The fabulous Cathy Zielske has a free template available on her blog. I so love her style & her templates!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Simply Music
I am happy to announce that I am now a licensed Simply Music teacher. I am a certified Suzuki Piano teacher have taught Suzuki Piano for over 30 years, and it has many, many advantages over traditional music. Students develop a high level of musicality and a great ear for music. It is classically based program, and I'm very comfortable there because I am classically trained.
I have, however, been thinking about how many people there are who are more interested in playing more contemporary idioms like ballads, blues, and jazz, in addition to classical. There are so many people who just want to enjoy playing for themselves or maybe for their friends.
Simply Music students learn to play in all of these genres, as well as how to accompany and make arrangements.
Both Suzuki Method and Simply Music are based on the principle that everyone is innately musical. You may not think so, but I'll be happy to prove you wrong!
Which program is right for you depends entirely on your goals in studying piano.
I have, however, been thinking about how many people there are who are more interested in playing more contemporary idioms like ballads, blues, and jazz, in addition to classical. There are so many people who just want to enjoy playing for themselves or maybe for their friends.
Simply Music students learn to play in all of these genres, as well as how to accompany and make arrangements.
Both Suzuki Method and Simply Music are based on the principle that everyone is innately musical. You may not think so, but I'll be happy to prove you wrong!
Which program is right for you depends entirely on your goals in studying piano.
A lovely gift
My lovely friend Trish painted this for me using my One Little Word and my happy colors :) It's just perfect!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Hatred and Truth
I found this blog post and thought I'd share it (with permission). It is something I want to keep in mind personally.
Don't let the title scare you off if you are of whatever political persuasion. It isn't about politics at all:
An Important Insight from President Obama
Don't let the title scare you off if you are of whatever political persuasion. It isn't about politics at all:
An Important Insight from President Obama
Friday, March 18, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Time and Chance
My heart has been heavy. Watching the devastation in Japan is heartbreaking. It's hard to stop watching the videos of the tsunami, to see the incredible, inexorable force rush in and destroy. To realize that some of those houses and cars have people, families in them that could not survive.
It is a reminder how random life can be. My sister-in-law used to live near Sendai. This could have been her tragedy. But it isn't. She happened to live there years ago, when there was no massive earthquake to disrupt the everyday.
Time and chance happen to everyone. This time, the unlucky ones were those living in northeastern Japan. A few weeks ago it was people living in Christchurch. A few years ago it was those living and visiting around the rim of the Indian Ocean.
The world is bigger and more powerful than we want to admit sometimes. We feel solid standing on the earth. But survivors of massive earthquakes know that the ground beneath us isn't really solid. That the earth can move in waves just like the ocean. It's solidity is relative, an illusion.
There is a tendency to trust things that aren't real, that are only illusion, and to feel as though this life goes on just the same forever. We think this way when life is good, and we tend to think this way when life is sad or hard too. Tragedies shock us out of our illusion, at least momentarily. They are scary because we realize it could be us. It is scary because we like to feel like we have some control over our lives, and sometimes we have none.
Many people question God at times like this. "How could God allow this to happen?" Forgetting that Jesus himself said that time and chance happen to all. We weren't created to live a fairy tale life in this world. Hard things happen. I'm sure that at least some of the disciples had their faith shaken when Jesus was crucified. How could this happen to God's anointed? But it was part of the plan.
Death is really part of the plan. For Jesus, for us. God don't want Adam and Eve to choose death. But they did, and he knew they would. It didn't come as a shock. He knew we would need to be rescued. He put the desire for eternity in our hearts, but we can't attain that in this physical world because the physical world is, by plan, temporary. The plan is that physical life is shrugged off like an old garment. And when that shrugging off occurs is really not under our control. It isn't up to us. Often it is up to time and chance. It's hard to make peace with that, but it is an essential reality of existence.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
It is a reminder how random life can be. My sister-in-law used to live near Sendai. This could have been her tragedy. But it isn't. She happened to live there years ago, when there was no massive earthquake to disrupt the everyday.
