CREATE!

What do you like to create??  I love to create music that expresses my feelings.  I love to create things that I can share with others...like scarves, food, stones, anything beautiful!  I love to create things that help me be organized!  Mostly I love to create things that I can share with others in some way or another! 

Here's the 2nd in a series of  3 videos by Sam Fathallah, a Linn-Mar (IA) High School student.

What do you LOVE?

For me, my greatest love is for my Savior and for my family.  I feel so blessed to have such precious children, grandchildren and a loving spouse.  I love that God is always with me, every step of my life, good and bad.  I love that I've been blessed with the gift of making music.  My heart swells when I am able to praise God through music!

Love. Create. Dream.are three inspiring videos by Sam Fathallah, a Linn-Mar (IA) High School student. More on Sam and his transparent whiteboard here.   Today, LOVE.

John Williams Theme for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games!

Be ready to be inspired!  John Williams wrote music for several Olympic Games.  This is particularly moving when viewed with the pageantry of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics!  Williams wrote this work on commission from the Atlanta Olympic Organizing Committee for the games to be held in that city in 1996. That year marked the hundredth anniversary of the first modern Olympic Games, revived by Baron de Coubertin in Athens in 1896. Therefore, from the outset this was to be more than an average "Olympic Theme."

Stars and Strips Forever, conducted by John Williams

We have been studying the American Composer John Philip Sousa in music this month.  One of our favorite videos has been John Williams (who we will be studying next!) conducting The Stars and Stripes Forever written by John Philip Sousa.  Enjoy this famous march!  Especially be on the look-out for those piccolos!

Psalm 19...YOU are my ROCK!

"May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to YOU, MY GOD!"

What A Difference Four Years Makes

Technology sure has changed in recent years...even for the First Family.
Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  What A Difference Four Years Makes

The Lord's Prayer..duet harps

This is a beautiful arrangement of The Lord's Prayer for harp duet.
About Camille and Kennerly

Identical twins Camille and Kennerly Kitt, are professional duet harpists and actresses known as The "Harp Twins." They perform internationally as a dynamic acoustic and electric rock Harp Duo on identical Concert Grand Harps and modern Electric Harps. Visit Camille and Kennerly's You Tube Page!

Dearbhail Finnegan

Irish harpist Dearbhail Finnegan has performed throughout Ireland, Europe and the USA. And most recently, performed for students in Martin, SD last week!!

Dearbhail Finnegan was brought up in a wonderful family steeped in traditional Irish music, in the village of Nobber, Co. Meath, Ireland, the birthplace of Turlough O'Carolan. Since 1996 she has combined a busy solo performance career as well as being director of the Meath Harp Academy, a centre for learning Irish harp which has a student base of forty harpers. Dearbhail has released four recordings and more recently was chosen to record a track on "Masters of the Irish Harp" CD.

Dearbhail's music was featured in the animated movie "Nim's Winter Tale" by Ola Schubert and was nominated as a finalist in the "Best Original Sound" category. at the Flash Forward Conference 2006 in Seattle.

Highlights include performing for President Bill Clinton in the White House, Washington D.C. during the 50th anniversary of NATO, seniorities at The House of Commons, London and President Barrack Obama during his visit to Ireland in 2011.

Today, Dearbhail is an accomplished teacher, author, performer and director

Some of the most beautiful music can be found listening to harpists! For more info about Dearbhail, go to Dearbhail Finnegan's website

Solar Powered Chargers....

Wouldn't it be cool to own these?

Awesome Moves!!!

These guys are totally awesome with their moves!! Enjoy!

This video features the Hungary Acrobatic Sport team, Faceteam!

I Have A Dream...

This is a music video created by Michael Fujimoto to the song "I have a Dream" by Common ft. Will.I.Am.  He prepared this for an English class, visually communicating his concept of what his Dream America is in the context of reality.  Worth watching and contemplating as we remember one of our great civil rights leaders today, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Do Whatever He Tells You!

This video has captured my heart!  THIS is what music can do for me!  I am totally blown away by God's total Love for us!

http://youtu.be/TemlZ6nEEH0

Understanding Music...

Luckily, you don't have to understand music to enjoy it!  Enjoy the following video, made by a creative studio in Mainz, Germany, called "finally". 

2012 - I want to understand Music from European Office on Vimeo.

Here's an interesting infographic.  Taken from Oopsiac's Soup.  What are some ways that music affects your life?  What kind of music will boost your mood?  What kind makes you sad?  Do certain songs or styles of music remind you of a specific period in your life?  A person?  An event?  Feel free to share and leave your comments!

