Sang at the Queen for a Day event at the Children's Hospital of Denver last Thursday. Happy/sad for me. I've had plenty of families in my classes who spent many nights/weeks at Children's and currently have a guitar student who's due to go in for surgery in a couple of weeks. So, it was something I wanted to do, but it's tough when you look around.
I mostly wound up playing for visiting family, but there were several patients, too, who were able to come downstairs by wheelchair or on their own. I didn't go up to the floors (have done that at Denver Medical Center and it is so rewarding, but so hard), but managed to sing with kids on and for about two hours. Draining but worth it. I gave out kazoos and a few CDs.
It was quite different from the shows and songwriting programs I did at Lafayette Library last week. On Tuesday morning I did shows for toddlers and preschoolers. And on Wednesday I did songwriting workshops with grade kids 1-3 and 3-5. What different song ideas they had! Wow! The younger group came up with so many upbeat titles that we decided to use them all (or as many as we could) in the body of the song. So, the song is called "The Greatest Library In the World" and is way fun. I'll put the lyrics up in a few days. Don't have them on this computer. The older kids' titles and ideas were way deeper than I though we would get. We wound up writing about the Purple Cats with a line, "So, you want to change the world." whoa. I put it to 12 bar blues in C and we gave it a little bounce. Yeah. I'll put those lyrics up next week, too. There was one verse we had trouble singing and when we finished I don't think any of us really wanted to keep it, but we didn't have time to scrap it and write a new one. Oh, well. Guess, I'll try to work on that next week. Need to work on the Library song, too. It definitely needs work - what do you expect from a one hour workshop? And, also want to work on the peanut butter song I wrote with the second graders at Horizon. I pretty much like it, but there are a few lines that could be stronger. And, it might need a bridge, but I'm not sure what to say in it. As I said, it need work. Here's what I/we have so far:
Nutty, smooth, chunky
Yummy peanut butter.
Nutty, smooth, chunky
Yummy peanut butter.
Open a new jar and see that swirl
You dive right in like a little squirrel
That nutty, smooth, chunky
Yummy peanut butter.
Give it to my dog, she licks it on her face
It gets in her fur and all over the place
That nutty, smooth, chunky
Yummy peanut better.
Put it on bread with jam or jelly
Nutella or honey to fill my belly.
That nutty, smooth, chunky
Yummy peanut better.
Eat it on apples or celery,
Crackers, Oreos, on anything for me.
That nutty, smooth, chunky
Yummy peanut better.
Nutty, smooth, chunky
Yummy peanut butter.
Peanut butter, peanut butter, …
Off to see Beauty and the Beast and take pictures of Becky's friends since she's at overnight camp and will miss all the shows.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Sunday, July 16, 2006
"Best Friends" song receives Honorable Mention in the Children's Category of the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest! This is a biggie for me. I entered two kids songs into the general contest (judging not based on genre) - didn't make the final cut in that, but did have one of the two songs that received an Honorable Mention in the Children's Category. Check out the link for a list of all the finalists and the Honorable Mention winners in each category, http://www.newsongfestival.com/contest/2006_finalists.htm.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Has it really been over a month? Let's see, I got my new CDs, shipped several off to CD Baby, Amazon, and a couple of award competitions; did several shows; went on a 2 1/2 week family vacation; scheduled some fall gigs out of state - been busy!
On the music front, not much new going on. My summer shows are going well - the Paws, claws, scales and tales theme is good for all of my shows, so I've been doing lots of animal songs. Only problem is, I don't have nearly as many shows as last year, so income-wise, we're not doing too well. So, I've got to count on CDs sales and maybe licensing a song or two (got some feelers out, so cross your fingers for me).
On the home front, my eleven year old had a dance camp this week. Luckily, she was able to take the bus there, but I had to pick her up every day. And since I was pickering her up, why not get her friend, too, and bring them to the pool. My 13 year old had nothing planned and managed to keep it that way for most of the week. My challenge was getting her to do anything while I was gone. Most of what she did (emptying dishwasher, walking dog, getting dressed) happened just before or after I got home from morning classes or errands. Speaking of errands, i made myself bike ride whenever possible, which was fun, but hot (hit 100 a couple of days). So, I'm a bit tired from doing classes or shows nearly every day and biking at least 10 miles every day. But, it's a nice tired.
