This 24-year-old adult beginner from Norway wanted to see if it was possible to learn to play the violin as an adult. This video shows her progression from week 1 until today. This is so encouraging. I hope it will inspire many of you to pick up a new instrument, or pick up where you left one from your childhood days.
Thankyou for the Music
Watch “Alison Krauss, Yo-Yo Ma – The Wexford Carol” on YouTube
Music for the Unborn
Source: Music and Abortion
By Murray Campbell
Scientists have discovered that babies in the womb, as young as 16 weeks, respond to music by ‘dancing’.
“The foetuses responded to the music by moving their mouths or their tongues as if they wanted to wanted to speak or sing,” said one of the researchers, Marisa Lopez-Teijon. The research has been published in journal of the British Medical Ultrasound Society, Ultrasound.
What this means is that babies’ cognitive faculties, creative faculties, and listening and communication skills are more highly developed at 16 weeks than previously thought.
The more scientists study human beings in the womb, the more wonder, beauty and complexity we discover. As scientific research advances, the findings increasingly demonstrate that embryos are not less human but fully human, and from the very earliest stages.
I am reminded of the words spoken by one excited mum, ‘As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy’ (Luke 1:44).
It was interesting to note that the article inThe Australian, while sometimes referring to embryos, also addresses them as babies. The days when scientists and proabortionists justified abortion by claiming embryos were not human has long gone.
This latest research makes the reality of abortions even more appalling. It is a dreadful paradox of our society, that a child who enjoys listening to music in the womb can, on the same day, be killed in the womb.
How can we justify killing a child who in their first weeks of life is being moved by the sounds of Mozart and Bach? Not that responding to music defines their humanity but it further proves their humanity. He or she is not potential life, but is life with a mind and body that is active and alert.
Science is showing us the ignominy of our attitudes toward the unborn, but will we listen? We have longed turned deaf to the Bible’s pleas about the sanctity of life, and I suspect that we will also turn a blind eye to these amazing revelations that are being proven through empirical research.
Through music, science is affirming an ancient theological truth, embryos are people like us. But will we listen?
If you are reading this as a pregnant mum and you are questioning whether you should keep your baby, please talk to someone. We have a trained female counsellor at Mentone Baptist who is available to listen and help –faye.Ludik@mentonebaptist.com.au.
If you are reading this post as someone who struggles with a past decision to undergo an abortion, I want you to know that the good news of Jesus Christ means that real forgiveness and healing is promised through him. Abortion is wrong, but it is not the unforgivable sin. Again, please contact our church counsellor. If you don’t live near Mentone but are keen to find out more, please contact us and we’ll try to find a suitable church near where you live.
Sing along!
This is just such a groovy song. You will soon be singing along, trust me. Thanks for the music Pentatonix.
from the October 2015 self-titled album.
Why you should thank your music teacher
Here are ten things music teachers should be thanked for.
1. They taught you that it’s ok to make mistakes, and making them is how we learn and grow as a person. That’s something useful for life in general, not just music.
2. They taught you to believe in your abilities and stay calm under pressure. Again, not bad qualities to have regardless of what you’re doing.
3. They encouraged you to do your best and push your limits.
4. They destroyed the “practice makes perfect” cliche. In reality, a copious amount of practice is not enough to become a great musician. You always need to find a way to make yourself inspired.
5. They show tremendous dedication, including by taking after school lessons, running school orchestras and clubs, and planning activities. A lot of this additional commitment is never recognised in a teacher’s working hours or salary.
6. They made mathematics easier to understand.After all, its simpler to grasp the concept of two quarter notes fitting in to a half than trying to stare at a badly drawn diagram on a blackboard.
7. They pushed you to take responsibility for your actions, by practicing for your weekly piano lessons or remembering to bring your violin to school.
8. They opened the doors to something which has been shown to stimulate the entire brain. As we noted in a recent article, a vast quantity of scientific research has proven the positive effects of music in many areas.
9. They stressed the importance of always looking for ways to improve. Whether or not you’re still playing piano today, a healthy dose of self-criticism can only be a good thing.
10. They showed you that music is a lot more than just something you listen to or have on in the background. It’s there to be experienced.
Dog Filmed Home Alone Gives His Parents A Surprise
https://www.thedodo.com/dog-plays-piano-sings-1330099739.html?
This is too good not to share. It would be interesting to know what a dog actually hears when it hits those keys…..a much greater range of harmonics than we mere humans, I guess.
Why you should keep practising your instrument
I found this set of eight helpful suggestions for finding time to enjoy practising your instrument. I’m sure we could all use the encouragement to keep learning skills and enjoying the gifts we have developed.
