Simpedia



Janita P., Nebraska

Here are two holiday ideas for you:

1) My son and I taught a community education class this week where he taught five Christmas songs in the key of C to half the class on the guitar while I was teaching the same five songs to the other half on the piano. The second hour we switched students and the third hour we got them all together for an old-fashioned sing-along where they accompanied on both instruments. The goals were met as most of them were able to grasp the three chords, C, F and G and went home with new skills on both instruments in a matter of a few hours. They all brought their own guitar and we had mostly school-aged children with one grandpa in the bunch. I highly recommend the experience. My 15 yo son performed on the guitar and piano as it is important for this age to see a “cool kid” who is musical.

2) My piano studio will be ringing the bells for Salvation Army, playing the keyboard, and participating in a philanthropic endeavor to help the needy this holiday season. Each student signs up for a 15 minute time slot, plays their playlist and Christmas accompaniment for a good old-fashioned sing-along. It works best if the whole family is there as the parents and siblings trade off ringing the bell, playing other musical instruments and end up staying longer than 15 minutes. It is necessary in our part of the country to be INSIDE the store as frozen fingers don’t play so well.

A few more ideas to get music into the world during the holiday season…