August 1, 2012 chat on music
Marta BP: Good evening from Portugal ;)
Capn Franko: Wow! Spain and Portugal are both signed in!
Robin B.: Pretty good, Cap'n Franko!
Robin B.: And Canada, by way of U.S.A. :-)
JessicaO joined the chat 39 days ago
Capn Franko: Wish you could make Wide Sky Days. Looks like there's gonna be some MUSIC being made.
Sandra Dodd joined the chat 39 days ago
Sandra Dodd: I'm so sorry. Time flies. :-)
Robin B.: I know. I'm feeling very sad about that.
Sandra Dodd: P20 who are you?
JessicaO: Hi everyone!
PamelaC joined the chat 39 days ago
p20: Irene Zaleski in FB
Sandra Dodd: Thanks.
Jihong: after 3-4 months, finally I am back to the chat. I really missed it :)
Sandra Dodd: Pamela, I was thinking of sending you an e-mail this week, but I keep doing things that seem to have needed to have been done yesterday, and I'm leaving for the HSC conference at 3:30 tomorrow morning, so today is running to keep up, too. Sorry.
PamelaC: Hello! It's been so long. Just when my semester ended and I had Wednesday afternoons free, chats stopped!
Sandra Dodd: Maybe write me an e-mail, though, if you ant to let me know how it's going and whether you might come to Albuquerque in December.
JessicaO: Jihong, wow, this is my first time back in a long time! saw Sandra's note on facebook saying "chat is soon"
PamelaC: I am definitely coming to Albuquerque.
Sandra Dodd: So. Yesterday Holly and I visited with my cousin, Nada. She's housesitting for one of her five grown kids in the next town over.
MaryK joined the chat 39 days ago
Robin B.: Mary King? Is that you?
Gail Higgins joined the chat 39 days ago
PamelaC: I'll write anyway
Sandra Dodd: She asked Holly to help show her how to play DVDs, on the PS3, so while Holly was setting it up, we were suggesting DVDs for her from a HUGE collecction--biggest I've ever seen in a private home.
MaryK: Yes. I actually made it to a chat for once. :)
Sandra Dodd: Holly suggested "Hairspray," but Nada made a face and said "not a musical."
Robin B.: Heya.
Gail Higgins: Hello from Asheville
MaryK: Hiya
Jill Parmer joined the chat 39 days ago
Robin B.: Not musical?
PamelaC: The original Hairspray is not a musical
Sandra Dodd: I suggested "About a Boy" (without even looking to see if it was there; just figured a collection that big would have it, and they were alphabetized, and it id.
Sandra Dodd: and it did.
Sandra Dodd: I know, Pamela. That's not the one Holly had pulled out and shown her.
Sandra Dodd: She said not a musical, and not violence.
PamelaC: Ah.
Sandra Dodd: So I pulled out Master and Commander and something else, I forget what.
Robin B.: Then she wouldn't like "The Commitments" - has plenty of bad language, too -)
Capn Franko: Lotta violence in M&C.
Sandra Dodd: But I was thinking how odd it was for someone I grew up with, who seemed as involved in music as I was, who learned to harmonize with me sitting in the shade under my dad's outdoor workbench...
Sandra Dodd: would say "not musical."
Robin B.: Weird.
Capn Franko: I love music. I haven't liked a musical since Singing in the Rain
Sandra Dodd: So Holly pointed out that About a Boy has music-related plot elements.
Sandra Dodd: Frank, I'm sorry. You dislike so many things that your opinion is eliminated in the "eliminate the highest and lowest" move.
JennyC joined the chat 39 days ago
Capn Franko: True. That's valid.
Robin B.: And music is used to convey plot twists or mood in, well, every movie.
Sandra Dodd: I am glad your mortgage is paid off, but I'm sorry that you are so critical of things that other people might want to consider liking.
PamelaC: I've heard many people say that they can't stand the phenomenon in musicals where people break into song. They just can't get past it -- it seems dopey or bizarre to them.
JennyC: well, I just found out, was blown a way a bit, that Gioia doesn't consider herself a decent singer
Sandra Dodd: I think you said once that you hadn't watched That Thing you Do. If you haven't, you might like it.
JennyC: and some of you know Gioia, so that might come as a surprise!
Robin B.: A huge surprise.
JennyC: my response... "WHAT?!?!?!?!"
Robin B.: Jam Camp is full of musicians. Maybe she's comparing, which isn't something Gioia normally worries about.
Capn Franko: I enjoyed That Thing You Do. I really loved Lyrics and Music.
Sandra Dodd: Pamela, a lot of people are negative about a lot of things. If you would like to represent them today, the chat won't be as fun as if we keep to the sorts of things that will help unschooling parents create a happy, hopeful environment in which children will be glad to hear new things.
JennyC: I didn't get that impression, just that she really truly believes that she's not that great of a singer
Sandra Dodd: Those aren't really musicals, though. They're music-filled movies about music. :-)
PamelaC: Just like some people don't like humor - I have a friend who doesn't understand humor. Whenever people stop making sense, she suspects they might be joking and asks them if they are. When it's yes, she tells them she doesn't like jokes.
Capn Franko: Right.
Robin B.: Gee, Sandra. I kinda want to give you a hug.
Sandra Dodd: Gee, Robin, why?
Robin B.: :-)
Sandra Dodd: I would rather you would talk about music. :-)
Robin B.: Sure.
JessicaO: I have trouble with humor sometimes... first I might not understand something someone said & by the time I understand the words, it isn't gonna be funny.. not sure why it works out that way
JennyC: that could be funny, in and of itself JessicaO, if you played it right!
JennyC: we are a music filled house
Sandra Dodd: Probably, Jessica, a lot of things aren't going to work for a deaf person--a lot of humor based on the similar sounds of words.
Mim joined the chat 39 days ago
PamelaC: I'm not being negative, I was trying to express an idea that maybe there are types of minds - not negativity, per se - that just don't get musicals. Me, I LOVE them.
Robin B.: All Hawaiian 'oli (or chants) are musical. Sung "a capella."
MaryK: Kalel is trying to sell a bike to buy a new guitar. He said he needs a better quality one to play better a better sound.
JessicaO: for music, I've loved it all my life... there are some songs that I loved growing up, couldn't find out who the artist was or song name & every so often, i hear one of those songs & smeone is able to tell me who it is...
JessicaO: that makes me happy
JennyC: and even our oldest who isn't really musically inclined, can pick out a tune on a guitar or piano
JessicaO: Jenny, yeah! Sandra, it's a little different in my case cuz i'm very word oriented because I love to read
Robin B.: I especially enjoy listening to the songs of birds. The variety is astounding.
Sandra Dodd: There are types of people who say no before they even consider saying yes. About music or movies or whatever it might be.
alexPoliwsky joined the chat 39 days ago
Sandra Dodd: Probably most of the people who "hate opera" have never heard one (and that can be extended to lots of other "hate that" opinions).
JennyC: I know Chamille poo pooed musicals forever, she just didn't like them, or didn't believe she liked them. Then she watched Sweeney Todd and that changed everything
JessicaO: my father played a lot of opera
Susan W joined the chat 39 days ago
Sandra Dodd: So I would like to talk about how unschoolers have found learning in and around music, rather than about the idea that some people (probably not unschoolers, who aren't here) aren't ideal unschoolers (and didn't try to be)
JennyC: and then she started to realize that all the Disney movies she enjoyed as a young kid were ALL musicals
Robin B.: I used to think I didn't like rap music, but some rap artists are really talented poets.
Mim: Absolutely, Sandra. My kids tend to do that (say no before yes). Luckily, they love music. We like Imogen Heap a lot here. She's pretty amazing.
