April 9th, 2014 by Meryl Danziger | | No Comments »
I used to collect Perrier bottles. The idea was to fill them with different amounts of water so that students could experiment with pitch or find tunes or make things up. This went on for a while until I noticed the bottles weren’t getting much attention and had begun to gather dust. No sooner had […]
December 4th, 2013 by Meryl Danziger | Tags: imbira, improvisation, kalimba, Music, music house, spoons, thumb drum | No Comments »
The …what??? Several years ago someone kindly offered me a container of bent measuring spoons. What was their destiny? What purpose could they serve? One never knows at Music House! Years went by and there they sat, neglected, forlorn … Until one day ten year-old Max noticed them. Knowing Max to be quite brilliant and […]
November 9th, 2013 by Meryl Danziger | | No Comments »
Some of you may remember the Lonnie Donegan song “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour.” Annabel and I have always enjoyed playing it together. This time, she decided to take on a new challenge: playing the whole song in Tree Pose! Annabel says that looking in the mirror helps her stay balanced. You will, […]
October 29th, 2013 by Meryl Danziger | Tags: compose, composer, glockenspiel, michelangelo | No Comments »
Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. -Michelangelo Grayson, who is into constructing and deconstructing, took all the keys off the glockenspiel and put them inside. You can do that with this little instrument – The keys are removable. Once the keys […]
October 15th, 2013 by Meryl Danziger | Tags: compose, composer, composing, composition techniques, musical tools | No Comments »
It’s exciting to find useful things in unlikely places. Today I was shopping for a new towel at “Laytner’s Linens” and found a little zippered bag that said “Tool Kit.” Hmm … Since I frequently describe my role as “filling a learner’s tool box with tools she may need at some point,” it took me just […]
October 11th, 2013 by Meryl Danziger | | No Comments »
When I picked up these Beatles nesting dolls some years ago, I had no idea of how they would be used. Grayson’s mom says that “Obla-Di” is not only Grayson’s favorite Beatles song – It’s the only one he recognizes as authentic! Here is Grayson serenading the dolls (next to the autoharp) with his own rendition.
October 9th, 2013 by Meryl Danziger | | No Comments »
While Raina was exploring, she happened to find the baton. From “What’s this for?” a lovely happening unfolded.
May 31st, 2013 by Meryl Danziger | | No Comments »
Given any encouragement (or not!), three year-olds love to compose. Raina can write a song about any animal on demand. She takes great care to match the animal with the right instrument, of course. This may be the first song ever written about cockroaches, and undoubtedly, there is deep meaning behind it. But for now, […]
March 15th, 2013 by Meryl Danziger | Tags: autoharp, ear training, high and low, musical ear, pitch | No Comments »
It often happens that children and other humans wanting to get into a music program are given a test to determine their musical aptitude. The test is likely to include a segment where the test giver plays two different notes and asks the applicant which note is higher. When the individual does not answer correctly, […]
March 1st, 2013 by Meryl Danziger | | No Comments »
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