Events for the Weekend of July 25th

The Belin Quartet will be playing a free concert featuring music by Antonin Dvorak on Friday

 July 25th at 12:15pm at the Des Moines Social Club Courtyard

The AAU Junior Olympics are being held in Des Moines and you can attend the events for an entire day for only $12. Children six and under enter for free. For event location details, click below.

 Don't miss the Des Moines Community Playhouse's performance of Shrek the Musical.
For more information and to purchase tickets, click on the picture below.

Paper Plates Tambourine

Good morning! Today I'll be showing you how to make an easy, fun and not too loud music instrument craft. I bet you have most of these materials at home already.
You will need:

• Two sturdy paper plates
• Scissors
• Glue (I used my hot glue gun because I couldn't find just regular white glue)
• Ribbon, the thinner the better
• A lighter to sear the ends of the ribbon
• A single hole punch
• Bells

After you've gathered all of your materials, glue two paper plates with the "hollow" sides facing each other. Wait for the glue to dry and flatten out one of the paper plates to make the hole punching easier. Make a few hole punches around the plates (I made seven). To make the tambourine unique, you can paint the paper plates or decorate with stickers.

Cut the amount of ribbons needed to match the holes you made in the plates, in this case, seven. Sear the edges of the ribbons with your lighter so they won't fray. If you'd rather not use a lighter around the kiddos, do this before hand or use a no-fray glue. Thread the ribbon through the bells and then through the holes in the plates. 

Here's the finished tambourine a bit bigger. 

Now, go on and make some fun tambourine music. Here are some videos to inspire you.

DIY Popsicle Stick Harmonica

Hi everyone. For this week's musical craft I will be showing you how to make a harmonica using popsicle sticks or tongue depressors.
This is a super fast craft that your children can customize very easily.
Here's what you'll need:

• Rubber Bands. I got a bag of colored rubber bands in different size at Dollar General
• Popsicle Sticks. These are from Michaels. You can unfinished ones and color them with tempera, markers or spray paint.

• Cardstock
• Tape
• Scissors

First, cut two small squares from the card stock, between 1 and a half and two inches. Fold them three times and stick one piece of rolled tape on each folded square. You want to make sure you have there is tacky part all over as you'll be sticking the paper to both of the popsicle sticks.

You can write your child's name with glitter glue, decorate the sticks with stickers stickers, draw on them or use a stencil.

Stick the squares to one popsicle stick and wrap a large rubber band on the other. Place the stick with the rubber band over the one with the card stock squares and secure the ends by wrapping a thinner rubber band on both ends.

To play, place your mouth on the harmonica with the single rubber band facing up. By pinching the ends, inhaling or biting on the harmonica, it will play different pitches.

Here are some examples of great harmonica playing. Enjoy!

Straw Pan Flute

You will need:

• Eight Plastic Straws (the thinner, the better)
• Scissors
• Pen or Marker
• Clear Tape
• Ruler

Mark all the straws: 8 inches and progressively one inch less for each one.

Cut them at the marks, align them and tape them together. They should look like this

The Museum of Science and Industry Chicago has a great post guiding you how to play some popular children's songs on these straw pan flutes. Have fun!

Events for the Weekend of June 26th

Free Flicks: City of Des Moines Park and Recreation will project Honey I Shrunk the Kids at Jordan Park Friday the 26th at 9pm. Admission is free; you may bring snacks.

Des Moines Arts Festival: Friday through Saturday 11am to 10pm at Western Gateway Park, 

Sunday 11am to 5pm. Fireworks will be at 10pm on Saturday.

Shoebox Guitar

Materials Needed

• Shoebox
• Gift Wrapping Paper
• Paper Towel Roll
• Six Rubber Bands
• Dry Cleaner's Cardboard Hanger Protector Tube
• Scissors
• Exacto

Before wrapping the box you'll need to cut two holes: one in the middle of the lid 

and one on the side of the box

Now, watch this video on how to wrap a shoebox

Insert the paper towel tube into the hole on the side of the box and glue 

the small cardboard tubes as seen in the picture

Wrap six rubber bands around the box

That's all you need to do. You can  use a paper clip as a guitar pick

Events for the Weekend of June 20th

Pioneer Wedding at Living History Farms: Ever wondered what a wedding in 1850 was like? 

Visit Living History Farms on June 21st. Must purchase tickets. 

Superheroes Pedaling for Prevention Family Bank Ride: Dress up in your favorite superhero costume to support the prevention of child abuse in Iowa. Event begins at Water Works Park at 9am.

Music Under the Stars: Free Des Moines Metro Concert Band and Metro Big Band Concert on Sunday, June 22nd at 7pm.

Events for the Weekend of June 13th

Iowa Shakespeare Experience: The Tempest
Come to the Simon Estes Riverfront Amphitheater for a night of free Shakespeare under the stars! Gates open at 6pm for those who wish to picnic. Curtain is at 7:30pm. Not familiar with The Tempest? Read a short synopsis here.

