The Sound

4 Creative Ideas for a musical family life

Music, painting, theater, dance, as well as the rest of the arts, are capable of evoking emotions, creating careful, creative, fun environments, full of learning for your children.

To do so, we offer you some activities that you can easily carry out, using tools, materials, and/or utensils that we all have at home, recyclable materials, and all that jazz, to share these “creative-musical moments” with the family.

1. Construction of musical instruments with recyclable materials: It is about being able to make your own instruments, manually, using rolls of toilet paper, paper, cardboard, rubbers, fabrics, wool, cords, paints, cellophane, old pans, plastic buckets, cutlery (spoons), you name it.

2. Karaoke at Home: This activity will give you the opportunity to become the stars of the family song. To find the songs you want, you just have to write the name of the songs on YouTube followed by “karaoke” and you will surely find it.

You could create a playlist of the songs you know and create your most appropriate environment to enjoy this hilarious activity, singing, dancing, and sharing your voices and art as a family.

3. Composition of your own song: To compose a song as a family, the most important thing will be to decide:

-What musical style do we all want?
Think of different music styles that you like the most (rock, jazz, pop, blues …) and your favorite songs, and choose one, with the aim of using music (with karaoke), but changing the lyrics, in order to obtain your own song. (You can also invent your own rhythm or melodies, that is, a completely new song).

-What will the lyrics be about?
You have to think about a theme to talk about in the song, such as friendship, love, adventures, the current situation, and what we do to make the best of every day.

-How can we start writing?
To do this, you can write a phrase that occurs to each of you, and when you have enough ideas, you put them to your liking and even change words by synonyms, in order to find the rhyme, if desired. If you decide to change the lyrics of an existing song, you can search the karaoke of the song you were inspired by and put it in the background, in order to guide you about the different parts it has.

-Once we have the lyrics, what do we do?
Improvise a stage in a special corner of the house, play karaoke and enjoy your family song.

4. Shall we paint on Music?: This activity tries to use 2 totally different songs, of style, speed, intensity…

-Once the songs are found:

  • First, we listen to the song with our eyes closed or covered with a cloth handkerchief.
  • We try to capture in a drawing what music has suggested to us.
  • We listen to the second song with our eyes closed or covered as in the previous song.
  • We redraw what the second song has suggested to us.
  • We put each of the songs back and comment on what your drawing means, what you were thinking about, or how you felt.

We hope you liked these creative ideas and find them useful on these days, and whenever you wish, we hope our little contribution for your homes comes handy, so you can share musical, creative, fun, and original moments with your children.

We hope you liked these creative ideas and find them useful on these days, and whenever you wish, we hope our little contribution for your homes comes handy, so you can share musical, creative, fun, and original moments with your children.

There are over 100 videos on our YouTube channel to help your kids succeed. For those using the Piano Safari method, this helps your children understand the music and speeds up learning about ten times. Play-along recordings are a big deal and game changer in music. They often cost a lot of money since it helps create mental representations for kids that make learning easier and engaging. They are all free for you. Enjoy, 


Piano Safari #1(audio)
Piano Safari #2 (audio)
Piano Safari Patterns (videos)

Student Reviews

Jan has changed the way that not only I love music,
but the way we see music in general!
It’s not about learning things in black and white…
it’s learning how to love and appreciate all aspects of music.
We appreciate the patience and knowledge that Jan shares
with his students.
-Shelley M

Student of the Month

Janelle G. is January's Student of the Month! Check out her adorable Dec. Recital video, below. Such great work, Janelle!

Videos

Masterclass Winners

Here are the winners from the Dec. 20th Masterclass sessions!

Congratulations to all!

2pm
Best Performance: Yuuki L.
Jeopardy Winner: Audrey F.
Best Band: Braderoros

3pm
Best Performance: Katie Y.
Jeopardy Winner: Kelton B. 

4 pm
Best Performance: Karen W. 
Jeopardy Winner: Liam R. 

Winners will receive candy, 
bragging rights, and raise the bar for next month!

Upcoming Dates

Jan. 24:  “Winter” Masterclass
   
Feb. 15th: Application Deadline for Provincial Piano Competition

Contest

Send us a pic or video with you practicing, using online lessons or just a happy photo with your instrument and you will be entered to win a $25 gift card! 

Our most recent winner (chosen on December 26th) is: 
Ember H.!

Great work practicing, Ember!

Provincial Piano & Student Composer Competitions

For Advanced Students of ARMTA members
Date: Saturday, March 13, 2021
Location: Online 
Judge: Dr. Jean Saulnier
Application deadline: February 15, 2021 

Visit the website for prize amounts & full details  

2021 Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association (ARMTA) Student Composer Competition
The deadline for entry this year is APRIL 1st, 2021.
https://armta.ca/student-composer-competition/ 

Sherwood Park Music Festival

The Sherwood Park Music Festival has officially opened registration for the 2021 festival!

It’s certainly been a different looking year and in actuality is still very unclear as to how everything will pan out, but in anticipation of that, the SPMFA board has compiled a letter with very important information that needs to be gone over by everyone associated with the festival – before you register.  Please go to www.spmf.org and on the left hand column you will find Festival 2021 Instructions. Please read through this carefully.

You will also find the Rules and Syllabus (with a Glossary of Terms) that will be important to be familiar with to aid in the registration process.  As well, more important this year than ever, keep an eye on the Sherwood Park Music Festival website to keep up to date on circumstances as they evolve regarding our 2021 festival. 

The board is working diligently to follow all safety protocols and advisements and will use the website as your primary platform to keep you all informed.

Kristin Fraser,
2021 Festival Director
Sherwood Park Music Festival

Upcoming Events!

Online Masterclass is January 24th.

The theme is Winter!
Do you want your kids to be more organized?

Classic Studios Practice Journals are now available for 5 bucks for our students.

Classic Studios method books are now out for beginner piano, ukulele, guitar, drums.

Did you know that students can receive high school credits for their music studies?

Please contact us to find out more.

Refer a Friend &
Get a Free Lesson!

If you refer a friend to Classic Studios and they take 1 month of lessons, we’ll give you one lesson for free!

There’s no maximum to the amount of free lessons that you can receive!

 

Don’t want a free lesson?

Swap it out for a $25 gift card from Tim Horton’s or Starbucks, Cineplex, Amazon or Safeway or Cash.

Want to learn more about Classic Studios, our top notch instructors, and how you can register for lessons?

Welcome New Students!
Celia C.
Finley C.
Sophie C.
Adrienne D.
Oliver L.
Sophie R.
Racquel W.

Teacher Availability
Jan Janovsky: SOLD OUT
Sam Oscar: SOLD OUT
Eric Weiden: 2 openings
Rebecca Cypher: 3 openings
Olivia Hindley: 3 openings
Mark Maclure: 3 openings
Justin Powley: 3 openings
Burke Maclean: 4 openings

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