O Fortuna - ThePianoGuys

I love these guys!  This will wake you up!!

Flash Mob - Italian Style!

I LOVE flash mobs!  I hope to actually organize one with our students one of these days!  This one is very well done too!  Here's the info as found on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBaHPND2QJg

Published on May 31, 2012

On the 130th anniversary of the founding of Banco Sabadell we wanted to pay homage to our city by means of the campaign "Som Sabadell" (We are Sabadell) . This is the flashmob that we arranged as a final culmination with the participation of 100 people from the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, the Lieder, Amics de l'Òpera and Coral Belles Arts choirs.

Watch 32 discordant metronomes achieve synchrony in a matter of minutes!  All this achieved on a movable surface!

For more information, go to io9.com.

Intense Xylophone Kid

This kid takes his playing SERIOUSLY!  So cute!

Come To The Water

Jesus invites us....

Blessed Are You!

Enjoy and Feel Jesus' arms around you, LOVING YOU!

Mac Powell:  "When Love Sees You"

Mission: Impossible

Here's a great new video release January 7, 2013 by The Piano Guys.  

Mission Impossible (Piano/Cello/Violin) ft. Lindsey Stirling - ThePianoGuys

DID YOU KNOW?????

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a bird lover?  Specifically, a starling lover!  He noted the musical motif that the bird was whistling with pleasure.  "Das war schon!" (that was beautiful!)  
Mozart recorded the following melody from the starling:

The last movement of his Piano Concerto in G major, K.453, which was written about the same time that he owned the starling, contains a very similar theme!  The starling inserts a fermata and sang a G-sharp instead of a g-natural.  Did Mozart teach the bird the melody?  Or was art imitating nature?   
This concerto was one of the few that was published during Mozart's lifetime.  Here's the concerto's 3rd movement for your listening enjoyment with Dezsö Ránki at the Piano.

Mary Had A Little Lamb...

DID YOU KNOW???

That in 1877 Thomas Edison spoke the nursery rhyme Mary Had A Little Lamb into the first phonograph to test it out?  And it worked!  Check out this website for more info!  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edcyldr.html

Original Edison Tin Foil Phonograph. Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Edison National Historic Site.

Phonograph Catalog/Advertisement:
"I want a phonograph in every home...".

The Magnificent Sydney Opera House!

view from the air towards the south east © Commonwealth of Australia

 

"The Sydney Opera House constitutes a masterpiece of 20th century architecture. Its significance is based on its unparalleled design and construction; its exceptional engineering achievements and technological innovation and its position as a world-famous icon of architecture. It is a daring and visionary experiment that has had an enduring influence on the emergent architecture of the late 20th century." --http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/166

The video below is an AWESOME depiction of a poetic homage to the architecture and its constructional concept of the architect, Jørn Utzon. "As Utzon said about his architecture he wanted to give it a human expression, the projected video layer in that same sense aims to establish an immediate, architectural expression."---http://vimeo.com/45835867

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE | Facade projection from urbanscreen on Vimeo.

Who's the FASTEST??

NRI makes India Proud - 3rd Guinness World Record

India is made proud by Sai “Psychuck “Manapragada with his Third Guinness (Worlds Fastest Piano Player) 

The TITLE of "Fastest Piano Player in the World" was reclaimed by INDIA!! Double Guinness World Record Holder Sai "Psychuck" Manapragada going for his 3rd Guinness World Record as Fastest Piano Player on November 18th, 2011, at San Jose Center for Performing Arts, San Jose, CA

* Sai " Psychuck" Manapragada created sensation and gets his Third Guinness World Record ™ by becoming the "Fastest Piano Player in the World" and makes India proud by taking this title away from Hungary to bring it to India.

* Previous record: 498 musical piano keys per minute: New record 669 musical piano keys per minute by India's Sai “Psychuck" Manapragada

* Record broken in Psychuck's Cinematic Symphony performance (Psychuck’s Symphony Compositions, with Hollywood Musicians and San Francisco symphony orchestra) at Trinetram ™ - Guinness Event, organized at Psymphony at San Jose Center for the Performing Arts in San Jose, CA, USA on November 18th, 2011, with full capacity in the crowd.

* Attended by Governor of the California Office, State Congressmen, all Bay Area City Mayors, community leaders, and all major Cultural Associations and Organizations.

