Teach Your Children

Welcome back to school everyone!  This year has gotten off to a quick, but exciting and fun start.  I feel like this a year of change for everyone.  We, as teachers, are all changing how we run our daily routine due to changes in requirements at the state level.  Flexibility is really a must these days.  I’ve been working with Mr. Rodgers at Howard Elementary to try to make our programs a little more similar so that when our students reach middle school, they are more prepared to be in band or choir.  As if that weren’t enough, my husband and I found out shortly after school released last spring that we will be welcoming our first child sometime in February…which brings me to today’s topic.  I was thinking about all of the fun things that I will be able to teach our son about music, and I realized that there are a lot of really great resources out there for parents, who aren’t as comfortable with music as I am, to use with their children.  So, I decided that over the course of my next few blogs, however many it takes to satisfy my interest, I will be exploring online resources that you can use with, or without your children.  Some will be geared more toward adults, since I know that as adults we still enjoy learning, while others will be geared more toward kids.  I hope you enjoy the websites and the blogs.  Happy online learning!

1.       Pandora: I love this website and app for my iPhone!  It personalizes radio stations to your preferences.  I love starting my day off with my Toto station, listening to some ‘80s music.

2.       San Francisco Classical Voice http://www.sfcv.org/kids-family?gclid=CN-ImIPd1qsCFULBKgodXR3MOg :This website features a kids and family podcast, a list of books and listening selections for kids, and links to many of the websites listed in this blog.

3.       Carnegie Hall http://www.carnegiehall.org/ORC/Games-and-Listening-Guides/ :  This website offers an interactive guides through the history African American music, history of Carnegie Hall, Dvorak’s New World Symphony, and a walk through the orchestra.  I love the history of Carnegie Hall with the accompanying game.

4.       Classical Chops http://www.classicalchops.org/ : This website is geared more toward teenagers and has cool videos and information on classical musicians, composers, and conductors.

5.       Classics for Kids http://www.classicsforkids.com/ : This is a great website if you want to expose your child to classical music.  Classics for Kids is a radio show, and they’ve put their show onto this website so kids everywhere can learn about classical music.  I love that this site lets you choose a topic, listen to the show relating to that topic, listen to the music that goes with the topic, then quizzes you on it!

6.       Dallas Symphony Orchestra http://www.dsokids.com : I absolutely love this website.  It has some really fun games, such as Beethoven’s Baseball and Time Machine.  It also has a listening center that offers options such as listening to music by a certain composer, exploring how different instruments sound, and learning music theory through sound.  The website also has a section on making your own instruments at home.  For those of you whose children take instrument or vocal lessons privately, there is even a page to help them learn how to practice effectively.

Look for more websites in my next blog!

Crosby Stills Nash & Young

Big Mistake

Even professionals make mistakes.  That’s what I learned while watching Christina Aguilera perform the National Anthem during Sunday’s Super Bowl.  I have conflicting feelings about the faux pas.  The critic in me wants to scream out, “You just don’t mess that up!”  While the performer in me is saying, “I might have made the same mistake if I had been singing all alone in front of that many people.”  The teacher in me says, “That’s why I spend two weeks at the beginning of each school year teaching my students the words to The Star Spangled Banner.”  Northwestern has so many amazingly talented children, who’s to say that we may not someday see one of them on that Super Bowl stage?  So, each year I make sure that my students know the words to The Star Spangled Banner.  Though the words are difficult to learn, they aren’t impossible to memorize, and the more we study and understand the words, the easier they become.  That is why we not only memorize the words, but spend time learning the meanings of the words and the history behind them.  By sixth grade our students should have a firm understanding of the treasured song.

Christina Aguilera’s mistake made for a great teaching moment.  My older students were able to pick out the mistake and describe what happened.  But I forgive Ms. Aguilera for her mistake.  We all make mistakes and it seems like we always make them at the worst possible times, for instance, the biggest football game of the year.  Whether the words just proved too difficult, she was too nervous, or as one news source suggested, she was trying too hard to be an Aretha Franklin-like diva, I’m sure it won’t happen again.

Natalie Imbruglia