Rainy Greetings from B.C.!

I am ready for some sun! The sun made an appearance a couple of weeks ago but definitely not long enough for me to remember what it felt like. Hopefuly all this rain means it's going to be a hot summer.

Although, it must be hot in California as the strawberry's are appearing in the stores. And in honour of strawberry's, new this month is a cute "Strawberry Shortcake" Solfege activity for your students with a birthday theme as each students jumps into the circle on their birthday or plays a rhythm instrument when they say their birthday month.  My students just loved this activity last year and are excited to do it once again this year.

In this five page digital teaching aid, along with the song, there is a solfege composing component and each child is given their own solfege hand sign card to help them compose a song in sol, mi and la.  There are also some simple hand jives to add once the song is mastered. 


Once again in the Music for Young Children year is the learning of rest placement. See below what games are available in helping your students understand these concepts.

I have my recital venue booked and I plan on using Down by the Bay  by Raffi, as one of our songs but only with composers!  "Did you ever see Bach playing hard rock?" or "Did you ever see Haydn, going water slidin'?"

Thanks to everyone on Facebook who posted suggestions and more.

Cheers to sunny days ahead!

Lois Dicknoether
Solo Time Music Games
info@solotimemusicgames.com 

  

Games of the Month

Give it a Rest! Rest placement can sometimes be a struggle but with these teaching aids students place the rests on the game card. Simple fun and eraser FREE as students learn these sometimes difficult concepts before they take it to paper. Strike Out and Weak and Strong Beats are two really fun games where students have to determine the one missing rest on each card. When you don't have a lot of time these are the games you will need for a quick "rest placement" review.

To Market To Market - DrumFit

Alicia Ramsey, who lives in Tillsonburg, Ontario posted some wonderful pictures of her new studio.  I was so glad she did as there were some great ideas that I thought were awesome.

Alicia created a composing folder for her students.
In it is the child's composition, their year end certificate, the MYC composing sticker and a composing ribbon.  What a wonderful gift to her students!

Also I noticed in her pictures were exercise balls!
 Now, I was really intrigued as to why these were in her studio so I gave her a phone call.  Alicia (who honoured in percussion at university) has creatively incorporated the "DrumFit" exercise balls into her teaching to help
 students understand the value of beats (ie. Sw, Sww and SwMW)
and as part of their ensembles.

 Such a great idea, so much fun and what a great way to market how fun making music can be in your community!

Take a look at her facebook page to see her studio and DrumFit balls.
(be sure you are logged in first)