Music and Movement

Martha Graham

"Wear" is your instrument?

Careyanne passed on this Web site, Etsy, which is full of fun, artsy, cool-mama crafts.

Nobody knows this better than you.

The Optimus Prime of Instruments

Sean has been sending some fantastic links my way lately, including this, which is a page totally dedicated to automatic instruments. And this video, where you can see the above automatic cello in action.

The evolution of a drummer

The video starts when he's 2-years-old.

Neatorama

If you got flickr, you got stickers

Nifty, nifty. Now you can upload your flickr photos (and other creative picture services) to create you own sticker books, and more.

Thanks Sean.

It's hard to say goodbye

But it's always good to know you left an indellible impression. A parent in Sarah Flack's Kindermusik class blogs her goodbye.

Great newsletter

The Development

Kindermusik in South Africa

There's one in every class: A camera ham. You'll notice this class ham right away.

You may not notice though that each one of the children in this Kindermuik class is an orphan or HIV Positive. Some aren't five years old and are considered the "Head of the Household."

This video, and a few more , was taken by Kindermusk's President and CEO Michael Dougherty. Michael recently visited South Africa for the Kindermusik Convention. You may also notice the kids are wearing knit caps because it's winter there. I'll post more of Michael's pictures to our Kindermusik flickr page.

"If it's Irving Park or Soweto, Kindermusik has the same effect on every child," Michael said.

More to come ....

My mom knit an iPhone

A cheaper alternative, yes, and good for fine motor skills, too.

2007 Teacher of the Year on Music in Schools

“The beautiful thing about music is that it can give kids skills that transfer over into their reading, writing, and math.”

Andrea Peterson, the 2007 Teacher of the Year

Watch Andrea on ed.gov

Great for holidays and birthdays

Oxfam's taken a clever, consumer-savvy spin on small change donations for making big changes. Take a look.

Makes me wonder if we could do the same thing for children everywhere. An online site where people could purchase Kindermusik tuition and At Home Materials for children in their community--or for a child in another community half way across the world.

Before you take Kindermusik, sign here

__________needs a happy mother.

I promise to take care of myself.



____________________________
Sign here





Hat tip: Kindermusik of Holland

Face-painting, video-taping, and the National Anthem

I remember talking with Julie Stewart about blogging at the last Kindermusik Convention in Greensboro, NC. At the time, she was building a new Kindermusik studio and was worried it wouldn't be ready in time for the kids. Even still, she showed up at convention, eyes wide and ready to learn.

Since then, she (as well as several bloggers I've been watching since then) has developed a voice, and an eye, all her own.

When I asked about the videos she posted to her blog--mini-snapshots of Kindermusik classes--she explained that she was the one who held the camera, did the voice overs, wrote the script, and finally did the editing and posting of the videos to her blog.

"I have been trying to think out of the box on advertising," she writes. "To get the word out creatively with less $$$."

Here's how she's doing it:

"I am the camera girl. I was dancing some when I took the Village video. I have some other footage now that isn't so shaky and I may remake it, although parents were really tickled with it. It is just my Canon digital.

"The Princess Day was a spur of the moment make... Look at my blog entry ... Princess Day! What a fun time we had! It tells you what we did. My daughter took some of those pictures, but that was a Saturday and she happened to come to one of the sessions to take pictures. She thinks I should write a book with all the stories I told. Every activity was attached to a story. The girls that came are still talking about it. One mom told me the little girl asks everyone if they will kiss the frog to see if they are the right one to turn him back into a prince.

"I have had fun making all the videos. What I would like to do is perfect them a little more and make a promo DVD to put into the new homeowner packets in Riverwood where I am located. I already have a free preview coupon and brochure and I think it would be a terrific tool for promotion. I also had the idea of putting together a DVD to put in other businesses as a rolling advertisement, maybe with all the Riverwood Businesses, etc. Just a thought...

"Anyway, thanks for your feedback! Have an AWESOME 4th of JULY! I will be singing the National Anthem at Clayton Municipal Park for several 1000 folks! and painting faces at a booth earlier."

Beyond borders

I was looking for Edie Brickell's version of "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall." Instead appeared her take on this Bob Dylan tune from another movie, "Beyond Borders."