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Live Looping Fun with Percussion and a Single Ukulele
For the first week of music class this year, I chose two great videos to share with the classes as motivation for the coming year. Both videos involved a concept called “live looping”, which involves the use of a electronic pedal or a computer to produce a loop or repetition of a sound. Live looping…
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Honoka & Azita: An Incredible Ukulele Duo
Starting the week of September 12th, I will be announcing our third and final topic of the year, “Playing Music”. Students will be introduced to the instruments they will be playing with their cluster. Red & Silver clusters will be playing beginner level mallet percussion instruments (xylophones, glockenspiels, and metallophones). Indigo & Orange clusters will…
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Introduction Ukuleles, Recorders, & Mallet Percussion
Starting the week of September 12th, I will be announcing our third and final topic of the year, “Playing Music”. Students will be introduced to the instruments they will be playing with their cluster. Red & Silver clusters will be playing beginner level mallet percussion instruments (xylophones, glockenspiels, and metallophones). Indigo & Orange clusters will…
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From A Capella to a Marble Machine, Thinking Outside the “Music” Box
This week, my students are being introduced to the second of three themes we will cover this year: “Music is Connected“. The specific lesson topic is “Thinking Outside the ‘Music’ Box”. Students will be encouraged to think differently about music. Our lesson will connect music to science. And, we discover the idea of inventing new…
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First “Great Musician” of the Year: Arturo Sandoval
The first week of school, students were introduced to the first theme of the year “Great Musicians“. We discussed traits that make a music great. We played a game to help us learn the rules for the music class. We learned that this year students will have an opportunity to earn musicianship awards (more on…
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Math in Music Series: Fibonacci Part 1
I recently came across a video of a piano piece composed based on the Fibonacci sequence. I totally geeked out and decided to share it with a few of my private piano students. Turns out, some of them are as geeky as me and not only love math, but get fired up about seeing it…
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Man Makes Magic by Using a Marble Machine to Play Music
I used to love playing with marbles as a child. One of my favorite toys was a marble run, where you could fit pieces together in whichever way you wished and then placed the marbles in the top and watched them roll down. The marbles passed through a series of bridges, loops, swirls, and jumps.…
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5-Year-Old Shows How Easy It Is To Start Writing Music
I have previously mentioned the amazing music technology available to quickly and affordably get started writing music. But, if putting notes on paper still seems a bit too daunting for you, there is another option. A couple years ago, then 5-year-old Jordan Bijan recorded a video with the solution. He shows how simple it is…
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Collection of “Little Big Shots” Musicians
Update: Season 2 is on now! Check out all new episodes Sundays at 8pm on NBC. Update 2: NBC has removed a number of episode clips from YouTube, so I can no longer claim to have the full collection. I will keep the below playlist up-to-date as best as possible with all available videos from…
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4-Year-Old Boy Starts Piano, Learns Flight of the Bumblebee in 6 Months
As an instructor who teaches students of all ages, I have truly come to appreciate the value of learning music at any age. The beauty of music is that it is such a broad concept, beyond just learning an instrument. Anyone can learn music, regardless of talent, intellect, maturity, or attention span.
