4 months later...

After nearly 4 months, 2 cities, and a world of experience later, I make my triumphant return to blogging to talk about...

...nothing related to music therapy. Cue the sad trumpet "Womp womp."

That's not entirely true, because everything relates to everything, right?

Seriously though, I had planned this big return to blogging with a new name (as "MTI" nor "ATL no longer applies to me), new look, and new vision. But grad school has a way of sucking up all your free time, and worst of all...I couldn't think of a good name. Gotta think a lot of potentially great bands never got off the ground for the same reason.

But as I browsed through my Facebook news feed tonight, I got so riled up about a particular topic, that a simple tweet or status update would not satisfy me.

Being a music therapy major, I know a lot people who work in education and the public schools. And I constantly see them bemoaning the pains of standardized testing. As I read their dialogue, I can't help but think: "What the heck has happened to our schools?"

I'll do everyone a favor and leave politics out of this rant, but the whole thing is rather disappointing. I used to be proud of my public school education (and really, I still am). I wear it as a badge of honor. I pointed to it as proof that an expensive education, devoid of diversity, isn't necessary to be successful.

But still, I can admit there were many times when school just kind of...stunk. Boring. Stifling. Not fun. What made it this way? Looking back, I came to the conclusion that more often than not, I didn't see the applications of what I was learning. I was good at math, but I absolutely hated it. I had many long nights avoiding homework. I'd sit at the kitchen table simply staring at it, no motivation to continue. My wonderful dad (an electrical engineer, i.e. loves math) would go to great lengths to try and motivate me, but it was difficult. I don't have any kind of learning disability. I just plain didn't like it. It bored me to death.

When I got to college, all of that changed. In college, you have all this autonomy, and the things you learn have meaning. You get to choose what you learn, and the material has real world applications to you. Now I have a passion for learning. I absolutely love being in school. I often tell people that if I won the lottery, I think I'd just get degrees in anything I found interesting. Sure, writing papers isn't fun, but how great is it to be in a place with so many smart people in such a small place, all wanting to share their knowledge?

In college, you have an almost infinite amount of resources at your disposal to improve yourself. Opportunities to take in the arts, learn about the sciences, and shape yourself. More than anything, you learn how to think critically.

And that is what I feel is missing from our public schools. More and more, we teach our students to simply regurgitate facts for a test, so that we can judge their teachers off the scores and somehow filter the good ones from the bad ones. No critical thinking required, and they certainly don't have the time to teach students the applications of this knowledge. When you take that away, you're left with a class full of bored kids.

I don't have the facts to back this up but I think if you took a survey of the brightest kids in our schools, a large number of them are attracted to the arts; be it band, chorus, orchestra, theater, visual arts, dance, or something else. There's really no magic to that, it's practically the only opportunity for creative outlet left in our schools! Natural born learner's crave these opportunities, and there's no reason we can't incorporate creativity into our math and science curriculum. We should encourage it! The greatest scientific minds of all time didn't change the world by being really good at taking tests and spitting out facts. They thought up new ideas and made amazing discoveries. They dared to think outside the box. That is what we need to teach our children.

More and more politicians are pushing for more science education, which makes perfect sense: many of these jobs are driving forces in the economy. Getting more bright students into these kinds of fields will keep us competitive in the global economy, and that's a big deal. But how on Earth do we expect to inspire kids to join these fields when we do such a poor job of educating them?

It all makes me wonder why these politicians push for these creativity-stifling policies. I have to think that they've either a) forgotten what it's like to sit in a classroom bored, or b) never experienced the kind of testing they advocate, and don't realize what it does to a 10 year-old's mind (hint: shuts it off).

Like many people, I look back on my high school years and think: "If I only knew then what I know now." If only I had the kind of passion for learning that I now possess, I could have gained so much more from my education. I can only hope that my kids get educated in a school that teaches them the applications of the things they learn and inspires their creativity, creating a passion for learning early in their academic careers.

Change your strings!

I'm always surprised by the number of music therapists I meet who don't change their own guitar strings. I can never quite figure it out. Obviously, there is the financial argument against this in that paying someone else to do something which you can do yourself just doesn't make fiscal sense. But to me, it goes beyond that. To me, it comes down to taking pride in your instrument and musicianship. Changing your strings is part of basic maintenance of your guitar, and performing basic maintenance on your instrument is part of being a musician.

If you ask music therapists about their principal instruments, I'd be willing to bet a majority of them will tell you that they know how to, and preform, the basic maintenance that each one requires. Woodwind players know how to use a dollar bill to remedy sticky pads, brass players know how to clean and oil their valves, percussionists can change a drum head, and vocalists know how to take care of their voice before a performance. If you asked if they felt the need to have someone do it for them, I imagine you would get a resounding no.

