How a song can help shape how we look forwards and backwards Loud noises and firecrackers, the symbolic cleansing of your home just before midnight, the hanging of onions on doors, and the burning at midnight of effigies representing the bits of the past year you didn’t like? Just some examples of things we do to ward off those bad vibes at the end of the year, leaving the path clear for the new year Read more…
Deck the Halls originally had nothing to do with Christmas. Instead, and as with so many songs written in the 17th century, Nos Galan, as it was called, was all about celebrating winter and the new year. And love, as you can see from this excerpt of the original Welsh lyrics: Oh! How soft my fair one’s bosom. To read the full post, go to: Deck the Halls
Two old friends, Franz, a teacher, and Joseph, a priest, get together in 1818 to write what turns out to be the beloved Christmas song, Silent Night. These days, it’s sung by more than two billion people each Christmas. To read the full post, go to: Silent Night
Jingle Bells is one of the most sung (and heard!) Christmas songs in the world. So let’s add to that, shall we?! Here’s your chance to sing Jingle Bells three different ways, with three different accompaniments, including a funk band. To read the full post, go to: Jingle all the way
Just as Dorothy has her three companions in the Wizard of Oz, so, too, are there three main ways notes in a melody can move as it travels along its own Yellow Brick Road. To read the full post, go to: Travelling along the yellow brick road
That first time you open your mouth to sing solo can be terrifying. But don’t let that stop you, and don’t let anyone else tell you not to do it, either. Time to reclaim your voice! To read the full post, go to: Falling backwards
A melody also creates a path, whether we’re singing/playing by ear (copying what you hear), ‘reading’ the notes, or simply listening. Instead of considering each note individually, think of them as being components of a path on a map moving from point A to B, and so on. To read the full post, go to: How to read and hear the ups and downs of a melody as if it were a map
Part of the beauty of music is that not only do we each experience (listen, hear, make) it differently, but its possibilities are infinite, meaning our curiosity may never be completely satisfied. To read the full post, go to: The power of curiosity to get you started and keep you going