* In an unprecedented gesture, the entire Bay Area city councils and Mayors send commendations to Sai " Psychuck " Manapragada totaling 7 State of California Awards.

* Chairman of Trinetram ™ - Guinness Event Srinivasa Manapragada is recognized as Cultural Ambassador for the Indian Community by State of California Governor's Office.

Psalm 72: Every Nation on Earth Will Adore You Lord!!!

Some prayer time with Michael Joncas!

Noise or Music??

PURE SOUND vs. NOISE

Look at a set of tuning forks. There are usually eight forks in a set, and they are all of different sizes. The fork is ''played'' by striking it against a hard surface, which makes the prongs vibrate - rather like plucking a string. The same rules also apply to tuning forks - the lower notes are made by forks that are longer and thicker, so that they do not vibrate so fast.
A set of tuning forks make the notes C, D, E, F G, A, B & C. The first and largest fork produces middle C. Then they go down in length and thickness, making the notes D to B. The smallest (eighth) fork is a C again, but this note is one octave higher than middle C.
They are very carefully made, so that each fork makes a pure sound, with a regular wave that has a fixed number of vibrations per second.

The sound from a tuning fork is pure and has a smooth, regular sound-wave pattern. The hammer's sound has an irregular, ''spiky'' wave, which is typical of a noise.
Noise occurs when a sound wave has no smooth, regular pattern. It consists of a mixture of different vibrations. The wave is all mixed up. For example, the hissing made by air escaping from a bicycle tire is not a pure sound. It is a noise. Its sound-wave pattern is irregular.
Taken from http://mmem.spschools.org/grade3science/3.sound/musicvsnoise.html.

FUN at home!

Who says being home is boring???  Here's an example of a little ingenuity, creativeness, and just plain FUN!  

"Whirled Beat". Seattle-area boy (age 10 at time of publish) enjoys exploring the undiscovered, percussive sounds of household appliances. He also owns a Pearl drum kit, has been taking lessons for over a year, but is mainly self-taught in general percussion. His main inspirations are Neil Peart and Buddy Rich.

If you're a curious washing machine geek, it's a Super Queen, super-capacity plus, 14-cycle washer with stainless steel drum. Great for reverberation and for getting your socks brilliant white!

Guided Access

My son, Matt, told me about Guided Access a little while ago, and I LOVE it.  This  is a feature already on your IOS6 iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Guided Access limits your device to a single app and lets you control which app features are available.   This comes in particularly handy when a toddler is using your iPad or iPhone for an app.  It can also be useful, however, for older children that may like to cruise around the device.  Even the adults in the family might want to use it to keep track of where they are!

Guided Access is a new feature in iOS 6 that helps users with hearing, learning, vision, and mobility disabilities use iOS devices. With Guided Access, certain areas and features of any app can be disabled. You can also prevent a user from exiting an app by disabling the hardware buttons and touchscreen sensor. It’s a pretty nifty feature that can be useful in many different situations.

Use Guided Access to:

• Temporarily restrict your iOS device to a particular app
• Disable areas of the screen that aren’t relevant to a task, or areas where an accidental gesture might cause a distraction
• Disable the hardware buttons

Tap Settings > General > Accessibility > Guided Access to set up Guided Access. From there you can:

• Turn Guided Access on or off 
• Set a passcode that controls the use of Guided Access and prevents someone from leaving an active session
• Set whether the device can go to sleep during a session

Start a Guided Access session

• Open the app you want to run.
• Triple-click the Home button.
• Adjust settings for the session, then click Start.

Disable app controls and areas of the app screen (this is great for those apps that seem to be riddled with ads wanting you to buy more)

• Circle any part of the screen you want to disable. 
• Use the handles to adjust the area.

Ignore all screen touches

• Turn off Touch.

Keep iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from switching from portrait to landscape or from responding to any other motions

• Turn off Motion.

End a Guided Access session

• Triple-click the Home button.
• Enter the Guided Access passcode.

For those who learn better visually, here's a good video with details about Guided Access.

Teens and phones...

It's inevitable.  It WILL happen.  Your child will have his or her own phone.  Independence.  Access.  What we as parents may consider a privilege, our children consider a necessity.  How can we as parents keep some kind of control over the freedom that comes with a child having their own phone?  I think that Janell Burley Hofmman has a great place to start the conversation with your child.  She outlines an iPhone contract that might come in handy for anyone to use as a tool in your own family. Check out "To My 13-year-old An iPhone Contract From Your Mom, With Love."