Yet when it comes to the instrument most of us as music therapists use more than any other, many feel lost. Admittedly, it is a secondary instrument to many of us, but that mindset can hold us back. I talk to many music therapists (students, interns, and professionals alike) who are not confident in their guitar skills. This lack of confidence leads to a fear of trying new things (feeling bound to I, IV, V songs), and more importantly an inability to focus solely on the therapeutic process in a session.

So what is the remedy for this? Well, the obvious answer is PRACTICE! But there's more to it than that. One simple thing you can do to boost your confidence on an instrument is to take pride and ownership in it, and that means performing basic maintenance yourself.

Think about how good you feel after cleaning your house. You can hardly wait to have friends over to enjoy it. Or after you spend an afternoon cleaning your car, it just feels faster, newer, and more fun the next time you drive it.

The same is true with your guitar. When you do the work yourself, you FEEL more like a guitarist, and that will translate into your playing and therapeutic method. With all the resources we have at our finger tips these days, there are really no more excuses.

That being said, here are some great videos I dug up on youtube that give you detailed instructions on how to change your strings, for both nylon and steel stringed guitars. The first one is from the author of one of my favorite web resources, Justin Sandercoe of justinguitar.com



Part I



Part II



Another good steel string example



Excellent nylon string example video in which the video maker shows you how on a large scale with rope (easier to see)



This video gives you some extra easy maintenance you can perform at the beginning. The string changing begins at around the 5:50 mark. Excellent, HD video.

Cajon and Microphone

I've been in an instrument building frenzy this summer! After completing my guitar and kalimba, I tackled a cajon. This may be my favorite one so far. I'm very pleased with how it came out, it looks and sounds great (if I do say so myself!). Rather than do a video this time, I decided to have some fun and record a song using the cajon, plus it gave me a chance to show off my new Blue Snowball Microphone. You'll find that after the pictures:



Progress picture



Completed product



Back view with sound hole



View inside with guitar string snares. Started with just 2 strings, but it didn't quite have the sound I was looking for, so I weaved some extra strings in between the original 2, using tape to keep them in contact with the sound board.



Bottom with rubber feet.

This was a really fun project, and I've already used it several times with some of my clients. To get an idea of what it sounds like, take a listen to the song I recorded below. The song is a cover of the song "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" (Orginally "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás" by Cuban song writer Osvaldo Farres, how appropriate!). I gleaned most of my inspiration from Cake's version of the song. The only instruments used in this recording were the cajon, ukulele, saxophone, vocals, and egg shaker.

Kalimba instructions

Got a lot of interest in the kalimba I made, so here's a video with some quick and dirty instructions on how to make your own!




Materials needed:
Cigar box (or similar sized wooden box of another type)
2 large nails, 1 dowel rod OR 3 dowel rods
Rake with metal teeth
2 machine screws
2 washers
2 nuts

Tools:
Drill (with wood bits, wire brush, and hole bit)
Saw
Bench Grinder (optional)
Hacksaw (optional)


Instructions (details in video)
1) Cut nails/dowel rods to width of box
2) Cut teeth off rake
3) Drill 2 holes in 1 of your dowel rods, being extra cautious to make holes straight
4) Drill holes in lid of box, matching holes to dowel rod holes
5) Drill large sound hole in lid of box several inches below where the dowel rod will be placed.
6) Lay bottom nails/dowels on either side of screwed dowel
7) Lay trimmed metal tongs across bottom rods, under top rod
8) Tighten screws, leaving them loose enough to adjust tongs for tuning.
9) Once tuning is complete, tighten screws until tongs are firmly in place.
10) Use wire brush to clean any jagged edges on tongs
11) Play and enjoy!

Homemade guitar!

I've been working on a cigar box guitar this summer, here's a video with some information!

Review of the Remo Aroma Drum

Here's my review of Remo's Aroma Drum, which I won as a door prize back at the SER-AMTA conference.

Remo Aroma Drum website

My new Ibanez ukulele

It's about time I got back into blogging! I still need to think of a new name for this thing, as "MTI" no longer describes me, and come August I will no longer be a resident of the ATL either. But I'll save all that for another day.

I was bragging about my newest purchase on Twitter last week, my new Ibanez spalted mango concert ukulele. A few folks asked for my thoughts on it, so I thought I'd do a video post about it. In short, I love it! If you're looking at getting a Uke, give the Ibanez ukulele's a good look. They've got a great sound and are very well priced.

Reevaluation

When I started this blog, I set aside several goals I wanted the blog to address (as any good music therapist should). Now, at the conclusion of my internship, I think it'd be appropriate to reevaluate these goals and see how I did addressing these goals (again, as any good music therapist should).

