Noisemakers vs. Instruments
Saturday, December 6th, 2008A few years ago, my sister got my son what seemed like a cool Christmas present. It was a drum full of various rhythm instruments in cool colors and shapes. There was one major problem. They really weren’t instruments, they were noisemakers. What’s the difference? Well, noisemakers make noise. They thud and clink, but the sound [...]
Ponderings on Music as Story
Thursday, October 9th, 2008I’m enjoying the small bit of fall weather here in St. Louis. It’s a nice time of year for me because I have so many memories, particularly of marching band. The feel of the air always reminds me of playing at pep rallies and then getting on the band bus to head for the game. [...]
Mini-Course Now Available
Saturday, October 4th, 2008I’ve just added a minicourse to this site discussing how music can be used to make your day to day life better. It deals with ways music can help with things many of us struggle with such as sleep problems, stress, and pain. There’s also an article by a music therapist on using music to [...]
Classical Music is Boring
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008Have you every heard someone say that classical music is boring or it puts them to sleep? Do you feel that way yourself? I’m a big NASCAR fan. I remember someone commenting that racing was boring because it was just a bunch of cars going around in circles. If that was what it was about, [...]
Music and Daily Routines
Thursday, July 10th, 2008Our son will be 4 in a couple of weeks. Since he was in the womb, we have exposed him to music. You might think that as trained musicians we have this structured regime. If you know me and how artsy I am, you know that structure is difficult for me. For the most part, [...]
Making Assumptions
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008I’ve noticed a pattern with some people, especially parents and music teachers. Many make assumptions about which child will do more with music than the other. I’ve had parents tell me that one child or the other will take music farther because they have a greater aptitude for music. I am quick to set them straight. Musical [...]
Play and the Institution
Friday, June 20th, 2008When I was a kid in the 70′s, I lived in a small town, we didn’t have cable, and the internet was unimaginable. My sister and I spent our time playing with toys (the kind without batteries), making crafts and playing outside. In the summer we had Vacation Bible School, at school we had 4-H, and [...]
Music Starts at Home
Monday, June 16th, 2008For most of us, music became a part of our life at a very young age. Even if you don’t remember having music in your house growing up, it was there. It was in the ring of the phone, the catchy television jingle you still remember 25 years later, the song of the birds out [...]
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