Creative Movement

Here at Myriad, we are of the mindset that learning never stops. Our teachers attend continuing education seminars a few times a year in order to provide your child with the best music education in the bay area. Our most recent presentation was by Patricia Reedy from the Luna Dance Institute, enlightening us all on Creative Movement in Teaching. We would like to share a bit of what we learned with you: creativity is a product of improvisation whether that be in music or dance. Creating an atmosphere where students are comfortable and free to express themselves is key to sparking creativity. This year our teachers will be sharing these concepts with their students composing, choreography, creative movement and improvisation! 

History's Greatest One-Hit Wonder

What was the first song you learned on piano? For most of us it was "Chopsticks". Did you know that it was actually a waltz, composed by an actual person? Read on! http://mentalfloss.com/article/58473/historys-greatest-one-hit-wonder

There's An App For That!

Have you heard of the Drum  Beats + App? Download it now on your personal device, and your child can choose all kinds of fun steady beat templates to choose from. This is a great tool to use at home, if we have asked your child on their assignment sheet to repeat a passage or song several times a day to 'iron out a wrinkle'. Choose a tango beat, or a jazz swing beat and play it again - lots of fun!

Dance Benefits YOU!

Dance is a powerful ally for developing many of the attributes of a growing child. Dance helps children mature physically, emotionally, socially, and cognitively.
Physical Development: Dance involves a greater range of motion, coordination, strength and endurance than most other physical activities. This is accomplished through movement patterns that teach coordination and kinesthetic memory. Dancing utilizes the entire body and is an excellent form of exercise for total body fitness. Young children are naturally active, but dance offers an avenue to expand movement possibilities and skills. To learn more about the benefits of dance Click Here.

Long Term Benefits of Music Lessons

We have all heard that taking music lessons as a child benefits the brain in many ways, but did you know that those benefits have long term effects? Watch this 3 minute video below to learn more!

http://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2015/06/08/music-and-kids.cnn#

How much money did we raise during our fundraising concert??---

On February 28th, Myriad Music School and Dance Academy partnered with a local charity, Kids & Art to put on a magnificent concert featuring some of our teachers and advanced students. The night was a huge success with a packed house and some very generous donations. Thanks to all of your support, we were able to raise $2,483 towards helping children and their families cope with cancer through art.

Thanks especially to all of the families who attended the concert and to those who donated online- we so appreciate you!

Here are our TIPS OF THE WEEK! We send little tidbits out every week to keep our families informed about what is going on in class each week.

Toddler Music:

Hand-Eye Coordination: Playing instruments, such as sand blocks with a back and forth alternating movement, gives the child an opportunity to develop hand-eye coordination. The eye leads the hand movements,so that the internal knowledge becomes the basis for the movement. This connection of movement with sight is essential in writing, drawing, playing an instrument, learning a sport or dancing.

Preschool Music:

Expressive Movement: Turn on the music and enjoy dancing while doing chores! During class, we are exploring and creating our own movements as well as using movements expressively in pretend play. In both kinds of activities, they are exploring and learning about themselves and their environment. Expressive movement strenghtens gross motor and social skills and nurtures children's creativity and imagination. The freedom of creative movement also helps children to express their emotions and relieve some tension.

Music For the Young Child/ Superstar Young Musicians

Benefits of Rhythm: The rhythm of music and language are connected. Children love to read, speak, and hear rhythm. Think of the silly rhythm rhyming stories and poems of your childhood. This skill helps your child understand that lanugage is rhythmic, thus fostering reading fluidity and a love for language and literature.

Dance:

Barre étiquette: In Ballet, the barre represents holding you partner's hand. So when you have to turn around, politely turn towards the barre, as though you are turning towards your partner. Turning away from the barre would be like turning your back on your poor partner.

Piano:

Musical Improvisation: Each student has a section on their Medal Level sheet dedicated to improvisation. The definition of improvisation is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition. This is an essential part of learning to be a well-rounded musician but is often the most feared by music learners. Here at Myriad we have a system in place that eliminates all fear by giving our students very structured boundaries to begin the process of learning this difficult concepts. As our students improve and become more comfortable with improv, the foundries start to fall away bit by bit until they are doing it with almost no help at all.

Voice:

"Think down" for high notes: When you sing your warm-ups, try thinking of the way an elevator works: a heavy weight is attached to pulley, and as the weight pulls down, the elevator goes up to the higher floors. So, the highest floor is reached with the weight us heaviest. Similarly, you should use the most "weight" on your highest notes.

Guitar/Ukulele

"Sometimes, you are going to be so frustrated you want to give up the guitar- you'll hate the guitar. But all of this is just a part of learning, because if you stick with it, you're going to be rewarded."- Jimi Hendrix This is a great quote because no matter what instrument you are learning, there will be a certain degree of frustration. Here at Myriad we have many, many tools in place to keep the frustration to a minimum. The best advice we have is to keep working. If you practice regularly and follow your teachers' practice tips, you will begin to see how fun playing guitar can really be. Jimi Hendrix knows!

Violin:

Play with good tone: To play with good "tone" and sound, listen to the bow on the string and try to play without sounding scratchy. Practice with a nice smooth bowing motion, in a way that sounds beautiful. When you change directions with the bow, do it smoothly and easily.

Check out Marc O'Connor's website: http://www.markoconnor.com/ We use this method book in our daily lessons

Trumpet:

Embouchure: Because everybody has individual teeth and lip shape, there are a number of embouchure developed. None of them are right or wrong, you'll have to find the way that feels best for you. There are some general rules though that apply to most of them. You must keep the corners of your mouth firm so the air won't leak from there. When going up, it's generally a better idea to push the lips a bit more center than to stretch them. Stretching will thinner the lip tissue which will expose it to damage and will make the sound thinner.