet weekend on the music front in town so let’s take matters into our own hands! I took my daughter to see Disney’s A Christmas Carol last weekend, and while sitting there with her, couldn’t help but notice the soundtrack (see, that’s what music people do when we go to movies. We don’t really see the story, we’re analyzing the soundtrack). So many times a great soundtrack goes unnoticed by the audience. It’s just such an integral part of the movie that we never realize it is a separate piece all on it’s own. So this weekend, bring a little attention to the soundtracks of movies.
Pick a movie your kids know well (in my house, if it has the D on it, they know it). Then find some music (anything really) and turn the original sound off. Play your chosen music in the background and have your kids watch a piece of the movie with a whole new sound. Let them see a funny scene turn suddenly angry, or a sad moment become humorous, just by changing the music. Let them pick a few songs to go along with it too, and before long, you have created your own version of the film.
Feeling more adventurous? Why not make a family movie this weekend? You can use still photos or video and create your own storyline. Then have each person pick a piece of music that represents them to go along with it. You’ll have a great snapshot in time of your family!
Have kids who love drama? (who doesn’t?) Hit iTunes and find a classic movie soundtrack from one of YOUR favorite movies, and have the kids create a show about it. Don’t tell them what the movie is about, see how they react. They might hit it right on, or give you a look at something so unique, you’ll never watch that movie the same way again. Then the kids get to return the favor. Yes, you may have to do an interpretive dance to Hannah Montana, but it’s all in fun. (Just be sure the video camera is mysteriously missing batteries after the kids are finished).
If you have young musicians in your home, then have your own play along music event! Pick a movie with a strong character theme (Harry Potter or the Star Wars movies comes to mind right now, but I’m sure you can think of others as well), or a Broadway Musical turned Movie (Sound of Music, Annie) grab some sheet music, and join in with the orchestra. Sure it may not match up exactly in the right key, or may be a little challenging technically, but it can give your kids a taste of what it’s like to be “in the pit”.
Have a great time making music with your kids this weekend!
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