JessicaO: our guys have mp3 players and one has an iphone... when i drive, i let them take turns putting their music on & like it most of the time
JessicaO: can't understand the words, but i can get them later if i need to
JessicaO: when gary drives, he plays the radio.
Elaine G-H joined the chat 39 days ago
alexPoliwsky: When MD was little we danced to all kinds of music. He loved some classic and some Britney Spears!
Mim: And my older son loves military-esque (as in deep serious video game) soundtracks. They are such inspiration for him.
Sandra Dodd: Music and Lyrics, mentioned by Frank earlier, is fun because it's about musical styles, and lyrics, and the "spiritual" artist is a scream, and the characters are exaggerated and still work well.
Sandra Dodd: Which games, Mim, are you thinking of?
alexPoliwsky: He listens to Vocaloid music right now ( in Japanese) but likes techno from the 90's too and even likes 80's sondgs
JennyC: I love that my kids are open to just about all kinds of music and listen to most things openly. Chamille said yesterday that she spent too many years only liking one style of music and being judgmental towards other styles of music. Then she realized that there is at least one person truly inspired by every kind of music she didn't enjoy much and that alone was worth it for that music to exist
Mim: Oh, Sandra, definitely World of Warcraft. :D He loves the new Diablo III pieces, too. If you listen to the orchestration, it's really very complex and layered.
alexPoliwsky: Gigi likes to sing to herself while playing a lot. SHe makes ups some really cute songs. She can hold a tune singing and neither me, Brian or MD can sing in tune to save our lives!
Capn Franko joined the chat 39 days ago
Robin B.: We played Senna's music almost exclusively in the car for years. Now she has an iPhone/iPod and her headphones, which she has on every time we go for a drive. Music calms her down and helps her think (if she needs that).
trista: My husband bought a subscription to Pandora specifically for the movie soundtracks channel--things like Braveheart, etc. I always thought it was an odd thing to listen to, but it's sparked the most conversations, "This song makes me feel sad." etc.
Sandra Dodd: Do any of you play instruments, Alex? Sometimes mechanical singing is close. :-)
Robin B.: Mim, we *love* the music in WoW.
JennyC: I play the violin
alexPoliwsky: Well Gigi says sh4e only likes Country music Jenny
MaryK: I have played all different kinds of music with my kids for years and took them to live concerts also.
alexPoliwsky: SHe can tell if it is a country song or not in a few notes it seems.
Mim: Yes, Robin! :D I think the compositions are really quite lost on a general audience, but they are really striking and well done.
anneb4: I play cello, piano and organ
Sandra Dodd: Trista, Kirby played me the soundtrack of one of the Legend of Zelda video games years back. I didn't know the game, and he asked me to tell him what I thought was happening in each piece.
JennyC: my hubby plays violin, piano, any sort of guitar, drums, trumpet, whatever he picks up, he can play
Robin B.: Mim, have you been to the concerts of gaming music?
alexPoliwsky: None of us does. WE have a guitar and a piano. BOth Grandmothers do play, One the piano the other thye guitar a bit.
Robin B.: I can't remember what they're called at the moment.
Sandra Dodd: It was really cool. I could pick out ideas like feeling small, or fear, or exhilaration (the easy one) and he was beaming about how right I was, but the one who was really right was the composer!!
Marta BP: Cool Sandra!
MaryK: Kalel plays guitar and a little piano by ear. Now he would like to add drums.
JessicaO: we've been going to see some live artists lately... there's one band my youngest (11) wants to see live...
JennyC: Chamille has been finding some of the most interesting music made from old style gaming music, like Zelda and Pokemon
Sandra Dodd: Kirby went to the Zelda symphony in Austin recently
Robin B.: Senna really enjoys Pokemon music. She can tell when they've reworked a piece for a new dungeon or just embellished it.
MaryK: Tori played a little piano and guitar and she learned clarinet but forgot because she didnt love it.
Mim: Now, O will play a soundtrack for every thing he does, he's found them on youtube, and they've become the soundtrack to guide his moods and life.
JessicaO: but they keep playing at 18+ venues.. we're hoping they play with the reverend horton heat in november.. that venue will almost certainly be all ages
PamelaC: We recently got these cool toys called boomwhackers. They're hollow plastic tubes of varying lengths that produce different tones when you hit them. We have been noticing which tones sound pretty together and harmonize and also which ones don't. Oscar and his friend figured out that there is harmony when you skip a size - like skipping a key on the piano creates a third
alexPoliwsky: Brian and I are not musically inclined. We love music but we can't sing or play anything. MD seems to be like us. Gigi can sing. IT is amazing how she can hold a tune .
JessicaO: reuven (11) also likes to juggle during some of the shows
Sandra Dodd: Pamela, do you just hold them and bang them on things, kind of like playing bells? Or do they hang or have a rack like a xylophone?
Robin B.: I'm the only instrument-player in the house. Senna likes to sing. Ross loves a variety of music, but doesn't play or sing.
alexPoliwsky: MY brother was very musically inclined. He would just get an instrument ans start playing. Tunning gguitars when whe was 7 years old.
Mim: Pamela, Imogen Heap uses one of those on stage for a song. :D She's ever interesting to watch. And it's so funny now to hear her blasting out of E's (10) ipad.
JennyC: maybe that's why she likes country music, as it focuses heavily of vocals
PamelaC: You can bag them together or on anything.
PamelaC: We default to hitting ourselves on the head - it gives the best tone.
alexPoliwsky: Yep Jenny and the fact that she loves cows and Luke Bryan ( a country singer)! :)
Sandra Dodd: The last soundtrack I bought just to listen was Henry V (Brannagh's version). The day Holly saw Rio, she got me to take her for the soundtrack.
Robin B.: Jenny, John is an amazing 'ukulele player!
Elaine G-H: alexPoliwsky My daughter is big into vocaloids at the moment
Sandra Dodd: (Oh, not counting musicals.... buying the soundtrack of a musical isn't the same as buying orchestral background stuff.)
JennyC: I know! I told he he was! He's only been playing since xmas!
alexPoliwsky: Rio the cartoon? It is directed by a friend of mine!
anneb4: I like the soundtrack for Tron - techno but very emotional and moving too
Sandra Dodd: Oh, Nice, Alex!
JennyC: that's cool Alex! We enjoyed that movie!
anneb4: my young nephews love it!
JessicaO: i wish i could hear a uke... been trying to find out if i put uke strings on my banjo, but not sure i can find uke strings that are long enuf
PamelaC: Anneb4, I have just fallen in love with Daft Punk who did the Tron soundtrack!
Robin B.: When we were at Animal Kingdom, many years ago, I bought the soundtrack to the Broadway play of the Lion King. It was Senna's favorite, more than the movie. We finally saw the play a couple of years ago and she sang (quietly) almost every song!
Mim: Can't you buy a little uke now for around $20 bucks?
JennyC: no, you can't put uke strings on a banjo!
JennyC: yes, but if you up it $20 you can get a really nice one!
Sandra Dodd: My kids turned me on to Daft Punk a few years ago. I haven't listened to the soundtrack; now I will. The first Tron movie made me motion sick. I figure they've improved their ability to make a person ill after all those years. :-)
Robin B.: Yes, the sound quality will be much better. Not as good as the handmade ones, though.
Elaine G-H: One of my friends make Gourd banjos and other instruments. I didn't know you could do that
Jihong: on a long haul plane ride, my son Orion (6) watched a movie "alvin and chipmonck", he loved the music so much and insisted me to watch. Now we got the sound track, and both kids will sing along in the car. On the other hand, my husband keeps pushing Orion to learn to play piano. We got a teacher and Orion didn't mind taking a class but didn't show great interest either...I don't know if I should ask my husband to back off or not
Sandra Dodd: People used to make banjos out of tortoise shells and cigar boxes, back in the 19th century.
