We had Fun at our Free Fun Music Day at Strings, Keys, and Melodies!

We sure had fun on Saturday, June 16 when Strings, Keys, and Melodies held Free Fun Music Day!

There was singing, rhythm sticks, dancing ribbons, boomwhackers and a water music experiment. 

We are holding several weeks of Explore Music Camp this summer and would love to have you join us! 

More Fun with Boomwhackers: Listen for Bells

Boomwhackers are a fun, easy way for children to practice rhythms and tones.  The tubes are already tuned to the note and all you have to do is wack them on the floor or your hand to get a nice sound.

This song only uses 3 notes so it is really easy to learn. 

The words for this song goes:
Listen for bells in the steeple to ring,
Ding, ding, ding,
Ding, ding, ding,
Ding, ding, ding, ding.

Watch the video to learn the tune of the song and see how easy it is for children to learn!

Trouble seeing the video?  Click here.



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To order boomwhackers, visit our Amazon Store!  Our Music Store is full of music items that we like and recommend.  We will get a tiny percentage for any order placed directly from our store!

5 Essential Steps for Voice Practice at Home

Here is a check list for practicing voice at home.

1. Stretch - Make sure you stretch and relax your muscles before you start your voice workout. 

• Do neck rolls to relax your neck muscles.
• Reach for the sky and stretch your waist and chest.
• Touch your toes.

2. Breathing Exercises – Singing is all about exhaling so work on lengthening and controlling your exhale.

• Inhale for a count of 10 then exhale for a count of 15.  Work up to doing this 10 times.

3.  Lip and Tongue Trills – loosen your lips and your tongue by doing trills to one of the scales.

• A lip trill is when you relax your lip muscles and blow so your lips flap, such as when you make a motorboat sound or blow a raspberry.
• A tongue trill is like when you purr like a cat or roll your r’s.

4.  Warm-up Scales – Singing scales will warm up your throat, your vocal chords and stretch your range.  Just like lifting weights where you gradually increase the weights so you can lift heavier and heavier weights, you need to gradually stretch your range in order to sing lower and higher, until you reach your full range.

• Sing with the CD I have given you, play the piano for different scales or sing with my warm-up video.

5.  Song – Now it is time to practice your special piece.

• Break the song up into sections and sing each section one at a time.  Go over the section until it sounds good.  Remember to work on the techniques your teacher has given you.
• Then sing the entire song all the way through.

Tips and Tricks - For more tips read 10 Habits for a Healthy Voice

• Remember to drink lots of water before you begin practicing and all day long to keep your entire body, including your vocal chords, hydrated.
• Remember to open your mouth!
• Remember to breath!
• Most importantly, have fun!

For more voice tips read 10 Habits for a Healthy Voice.

Guest Post on Ready. Set. Read!

This week I wrote a post for Ready. Set. Read!,a great blog written by Jackie, a reading specialist turned SAHM who shares tips and tricks for turning children into readers.   

Jackie has been writing a series titled Road Trip Reading and she came up with this great idea to include some music ideas for those long summer road trips.  And that's where I come in! 

Check out my ideas at Road Trip Music for Kids!  The ideas include the classic Peter and the Wolf and The Carnival of the Animals.

Exploring Major Tones with Boomwhackers

It is important to have correct pitch when making music whether you are singing or playing an instrument.  You need to know if you are on pitch and if not, then how to get back on pitch.


  Boomwhackers make it fun to practice pitch and tones.  Boomwhackers come in a C Major Diatonic Scale Set.  There are all kinds of accesories such as caps to change the tones to an octave lower and little mallets for hitting the boomwhackers if you don't want to hit your hand or the floor.  But the most important items are the boomwhackers.

In this video, I introduce the children to the boomwhackers and we practice singing "So, Mi, Do". 

First we play and sing So, Mi Do.
2. Do, Mi, So.
3. So, So, Mi.
4. So, So, Do.

You can make up numerous variations.






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Have fun!

Summertime! Summertime! Sum, Sum, Summertime!

This summer, we have a lot of fun things planned here at Strings, Keys, and Melodies.

First up is:

Free Fun Music Day

• When:
  Saturday, June 16 from 9:30 AM to 2:00 PM

We are hosting a Free Music Day for all kids!
We love music and we want to share that love in a fun exciting way. Come experience singing and moving, rhythm instruments, games, boomwhackers, violins, guitars, piano, ukulele and more!
9:30-10:30am Under 3 years olds
10:30-11:30am 3 to 8 year olds
11:30-12:30am 3 to 8 year olds
1-2am 9 years and older
Please extend this invitation to anyone you think would enjoy playing with us. This fun day is completely free with no obligations in any way. We just want to play with your kids!
Please RSVP for which time you will be joining us by emailing at stringskeysandmelodies@gmail.com


Explore Music Camps

We are still taking registrations for our 4 different weeks of summer camp.  Each day, we will explore a different instrument - piano, voice, violin, ukulele and guitar!  Check out the different times for different ages more details here at Music Camps.

Summer Series:  Fun with Music

Be sure to check out our series this summer on ways to have fun with music.  We will be teaming up with Angelique Felix from AngeliqueFelix.com The Magic of Play who is an early experience expert in Italy and the Netherlands.  We will be having some great play ideas for your whole family!

Summertime Learning eBook
Hot off the presses!  The we teach summertime learning eBook 2012 is HERE!

And Strings, Keys, and Melodies has been featured in it!  Check out our "Take a Nature Sound Walk" on page 51.

      The 2012 eBook features:

• over 30 ideas for summer learning created by 'we teach' members
• unique, creative craft ideas
• cooking ideas with ready-to-use recipes
• literacy ideas for all ages
• hands-on math ideas
• totally cool science ideas and experiments
• focused play ideas, indoors and out
• considerations for taking learning a step further
• bonus pages and resources--including songs
• an additional 25-page downloadable game
• links to all sites, blogs, and activities!

The ebook is free to all members of weteach, which is a free forum for anyone!  Go to  weteachgroup.com for videos, photos, forum chats, and all the support you need to make learning--any time--fun for everyone. And make this summer a memorable one for you and your family!

Once on the site, all you need to do is click on the summertime learning eBook to enlarge it. Then up at the top center of the screen, next to the four tiny boxes is the 'download' icon.  That should allow you to download the eBook to your desktop!

Looking forward to having fun with you this summer!