When Cassie told me that she was learning to keyboard with her new casio lighted keyboard I thought she was talking about learning how to type on a computer keyboard! I remember when I was a kid in school, we learned to type on typewriters. Nowadays the schools teach the kids how to “keyboard.” Naturally I thought she was talking about typing! I was really surprised when she told me that she was talking about music! When I was a kid, we called it an electric organ!
Can you guess?
What do Jimi Hendrix, Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt, Ringo Starr all have in common? They have all played with a musician known as skunk baxter! I was really surprised to learn that he had played with so many famous musicians! Now to be honest, I have never been one to learn the name of the musicians in popular bands (with a few exceptions, such as the Beatles!) and maybe that is a character flaw of some sort. I admit that I’m really bad at remembering people’s names in everyday life. And I’m even really bad at remembering the names of a band that plays a particular song (unless I really really love the song!) But I wonder who else would be surprised to learn that this guy had played with so many famous musicians. And now I am wondering why he ever started being called “skunk.” I’m not sure I want to know!
Do you get Sirius Radio?
I grew up listening to the music of the 70’s since that’s when my mother grew up. She loved that music so that’s what we all had to listen to in the car. No I don’t have Sirius Radio in my car but I do have it on my satellite TV.
I found the Totally 70’s station and I don’t watch TV anymore, I listen to it. I especially love it when they play a selection from the ‘Juke Box from Hell’ and then play something like ‘Dead skunk in the middle of the road’. I find myself dancing around the house like I used to see my mother do when I was little. If I have to sit at the computer and accommodate the family’s request for silence so they can hear their own music, or watch a TV show, I’ll put on a pair of headphones that I bought a few weeks ago from the musiciansfriend.com website and listen to it without bothering them. One way or the other, I am going to listen to MY MUSIC! I LOVE IT!
Everyone loves music
Everyone loves music, but children are especially drawn to it. They love to dance and sing and do it often and loudly. If you have children, you already know this. They start with the lullabyes we sing them and move on to the preschool songs we play them and that they hear on preschool TV shows like Jacks Big Music show and the Wiggles are excellent examples.
Encouraging music in your children will help them developmentally. Children who play and sing regularly are more inclined to do better in school. They read better, are better at math and science and generally get along better with other children. They are much more likely to go to college as well.
As a parent we begin teaching our children long before they ever reach a classroom. We teach them their first language and many times their second one as well in multilingual households. Giving them a wide variety of musical genres is great for them. Whether you are playing music in the car or as you clean your house, they watch, listen and learn from everything you do. Having them take music classes at some point in their childhood is a phenomenal way to assure that they will be successful in life as musically oriented children tend to make better life choices later on.
When you choose and instrument for your child, take them to a music store with instructors and let the kids play with a few instruments to see what they like the most. This will let you know exactly where their interests lie and just what they can actually handle at their given age. There are certain instruments that will be too heavy for them, or for their small hands to handle. Also, there are a lot of instruments that have “child size” for those little guys to actually be able to learn on and play with proficiency. Violins are a perfect example of that. They come in really small sizes that are perfect for little fingers to play.
The violin is not easy to learn though. At least not as easy as learning the guitar, because drawing the bow across the strings is more difficult than plucking or strumming the strings is. Piano is a common instrument for children to begin learning to play, however if you don’t have one at home and can’t afford to buy one for them to practice on, you probably should choose something else. Learning to play an instrument requires lots and LOTS of practice.
Most schools have music class and usually the children learn how to play the recorder at some point, but it is not the same as private lessons. They do not get the one on one attention in a school classroom as they do from a private instructor. Add to that the music teachers in the school do not teach a variety of instruments either. It is very basic and only teaches them about music in general. Bear this in mind when you make your decision on whether or not to have them take lessons.
Freaky video mystery
This is kind of freaky. I want to know which one of the wives did it. It is a mystery song and video about a cheating man who pays for it with everything. Lately some of the songs I have heard have been very morbid, even in country music. I hope I hear some new feel good stuff too soon.
My music
I just bought a multi-port interface for recording my music where ever I go. Sometimes, I like to take my guitar out to the lake or down by the river and play. I like to record my songs and having a portable interface will help with that. I got the idea from my cousin, who had a band and they are always on the go. They like to record all over the place, so bought this and viola! They record their track where ever they want.
Good morning world wide web!
It is a nasty day outside, with lots of rain. We have so many errands to run and so little time to do it all. I think it is time to start the morning off with a little music. Lets see if I can get my music to post on here, so you can listen in with me as well.
Country music
Written by my friend Constance Hayden
I used to watch music videos very rarely. I used to watch MTV when I was in high school and enjoyed any kind of video. However, ever since we got satellite TV from www.expertsatellite.com, I watch country music videos pretty frequently. The other day, my son and daughter, who are both toddlers, were dancing to the music video for the song that says “Country girl shake it for me.” I was laughing so hard and luckily I was able to catch it with our video camera. It is so funny to me to watch kids dance because I always think about the fact that they learned their dance moves from someone. My husband was mildly concerned when I showed him the video of our kids dancing because he thinks that they should not be listening to that kind of music. I told him that country music is pretty clean and that I would much rather they dance to country music than rap music, or even rock music. Either way, they looked pretty cute dancing in front of the TV.
In Search of New Music
Finding new music is getting hard to do because I don’t listen to the radio very much anymore. When I drove to work I used to listen to the radio. But now that I am out of work, I am limiting my driving to just the bare necessities. I stay home as much as I can to save money until I can find a new job.
When I am home, I don’t seem to think about turning on the radio very much. To be honest, I usually turn on the TV just so the newscasters can keep me company while I do my housework.
I do listen to the cable music channel, but their channels are not like the radio with a good mix of music, and you can’t skip the songs if you don’t like them.
I need to find a new way to hear new music – I am sure there are really good new groups out there – but how do they get their music to my ears?
Sing-a-longs
My grandfather used to play the piano at family gatherings and we would all sing along to a lot of fun songs. I loved the music class in school, too. Its a good thing most schools have some kind of music enrichment for kids.
I especially loved the times when we could sing songs in the round. Do you remember any of the songs like, “Row, row, row your boat?”