LPM Recital

Each year, my Let's Play Music classes prepare and look forward to our annual end of the year recital. This year is unique, in that the recital will consist of just my students (not combined with other teachers, as in the past) and the recital will be comprised of all 3 years of students. Parents and students will be able to view the whole scope of the program through the 3 classes of performances. The 3rd year students will be performing their own composition which is the culminating accomplishment of the Let's Play Music program! 

Mark your calendars now for:

Thursday, May 3rd @ 6:30pm

Museum Of Making Music

5790 Armada Drive, Carlsbad, CA 92008

{2011 - Layla 1st year, Me & Gavin 2nd year}

Because all 3 years of classes will be performing, here are some things to keep in mind.

We are not a performing group, so the purpose of the recital is to showcase what we have learned over the year and provide an opportunity for each child to perform for an audience in an ensemble.

Helpful Reminders:

1. Parents and students should plan to stay for the ENTIRE evening of performances. The recital should be about 45 minutes long.

2. Arrive early (20-30 minutes) to secure your seat and help your child prepare and not feel rushed.

3. Attire for students should be clean and "dressy".  Slacks and button up shirts for boys and dresses for girls are appropriate.

4. Bring any instruments and/or books needed for performance.

5. Refrain from talking during the performance and be sure to silence cell phones.

6. Picture taking and video taping is permitted, but be mindful of those around you watching the performance.

7. If smaller children are struggling with sitting or staying relatively quiet, please take them into the hall or back of the room until they are able to return quietly.

8. Applause is welcome and loved by the students. Give applause often and generously!

9. Feel free to invite any family and friends to watch the performance!

I think that's it for now! Let me know if you have any questions. 

I look forward to this special evening of music!

Sound Beginnings!

It's finally here.... 

Let me introduce you to 

Let's Play Music's newest curriculum addition: 

Sound Beginnings

Our newest curriculum designed for 2-4 year old children. Where moms and kids learn to play and interact in a nurturing, loving way. Folk songs, finger plays, story books, and circle games delight children as they have for centuries. Leave the digital, plastic world behind and come to a place where human touch is the best teacher. Nestled safely in beautiful music, is the curriculum that is a sound beginning.

Philosophy

Children learn best when they feel loved and nurtured. This fact is the core of the Sound Beginnings philosophy. Sound Beginnings provides the structure for natural play between a mother and her child. Taking us back to days before electronic stimulus, buttons and screens, Sound Beginnings gives the mother the tools to connect with her child on an intimate, playful level. These tools, both musical and literary, provide a solid framework for a child to learn, thrive and flourish.

See the Let's Play Music website to read more about how we involve full body movement in our teaching & use music to teach music in a group setting! All of this is accomplished within a fun and play based curriculum!

• For Parents
• F. A. Q.'s

Classes will begin this Fall and I am currently taking wait list applicants. I anticipate these classes to fill up quickly, so email me your info if you are interested!

~Allison

allibrowning@gmail.com

Let's Play Music Article

Check out this awesome article on Let's Play Music's 

growth in Utah County!

Click right HERE!

Playing music can be good for your brain!

"Stanford University research has found for the first time that musical training improves how the brain processes the spoken word, a finding that researchers say could lead to improving the reading ability of children who have dyslexia and other reading problems.

The study, made public Wednesday, is the first to show that musical experience can help the brain improve its ability to distinguish between rapidly changing sounds that are key to understanding and using language.

The research also eventually could provide the "why" behind other studies that have found that playing a musical instrument has cognitive benefits.

"What this study shows, that's novel, is that there's a specific aspect of language ... that's changed in the minds and brains of people with musical training," said researcher John Gabrieli, a former Stanford psychology professor now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

"Especially for children ... who aren't good at rapid auditory processing and are high-risk for becoming poor readers, they may especially benefit from musical training."

What's promising about the study, researchers believe, is the notion that the brain isn't an immutable organ fixed at birth but is adaptable -- that, with training, people can change their mental agility. The study focused on adults, but researchers want to expand the scope of their work to children as early as next summer.

All the research was performed at Stanford in 2004 and was presented Wednesday at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. It will be published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences in December.

The researchers used adults -- from 28 to 40 individuals, depending on the part of the study -- divided into musicians and non-musicians matched by age, sex, general language ability and intelligence. To qualify, the musicians must have started playing an instrument before age 7 and never stopped, practicing several hours every week.

Researchers first had the two groups listen to three tone sequences of different pitches in rapid succession. As the various tone sequences were played faster and faster, the musicians outperformed the non-musicians in their ability to distinguish among the tones. Functional magnetic resonance imaging scanners, or fMRIs, showed that the musicians had more focused, efficient brain activity as they did this.

The researchers then examined how musicians and non-musicians processed similar word syllables, like "da" and "ba." A person has only a 40,000th of a second to differentiate between the two sounds when the physical signal hits the ear, and the musicians made those rapid auditory distinctions more accurately and quickly than non-musicians did.

November 17, 2005|By Carrie Sturrock, Chronicle Staff Writer

First Day of Class - Fall 2011

We are on our way to an amazing year filled with fun and music!

I finally remembered to capture the kids on their first day of class this year. I love seeing their faces when everything is brand new - the songs, the games, the treats! My favorite part of the first day of class is seeing their faces during the puppet shows. So fun!

Purple Magic with their magic pixie stick wands!

RB Morning Class

Red Balloons with their red balloon suckers!

RB Afternoon Class

It seems I'm missing our Green Turtle Shells class! I'll have to get a picture of them soon. Here is a picture of the sweet treat they got after we finished our Turtle Shell mambo!

{via Betty Crocker}

The Next Mozart? 6-year old Pianist