Mim: I need to restring all our guitars, actually. Get on that, Mim. :) Be so fun to have a uke! Putting it on our shopping list.
Elaine G-H: I really Like Daft Punk, but I like electronica
PamelaC: We've learned soooo much from musicals. Oscar had a passion for Annie Get Your Gun - I would sing him Moonshine Lullaby - and we looked into the real Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill.
JennyC: ask your hubby to simply buy a piano or decent key board and the kids will tinker with it!
Sandra Dodd: Jihong, maybe ask your husband to take lessons WITH Orion, so the two of them have a shared interest, and then they can practice together.
Sandra Dodd: They have a great piano Jenny.
Elaine G-H: Sandra I think he made a cigar box one
Mim: Sandra, when I was a kid, we made a whole band that way, except for the tambourine, and we sang songs to the Monkees with our carboard boxes and rubberbands.
JennyC: I've never met a kid that will be in a room with a piano and NOT tinker with it
Sandra Dodd: When cigar boxes were wooden...
alexPoliwsky: there is an adorable youtube video of a dad with his three kids singing The Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. I cannot get the link because if I try my computer ( ancient) will freeze!
JessicaO: my kids used to play pots and pans & such
anneb4: Jihong & Sandra - I hated my lessons ( I would cry whenever they would correct me because I was so hard on myself) but I'm so grateful I can play now. So that is a hard one.
Sandra Dodd: I took lessons because I wanted to, and that's way different from parental pressure.
Kimba joined the chat 39 days ago
Jihong: good idea, sandra. Jenny, we have piano, key board, guilta and ukelele...unfortunately no one plays in the house. I plan to host muscial night, inviting people to come over, play music and have fun. Hope that will help to inspire the kids. Also I plan to learn to play piano
JennyC: John was telling us all sorts of musical facts about Queen yesterday
JessicaO: i hated practicing piano as a kid.. not sure what the right answer was in my case: it was good for me, but...
Mim: Elaine, Imogen qualifies herself (her older stuff anyway) as electronica. I love electronica, too. So does O. From the old days of MIDI files (practically stone tools now).
Sandra Dodd: I was going to ask, if the chat had started more slowly, abut whether there were any unschoolers who felt like "music" had to do with music lessons
JessicaO: jihong, are you still in hawaii?
Sandra Dodd: But we're 1/4 in and the topic has just come up, so I kind of doubt it. :-)
alexPoliwsky: MD is really into music he finds on YOutube He is always showing me new things.
Elaine G-H: Just checked, he makes cigar box guitars and canjos..I don't know what a canjo is
PamelaC: When I was first coming to unschooling a few years ago, I thought a lot about the matter of learning an instrument. I wondered if, without force, would there be any virtuouso musicians.
Capn Franko: I, too, had piano l;essons as a kid and din't liek it at all. When I started playing for fun in my teens, that was a different story.
JennyC: Jihong, instead of waiting, just sit down and plunk around, find little bits that sound good together
alexPoliwsky: LIke years ago when he showed me Chocolate Rain.
Robin B.: Wow, really, Pamela?
Sandra Dodd: What did you decide, Pamela?
Elaine G-H: interesting Mim
Jihong: yes, jessica :)
Mim: I loved my piano lessons once I had a really serious strict teacher for some reason. When I brought her Elton John and asked her if I could play it she said "I don't play black man's music" though. That was a big put off afterwards.
alexPoliwsky: I know a mom in Minnesota who is an unschooling mom ans her son is a virtuoso.
anneb4: Many of the best players I know taught themselves and play "by ear" rather than reading. I needed an outside motivation myself - and the reassurance of my parents to keep going ( I started at 5 and continued until 18 with lessons)
Robin B.: Elton John is so black. Snort!
Mim: That is wonderful, alex. :D Any youtube videos? youtube musical sensation, maybe?
Robin B.: Honky Cat :-)
Elaine G-H: lol Robin
Jihong: Good idea, Jenny, I will try that
Mim: lol, Robin, exactly. :D
JennyC: I work at an open art and craft and import goods market every weekend and I see some amazing musicians every time
JennyC: it's a nice perk
Jihong: I have met some people who said they were glad their parents were pushing them to learn to play xxx...what is your take on that?
Elaine G-H: my daughter's picked up a lot more Japanese from vocaloids. She can sing whole songs in Japanese
anneb4: I am glad they pushed me
Sandra Dodd: My piano teacher wanted me to get through with Bach and get on to Rachmaninoff and Chopin. Oh, HELL no. I only like older, clockwork stuff. Baroque and Renaissance. She wouldn't even have considered contemporary music. But then I think she died of old age in the 1980's.
alexPoliwsky
anneb4: big loving pushes :)
JennyC: last weekend a young woman brought a huge marimba and parked it on the sidewalk and started playing
alexPoliwsky: That is the kid. I met his mom and ssiter once here and we keep in touch on facebook. I do not know how long they have unschooled but they have gone to Life is Good and met Schuyler.
Robin B.: What else can they say, Jihong, without trashing their parents? But it's not cause and effect.
alexPoliwsky: That is how she got in touch with me.
Sandra Dodd: Jihong, my take is that it doesn't mesh with unschooling and so I don't want to discuss it here. Sorry. But I am really interested in what Pamela C thought about virtuosos without force. If "force" is really what it takes, then why would we value their music?
Sandra Dodd: It seems immoral to praise someone for doing something they were pressed to do against their will.
Sandra Dodd: Anneb4, are't "big loving pushes" inspiration? Or are you justifying pushes now by adding loving retrospectively?
Kimba: alex - started watching the video - beautiful
alexPoliwsky: Elaine My son loves the vocalod. Lenm Kagamine is his alter ego :)
Mim: Sandra, this old lady called me up after I'd left when her husband died (my piano teacher). She called me to get love. :o I was... 11, maybe? Strange.
Mim: Cool, alex! watching
alexPoliwsky: Yes he is amazing/ He has travelled everywhere and done a lot. He is very well known and getting even more press,
Sandra Dodd: Oh hey. The video window can be minimized with the arrows near the X. Good. Last week I was frustrated. So I can minimize that guy and let him keep playing.
Jill Parmer: I've often wondered why people say "I'm glad my parent's pushed me"? It sounds like 'my parents spanked me and I turned out ok'. It doesn't say anything about the love of music or instrument.
Marta BP: Amazing...
Elaine G-H: I don't know much about what vocaloids she likes as she tends to like to listen on her own
JennyC: I love the video feature in chat!
Robin B.: Good point, Jill.
Sandra Dodd: Yes, the chatroom is "new improved."
Marta BP: (Me too Jenny!)
JennyC: I made a costume for Rebecca's daughter of the main Vocaloid girl
Robin B.: Miku!
Sandra Dodd: But Jill, only those who do end up loving the instrument are ultimately glad.
JennyC: yes, thanks Robin, couldn't think of the name!
alexPoliwsky: I know Xavier does it be because he loves it.
PamelaC: Sorry! I got bumped off! I thought first, that there probably would be. A few rare people just love to play. That's how music came into existence in the first place way before there were pianos or piano teachers.
Sandra Dodd: For every person who continues to play, there are probably three or five hundred who never touched the instrument again. That's forgotten, too.
JennyC: I even made a hair piece for her that didn't interfere with glasses!
Robin B.: I don't agree that a few rare people just love to play!
Sandra Dodd: Why, Robin?
Jill Parmer: Really, Sandra? You don't think they had a love of it during younger years? Or that the struggle to play or practice was unnecessary?
Robin B.: Only a few virtuosos play for the love of it? How can that be true?
Sandra Dodd: Probably there's a full range of all of that.