We Will Rock You

The Queen Musical will close this Sunday the 15th. Availability is best  for the Sunday evening performance. Get your tickets through  Des Moines Performing Arts.

Art Exhibits: Brunnier Art Museum

The Iowa State University Museums in Ames are presenting several exhibitions this weekend. Standouts are: The Art of China and Japan and Word Symbols and Modern Art. Exhibits are open between 11am and 4pm. 

Toilet Paper Opera Glasses

Happy Tuesday! Today's musical craft is a pair of toilet paper opera glasses. Here's what you will need:

• Two Toilet Paper Rolls
• Scissors
• Glue
• Stapler
• Single Hole Punch
• Washi Tape, Construction Paper or Gift Wrapping Paper
• Yarn
• Optional
• Pen
• Ruler

1. Wrap both tubes with the Washi tape. Make sure to start and end the wrapping on the same spots. This section will be hidden once you join up the rolls. My Washi tape was too thick to cover the last itty-bitty portion so I cut it. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Glue the rolls together and let them dry. I stapled the top and bottom of them too for extra security. 
   
   
   
   
   
3. Make two single holes on each toilet paper roll like seen below. 
   
   
   
   
   
4. Cut a piece of yarn long enough for your child to hold the opera glasses in front of their eyes, between 25 to 28 inches. Tie the piece of yarn into knots. That's it! 
   
   
   

Here's the finished craft. I also made another one with pretty gift wrapping paper. You can use construction paper and decorate it if you don't have any wrapping paper. Just cut two 5.75" by 4.25"pieces of paper, glue them on the rolls and follow steps 2 to 4 above.

Here it is in video form 

How to Keep Young Piano Students Excited about Music during the Summer

I have a four year-old student who has only had two lessons with me and they have now left for a two-week vacation. Her mom asked me what they could do during their trip to keep the excitement high but most important, to make sure what she learned during our two lessons was retained.

I suggested some apps and worksheets but felt inspired to write a post because this is a question I receive frequently from parents.

First of all, if you feel the student can handle some new pieces and concepts with their parents’ guidance, go ahead and give them instructions on what to practice every week. For example:

Week 1 - Lesson book page X, theory book page X, technique book page X

Week 2 - Lesson book page Y, theory book page Y, technique book page Y

Don’t forget to remind the parents that almost every lesson book page has a corresponding theory, technique, performance, etc page and they will be able to find those at the bottom of either the lesson book pages or the complementary book’s pages.

Supplementary Materials

If your student has a particular weak point, you could  explore some of the worksheets available for download or purchase at lesson plan marketplaces like Teachers Pay Teachers or Lesson Plan Pro.

My four year-old student is just learning her finger numbers so I suggested to her mom to visit The Plucky Pianista and download her Froggy Fingers worksheet. I’ve used it with my most recent new students and have had a ton of success. If your student is more into games, Susan Paradis has a couple of them for learning finger numbers. My favorite ones are:
Firefighter Finger Numbers
Finger Number Bingo
Colorful Fingers

I have also created a set of flashcards to practice finger number recognition and placement on the keyboard.

Free iPad Apps

I own and iPad and and iPhone so I haven’t been able to try out the apps available for the Android platform.

Rhythm Cat

This is great for beginners to feel the beat internally. Students have to wait for the count off and tap the green button for the necessary duration. Each level has an accompaniment to make the exercises more interesting.

                         

  

StoryBots: Tap & Sing

This app includes a few free songs and you can buy some more through the app. There are 15 “bots” and they each play a different pitch. When the player is ready to play the song, one bot will light up and raise its hand to let him know to touch it. It’s a fun version of a light up keyboard. The app offers the option of having the bots sing the pitches on “la”, note names or solfege syllables.

  

The Blob Choir

This is a bonus one. It’s a silly ear-training app to introduce tonal memory. There are three “blobs” and their “king blob”. The three blobs sing three different pitches and then the king blob will sing a pitch that matches one of the blobs’; choose the correct one and move to the next exercise.

Events for the Weekend of June 6th

Hello everyone! This is my first very first post. Every Thursday I will post information on local metro Des Moines events you can attend as a family and on Tuesdays I will post a fun musical craft you can make with your children.
I will post practice tips, lesson plans, free supplemental teaching materials and other goodies, so make sure to sign up for updates!

OK, here are this weekend's events

Farmers Market! Find a list of all Iowa Farmers Markets here.

Star Party at the Science Center. June 7th at 9pm. Join the SCI staff for a FREE after 

hours observation of the moon 

Summer Sunday Concert: Fiddler Chicks. June 8th at 7pm. 

Come to Ames' Roosevelt Park for an evening of bluegrass music.