Category Archives: Music

*This* is the type of music I love!

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(My first attempt at embedding YouTube video)

I got to see these guys live two days before Elisha was born. I remember feeling some Braxton-Hicks and being so sad. Even praying Not tonight, *please*!

A $30 ticket was part of that, but more it was just having heard some recordings before and wanting to *see* it. I loved finding these videos.

This was the first song I ever heard them play (on a CD I got from the Library). I find the coolness-factor of making this sound with only guitars just way up there.

This one you have to listen through– you won’t “get it” if you move on after 30-seconds.

Adding Music?

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Thinking with my fingertips again.
Attempting to ignore the sniffles, heartbroken, for my benefit, across the hall.

It’s nap-time.

~

Always in this state of constant reevaluation I’ve been looking again at music lessons/time for the girls. (My own regular time in practice has petered out and I am seeking for a way to reintegrate it.)

The poking around I call research has led me to some interesting new thoughts about children and instruments. I agree with the conclusion (per Suzuki) that parents can introduce anything that is important to them (I’m naturally thinking of Faith at this moment), but also agree with the author I link to above that the biggest problem in learning an instrument can be starting too early.

These ideas do mesh well enough. Cutietta attributes the problem to something calls learned helplessness: A child is “started” on an instrument (by his own or his parents’ choice) that she is not physically able to manipulate properly, and learns she can’t do it, no matter how had she tries.

Especially if the child is sensitive, this repeated failure despite effort saps his heart’s willingness to continue, so much that by the time he’s actually big enough, this child already “knows” he can’t do it, no matter how hard he tries.

This is a very similar phenomenon to the one I’ve heard where the baby elephant is trained that the ankle chain is too strong for him to break free of, and he continues to believe it is true even as an adult, when it no longer is.

Suzuki gets around this by training young children on instruments that have been sized especially for them.

~

With this in mind, I’ve avoided putting too much emphasis on “real” guitar playing, as even my Baby Taylor is too large for my girls.

At my husband’s suggestion (he was getting some sound-equipment for the church at the music store) I went and bought the girls a ukulele. It is a lovely size for them, and they enjoy playing it while I practice guitar.

Now I am poking around again, and trying to find if I can do something Suzuki-ish with ukulele.

My (currently) biggest difficulty is that the most-available resources (what I’ve found so far) all emphasize the Hawaiian roots (it was originally from Portugal, I understand) and, naturally, their music.

This is not at all interesting or motivating to my girls, because they have no familiarity with that type of music. (Smack me if you must, but I am not drawn to it either, which would be why they haven’t heard it.)

So… if any of my vast readership have any resources or ideas (my dad is on a cross-country trip or I would have started there) of how to adapt the ukulele to ear-training-based, classical (-ish) music, I’d be interested to hear it.

Next question (naturally) is proving it is important enough to move from desirable in the hierarchy to actively doing.

That remains to be seen.

That poor third verse…

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Does anyone else feel sorry for that neglected third verse in four-verse songs?

 It seems like it’s the consistent casualty in our culture’s affinity to 3s.

 (That’s one of my favorite things about the way my current church does hymns: we do *all* the verses.)

iPod Meme

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I’ve already got the feeling I’ll have at least as many book chapter titles as song titles.


Instructions:

1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn’t make sense. NO CHEATING!

How do you feel today?
The Passing of the Grey Company–The Return of the King (JRR Tolkien)

What’s your outlook on life?
Riddles in the Dark– The Hobbit (Tolkien)

What does your family think of you?
Soulin’ — Astra Kelly

What do your friends think of you?
He is a Song– Twila Paris

What do your exes think of you?
Sunrise– John Michael Talbot

How’s your love life?
Savior of my Heart– Sheila Walsh

How will your love life be in the future?
The Prophet– Michael Card

Will you get married?
Where Does My Help Come From– Shalom Jerusalem

Are you good at school?
The Queen of Narnia– The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis)