JennyC: I was truly blown away when I discovered that the middle east uses a different musical scale system for violin, even tunes the strings different and people play it different, some even hold it on their lap like a mini cello
Sandra Dodd: I think she means that virtuosos are rare in the population.
PamelaC: But second, and this was freeing for me, I thought that the world would be ok without 14 year old violin prodigies. I thought that the potential benefits of choosing your path and being happy outwieghed the value of even the most beautiful piece of music (and I love music more than anything but people)
Robin B.: Oh, okay :-)
Sandra Dodd: Something else, these days, too. We just listened (or could have; I did) to Xavier Jara play guitar, and I could watch his fingers.
Mim: That was beautiful, alex.
Sandra Dodd: A hundred years ago if you wanted to see someone play guitar, you had to know someone who played guitar.
Sandra Dodd: Odds are he wouldn't be that good. :-)
Sandra Dodd: School and church needed pianists.
Sandra Dodd: Every classroom and every church and every Sunday School room needed someone who could read music and play piano.
Robin B.: When my kumu hula wants me to learn a new song on the 'ukulele, she says "watch my hands". They go too fast for me to see what she's doing!
alexPoliwsky: Playing the piano or singing was a social tool you can read it all in Jane Austin's books.
Robin B.: I revert to notation.
ChrisSanders joined the chat 39 days ago
Jihong: my nephew started to play piano at 5, now he is 13. He hasn't touched our piano since he came here :( all the years tears and practice...I don't really want my kids like that.
Mim: Some people do play music with everything, it's like they can't stop. Have seen director JJ Abrams with his microphone? Interesting theory.
Robin B.: My harp classes were taught by ear and by watching the instructor. No notation.
Mim: How did that work, Robin? that sounds almost like learning a language in some way.
Robin B.: Harp, you mean?
Sandra Dodd joined the chat 39 days ago
alexPoliwsky: got to go check one thing BRB
Sandra Dodd: (My internet went down. How RUDE! :-)
Robin B.: It's the traditional way to learn how to play a harp. Centuries of that kind of learning. Celtic harp.
Sandra Dodd: Recorded music was on wax cylinders and couldn't be amplified much, and then in the 1880s or whenever phonograph records were invented, they weren't loud enough for a church auditorium
Sandra Dodd: nor for a classroom.
PamelaC: AlexP, it was one of the ways young ladies were educated - singing and playing an instrument. Geisha's were also taught to create music. I wonder why young women? Remember A Room With a View? Lucy Honeychurch plays Beethoven beautifully and says "mother's doesn't like it when I play Beethoven - she says it makes me peevish."
Sandra Dodd: But music was considered important and necessary, and so it had to be live, and real, and immediate.
MelissaYatzeck joined the chat 39 days ago
Sandra Dodd: There are still people alive, grandparents and great grandparents, who haven't thought of the implications and realities of modern life.
Sandra Dodd: We really don't need as many musicians as we once did.
Sandra Dodd: Early cinemas needed a live organist.
Elaine G-H: I went to see a Welsh triple harp performance. The guy who played learned it informally as many traditional players were Gypsies. The music and techniques were all handed directly down through the families
Sandra Dodd: And now we're talking about the subtle glories of video game sound tracks.
JennyC: that's the same with native american flutes... they each sound different, no notation, the songs are passed down and the flutes are played together based on individual flutes
Kimba: arrg I must leave - I am glad I got part of the chat though. I had such an interesting idea thanks to Sandra and the concept of not needing muscians like we once did.
Sandra Dodd: Pamela, women had smaller hands, and leisure (if they had servants) to practice, and music was going to be live if they were going to have any at all, before radio, before recordings.
Sandra Dodd: Kimba, put the idea on Facebook or Always learning, please.
Elaine G-H: was music 'busy work' for wealthier women?
Sandra Dodd: Sometimes, yes.
Mim: Maybe we don't need them in practical terms, but we need them on other levels. The musicians and artists in tribal cultures before performance existed were their priests and their wis-persons. I'm talking waay way back. There's a deep human level on which we need music as a means of communication. At least this is how I see it.
Sandra Dodd: Still is sometimes.
PamelaC: I remember reading someone talking about film and saying that, though it is a visual medium, it has more in common with music than with painting or photography. That music and film are temporal mediums, existing and defined by time.
Elaine G-H: alongside painting and embroidery
Sandra Dodd: Mim, who's your "we" though?
Sandra Dodd: We HAVE music, in abundance.
Mim: There was a moment in time, when we stopped having tribal gatherings, we as a primitive species, and we turned them into third person performances.
Mim: I'm not disagreeing, I'm just saying we need them. I need them. :)
Sandra Dodd: Really? "a moment" in time?
Sandra Dodd: In which culture? :-)
Elaine G-H: In the game Spore when you're at the village stage you have various tribespeople as musicians and you need them to go and play to try and make friends with other villages
Sandra Dodd: It sounds good, but it doesn't make sense; sorry.
Sandra Dodd: Nobody's suggesting not being surrounded by music, or not making or appreciating muss.
Sandra Dodd: music.
Mim: Well... historically, an era. We moved to performance in ancient Greece. Before that, most musical events were rituals.
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Elaine G-H: I mostly prefer recorded music to live music
Sandra Dodd: AH. Western Civilization. I object to the historical timeline that considers ancient Greece to be "we".
Mim: We created "actors" instead and sat back and watched very often, we switched from ritual to performance.
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Mim: Okay. I'm sorry, you are right about that.
Mim: :)
PamelaC: Rhythm is amazing. Heartbeats. Trance. Breathing in yoga, drums in rituals, house music at raves. Being unable to resist making up a song to the rhythm of the windshield wipers.
Sandra Dodd: And I disagree that "musical events were rituals." People sing for fun, and play music for dancing, and working.
JennyC: I don't know about that.... there were stories of musicians in the bible
Capn Franko: I gotta go make some lunch and do some exterior house stuff while we have lack of rain. I'll be wearing my headphones and listening to music! (wink) See y'all later.
Sandra Dodd: If you could stop saying "we" it would be very helpful, Mim.
JennyC: bye Frank!
Mim: I can do that. I'm thinking on larger terms, human terms. No other species has music in the same way we have music. Organized music. So that's why I used we. I will be more specific next time.
Elaine G-H: I often sing when I'm happy
ChrisSanders: Rick and I are taking Zoe to see a live performance of RENT tonight! SHe and I watched the movie recently, and we saw Idinia Menzel, who plays one of the characters in the movie, perform live recently.
Mim: Music was also a telegraph system for example in Africa (drums) used to communicate from far away.
Sandra Dodd: Not more specific. Less specific. :-) Humans have need had a committee to decide anything about music on behalf of the species.
JennyC: oooohh call and response music and dance! Fun stuff!
Sandra Dodd: While wealthy Athenians might have been attending concerts, they might also have been having slaves perform in private homes. But that left a ton of Greeks who were not in those places, and who were probably making some sort of music off wherever they were.
Elaine G-H: Music for war
Sandra Dodd: Meanwhile, all over the world in every other place people were also making some kind of music.
ChrisSanders: Rick isn't a big fan of musicals but he's going because it's important to Zoe, mostly.
JennyC: it makes me think of the more modern version, like square dance
alexPoliwsky: I took MD to see the Blue Men Group a couple years ago and we had fun!@
PamelaC: Music is also deeply mathematical. I studied theory on my way to a degree in music composition (never completed) and it was all about mathematical relativity. I did not love that. I felt my way through music. It was both cool and disconcerting to learn that I craved resolution based on the way waveforms were being divided.
MelissaYatzeck: My mom took me and my sisters to see Blue Man Group when I was younger. I thought it was amazing. I love that memory.