A quick review:

1) To serve as a resource for other music therapy interns providing information on all topics concerning this population. I plan on covering everything from activity ideas to finding housing to cheap and easy dinner recipes.
2) To serve as a personal collection of my experiences during my internship. Daily experiences, thoughts, and lessons learned.
3) To serve as a resource for professional therapists. I am most definitely a "newbie" in the field, but hey, sometimes the perspective of a newcomer can be enlightening. At least that's my hope.
4) To provide information and insight about music therapy for those unfamiliar with the field.
5) To hopefully be entertaining. Something fun to read.

So how did I do?

1) I believe my blog served other interns well, but perhaps in a different capacity than I anticipated. I didn't end up writing about finding housing or easy recipes, but I did offer several activity ideas, songs I wrote, and a narration of how my internship was going (which I hope provided a first-hand glimpse of what being an intern is like.)

2) I feel I addressed this goal best out of all the goals I had in mind. My only regret is that I didn't update more frequently, but just about every blogger out there wishes that I think.

3) That's a goal that's difficult for me to evaluate, simply because (until very recently) I wasn't a professional. I did get a lot of great positive feedback from professionals, so hopefully I accomplished this goal.

4) While I didn't quite get into definitions of music therapy, I think I offered an easy to understand view of music therapy, and I know some of my friends who may not know a great deal about music therapy followed the blog, so I'll count this goal as accomplished as well.

5) Again, I think I lost points on this one just by not updating frequently enough. But I hope y'all were entertained.

As mentioned previously, the future of this blog is still under consideration. I've enjoyed writing it too much to stop, I'll just have to have a change of direction.

Conclusions

Last week, my internship came to a close. After 7 months and 10,000 miles of driving, it's time to begin the next chapter of my life. But before moving on to that, I'd like to take a few moments to reflect on the last 7 months:

7 months ago, I moved to Atlanta to begin what I knew would be one of the biggest challenges I've faced thus far in my academic career. I knew a handful of people in the area (including my roommate), but for the most part, I was leaving most of my friends and family behind me. This was also going to be my first time working in music therapy full time, all day every day. This fact alone elicited a lot of anxiety for me. What if I only enjoyed learning about music therapy (after all, it is fascinating) and not actually practicing music therapy?

7 months ago, I was writing on this very blog about what it might be like to leave behind the "college student lifestyle" (that is, staying up late, sleeping late, etc.) and take up the "grown-up lifestyle (in bed by 11, up before the sun, and taking on THE WORST COMMUTE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA). How would I adapt?

What if I didn't like my supervisors? What if I didn't get along with my fellow interns? What if my car breaks? Or my computer? Basically a slew of questions and "What if's?" were flying through my head so fast, it's a wonder I didn't blow a fuse.

But now, 7 months later, I can happily reflect and answer those questions. I love what I do. Even during my most challenging days, I wouldn't trade it for a desk job of any kind. I loved my fellow interns. They were all kind, funny, interesting people. Each one of them will be a helluva music therapist. My car broke, and my roommate loaned me his. My computer mercifully is still chugging along. Waking up early and commuting did stink, but I made it work (and I was only late 3 times! Trust me, out of 150+ morning commutes in Atlanta, that's pretty solid). And I loved my supervisors. They challenged me, encouraged me, inspired me, and helped me through the tough times.

And there were some tough times. My wonderful girlfriend of 5+ years lives in Orlando. It's tough being that far away from someone you love for this long of a time. My dog had to be put to sleep in March. That's never fun. I had some challenging kids to work with, and there were many days when I went home thinking "what am I doing wrong here?" Plus, living on a $0 income for 7 months is no picnic either.

But I made it through all that, and that alone is something I'm very proud of. You know, there aren't many other jobs out there that go through the gauntlet that music therapists go through. I've noticed it's something we wear like a badge of honor though. When you talk to other music therapists, they know exactly what you're going through, because every last one of us has been there. No wonder we're such a tight knit bunch. It really is like a fraternal organization.

So I'm proud to be in this battled-tested group of professionals; this fire-hardened team of rock star therapists, this steel-willed band of heroes. I made it through the 7 month boot camp that is the music therapy internship. I've been hit, kicked, spat on, and yelled at, and I've kept on pickin' and grinnin' through it all.

I've also seen some amazing sights as well. I've seen "non-verbal" kids sing, "non-ambulatory" kids dance, and "angry" kids have fun. I finally got my "a-hah!" moments I hear music therapists talk about all the time. That moment your client does something for the first time. That break-through moment that makes this job better than any other job out there. That phenomenological reward of doing what we do, and man, is it awesome.

So forgive me for waxing poetic. Past interns, thanks for your wisdom. Current interns, keep on keepin' on. Future interns, get ready for the ride of your life.

One of the most memorable and influential people in my academic life, Dr. Clifford Madsen told us that change is always the most challenging aspect of life. Jimbo Fisher says that "change is inevitable, growth is optional." Bobby Bowden said "You're either getting better or getting worse, but you never stay the same." Going from being a student to an intern is certainly a change, and it's a challenging one too. But the change you see in yourself at the end of it all makes it so worth it.

