What a mother says in one day

What a mother says in one day, but condensed into a 3 minute song, to the tune of the William Tell Overture. (Well, the last part of the William Tell Overture.)



Thanks to AMEB for reminding us of this fun video. (The video quality is poor, but if you watch it on Youtube, you will also get a copy of the amusing lyrics.)

Did you know that today is Rossini's 53rd birthday? You'd think he would be older, but the poor chap was born on 29th February ...

Countdown

Simon Tedeschi

Our new Armchair Concert radio program begins on Monday, 5th March at 1.30 PM and will feature Simon Tedeschi, Bathurst Chamber Orchestra and Guitar Trek, performing music by Mozart, Gershwin, Australian composers and a few surprises.

You can listen on 92.3 or 94.7 FM, at 2MCE.org or with the smartphone tunein app.

We are playing music by Simon Tedeschi and our own local orchestra, because we want to let you know about the great concert at 7.30 PM in Lithgow on Friday 16th March and Bathurst on Saturday, 16th March, and at 2 PM in Forbes, on Sunday 18th March.

Tickets are only $20 for adults ($15 concession) and free for all school-aged children!

Later Armchair Concerts will feature the best of Mitchell Conservatorium concerts over the past few years, including piano duets from Max and Hayden Reeder, flute and piano music featuring Phil Braithwaite, Prem Love and Cindy Fox, and performances from our Rising Stars concerts.

Christine Sweeney and David McKay are looking forward to showcasing our talented musicians every fortnight from Monday, 5th March at 1.30 PM

His father didn't want him to play

It's true. Famous composer, George Frederick Handel, born on this day in 1685, had to smuggle a small keyboard called a clavichord into his house to be able to fulfil his dream of playing music. His father was a barber and surgeon (those careers often went hand in hand in the 1600s) who wanted his son to be a lawyer. He didn't want him to waste his time learning music!

Here is a modern version of an Italian clavichord:




One of Handel's best-known pieces is his Hallelujah Chorus, performed here in a shopping centre in Canada.



Wouldn't you like to be able to sing along to such stirring music? There's an opportunity to do this, every second year in Bathurst, just before Christmas. But you'll have to wait till Christmas in 2013, because the last performance was only a few months ago, at All Saints Cathedral.

If you would like to find out more about Handel,Classics For Kids is a great site to explore. There's a page about Handel there, but also lots of interesting information for children who want to explore classical music, and guidelines for parents who want to help them do it.

The site includes an interesting timeline of composers, musical games, articles for parents and an interactive chart of the instruments of the orchestra.

Armchair Concert series begins

Christine Sweeney and David McKay introduce Mitchell Conservatorium's new community radio program Armchair Concert. 

On air Mondays at 1.30pm, fortnightly from 5 March 2012 on 92.3 and 94.7FM or live streaming at Radio 2MCE

  

from The Nutcracker Musical Storybook

It's always worth reading what educationist Trevor Cairney has to say about helping children to learn. In this post he recommends seven new children's story smartphone apps.

They all look interesting, but I was taken by the Nutcracker Musical Storybook. It looks a lot of fun, using the original story by E T A Hoffman, and some of the music Tchaikovsky wrote for his famous ballet.

Here is some more information from Cairney's article:

It comes in story or movie mode. Each has a single line of text at the bottom of the screen that presents the simple narrative. In the read-only option the user can control page turning and tap pictures for a number of simple effects (mainly sound and some movement). In the movie mode the story moves automatically from one screen to the next. Both modes make use of segments from the opera. The read only page is controlled from an initial Christmas tree image with numbered baubles allowing different paths through the story. The reader can swipe the pages and interact with a number of visual elements on the way.

The images are delightful and capture the mood of the 19th century winter setting with wonderful variations in colour, light, movement, animated figures (puppet-like), sound and of course Tchaikovsky's wonderful music. The well-known scenes are all there with the 'Waltz of the flowers' and the 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy' brilliant!

It sounds like an app that will help your 4 to 8 year old child to enjoy hearing or reading a story and experience some great music as well.

Because it's fun!

Mitchell Con staff and students making music together

The best reason for making music together is simply that it's fun. But, there are numerous side-benefits:

When the Australian Children's Music Foundation ran a program at Ashley School and Youth Detention Centre in Tasmania, the young people involved enjoyed learning to play guitar and drums, but also developed these qualities in the process:

a developing capacity to work with others
increased confidence and self-esteem
increased capacity to persist at a task
increased skills of self-expression
the development of music as a positive leisure activity
an increased interest in learning how to learn
motivation to share new music skills

Making music together in instrumental music classes in your school or at the Con is so enjoyable,and develops so many other life skills as your child joins in the fun. You can find out more by coming to the conservatorium, on the corner of Russell and George Sts (it's the west wing of Bathurst Court House) or ringing our friendly staff on 6331 6622 during office hours.

How will you listen to Armchair Concert?

Will you listen

on your radio on 92.3FM in Bathurst and 94.7 FM in Orange

online at 2MCE.org

or

on the smartphone tunein radio app?

Fortnightly programs presented by Mitchell Conservatorium's Christine Sweeney and David McKay will begin on Monday, 5th March at 1.30 PM. The programs will include some of the great music played in recent Mitchell Conservatorium concerts

Teaching your child to love language

Would you like to give your child a priceless gift? You can do it quite inexpensively. All it will cost is your time and maybe a few dollars for a poetry book (though there is plenty of poetry for kids available free of charge on the internet).

Children love the rhythm, repetition and rhyme that we find in poetry. Reading a poem aloud is a great experience and it is even more enjoyable when you have someone to share it with.

You will notice that poetry is incorporated into Early Childhood Music classes at Mitchell Conservatorium, because it is so closely associated with music-making.

Jim Haynes' Big Book of Verse For Aussie Kids is a great collection of old and new poems. There are many old favourites here, but also lots of new, entertaining poems.

My copy does not have an index, but the editor (and author of some of the poems) has provided one on his website.

Here are a couple of my favourites from the book:

A Feather-Brained Fiddler
A feather-brained fiddler named Rouse
Sat alone at the top of his house
When attacked by some crows
He sedately arose
And played some selections from Strauss

Why?
Why does a clock face not have a nose?
Why do foothills not have toes?
Do all-day laundries close at night?
Will the teeth on a garden rake ever bite?
Why can't a needle wink its eye?
why can't the wings of a building fly?
What is the sound of a gum tree's bark?
Can you leave your car in a national park?

What are some of your favourite poems to read to your children? Can you suggest any more sites or books where we can find these poems?