On the work front, I filed a substitute teacher application in Boulder Valley. Now have to send some supporting docs, but I've got that on my schedule for later next week. Have classes on Monday, library gigs on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Children's Hospital (free one, but that's okay with me) on Thursday. And, I drop the kids off in Denver on Wednesday AM for the bus to overnight camp. Which means parts of Sunday, Monday, Tuesday will be spent packing, shopping, nagging, doing laundry, shopping, packing, nagging, packing ... Actually, I think we're in pretty good shape, but that['s what I think now, before we've starting filling the duffel bags and trunk.
On the web front, I'm hoping to work on my website and web exposure the week of 7/24 when my show schedule thins out, kids are gone, and no interruptions except my dog and my bicycle.
Got an order for CDs from the Malden Public Library - my mom was a librarian there from about 1967-1981. That's where I first sang with kids, at my mom's branch library, The Faulkner Branch. I remember doing a big show at the main library for the summer reading program, probably in the mid-70's. So, it was fun to get that order. I did a postcard mailing for my early childhood CDs (Wiggle and Whirl; Wiggle and Whirl, Clap and Nap). Have been getting a steady flow of orders, not too many, but a few every week. So, now I'm doing a mailing for Best Friends. Hopefully, that will start to generate interest and orders. Then, I'd like to do another mailing in late August, highlighting all four CDs, mayber get orders for my Halloween CD, "Boo, Cackle", and maybe have sent enough to get some libraries to finally order any of them.
Going up to the mountains to do a couple of shows at Keystone tomorrow, so need to be up early. Don't have to hurry back, so I'm looking forward to mayber riding a little on the bike path and then enjoying some ice tea and fresh air before I head back.
TTFN, Sue.
On the music front, not much new going on. My summer shows are going well - the Paws, claws, scales and tales theme is good for all of my shows, so I've been doing lots of animal songs. Only problem is, I don't have nearly as many shows as last year, so income-wise, we're not doing too well. So, I've got to count on CDs sales and maybe licensing a song or two (got some feelers out, so cross your fingers for me).
On the home front, my eleven year old had a dance camp this week. Luckily, she was able to take the bus there, but I had to pick her up every day. And since I was pickering her up, why not get her friend, too, and bring them to the pool. My 13 year old had nothing planned and managed to keep it that way for most of the week. My challenge was getting her to do anything while I was gone. Most of what she did (emptying dishwasher, walking dog, getting dressed) happened just before or after I got home from morning classes or errands. Speaking of errands, i made myself bike ride whenever possible, which was fun, but hot (hit 100 a couple of days). So, I'm a bit tired from doing classes or shows nearly every day and biking at least 10 miles every day. But, it's a nice tired.
On the work front, I filed a substitute teacher application in Boulder Valley. Now have to send some supporting docs, but I've got that on my schedule for later next week. Have classes on Monday, library gigs on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Children's Hospital (free one, but that's okay with me) on Thursday. And, I drop the kids off in Denver on Wednesday AM for the bus to overnight camp. Which means parts of Sunday, Monday, Tuesday will be spent packing, shopping, nagging, doing laundry, shopping, packing, nagging, packing ... Actually, I think we're in pretty good shape, but that['s what I think now, before we've starting filling the duffel bags and trunk.
On the web front, I'm hoping to work on my website and web exposure the week of 7/24 when my show schedule thins out, kids are gone, and no interruptions except my dog and my bicycle.
Got an order for CDs from the Malden Public Library - my mom was a librarian there from about 1967-1981. That's where I first sang with kids, at my mom's branch library, The Faulkner Branch. I remember doing a big show at the main library for the summer reading program, probably in the mid-70's. So, it was fun to get that order. I did a postcard mailing for my early childhood CDs (Wiggle and Whirl; Wiggle and Whirl, Clap and Nap). Have been getting a steady flow of orders, not too many, but a few every week. So, now I'm doing a mailing for Best Friends. Hopefully, that will start to generate interest and orders. Then, I'd like to do another mailing in late August, highlighting all four CDs, mayber get orders for my Halloween CD, "Boo, Cackle", and maybe have sent enough to get some libraries to finally order any of them.
Going up to the mountains to do a couple of shows at Keystone tomorrow, so need to be up early. Don't have to hurry back, so I'm looking forward to mayber riding a little on the bike path and then enjoying some ice tea and fresh air before I head back.
TTFN, Sue.
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