Birdie Lullaby - Song and Pictures Celebrating Peanut and her life

Musical Puzzle Pieces of Who I Was and Who I Am

In my childhood and teenage years, music meant everything to me.  I took as many music classes as possible. Participated in Youth Symphonies and a variety of band camps.  I wrote a lot of love songs.  After spending 4 years in the Army Band, I burnt out and set my music aside for a while, a long while....Wandering down a path without melodies.  I did not realize that along this path  I was loosing a pieces of myself.

After several years, I started putting the pieces back little by little and today I feel as though I am almost myself again!  I am now now playing my oboe, writing songs, singing jazz standards, and performing in front of others in casual environments.  I am reaching beyond what I have done before.  I intend to learn how to make oboe reeds, become a marketable musician, and learning how to publish my own songs.  

As the puzzle pieces comes together, I want to make sure to glue each piece down this time.  I do not want to lose this important part of myself again. With music in my life, I am happier because I know that music connects me to God's purpose for my life.

Tribute to Community Colleges

Creativity the Way of the Future

One reason "the arts" are so important is because creativity is the skill that helps a person to be forward thinking enough to change with the rapid flow of information. This can be a tremendous asset to the business they end up working for. Companies are going to be on the look out for sharp creative people that think outside of the box and will keep their company competitive with the ever changing business environment. Teaching students to take tests and think exactly like eachother may not be the best route of education. Thank goodness for the arts that encourage exploration and creative thinking.

Contests: How does the child view their work?

I remember when my brother won a contest and was upset. I didn't understand until recently. A lot of times a student will merely do what they have to do to turn in an assignment and may not consider it their "best" work. An adult or parent views this work and decides it is worthy of submission to a contest and often don't even ask the student if they wish to participate. The student wins and gets upset.
When this type of scenario happens, often no one understands why the student was upset. The adult didn't ask the student how they felt about their work. The art that an adult may view as fantastic was perhaps thrown together at the last minute and not the best that the student could do and although the adult thinks it great the student is unhappy with the work. So to my "little big brother" I understand now why the poem I thought was terrific, was not one you wanted published. I see your wonderful photographic art now and see truly how amazing your are.
Adults that wish to see their child's work entered in a contest, do your kid a favor and ask permission. If they say "no", respect them and leave it alone.

Artist in us All

Many adults claim that they have no artistic ability. Why is this? Yet Elephants can be artists. Monkeys can be artists. hmmm. If primitive animals can be artists why can't we? Perhaps in their young life they never had the opportunity to build confidence in their abilities. Or maybe they looked at something they drew compared it to a peer and decided they were not worthy to attempt to draw.
There seems to be a window of opportunity for a young child to develop esteem in art, before they get to the age of influence and self doubt. If somehow this could esteem could be built strong enough to withstand heavy critism, peer comparison, and downright cruel judgement their art could survive into their adulthood. If art stays part of a person throughout their life they will have a wonderful coping tool to help them be a more mentally healthy individual in their future. Art therapy is used frequently in child therapy sessions and adult sessions as well.
When making comments about children's art I'd like to offer a few suggestions (these ideas stem from my Montessori training and background).

1. It is absolutely inappropriate to mock a child's work. There are many phases of development and arms will not always be sticking out of the sides of the head.

2. Try not to make assumptions, but ask questions to allow the child to explain their work.

3. If a child asks you if you like the work it is a good idea to ask them how they feel about it. It is their work and they should not try to make work in order to please you but for their own satisfaction (this will help in many areas of their life as they develop!)

4. Try to refrain from praising but acknowledge their efforts. Don't just say "Good job!" but instead ,"You spent a lot of time on this, you must feel good about all your hard work."

5. Remember it should be fun!

Why not the whole piano?

Often students are taught to play only 10 keys on the piano at a time. This of course is good for learning hand positions; however, I always encouraged my students to explore the whole piano in addition to the hand position exercises. It is absolutely amazing how young children can discover patterns, derrive unique rhythms, and use the instrument to tell a story. So much can be learned by exporing the instrument that can be even more valuable than what a teacher can teach. This type of learning also must develop and stimulate problem solving skills as the explorer is involved in such concentration as they seek to understand the instrument.