Sandra Dodd: Rent has some New Mexico business. :-)
ChrisSanders: Alex, Zach got to see the Blue Men Group in NYC with my mom and stepdad, seven years ago!
ChrisSanders: Sandra, what do you mean "New Mexico business."
Robin B.: In Hawaiian culture, music and dance go together to tell a story. Rarely is music played for music's sake, at least traditionally. Even chants (played with double-gourd acccompaniment) are danced.
Sandra Dodd: I like all that about music theory and physics, Pam, but people can play, sing and appreciate music without knowing or caring about it. :-)
Sandra Dodd: One of the characters goes to Santa Fe for a while, and comes back, and there's a song about going to Santa Fe to open a restaurant.
ChrisSanders: Oh right!
Sandra Dodd: Mim, how old are your kids?
JennyC: the one place that I can think of that music doesn't go with dance is in hymnals, in church
Mim: Sandra, 13 and 10. My lap is coopted at the moment. :)
ChrisSanders: Music has lead to lots of connections for Zoe. She hears a song she likes on a tv show, then finds it on Youtube, then listens to other performances or mixes of it, finds the artists' other works, watches movies they've performed in, we go to see them or versions of musicals live and on and on...
Sandra Dodd: Find the joy and happiness in music, and all the rest of the world. Because being sad or frustrated that "we" lost something in ancient Greece can't add to joy or clarity for your kids.
ChrisSanders: socially -- she's taken dance lessons, singing lessons, sung in a show choir etc.
Sandra Dodd: Someone on Always Learning or Facebook or somewhere this week said her kids didn't like movies.
JennyC: how is that even possible?
JennyC: there are soooooo many movies
Sandra Dodd: I think our unschooling would have come to a standstill if my kids "didn't like" music or movies.
Sandra Dodd: The connections are endless and faster to try to watch than Robin's ukelele teacher's hands!!
JennyC: I'm stunned at that thought!
Sandra Dodd: I can't imagine it to be true, seriously,
ChrisSanders: none of us play any instruments well -- but we've dabbled with piano and guitar and Zach was quite talented on the clarinet and saxophone when he was 10 - 13 years old.
Mim: Oh Sandra, I never perceive it that way, or communicate it that way. :) I don't see it as a loss at all. An evolution!
JennyC: me either... Seriously, imagining it is hurting my brain!
ChrisSanders: My kids are pretty discerning about watching movies -- someone might think they don't like them
Sandra Dodd: I suspect (and could be wrong) that it's the parents having an aversion, based on something in their own lives, and passing that prejudice on in their actions or stated preferences, or something.
JennyC: I would consider that to be liking something so much that they've developed a discerning taste
PamelaC: Sandra, thank goodness that enjoying music isn't dependent on understanding theory! I was total crap at it, but I've composed a lot, including my own film score.
Sandra Dodd: I don't think it's loss OR evolution. I think the full range of musical activity is alive all one the world. Ceremonial, performance, dance, humor, time-passing, enjoyment of making music, harmonies, intricacies, competitive one-upmanship...
JennyC: what a world of loss for those kids
Sandra Dodd: All around us, in every culture, in the recent past, the right now, and the tomorrow.
Mim: My kids won't watch movies with music, especially my younger.... A sensory thing. Ears are covered and they are miserable. Too much information to process. One song at a time is much better.
ChrisSanders: Well, for one -- it came from being afraid of unexpectedly stumbling across something disturbing but we've figured out ways to help her feel safer about that. For my other, I think he's just not patient to sit through something that he isn't sure will be very entertaining. I don't know for sure.
JennyC: one of my favorite things to do as a kid was to make little slide whistles from branches
Sandra Dodd: Mim, what do you mean by "movies with music"?
Sandra Dodd: Soundtrack or singing or incidental songs?
alexPoliwsky: Mim do they like youtube movies with music? HGow old are your kids?
trista: my youngest sister "hated" movies growing up. But now that she's older (and loves our subscription to Netflix!), she realizes it's because my parents would guilt the kids into watching movies.
Sandra Dodd: Chris, has it made it harder for you to discover things? Is he okay with documentaries or shorter things?
Sandra Dodd: So it was avoidance of something parents were trying to press her to do, Trista?
Mim: Any movie or cartoon or musical, I'm Miriam. :) Autism mama. Believe me, we have tried. We need to do it their way. You and I met at Life is Good and we talked and I loved talking with you.
trista: Exactly.
Mim: No, they truly do not enjoy them, I think the sound hurts. But yes!! We do individual songs a lot! Whatever they want, they choose all kinds. They have a preference for pop and electronica. :)
alexPoliwsky: What is Autism mamma? Doi you define yourself like that because you child is diagnosed autistic?
Mim: AndO for military marches.
Mim: Oh dear. Can of worms.
ChrisSanders: He'll watch some documentaries and some movies -- he's 21 now so he's probably watching lots of stuff I don't even know about, but when he was younger, he often declined watching movies with us and I never really figured out why
Elaine G-H: ChrisSanders I have always been sensitive about film and TV, not liking disturbing things. It wasn't taken seriously. It's nice to hear you take it seriously with your children
alexPoliwsky: Miriam I am Alex mom of MD and Gigi.
Mim: I have a blog, if you want my thoughts on all that. If not, that's okay, too. It's not a crime. They are not defined that way, they identify that way. I'd love to get back to music, because we all love it here.
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ChrisSanders: Elaine - kidsinmind.com is a big help!
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Mim: Thank you Elaine. :) I appreciate that. I take them very very seriously. I need to.
JennyC: I remember very vividly watching Poltergeist as a kid when I wasn't supposed to do so! I wish my parents hadn't made such a big deal about stuff like that
p20: My father and my sister have a strong sensitivity to sounds so when the music it's louder in a specific part of a movie (also in real life) it's painful. As when the actors are whispering and the tension increases and the music volume grows louder to mark the "feeling" of something wrong about to happen. That might make someone not like films.
alexPoliwsky: Growing up we watched and listen to anything we wanted. My parents were very eclectic with many creative friends into filmaking, TV and music and other performance arts.
JennyC: the hallmark of a good film, in my opinion, is how the music fits with the movie
Sandra Dodd: Irene/p20, I can see that. I don't like really loud movies.
JennyC: if the music overrides the movie, something is wrong, unless of course the movie is about music
Elaine G-H: Music scores in films can increase the scariness
Sandra Dodd: I might like it a lot later on DVD, with a remote in my hand. :-) But sometimes in a theater, it's not fun to be powerless.
Sandra Dodd: ALWAYS, Elaine.
alexPoliwsky: My kids do not have all that exposure and I am glad Youtube exits so they have access to all kinds of things. Md is really into youtube, music and videos on Youtube e
Sandra Dodd: Hardly anything would be scary without the music. Especially Jaws. :-)
Elaine G-H: Yes always
JennyC: it's really nice to watch a movie and hear the music in such a way that you recognize it and hear it but that it doesn't overshadow what is going on IN the movie
Elaine G-H: well at least as far back as I can remember
Sandra Dodd: Holly was talking about a scary show just yesterday, and I said "mute it." When the scary part comes, muting it is usually sufficient.
Sandra Dodd: There are times I don't want to sit and watch a movie with a group or even with one other person.
JennyC: right!
ColleenP(NH): My son knows the Jaws theme even though he hasn't seen the movie yet (his choice not to) - he hums it when he's playing and being sneaky - it cracks me up!
Sandra Dodd: The commitment of being still for two hours is hard for me sometimes. If I can be doing something else at the same time, it's easier.
JennyC: sound effects are very unnerving in scary movies
Sandra Dodd: So this means "music is powerful."
Elaine G-H: Yes I struggle to stay watching
alexPoliwsky: I do love good movie scores and buy them too.
Sandra Dodd: It can make people not like movies. :-)
alexPoliwsky: and love some video games music!