Will you be successful?
Stranded– Plumb

What song should they play on your birthday?
In the House of Tom Bombadil– Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) There is a *neat* instrumental with a similar title by Nickel Creek (is it?); a rollicking, lively tune that would be excellent for my birthday if someone wanted to send it my way…

What song should they play at your graduation?
The Black Gate is Closed– The Two Towers (Tolkien)

The Soundtrack of your life?
Happy all the Time– Baby’s Best Bible Songs

You and your best friends are?
Two Tragedies (Ouch!) — The Last Battle (Lewis)

Happy times:
Be Our Guest– Beauty and the Beast soundtrack (the stage musical)

Sad times:
Journey to the Crossroads– The Two Towers (Tolkien)

Every day:
Talking Beasts– Prince Caspian (Lewis)

For tomorrow:
The Storm and What Came of It– The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Lewis)

For you:
Murlough Bay— Iona

What does next year have in store for me?
Let the River Flow– Darrell Evens

What do I say when life gets too hard?
Tradition– Fiddler on the Roof

What song will I dance to at my wedding?
The Lord Reigns (Actually it was “We Rejoice in the Grace of God,” but this works too.)

What do you want as your career?
The Window on the West– The Two Towers (Tolkien)

Your favorite saying?
Be Bold and be Strong– Hosanna/Integrity

How will I die?
The Gentle Healer– Michael Card

This was a *kick*! Some of these are sooo thought provoking… others are just provoking ;o)

Lyric

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Though your life may seem to sound a dark and minor key,
It will someday shift itself to major.
And the lyric of your life will rhyme with nothing less than joy…

From a Michael Card song

I love musical metaphors. I don’t often see them.

This is from Poiema, a CD with several *good* songs, that I’ve had since High School. Just was thinking of that last line today.

Lines about Joy always catch my mind.

Finding Motivation in a Movie

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What Jay and I loved in the movie Music and Lyrics was the nuts and bolts of the musical elements.

If you don’t know already, the movie centers around an 80s has-been singer’s need to write a song in x-days for a currently popular singer, in order to revitalize his career. Add a female lyricist and you’ve got your forced interaction for your RomCom.

What none of the trailers (or even the set-up in the movie itself) prepared us for was the creating of the “demo” song.

That might have been the 2nd or 3rd greatest part in the whole movie (and there were some good lines).

You get to watch the guy playing each of the instruments, one after the other, and building the accompaniment track that the pair than sings their demo duet over.

Watching that, Jay was re-inspired to get back to playing piano. And wanting me to do more regular work on guitar.

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A “Mom-Song”

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I don’t know who wrote this. I first heard it on my sister’s tape, Dreamer: What Really Happened to Joseph

The sentiments of each line are not equally true for me each time I sing it (I’ve taken to skipping the “trying by myself” line, since I try hard not to), but over-all the lyrics and the tone (and my long association with it) make it a good piece for the middle of the night.

And for those times of a baby’s inconsolable tears.

Everything I Need
Lord I need you to be all the gentleness in me.
I’ve been trying by myself, struggling all alone.
From the very start I knew that I must depend on you.
Here I am, “depending on,” the rest is up to you.

Chorus
You’re everything I need for You to be.
You’re everything that shines inside of me.
*And I will have the strength to do
All you ask of me.*
I will always let you be
Everything I need for you to be.

Tonic for the “drags”

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I don’t know what everybody else calls it. I talk about someone being in a funk. I say I’m feeling “dragy.” Basically it’s that not- feeling-like-doing-anything that isn’t (I think) quite depression.

I was brainstorming about useful things to do when “down in the dumps” (another descriptor), and was surprised with how much I came up with. (This originally began as a comment elsewhere). So here’s my list of tips:

  • Put on “happy music,” whatever that is for you.
    • I found my happy music was the stuff I listened to in High School or college and hadn’t heard in a long time. It brought me a startling joy.
    • Pick music from a light era of yours.
    • A book I’ve been reading recently describes the reason books get fatter as you read them is because it preserves a part of you between the pages– like a pressed plant– the you that was, at the time you read it, and you see that former self whenever you re-read. That’s the way of me and music too.
    • ETA: Classical or folk instrumentals collected for children are a fantastic pick-me-up.

