On Sunday we went to Suffolk, VA for a pair of outreach concerts with Mrs. Morton's studio. The kids played beautifully in a country church and then in a retirement home. Thank you to the church ladies who made us lunch, and to Mrs. Morton for putting together such a lovely program!
Sadie got to play along for two songs. The first was Minuet 2 from Suzuki Book 1:
Then Lully Gavotte from Suzuki Book 2:
Benny and his buddy Stephen share a stand in their youth orchestra, and also share a cello teacher. Here are the "Bad Boys of Cello" with their teacher, performing Minuet in G by Beethoven as a trio:
"The Prayer" in ensemble, a song made popular by Celine Dion:
And finally, "Hot Canary," a crazy-to-play but super fun violin lark:
A great way for the kids and me to spend a Sunday. :)
This is how homeschoolers really are.
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Monday, January 16, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Homeschool Choir is Fun!
For the last two semesters at Homeschool Out of the Box, our secular co-op here in Norfolk, I have been teaching a choir class for all ages. The first semester we learned some basics -- interval training, breathing, projecting, etc. and some simple songs. The second semester we took on Celtic music -- ballads and jigs and reels and silly songs and sad songs, all from the British Isles. This coming semester, we will be diving into the music of Appalachia -- murder ballads, nonsense songs, Stephen Foster standards, and bluegrass favorites.
This spring, we're singing American tunes like "Beautiful Dreamer," "Skip to My Lou," "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," "Cotton Eyed Joe," and "Shady Grove." Our songbook can be purchased as a coil-bound notebook from Lulu.com for $10 or you can download and print your own for free from our Yahoo Group files section. If you order the official songbook, the cost of the class is $60 for all 15 weeks. Without the songbook, the cost is $80 for the semester. We meet for an hour every Tuesday morning near the Chrysler Museum in downtown Norfolk. Won't you join the fun?
We work on memorizing lyrics, ear training with notes and dynamics, and have lots of fun in class. Here are a couple of examples of our songs from last semester. We love to incorporate instruments that the kids play -- you can see a cello and tin whistle participating in this song, as well as my guitar:
Last semester we memorized several poems from W. B. Yeats, and here's one of them, one of our more serious selections:
This spring, we're singing American tunes like "Beautiful Dreamer," "Skip to My Lou," "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," "Cotton Eyed Joe," and "Shady Grove." Our songbook can be purchased as a coil-bound notebook from Lulu.com for $10 or you can download and print your own for free from our Yahoo Group files section. If you order the official songbook, the cost of the class is $60 for all 15 weeks. Without the songbook, the cost is $80 for the semester. We meet for an hour every Tuesday morning near the Chrysler Museum in downtown Norfolk. Won't you join the fun?