Elaine G-H: I prefer movies on TV
PamelaC: My friends make fun of me because I spend half of any tense film with my fingers in my ears. I love horror films, but I wear earplugs the whole time.
Jill Parmer: When Addi (18) was around 2 years old, I thought I might ruin music for her...
Robin B.: It can give people goosebumps!
alexPoliwsky: what did you do Jill?
Robin B.: Pamela, you need new friends :-)
Jill Parmer: I would sing her bedtime stories, they were about our day or something imaginary about flying in the stars...
JennyC: I prefer music that I can bounce around to
PamelaC: They do it lovingly, but new friends would be nice, too!
JennyC: oh, I did that too!
Jill Parmer: And Steve came in to sing to her when I was doing that one night, and he has a beautiful voice. ...
JennyC: I did that for Chamille every night
Elaine G-H: I sang lots of nursery rhymes to my two. They are often surprised when other people their age don't know any
Jill Parmer: Addi told him to stop, "mama sing, mama sing" I thought, oh no!
JennyC: Margaux used to shush me. She didn't like that at all, she wanted complete silence OR loud band music or jazz with horns to fall asleep to
ColleenP(NH): I can't sing worth a dime, but I still make up songs (usually just parts of songs) every day - life is more fun with a soundtrack :)
Jill Parmer: But she can hear tunes, sing, and likes music. Phew.
JennyC: I sound great singing with my sister but not so much solo!
JessicaO: jill, maybe she liked the stories in the songs you sang?
Jill Parmer: Yes, I think so, Jessica.
JessicaO: i sang to my kids..and any of you who have met me gay be cringing? (lol)
ChrisSanders: I used to sing a medley of children's songs/lullabies that my kids knew from tapes, to calm them when they were upset or over tired.
Robin B.: Just going off what Pamela said about "making fun lovingly" which I think of as teasing, if friends just accepted what you do (like wearing earplugs in a horror movie) without comment, life would be nicer. I need to think more about that, myself.
JessicaO: (they won't let me sing to them now)
JessicaO: not gay: may
PamelaC: I loved it when my mom sang to me. She was completely tone deaf. When I got older and heard Marlene Dietrich sing I thought she sounded just like my mother.
Robin B.: Jenny, Senna prefers to listen to music without me singing along. Unless we're singing together.
JessicaO: (or maybe my singing is okay, i dunno... they liked it when they were little...)
Elaine G-H: Robin I was told I was weird for being sensitive to scary films and some violence
ChrisSanders: Jessica - :D
Robin B.: Make you feel better about yourself? Nah.
ColleenP(NH): My mother has perfect pitch and I'm pretty much tone-deaf - I think that frustrated her a smidge when I was little and she wanted me to sing - being able to carry a tune is a wonderful skill to have!
PamelaC: That's true, Robin. I don't like it. It makes me feel like I being labeled "sensitive" with a bit of an eyeroll.
Robin B.: Yup.
JessicaO: elaine, if you're weird for being sensitive to scary films, then i'm weird too!
JennyC: I desensitized myself to be able to enjoy horror movies with Chamille!
alexPoliwsky: So that is what I did to MD and somehow Gigi was not harmed! I sang a lot to him when he was little and I cannot hjold a tune . Until he begged me to stop everytime I started!
Robin B.: Snort!
JessicaO: i cringe... and one of my favorite singers used to play in horror films.. lezlie deane from scary cherry
alexPoliwsky: MD found a karaoke website and we have fun singing . You got to hit the notes and it tells you if you are doing it or not! Very fun!
Elaine G-H: I don't know scary cherry
JessicaO: (i have considered taking voice lessons... the music instruments i'm able to hear are getting less & less.. almost can't hear my pennywhistles..
JennyC: I had a very large aversion to anything scary or with killing or violence and I chose to find something of value in those movies so that I could watch them with Chamille
ColleenP(NH): What site is that Alex? Sounds fun!
Elaine G-H: ooh karaoke website! I didn't know they existed
ChrisSanders: My husband and I both seem to hear song lyrics in things our kids say - and then we'll start singing the song. Our kids used to roll their eyes about it but now Zoe does the same thing all the time! It's fun to have songs running through our daily lives.
JessicaO: but even if i don't have my hearing aid on i can sort of hear myself sing..
alexPoliwsky: I think the name is Karaoke Party dot com or something like that. Pretty fun!
JessicaO: elaine, they're a glam punk band
Robin B.: Chris, we do that, too.
Elaine G-H: I couldn't do it JennyC. I tried, but it made me worse
ColleenP(NH): Yep Chris - me too!
Elaine G-H: thanks for telling me JessicaO
JessicaO: (that's what they call themselves).. i first heard them on halloween weekend last year
JessicaO: sandra, didn't you have a way of dealing w/watching stuff with the kids when something about what they were watching bothered you?
JennyC: what did it for me was learning how to make things look scary, learning how to do special effects. It changed everything for me!
Sandra Dodd: Chris, Holly and Keith and Marty and I all do that... musical jokes on the fly as the conversation goes.
Elaine G-H: I'm definitely going to see if I can find a Karaoke website
Elaine G-H: what does a musical joke look like?
Sandra Dodd: Not sure what you're thinking, Jessica, but maybe.
JennyC: in a way, Chamille forced me to expand my world and it's been a good thing
Sandra Dodd: You can't see it, Elaine. It's all sung :-)
JennyC: musical jokes.... Jack Black is very good at that!
Sherri: I've joined the conversation late. I read back in the conversation to see that we are discussing how unschoolers have found learning in and around music. Music is my son's life. He started a band about 3 1/2 years ago. Music is how he expresses his feelings. He's learned a lot through music and his band. I have learned a lot as well.
Elaine G-H: I mean...how would it go?
PamelaC: I watch a lot of WWE. I focus on the stunt work.
PamelaC: I mean, I watch a lot of WWE with Oscar.
JennyC: yes, like that PamelaC!
JessicaO: once we went to see (ok hear!!) a band play (well i love watching their stage antics, so "see" does work!)...
Elaine G-H: JennyC I did try, but I ended up with stuff stuck in my head swirling around all night and giving me flash backs. I figure it's better for me to avoid and be a more together mum
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Elaine G-H: it went on for months not days or weeks]
JessicaO: i found out once we got there that my hearing aid battery died... i just hung out next to one of the speakers
Elaine G-H: Sandra is there any way to explain a musical joke in text?
Sandra Dodd: Musical humor, Elaine. References to songs. Plays on words. Parodying a phrase.
Robin B.: Jenny, it might not be the way everyone does it, but finding ways to support your kids interests without giving them the message that what they like is disturbing is a good thing.
Elaine G-H: Ah right! Thanks Sandra. I understand now
JennyC: it was knowing how it's all not real, it's a part of a story that artists create, it's art that's been completed and knowing how it was done made all the difference in the world
Robin B.: kids'
Sandra Dodd: Every single thing Weird Al does is musical humor. Smothers Brothers. Flight of the Conchords
JessicaO: robin, that is what i've been trying to get their dad to understand! not disturbing but he claims to not like their music...
JessicaO: i've told him not to let them know that (or at least not to go on and on about it)
ChrisSanders: The TV show Glee has been so fun to watch along with Zoe. She's been exposed to so much music from the 80's and 90's and she likes it!
Elaine G-H: Oh yeah I didn't pass on that my sensitivity meant things were bad, but rather that I had a particular sensitivity
JessicaO: i liked the sign language glee episode!
JennyC: Flight of the Conchords is very popular in our house!!!!
PamelaC: We are big Gilmore girl fanatics, Oscar and I, and that show is full of music, music jokes, music references, musicians (Carole King, Yo La Tengo, Grant Lee Buffalo, Sonic Youth, The Bangles, The Shins...)