Time and chance happen to everyone. This time, the unlucky ones were those living in northeastern Japan. A few weeks ago it was people living in Christchurch. A few years ago it was those living and visiting around the rim of the Indian Ocean.
The world is bigger and more powerful than we want to admit sometimes. We feel solid standing on the earth. But survivors of massive earthquakes know that the ground beneath us isn't really solid. That the earth can move in waves just like the ocean. It's solidity is relative, an illusion.
There is a tendency to trust things that aren't real, that are only illusion, and to feel as though this life goes on just the same forever. We think this way when life is good, and we tend to think this way when life is sad or hard too. Tragedies shock us out of our illusion, at least momentarily. They are scary because we realize it could be us. It is scary because we like to feel like we have some control over our lives, and sometimes we have none.
Many people question God at times like this. "How could God allow this to happen?" Forgetting that Jesus himself said that time and chance happen to all. We weren't created to live a fairy tale life in this world. Hard things happen. I'm sure that at least some of the disciples had their faith shaken when Jesus was crucified. How could this happen to God's anointed? But it was part of the plan.
Death is really part of the plan. For Jesus, for us. God don't want Adam and Eve to choose death. But they did, and he knew they would. It didn't come as a shock. He knew we would need to be rescued. He put the desire for eternity in our hearts, but we can't attain that in this physical world because the physical world is, by plan, temporary. The plan is that physical life is shrugged off like an old garment. And when that shrugging off occurs is really not under our control. It isn't up to us. Often it is up to time and chance. It's hard to make peace with that, but it is an essential reality of existence.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Unforeseen
Life turns
on a word
And roams
in strange
unforeseen
lands
I am wandering
seeking for
something
I have lost.
Elusive
Undefined
It is gone.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
on a word
And roams
in strange
unforeseen
lands
I am wandering
seeking for
something
I have lost.
Elusive
Undefined
It is gone.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Found another source for PSE actions
In my morning round of Blog Reading, I ran across a link for PS/PSE actions. This blogger is a homeschool mom and she gives away these goodies! Check it out: The CoffeeShop Blog
Directions for installing the actions are on her site. For those like me who always forget how to do it.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Directions for installing the actions are on her site. For those like me who always forget how to do it.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
What Do You Do Here?
This is a question that Seth Godin asks people in organizations. I'm thinking about this in relation to my own work. What Do I Do Here? At one time I would have said that I teach music to children. Which is part of what I do. I hope to open the doors of musical expression to their young hearts, and help them gain confidence and a gift to share.
But reading Godin's Poke the Box, which I've only just started, has made me aware that isn't at the core of what I do.
Here is what I really do: I constantly search for the easiest, most effective way to help children learn that they are innately musical and creative, and I test those ideas out on my students.
Sometimes I get stuck in a rut, and plod along a pre-determined path with blinders on, but eventually I shake my head, look around and realize that this path isn't quite the one that is helping me a achieve that goal.Then I set off on another search to see what new ideas are already out there and what new ideas I can come up with on my own.
Since there are lots of creative thinkers in the musical world, I have lots of inspiring ideas to try out.
I am currently on another search to tweak my program.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
But reading Godin's Poke the Box, which I've only just started, has made me aware that isn't at the core of what I do.
Here is what I really do: I constantly search for the easiest, most effective way to help children learn that they are innately musical and creative, and I test those ideas out on my students.
Sometimes I get stuck in a rut, and plod along a pre-determined path with blinders on, but eventually I shake my head, look around and realize that this path isn't quite the one that is helping me a achieve that goal.Then I set off on another search to see what new ideas are already out there and what new ideas I can come up with on my own.
Since there are lots of creative thinkers in the musical world, I have lots of inspiring ideas to try out.
I am currently on another search to tweak my program.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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