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July 2015
Music Notes
“Music tells us who we are.”
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Why Students Really Quit Their Musical Instrument (and How Parents Can Prevent It) Below are some of the top reasons students quit playing and music, and see if we can help students avoid these pitfalls. 1.
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Parents don’t treat music as important as other subjects. The sad truth is that many non-music teachers and administrators do not find music equally as important as math or English language-arts — but parents must. Music is a core subject…period. The more parents treat it as such, the less students will quit. Students don’t know how to get better. Without the proper tools and practice habits to get better at anything, students will become frustrated and want to quit. Teachers must teach students why, how, where, and when to practice, and parents must obtain minimal knowledge about how students learn music in order to properly support them at home. Parents and students think they aren’t musically talented. Sure, there are some kids who pick up an instrument
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and sound decent immediately, but they will hit a wall later and have to work hard to overcome it. Most everyone else won’t sound that great at first. Playing a musical instrument is a craft that, if practiced correctly, is something all children can find success in. Students discontinue playing over the summer. Statistics show that students who do not read over the summer find themselves extremely behind once school starts — the same goes for playing an instrument! A year of musical instruction can quickly go down the tubes over the summer vacation if students do not find small ways to play once in a while. Picking up an instrument for the first time after a long layoff can be so frustrating that a student will not want to continue into the next school year. The instrument is in disrepair. A worn down cork, poor working reed, or small dent can wreak havoc on a child’s playing ability. Sometimes the malfunction is so subtle that the student thinks they are doing something wrong, and frustration mounts. Students,
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parents and teachers need to be aware of the basics of instrument maintenance and be on top of repairs when needed. There is not enough “fun” music to practice. It’s very important for parents to be aware of music that interests their child, because it exists in sheet music form for download or purchase. It’s important that all students play music that is aligned to their interests in addition to other pieces that are worked on in school. Other activities are pulling at the child. Between art lessons, sports, karate, and other activities, parents grow weary of having “one more thing” to be on top of schedulewise. Parents need to understand that the enduring social and psychological benefits of music are as enormous as those of sports — in the same and different ways. Also, if music is a class in school, then school obligations should be priorities. Budget time accordingly and children will have 10 minutes a day to practice an instrument, for sure.
http://www.musicparentsguide.com/2015/02/17/studentsreally-quit-musical-instrument-parents-can-prevent/
Note from Fern: School's out and it's officially summer! Marking the start of Making Music & More's summer each year, the annual competition and recital last month went very well. It was great to see so many of you and take time to reflect on students' hard work over the past year. I am looking forward to seeing many of you over the summer, plus we have some fun musical things planned. Regardless, don't forget about those instruments, and I hope to see you all back in the fall. Have an excellent month, and as always, thank you for allowing me to bring music into your lives! - Fern
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Music Notes, July 2015 Updates from Making Music & More:
History of the "Star Spangled Banner"
(Below): Rich Cox plays for residents at Elm Terrace Gardens on June 13.
(Above): Tricia Knopka and student, Eliza Dennis, perform music made famous by Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald at Elm Terrace Gardens. We also made flip flop fly swatters! One Love One Heart
Fun Music Facts & Quotes:
Out of many, one people
Instrument Feature: Composer’s Corner: Visit our website (www.musicandmorepa.com) for links to sheet music from this month’s composer.
One Love One Heart is partnering with two Jamaican schools in need to collect school supplies for Fall 2015. We are still collecting the following school supplies: Notebooks Pencils Pencil Sharpeners Erasers Rulers Crayons Magic Markers Construction Paper Chalk Glue Sticks Scissors Softback books Flashcards Items will be collected by Making Music and More. Pick-ups can be coordinated directly through Fern by emailing
[email protected] or calling 267-980-0706.
Fun Fact: The Star-Spangled Banner became the US national anthem in 1931. Prior to that, it was My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” which had the same melody as Britian’s national anthem God Save the Queen, which is based on music written by John Bull in 1619.
America's national anthem. The words were written by Francis Scott Key during the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British in the War of 1812. The music was composed in 1777 by John Stafford Smith, an Englishman, as a setting for a poem. Union soldiers sang it during the Civil War, and American soldiers sang it during World War I. But it wasn't the official national anthem until March 3, 1931, when President Herbert Hoover signed a bill naming it so.
Modest Mussorgsky (1839 – 1831)
Modest Mussorgsky was born in the Russian village of Karevo. His mother gave him his first piano lessons, and it was clear early on that Mussorgsky was a very good pianist. Modest went to military boarding school, and when he graduated, he joined the army as an officer. Then, Mussorgsky started studying music with Russian composer Mily Balakirev, and left the army to become a composer. He was part of a group of five Russian composers known as "The Five," or the "Mighty Handful." But Mussorgsky had a hard time making a living as a composer, especially after his family lost all its money. So he got a government job, and continued to spend all his spare time composing. In addition to his instrumental music, Mussorgsky wrote songs, and several operas. His operatic masterpiece is "Boris Godunov," about a Russian Tsar who lived in the 1500's. http://www.classicsforkids.com/composers
String Bass The String Bass is the largest member of the string family. It is also known as the contrabass, upright bass, bull fiddle, bass fiddle, bass violin, or just bass. In our modern orchestra it is common to see eight string basses. It plays the lowest notes of any instrument in the string family and an octave lower than the cello. The original String Bass appeared in the early 1500's along with the rest of the string family. Its design changed a lot over the next three or four centuries. In the 18th century they experimented with the number of strings. They tried three strings … nope, too few. Then five strings … nope, too many. Then four strings … perfect! During this same time, instrument builders also enjoyed constructing super-sized String Basses. They required two people to play them; one to finger the notes and another to hold the bow. A few of these super-sized String Basses still survive in museums. Save the Date End of Summer Recital
August 15, 2015 at 2:00 pm Elm Terrace Gardens 660 N Broad St Lansdale, PA 19446
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Music Notes, July 2015
Making Music & More's Annual Recital & Competition
Competition Winners
Alexandra Meyer
Julia Coco
Thanks to everyone who made a donation to One Love One Heart! We are so grateful for all the school supply donations we have received so far!
Matthew Kaplan
Know someone itching to learn music? Give them a Making Music & More, LLC gift certificate!
The winners of our raffle were: Owusu Family - $10 iTunes gift card Kaplan Family - $10 iTunes gift card Boyce Family - $25 Music & Arts gift card Goldoor Family - Grand Prize: Free music lessons valued at $140.00
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7/10 – Making Music & More for Seniors – 10:30 am, 1:30pm 7/13 – Musicians on the Movie – Vocal/Guitar 7 pm
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