1. Sight read often
Believe it or not, sight reading can be fun. Not convinced? Dig out your old grade books from two or three grades back and try playing through a few of the pieces you didn’t learn at the time. Not only is this good sight reading practice, it’s a good way to reacquaint yourself with your instrument if you’ve taken some time off over summer. PLUS you’ll learn new repertoire that you might enjoy AND you’ll give yourself a confidence boost by sight reading music you once thought was impossible.
2. Don’t separate theory from repertoire
Time’s up! Another lesson or practice session has come to an end and, alas, there was no time for theory. Don’t sweat it! Make musical theory a part of your everyday practice and lessons. Stop playing briefly and analyse one passage of your sonata. Grab your smartphone and check that you know all the definitions for the Italian terms in your piece. Play on and ask yourself ‘what key am I in? What relationship is this key to the original key?’
Spend a lot of time online? (Answer: ‘Yes!’) Sacrifice just 10 minutes of precious internet browsing time to do a lesson or a test from an online theory course once a week. You’ll be a theory guru in no time.
3. Compose
We all have memories of that time we were playing around on our instrument, came up with a brilliant riff, never wrote it down and learned the true meaning of regret. Are you the next Brahms? Maybe not. Do you have great ideas that other people might like to hear? Absolutely. Keep a pencil and a manuscript or manglescript pad with you while you practice.
Ideas don’t often strike out of the blue like a bolt of lightning (especially in this drought-ridden country!) – so write them down if they do! Then you can spend some time working them into something more substantial through ongoing exploration and experimentation. Working on your own musical ideas can also be a great way of really engaging with the sound that you are making, sparking musical ideas for your other repertoire.
Insightful Clara Schumann says, ‘There is nothing greater than the joy of composing something oneself and then listening to it.’
4. Record yourself
A recording device may be one of the most effective practice tools and most students just aren’t using one regularly. There is no need for fancy gear, microphones or studio set-up; recording is for personal use only! Your smartphone, tablet, laptop or handheld digital recorder will work just fine.
Recording yourself puts you in the teacher’s or examiner’s chair, helping you to listen critically to your own playing. How would you rate your pitch, articulation, phrasing, tone quality and overall performance? Make a conscious change to your performance, record and evaluate again. As musicians, there is often a significant disconnect between what we feel we are creating and what we actually produce on our instruments. Recording is an important reality check and benchmark and the best tool for students who are eager to see practice results first-hand – even if it is a little scary at first!
5. Master the short-and-focused practice session
You don’t have to wait for a two-hour window to appear in your schedule in order to sit down with your instrument or work on your voice. Long practice sessions can be great for building stamina, but sometimes more can be achieved with multiple short sessions in which you set out to achieve one particular goal. Keep track of your goals and your targeted practice in your practice diary.
Clever Leonard Bernstein says, ‘To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.’
6. Listen to great recordings
“Have students listen to fine performances of the pieces, even before you begin teaching it” advised Glenn Riddle to teachers at last week’s Piano Series 17workshop in Melbourne. Between concerts, recitals, studies and everything else life throws at us, most of us don’t spend enough time just listening for the sake of listening.
Listening to music is not only an inherently pleasurable experience, it is also an incredibly beneficial exercise for the brain. A recent study from UC Berkeleyfound that listening to familiar and unfamiliar music ‘increased interaction between the nucleus accumbens and higher, cortical structures of the brain involved in pattern recognition, musical memory, and emotional processing.’ That certainly sounds convincing!
Listening to repertoire before or as you learn a piece can help to inspire you, give you ideas for your own phrasing and interpretation and allow you to see the piece from another performer’s perspective. Grab a recording of your exam repertoire from iTunes or Spotify, plug in your earphones and talk a walk outside. You never know what details you might hear!
7. Go to concerts
Seeing a live classical music performance is insanely exciting… the nerves, the spectacle, the variety, the triumph! So why do we so often save concert-going for ‘special occasions’ or one-off experiences? It is easy to think of concerts as expensive ventures or special-occasion experiences, but this is not necessarily the case!
Google your local university music department and attend one of their (usually free) lunchtime concerts. Most professional concerts also offer discounted student tickets or last-minute ‘student rush’ tickets. Even better, have a soirée-of-sorts with your musical friends. Get an opportunity to practice performing in front of others, support your friends and be introduced to a lot of great music!
8. Have fun!
Remember that all of your hard work is really aimed at making it easier to get your instrument or voice to do what you want it to do. From time to time, play around with the sounds you can make – beautiful sounds, ugly sounds, funny sounds and sad sounds! Get up close and personal with your instrument (or voice) and experiment away. If you’re not enjoying playing or singing at the moment, maybe you just need to reacquaint yourself with the joy of making sound. Learning music is challenging but should also be fun and rewarding.