My dad loaned me the “Rhythmically Moving” series from his classroom for the summer– my kids had heard something on the radio they’d wanted to hear again.

I put the first one on while I was stressed-out and racing to finish dinner. Almost instantly I had to laugh. My mind was rebelling at the cognitive dissonance between my mood and the atmosphere. It was nearly like being in a river and resisting being moved by it.

Didn’t “fix” my stress, but it made me smile, even laugh, and that had to be healthy.

  • Start a new book, even if you haven’t finished your current one.
    • Anything you’re interested in will do, as long as you don’t feel obligated to finish it if it doesn’t suit you.
    • It may take a couple tries to find the right fit. (Write me if you want suggestions ;-))
    • This is where Books-on-tape are so essential to me now– with the three little ones I frequently feel I’m stealing from them to sit and read a whole novel.
  • Read “Good Poems” or Poem a Day V. 1.
    • Both of those are great for finding concise (no pages-long), interesting poems.
    • I’ve found the right poems to be tonic to me, because they were a sort of deep-thought pizza: Delivering filling new ideas and ways of looking at things, sparing me the effort of looking (cooking) for myself.
    • Very good for when I’m tired and can’t focus on longer or “more meaningful” works.
  • Do mindless research about something that interests you but you can’t act on.
      • I read about new-born and toddler care while I was pregnant the first time.
      • Last fall (after Grandma died) I started reading a lot about dogs. Still do, occasionally– though I won’t be able to get one until the end of April. Or later.
    • I found this activity helpful because engaged my mind without the obligation to do more. I couldn’t/can’t do more at the time of the research.

These probably won’t pull you out of a funk (If you can get the energy to clean, the activity and the result very frequently can), but they will help you tread water while you’re there. Sort of help keep you afloat.

There are those times when that’s all you’re looking for.

Thinking About What Children’s Songs are Saying

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(I can’t believe this is my first post about music. Music is a *big* part of my life. But so is eating, and sleeping, and I don’t blog about those, so… Anyway.)

As a word-person I’ve always been very clear on any song’s lyric and content before letting my kids hear me sing it. My tip/challenge (as the nit-picky, literal-interpretor I can be):

Don’t just sing “children’s” songs because they’re children’s songs. Make sure you agree with their message too.

Many of them are sweet, and we can sing things that go over their heads if we feel like it, but at least let’s not be unaware.

The types of things I’ve modified:

  • Down by the Bay— the fun rhyming-song Raffi made popular (I’m not sure who wrote it.)
    • DH inserted, “back to my home I want to go” (replacing “Back to my home I dare not go.” Don’t we want our kids thinking coming home will be fun?).
  • Row Your Boat
    • Changed the last line to “life is full of dreams” (replacing “Life is but a dream,” an unhealthy philosophy that’s been around for centuries.)
  • Lavender’s Blue (dilly dilly)
    • “Call out your men, set them to work… while you and I… keep ourselves warm.”  (Oh, look, a new euphemism for Mom and Dad  to use.)
    • It makes me smile but also is something I don’t much want my kids singing.

Am I word-obsessed? You could argue that. Over-analyzing?  Probably.

But these are words I’m planting in my young children’s minds as the way things are. They know the bit about “A llama eating pajamas” is nonsense, because of the context, but they are only just entering the age where we can say, this part is real, and this part isn’t. And I’ve been singing to them their whole lives.

And they’re *really* not ready to understand that philosophy (somebody want to remind me of the name? I’ve mis-placed my book).

I prefer just to avoid the stuff I don’t want to explain later. And that, I guess, is my “standard” for now.

More ideas at Rocks in my Dryer.

~~~

Added 2-3-07:

If you’re looking for a playable collection of children’s songs here are a bunch with chords.