Robin B.: Yes, that would be better - not to go on and on about it. That kind of thing causes disconnection.
trista: My 6 year old listens to her Glee soundtrack and sings (at the top of her lungs) herself to sleep everynight. It's a fun evening ritual. :)
PamelaC: Tom Lehrer!
Robin B.: Between parents and children, I mean.
JessicaO: doctor who is big around here
JessicaO: robin, exactly!
Sandra Dodd: I played "fou de fafa" (flight of the concords French song) to my hostess in France, and she thought it was funny.
Sherri: My son's band plays heavy metal music. Some of it is dark. Even though I may not care for some of the lyrics, I always support my son with his interests. He's very talented. And it is a way for him to express his emotions as he has a hard time doing it any other way.
Elaine G-H: the Barron Knights did song humour
JessicaO: that reminds me of something in freaky friday...(the one w/jamie curtis)
Sandra Dodd: Sherri, does he play guitar? Is he writing the songs they do?
Robin B.: Lots of people don't like Marilyn Manson, but he's a really interesting guy, pointing things out to people in his songs.
PamelaC: We sing the Conchord's masterpeice "Sugar Lumps" a lot.
JennyC: my only objection Elaine, is that I've heard moms flat out deny their children the things they are most interested in because they don't like it themselves. I've heard it specifically about horror movies. I heard a mom say flat out that she could never support her son's interest in horror movies because she was too sensitive towards them. My first thought, was that it's entirely untrue that one can't get over that to support their children. I know because I DID!
JessicaO: when they had switched bodies but not personalities, the mom in daughter's body said "you play notes?" and later
Sherri: He plays bass guitar. He writes all of the lyrics. The other band members help with writing the music. He's also the lead vocalist.
JessicaO: she said something like "wow that was awesome" and the daughter (in mom's body) said "so it's not noise?" mom said "definitely Not Noise!"
ChrisSanders: When I was growing up my parents had an album by Allan Sherman - My Son the Nut that I just loved and thought it was hilarious! http://www.amazon.com/My-Son-Nut-Allan-S...
Sandra Dodd: We, this group, could take any one of the songs or genres or movie soundtracks mentioned and talk for an hour about what's good about it, and discuss connections that have been or could be made from it (and any "could be made" connection IS a connection, for those in that conversation)
Elaine G-H: JennyC I wouldn't dream of doing that
Jihong: this chat is eye opening to me. I labeled myself not musically inclined and I was not exposed much to music when I grew up. So when I think about music, my immediate reaction is that piano lessons (it seems all chinese kids in U.S. is learning to play piano *_*). Obviously my limitation (on music) has created limitation for my children. I wonder any thoughts on how to lift our own limitations so our kids will not suffer from parents limitation....if this is not off topic
Elaine G-H: but I really couldn't 'get over it'
Robin B.: I *loved* Black Sabbath when I was a teen. And I got to see Ozzie Osborne at Blizzcon in my 50's!
JennyC: play with music!
Sandra Dodd: -=- I wonder any thoughts on how to lift our own limitations so our kids will not suffer from parents limitation....-=- http://sandradodd.com/music " http://sandradodd.com/music
JennyC: it doesn't need to sound amazing or perfect, just play
Sandra Dodd: http://sandradodd.com/deschooling"> SandraDodd.com/deschooling
Sandra Dodd: That's the whole idea. See music where it lives in the world, not in school-style music classes.
JennyC: you have a piano, so learn chopsticks, it's easy and fun and can be played with another person
Elaine G-H: someone is listening to music almost every day in our house
Robin B.: Play with the notes. Listen to the differences in the white and black keys. The high register and low register.
Elaine G-H: we used to make shakers from plastic bottles and dried beans or lentils
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Sandra Dodd: Hi, Rebecca.
JennyC: coffee cans and chopsticks!
Elaine G-H: go down to a crouch for a low note and stretch up for a high one
Jihong: "you have a piano, so learn chopsticks"---I don't understand
ColleenP(NH): We got a big electronic keyboard from someone on Freecycle - my son loves to play with it
Robin B.: Yup. I still have some beautiful shakers!
Elaine G-H: rubber bands across a tin
Sandra Dodd: Music, like everything else for unschoolers is part of real life.
p20: My husband just arrived and I just remembered, he is learning to play the guitar with Garage Band (music editing program for Macs). It has lessons and let's you record what you are playing. Then checks what you played with what the piece should sound and gives tips on how to correct.
JennyC: it's a classic dink around piano song
ColleenP(NH): he makes up songs, sings along, etc
Robin B.: Maybe Jihong doesn't know the song, Jenny.
Elaine G-H: a plastic bowl and wooden spoons
Sandra Dodd: But music, MORE than most other things, can happen at the same time as other things. Art, travel, science, whatever, can be happening in and because of or at the same time as music.
ChrisSanders: Jihong - notice the music that surrounds you. TV, commercials, cartoons, movies, video-games, the radio, muzak in the elevators/stores, watch flash mobs on youtube, beat out a rhythm along with something you're hearing, dance
Sandra Dodd: It can flow in and around everything else like water.
Robin B.
Sherri: All the band members in my son's band are self-taught. My son has looked up on the internet how to improve his voice. When they first started the band, I was surprised that he was going to be the singer but I kept that to myself. When I saw them perform the first time, I was pleasantly surprised at how well they did. Over the past 3 years, my son has researched online how to practice getting his voice better.
Sandra Dodd: So the more open and accepting the parents are, the better the learning will be.
Rebecca Allen: Hi, Sandra! And everyone else!
Elaine G-H: I'm sitting here upstairs logged on to this chat and I can hear the music my husband's listening to downstairs
PamelaC: Going back to the boomwhackers and building off of what ChrisSanders said, we had them in the car and I put on a song with a rocking beat and the two boys starting boomwhacking along. It was fantastic!
Elaine G-H: we've been introduced to new interesting music via adverts on TV
Elaine G-H: PamelaC what's a boomwhacker?
Jihong: wow, great. thank you robin
Robin B.: I liked hearing "American in Paris" (I think that's what it was) playing in the United terminal in Chicago. It was part of their marketing, but was cool, done with lights all along the people mover.
p20: Music can even be in the pace you are walking and the sound your shoes make with different surfaces.
PamelaC: http://www.drummerconnection.com/files/u... 
Mim: we are working on building a bottle wall and are hoping to catch the wind just so to make music. :) It has to get high enough up to catch enough wind though and we are just laying down the framework.
Mim: we are working on building a bottle wall and are hoping to catch the wind just so to make music. :) It has to get high enough up to catch enough wind though and we are just laying down the framework.Elaine G-H: Thanks. How are they played?
JennyC: oh, yeah, tap dancing is all about that!
JennyC: musical shoes!
p20: Yes, thank you Mim.
Elaine G-H: Mim we like to blow across the top of glass bottles to make a note
Robin B.: Grab a piece of grass and make a woodwind out of it between your hands!
Sherri: I agree that music can happen at the same time as other things. My son uses travel, English, math, construction, art, business, marketing, merchandising, and many other topics in conjunction with his band and his music.
JennyC: I did that just the other day Robin and I still knew how!
PamelaC: Or jumprope songs or hand clap games - Miss Lucy had a steamboat. We used to do hand games to tv commercials like "have a coke and a smile" or "two all-beef patties..."
JessicaO: i loved the way they played chopsticks in the movie "Big" at a toy store in NY on a floor piano
Mim: I have a tired boy and must go. be well. peace.
JessicaO
Robin B.
You don't have to go this far, though!
ChrisSanders: Zach grew to love symphonic music from playing lots of video games -- Zelda and others
Robin B.: Bye, Mim.
