Christmas Music

These students got to give the "Gift of Music" on Sunday for a group of about 70 people. The first 3 videos are 2nd year students on the piano and the last one is 1st year students on the autoharp. I was so pleased with all of their chords...good job practicing!!!

Caleb & Weston: "Frosty the Snowman"


Afton & Bradon: "Deck the Halls"


Lydia & Ms. Emily: "First Noel"


Bradon & Cynthia: "Away in a Manger"

Blue Sky

Zac playing "Blue Sky." Great job!

Happy Halloween

Ms. Emily dressed up like a "Baldwin Piano" this year for Halloween. Did you know that Baldwin is a company that makes pianos? And Ms. Emily's last name is Baldwin!

Magical Lamp Show

Here are videos of the students performing the Magical Lamp puppet show. (Aragonaise from Carmen by Georges Bizet)

Wednesday Class:

Thursday Class:

We have a lot of fun with classical music!

Ms. Emily in Portugal

Music is the same around the world. While in Lisboa, we found a "musical park" area. Ms. Emily is playing the xylophone and triangles in Portugal. (July 2011)

Classes Begin

We are off to a great start! I'm so excited for this year.

Summer Camp

We did a Mini Summer Music Camp. It was a nice refresher course after First Year and was fun to be with friends!

Music Time...students sang, played songs on the autoharp, and played bells.

Craft Time...rain sticks (that ended up being more like just a shaker.)

The kids enjoyed painting!

Play Time...it was a beautiful day and we ended with a sack race.

Puppet Shows...the last one we did with costumes!

Jingle Bell Anklets...the kids each made their own for Tambourine Train.

We did so much more and ate yummy snacks...I can't wait till the weekly Fall Classes start!

In Spring of 2010, Let's Play Music was interviewed for TV in Arizona.

Symposium

The Let's Play Music Symposium was on June 18th in Mesa, Arizona. Teachers came from all over the USA to attend. The weekend was full of trainings, guest speakers, workshops, booths, and more.

(Ms. Emily is on the first row, 2nd from the left)

I'm so glad I went! It was so much fun and I learned so much in those three days from being with all of the teachers.

Let's Play Music Advisory Board
Sheelle Soelberg (Creator/Owner) is in the front middle.

Keyboards

We are getting ready for next year... the Second Year students will be on KEYBOARDS!
Last weekend, we assembled all of the stands and stools.
In June, Ms. Emily is going to Arizona to attend the LPM Corporate Training and the annual Symposium. I'm so excited to learn from other teachers!

Recital

We had our Recital on Friday in Fort Collins! The students did great! It was so fun to see how much they have learned in the first year of Let's Play Music!

4:00 pm Class (above)

5:00 pm Class (below)

The students learned over 50 songs this year...each with a musical purpose! Here is an 8 minute video of our Recital....Enjoy!

Next year, these students will continue with Let's Play Music...we will transfer all of the skills they learned this year to playing piano. (The fun & excitement will continue in the Fall!)

Music Class with Home School Group

I had a lot of fun playing music with these children today!

The kids did a great job learning the Solfeggio hand signs to help them match pitch.
All the students took a turn playing tone bells and the autoharp (shown below).
Here is Echo Ed, our friendly puppet who loves rhythm and singing!
We also did a puppet show (introducing classical form) and other fun musical games!

If you are interested in Let's Play Music: email Emily at Music@ecBaldwin.net or call 970-207-0971.

Did you know...?

• Music stimulates the mind, encourages creativity and helps to lay a foundation for learning that leads to higher intelligence and aptitude.

• Preschoolers who studied piano performed 34% better in spatial and temporal reasoning ability than preschoolers who spent the same amount of time learning to use computers (Rauscher & Shaw. As reported in Neurological Research, February 1997).

• Preschoolers who took singing and keyboard lessons scored 80% higher on object-assembly tests than students at the same preschool who did not have the music lessons (Rauscher & Shaw. As reported in Symphony, Sept.-Oct. 1996).

• In a study of medical school applicants, 66% of the music majors who applied to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. Only 44% of the biochemistry majors were admitted (Lewis Thomas, as reported in the Phi Delta Kappan, February 1994).

• The very best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Valley industry are, nearly without exception, practicing musicians (Grant Venerable, The Center for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum, New York, 1989).

• In 1994, it was reported by the college entrance examination board that students with coursework in music performance taking the university entrance exam (SAT) scored 49 points higher on the verbal portion of the test and 36 points higher on the math portion than students with no course work or experience in the arts.

• It has been shown that high school music students have higher grade point averages than non-music students do in the same school (from Time Magazine June 11, 1999).

• After eight months of musical training, 3 year olds were expert puzzle masters, scoring 80% higher than their playmates did in spatial intelligence – the ability to visualize the world accurately. This skill later translates into mathematical/conceptual and engineering skills.

• Scientists now believe that music trains the brain for higher forms of thinking.

  Early Music Education Can Give your Child

  an Academic Advantage.

  Visit www.letsplaymusicsite.com for more information on Music Education.
  
  Call 970.207.0971 or email: Music@ecBaldwin.net to register for a free sample class.

  
  

Triumphant March

The students are performing the Triumphant March (from Aida by Verdi).

The children were so excited to act out this show. . .

4 pm class:

5 pm class:

Didn't they do great!?!! I love how much fun they had with it! (and I enjoyed making all of the props.)

They did such a good job being quiet during the show...it gave me a big smile to have one kid shout out (while putting his prop away), "That was FUN!" (And the rest of us agreed!)

Bell Map

We have been using Bell Maps to tell us which notes to play for familiar songs. I gave the students maps of Twinkle, Twinkle and Jingle Bells. Last week, I let the kids color in their own map for our Valentine Song.

A student's mom made this map. Great job!!!

Do you want to try to make your own bell map? If you do, I would love to see it!

Blue Bugs Started

We have started the Blue Bug Semester! I'm looking forward to doing so many fun activities with the kids this spring. Here are the butterflies that the students got after their first day of class. (We learned the rhythm of a but-ter-fly.)

Look what Ms. Emily got for Christmas!!!

A big gathering drum! We are going to use this big drum for "Jungle Rhythms." I can't wait! What animal sounds like a big drum?

(Thanks, Grandma & Grandpa Hahn!)

Who is Grandpa Hahn?

After thanking Grandpa Hahn for the big drum...I thought maybe you would ask, "Who is he?"...

He is a magnificent musician! He has perfect pitch. He tunes pianos by ear (which he was able to do before he was 18 years old!) He can play ANY instrument he touches. He is my Dad!

Growing up, we had many instruments in our home! He played the organ, piano, guitar, autoharp, banjo, accordion, ukulele, and bones OFTEN. But we also owned a trumpet, trombone, alto saxophone, violin, clarinet, drum set, and other various instruments that I saw him play too. He enjoys traveling the world and in 2005, he & my mother were teaching piano full-time in Brazil. He has sung in competitive choirs and in 2010, entered a Piano Contest with a RagTime number (at age 73).

He has been my musical backbone. After I went to a Let's Play Music class and told my Dad how amazing it was, he said, "you should teach it." But I had a 6-month-old baby and said, "I don't have time." So he contacted the company and had a packet sent to him so he could tell me more about it. After a few months went by, I said, "The annual training is expensive." So he sent me a check to cover the first year's training seminar. So... he is a BIG reason of why we have Let's Play Music in Fort Collins, Colorado.

I love Let's Play Music! I'm so glad I became a LPM teacher! It is truly blessing my life & my family, and bringing the joy of music to others. . . . . Thanks, Dad / Grandpa Hahn!