I don’t watch the news.  And when I listen to it on NPR, it’s usually in five-minute increments. The older I get, the less tolerance I have for being bombarded by pain from every corner of the globe.

Some years ago, I had a conversation with an older woman who grew up in the rural south. She heard her first radio broadcast at the age of sixteen. “The announcer related that there had been a murder,” she said, “and then, in the exact same tone of voice, went on to say that today, the weather

When choosing which music to use with children, how do you decide when to introduce new songs and when to repeat a song the children have already heard?  At what point does the scale tip for children from anticipation to boredom?  Music exposure researchdiscusses how music preference changes over time and in relation to the complexity of the music stimulus.  Two elements that have been investigated are:

1. How many times a person hears the song, and
2. How complex the song is.

If a new

Movies and novels used to be my bread and butter . . . but not in the last ten years. I think about the characters, and I spend enough time thinking about clients, friends, and family without adding a host of fictional people to the list.  And, as I wrote in my last entry, No News Is . . . , I can find sheer amount of suffering in any given half hour of the news to be overwhelming.
But among the things I do like to watch, at times, is a BBC series called The Vicar of Dibley, which aired

My little ones in Kindergarten just celebrated several huge milestones. Two weeks ago we had our 100^th day celebration- WOW!  They were incredibly excited and enjoyed scavenger hunts, treats, and costumesThey each presented their collections of 100 things. I loved stopping by to see their puzzles, Lego creations and jars of buttons!

I always love to piggyback on the K celebrations in the Music room. I’m so fortunate to work with  amazing professionals in the Kindergarten area that keep me

Misconceptions about Listening

The word ‘listening’ means different things to different people. As a result, it is prone to all sorts of preconceived and erroneous ideas. In the next few posts, let’s explore five of the most common misconceptions that we encounter in our work. This will help us all more clearly define what listening is and what it does.

We are constantly bombarded with myriads of sounds coming from both the environment and our own body. This constant exposure is hearing. Thankfully, hearing is not ‘on’ all the time as it would drive us crazy! But, unlike the eyes, the ears do not have eyelids. They are equipped with a mechanism which permits us to ‘scoop’ the sound information we want and leave out those we do not want.

While hearing is passive, non discriminative and involuntary, listening is active and it involves the

How do we know when an infant likes a song or sound? Will she immediately bounce up and down and smile? Sometimes, yes, but other times an infant is integrating or “soaking in” the new stimuli she has just been exposed to and doesn’t seem to have any response at all.

What about infants who cry when they hear new music? Does that automatically mean he dislikes the song and never wants to hear it again? How do you know what your infant is trying to communicate to you with these various

One of the sweetest scenes in my early childhood classes takes place when I take my 2-year-olds from their classroom to the music room. We line up on the appropriate floor icons before heading across the hall as I sing a "Follow Me In A Line" song.

Anyone who has tried to lead 2 year olds in a line know what I am about to describe. "Herding Kitties" might be a pretty good description. They cluster together, stop to scratch, slow down to touch the picture of the cow on the wall, run ahead to

Did you know that infants show preferences for music they hear in the womb? The establishment of music preferences is fascinating. Many researchers have looked at different facets of music preferences along the life span.

To first establish a preference of music, infants have to be able to attend to different features of music. Infants have the ability to activate music they prefer to hear with foot switches and in mobiles as young as 3 months old and can remember what they have to do to

... you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.

Sometimes I think  I hit my head against the wall because it feels so good when I stop.

Ah, the joys of colleagues. I’ve become part of a small Professional Learning Community. Last week was our first meeting , and while we didn’t solve every problem in the musical world we had a great discussion. And, it was lovely to remember how truly talented and professional some of my fellow music teachers are!

This week I hit a wall with my intermediate