ChrisSanders: I bought him tickets to see http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=home "> http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=home
once but he had other plans and didn't go. :(Robin B.: That's it: "Video Games Live"
ColleenP(NH): This fourth of July, I found Be Kind To Your Web Footed Friends on YouTube - my son thought it very funny that I'm not the only person who uses "real" tunes and makes up words - it was like it legitimized the game (of making up songs) in his mind :)
Sherri: My youngest daughter likes to make youtube videos. She makes little videos with her LPS (Littlest Pet Shop) characters. She then sets the video to music. She sets the music to match up with what is happening in the video. They are really cute. She loves making them.
Robin B.: Did you go, Chris?
Sandra Dodd: Thanks, Rebecca
ChrisSanders: No
Robin B.: And why not? :-)
ChrisSanders: It was a 2 hour drive and I had to work
Robin B.: Oh, nuts.
JennyC: Sandra odd :)
Jihong: great. jessica
PamelaC: Oh, I just remembered something I went to and LOVED - The Air Guitar Championships. It was really, really funny.
PamelaC: Is that music?
JennyC: There is a steel drum player that also plays the conch at the market where I work, it's cool!
Jihong: thanks, rebecca for fixing the link. i thought my computer had problems
Sandra Dodd: About halfway through this.... Holly and I watched this yesterday, because she asked about the song... they start tap-dancing with roller skates for a bit, while they're still sitting. :-)
Sandra Dodd
Robin B.: Pamela, it's music in someone's head!
PamelaC: Sandra, did you ever see the Gene Wilder skit where he sings this song, but doesn't know the original so he just pronounces all the words identically and looks really puzzled at the meaning of the song?
Elaine G-H: In another of Astaire's films (Rio?) lots of women sing standing on the wings of plane.
PamelaC: You say tomato and I say...tomato.
ChrisSanders: I haven't seen "Shall We Dance." Guess there's another musical we need to watch! Singing in the Rain is a family favorite.
Robin B.: "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"...
ChrisSanders: Monty Python?
Robin B.: Of course. Standing in unusual places, singing.
ChrisSanders: Spamalot
JennyC: I like all the ice skating moves on roller skates! That's hard!
Sandra Dodd: THANK YOU. I couldn't remember who had done that, and that's what Holly was asking me about. She' knows it because of a Sesame Street bit (fairly elaborate one) called "Let's call the whole thing Big"
Elaine G-H: There's a spoof of the famous scene in Singing in the Rain done by a classic UK comedy duo Morecambe and Wise.
PamelaC: We sing Monty Python's Universe song, Milo on ukulele.
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Elaine G-H: Love the Universe Song
Sandra Dodd
Bob is awesome as the statue of Atlas.
JennyC: I use Sesame Street music all the time in my dance classes
Robin B.: I remember this one!
Sherri: My favorite musicals are Sound of Music, Westside Story, and Annie. They've all led to other conversations and more learning within my family.
Sandra Dodd: When I was at Adam Daniel's house we got on a Caribbean Amphibean kick. Chris Sanders had sent me that music when it was unavailable for a while, between mediums.
ChrisSanders: Zach used to watch Sesame Street and Disney Sing Along Videos back when they were on VHS tapes! :)
Robin B.: Yes, Sounda of Music, Mary Poppins. Anything with Julie Andrews :-)
Robin B.: Sound
Sherri: Oh, yes, I forgot about Mary Poppins!
Elaine G-H: South Pacific
Robin B.: Let's Go Fly a Kite can make me cry!
Sandra Dodd: I also bought Adam something else that wasn't available for a long time. It had been on cassette tape but didn't come to CD immediately, and that's a Little Richard kids' album made for Disney called Shake it All About
Sandra Dodd: He does a great knock-knock joke thing with "You keep a knocking' but you can't come in."
Robin B.: I think about the transformation the father makes.
Sandra Dodd: It was from when my kids were little, and they were already Little Richard fans, so it was cool.
Robin B.: Senna was talking about Raffi (downloaded his songs onto her iPhone recently) and said "ahh, the soundtrack of my youth."
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Sandra Dodd: Holly lived in Raffi world a while. Baby Beluga, Bananaphone...
Robin B.: She wants to sing "Down by the Bay" (not specifically a Raffi song) next conference.
Robin B.: Or Bananaphone.
Sandra Dodd: But again, every single one of these things connects to a thousand things, more or less. :-)
Hannah: Hi sorry I'm late :~)
Sandra Dodd: IF you Let it!!!
ColleenP(NH): I love the soundtrack from Ain't Misbehavin' - I stage managed a production of it in college and have the CDs from the broadway version - robbie used to sing "I ain't misbehaving..." when he was 2 and would be hiding the keys or his dad's shoes (he has a wicked sense of humor) - music is wonderful in so many ways!
Robin B.: At a local homeschooling talent show when Senna was about 5, I played the guitar and sang Baby Beluga while she rolled around on the stage as a baby beluga!
Sandra Dodd: I'm going, because I need to keep getting ready to leave for HSC in the very-early morning. Marty will give me a ride to the airport on his way to wor.
Sandra Dodd: Cute, Robin! :-)
Sandra Dodd: Holly's laughing at how cute it would be.
Robin B.: Have fun, Sandra. I know folks are really looking forward to seeing you there.
Jill Parmer: Have fun at HSC, Sandra. Bye all.
Robin B.: It was really cute!
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Sandra Dodd: Marty will take me on his way to work. Get this
Sandra Dodd: My flight is at 6:10 a.m.
Elaine G-H: Bye Sandra.
JennyC: yes, have fun!
Sandra Dodd: He goes to work at 4:30 a.m.
Jihong: have fun
Robin B.: Sweet.
Sandra Dodd: Perfect.
ColleenP(NH): Robin that must have been adorable!
JennyC: ouch, that's early!
JennyC: but you are an early person!
Robin B.: Those Target employees! So eager.
Robin B.: It was adorable. She sort of jumped out of the water (like a dolphin) then just rolled around.
p20: Bye Sandra
trista: Yes! Very much looking forward to seeing you! Jet-lagged and all! :)
Robin B.: Swimming!
Sandra Dodd: If he hadn't needed to work, Holly was willing to get up and take me to the airport at 4:00. :-)
Robin B.: Man, those unschooled kids. So lazy and self-centered. :-)
JennyC: what nice kids!
Sandra Dodd: Okay. I'll be in Sacramento for a few days, but I will be back here next Wednesday, to talk about art. Please read in the book page 84-85 before Wednesday. Thanks!!
Robin B.: Senna gets up early to take Ross to the airport. If she's not up anyway.
Sandra Dodd: Stay as long as you want, and use the room between times if you want, because it's costing money to have this room. :-)
PamelaC: Bye, Sandra. Happy trails
Robin B.: Well, to ride with us.
ColleenP(NH): Bye Sandra enjoy the conference!
ChrisSanders: We used to have a cassette tape sold by Discovery Toys called Sounds Like Fun. I found a website with some songs: http://www.youtube.com/user/barbaramilne#p/u "> http://www.youtube.com/user/barbaramilne#p/u
Sandra Dodd: I LOVE THAT RECORDING. And it's on CD now, Sounds Like Fun. My kids loved it. Made TONS of musical jokes based on that.
ChrisSanders: I didn't know it was on CD -- have to find it
PamelaC: I'm off to make a few boys very happy with pizza bagels and watermelon! Nice talking to you all as always!
ChrisSanders: Bye Pam
Rebecca Allen: Have fun all!
JennyC: I'm off too! See later! I won't get to do next week's chat... sad, I love art, but Chamille has a dental appt that I need to take her to!
Elaine G-H: Bye. I'm off too.
Jihong: thank you all, I learned a lot today :)
Elaine G-H: bye/