Happy John Cage says, ‘Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It’s lighter than you think.’
Upgrade your practice with these simple tips.
At night His Song is with me
SING
“We’re in the middle of a series on spiritual dehydration and what to do when your faith feels worn out and dried up. . . Remember, we’re dissecting the three elements found in Psalm 42, verse 8: “By day the Lord commands his steadfast love / and at night his song is with me / a prayer to the God of my life.”
I don’t know about you, but I find that during phases of spiritual dehydration, the night is the hardest part of the day. It’s probably because I don’t have any activities to distract my brain; I’m forced to lie in bed and think about all the different elements that are contributing to my depression.
What should you do during these long and restless nights? The Psalmist tells us – sing!
I once was counseling a woman who was severely depressed, and she said to me, “My mind was constantly racing. I couldn’t get a hold of my thoughts or harness my emotions or even read my Bible. But the one thing that brought my soul peace was the music of the church of Jesus Christ.”
Maybe you should grab a pair of ear buds and sing silently in your head as you listen to your iPod while you struggle to sleep. Maybe you should sing aloud as you sit on the couch or clean up the house. Maybe you should gather with your small group and devote an hour to simply singing the theological truths that you normally talk about.
Whatever method you choose, sing good theology! Remind and refresh your soul through praise. God created music for the good of his people.
Especially in the darkness of spiritual dehydration and depression, light the candle of praise.
God bless
Paul David Tripp”
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
What are some of your favorite worship songs?
What theological truths from those songs do you need to be reminded of?
How can you incorporate song during times of spiritual dehydration?
How might you be able to minister to others through song?
Celebrating the Anchor of Grace – with Rend Collective
Tomorrow starts a new chapter for me as I head back to the classroom teaching Senior English. No doubt there will be many challenges ahead, yet also many opportunities to bless and encourage these high school students to put their hope in Christ. This will mean considerably less blog writing, but I’ll endeavour to share any great songs I discover as often as possible.
At the moment I’m really enjoying the bright, energetic sound and biblical lyrics of Rend Collective.
Here are a few favourites I’ve recently discovered:
(All the chord sheets can be found here: http://rendcollective.com/chords/)
Build your Kingdom Here (Come, Set your rule)
Finally Free
My LightHouse
This Christmas – Idea of North
I somehow missed a great Christmas album two years ago. You may have done the same. The album is ‘This Christmas’ by the Idea of North. You can read the review below, or simply go and listen online. I’m sure you will enjoy it.
“If you want your Christmas to groove along with some stunning arrangements, then The Idea of North’s latest recording is an absolutely must.
This ensemble, known for its contemporary flavour and mellow vocal blend, has captured the joy of the season with a selection of traditional carols. American Christmas-themed songs (Have Yourself a Merry Christmas, The Christmas Song / Chestnuts Roasting, and I’ll Be Home for Christmas), also features along with some more modern numbers (Angel, Candlelight Carol), and are all mixed together with sophisticated jazz harmonies and some wonderfully rich orchestrations.
James Morrison’s inclusion (playing trombone) in Mary’s Boy Child lends an improvisatory edge to the setting, whilst the reprise of this song as a band mix has a more Latin feel. The title track, This Christmas, has an all-encompassing Christmas appeal (and some additional fine solo guitar work).
The inspirational song Angel (In the Arms of the Angel) has seen performances from all over the world, including from the song-writer Sarah McLachlan, Josh Groban, Westlife, Angelis, The King’s Singers, and Katherine Jenkins, not to mention this Australian version, which is as powerful as those famous renderings before it.
Australia’s most recognised contribution to the Australian carol tradition is not forgotten either, with William James’s The Silver Stars are in the Sky, which shows the group’s ability to find new harmonic gestures throughout the lullaby-like verses.
The Christmas Medley seamlessly merges rhythmic responses of Once in Royal David’s City and Hark The Herald Angels Sing, with a more straight forward God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Poverty is hymn-like in its four-part traditional harmonies, giving a respite to the rhythmically energised arrangements that occupy the bulk of this recording.
Poignancy and simplicity is found in the Thad Jones signature tune, A Child is Born (complete with trumpet doubling the melody).
This CD should get a real workout this Christmas season, and become a favourite for many. Beautifully sung and meticulously recorded, The Idea of North has produced another gem in this recording, where every track has real musical magic.”
http://www.barrywalmsley.com.au/2012/12/this-christmas-the-idea-of-north/
sevennotesofgrace 