Tag Archives: Blogging101

Summer Camp Week Two: Tuesday

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Today’s activity can be seen displayed as the new banner across the top of this blog.

I printed out a blank piano keyboard for the children to colour. So far E (my 4-year-old) is the only one who has completed hers, so it is her version you see at the top of the page. I gave her suggestions for which colours she should colour each note and showed her where to find them.

Six-year-old L is already working on finding her way around the keyboard, so I’ll be asking her to find all the Cs herself and colour them a certain colour, and so on with D, E, F…

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Summer Camp Week One: Follow-up Friday

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Here we are at the end of our first week of summer camp. Just being accountable for prioritising a musical activity each day has been such a positive thing for our family and I’m so excited to share these ideas with… well, whoever might be reading.

On Monday we collected together our instruments and just made some noise! I’m delighted to say that the ‘Family and Friends Music Club’ was created in this session and continues to jam together regularly. Just keeping the instruments together and easily accessible has made an instant difference to the amount of music-making going on in our house. Follow up activities so far have included crafting band posters and sign-up sheets. Maybe we’ll sell some tickets next…

Tuesday was turn-taking day. When I originally wrote the post I included the Pete Seeger version of Let Everyone Clap Hands Like Me – partly because I enjoy it, and partly in case anyone wasn’t familiar with the melody. However, as we already knew the song, I only played that version to my kids a day or so later when I was showing them what I’d been up to with the blog. They loved it! We’ll follow up that activity with a visit to the library for more Pete Seeger CDs for sure!

Wednesday was a day for talking about working musicians and what they do. We continue to discuss that as we listen to music and consider how it was produced. On a personal note, the kids are enthused about helping me set up my music studio; they are busy making plans for teaching younger siblings while I’m working!

Yesterday we made a rhythm chooser, and there have already been requests to follow that up with many more choosers/fortune tellers for everything from jumping-jack challenges to gaining control of the TV remote.

Did you join in with any of the activities this week? If so, did they lead you in any interesting directions? Please let me know in the comments.

I’m not planning to blog at the weekends on the whole, but I might have a bonus post for tomorrow if I get time…

What’s in a name (and a tagline?)

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Day two of my blog and I’m already tinkering with the title.

What was ‘Julia Andrews Music’ yesterday is now ‘Family and Friends Music Club’, at least for the time being.

My original choice to use my own name was an attempt to be more recognisable to anyone considering taking music lessons with me. However, for now, this blog is more about sharing musical ideas and having fun; hopefully the new name will match the content a bit more closely.

I’m intending to post about a musical activity/idea most days during the summer break. Today’s musical activity developed into my three children forming a band which my eldest named ‘Family and Friends Music Club’ – and thus the blog was reborn. Let’s see if I can let it grow a little before the next name change…

Getting started

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Thanks for stopping by!

I’m a piano teacher and editor of children’s reference books.  Please stick around for musical ideas and discussion particularly focusing on music for young children and early piano/keyboard skills.

In the short term I’ll be here teaching a virtual summer camp – sharing a short post to add a little music to each day.

And in the longer term I’ll be uploading details of my teaching schedule and availability along with material to supplement lessons and more musical miscellany.