SER-AMTA 11

In the last week, a number of significant events worthy of a blog post have happened and as these events pile up, the less time I have to actually blog about them. I've finished my internship, signed up to take the CBMT (in a few short weeks), started my first music therapy job, attended regional conference, and I am in the process of moving out of the place I lived during my internship. In the next few weeks, I'll also need to decide on the future direction (and name!) of this blog. So needless to say, blogging has taken a backseat.

However, I'm going to start on that mountain of topics tonight. We'll start with conference, as that is the most time sensitive topic.

This weekend, I attended the SER-AMTA (that's "South Eastern Region - American Music Therapy Association") conference in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Conference this year was great as always, but for different reasons this time around. I must say being away from my beloved school for a year made arriving at conference much more exciting. Everywhere I turned was a classmate I hadn't seen since I left. I had to ask them all about their jobs or internship plans and explain my current/future plans. It was a blast. I got to meet countless students from other schools, which was awesome as well.

This year was also the first time I got to meet many of the music therapists I know through Twitter. Last year, I was a newbie on the Twitter Train, so I didn't really get to meet anyone. This time around, I got to meet all sorts of people who I basically feel I already knew. It was fun putting faces with online persona's. Many of these people are professionals who I have a great amount of respect for, and it was really uplifting to hear their comments on my new job and completing my internship.

Finally, this was my first conference as a pseudo-professional. While I won't be taking the CBMT until the end of the month, I am now finished with my internship and, for all intents and purposes, a college graduate. As noted before, I'm also now employed (more about that later, but I'm LOVING it)! Getting to network and interact with other professional music therapists as a colleague rather than a student had a totally different feel, one that made me feel very proud and accomplished. I started my college career as a music therapy major and never changed it. That was 5 years ago. It's been a long time coming.

More posts on the way, but these are some very exciting times for me. It's a really great feeling having a strong sense of direction in your career, and I feel especially blessed to have that this early on in mine.

Review of "The Music Never Stopped"

On Monday night, I got an opportunity to see the movie "The Music Never Stopped." The movie centers around a man's journey as he recovers from a brain tumor and tries to reconnect with his family.

My interest in this movie came from the fact that one of the central characters is a music therapist! The music therapy world has been abuzz lately about this film, and for good reason. This is an opportunity for millions of people to learn a little bit about music therapy, and in our line of work, that's a great thing. The question was, would the film makers portray music therapy accurately?

After seeing the film, I am beyond pleased to say, they nailed it. Every music therapist should be thrilled with how our field was described in the film. It was accurate, factual, and highlighted some of the wonderful benefits music therapy can provide.

The music therapist in the movie provides a quick, accurate, easy to understand definition of the field, but the real highlight for MT's is the scenes that feature the actual therapeutic interventions. There are several such scenes. For the most part, the MT does music listening exercises and melodic intonation interventions.

My only concern (and it's a VERY minor one) is that some people who watch the movie may see the music listening interventions only at face value. I'm sure most music therapists have been asked at one time or another "Music therapy? Do you, like, play records for people and make them feel better?" To some, the interventions in the movie may appear to be just that. However, when you watch closely, you can see that it goes much deeper. The MT carefully observes her client's reaction to the music and adjusts the session accordingly (and quite skillfully, I might add), guiding and talking him through the emotional issues that arise from hearing these songs again.

Again, that's a super nit-picky criticism and it's truly not a point of concern. It provides a great introduction to music therapy that anyone can understand. It will be a great talking point for music therapists to discuss what we do with those who have seen the film, and it will work as an excellent lead off into explaining what else we do as therapists.

As far as the movie itself goes, I truly enjoyed it (and this is coming from someone who is typically hypercritical of movies). I believe it does an excellent job of illustrating how health issues affect more than just the patient. The whole family feels the pain of an illness. Now, this does mean that the movie gets pretty sad at times (so if you're a crier, you may want to pack extra tissues). Despite this, it's a great "feel-good" movie that is most definitely worth seeing.

Look for it in theaters soon!

Exceptional Children's Week

Last week was Exceptional Children's Week, which meant performances galore for my students. I had one show last week and one this week.

I'm a big fan of these shows because they accomplish so many goals for so many people involved. For my students, whatever they perform is addressing some goal area, be it motor skills, communication, social skills, etc. Perhaps most important though is that it gives them an opportunity to perform. They get to be the star of the show. The whole school cheers for them, and that's something that doesn't get to happen to frequently for these students.

It's also huge for their parents, for the same reasons. They get to come watch their child be a star. Their disability is not an issue. The pride you see on these parents' faces is truly something special.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of the show is the involvement of students from the rest of the school. Special helpers volunteer to come in and perform in the show with the exceptional education students. It's great to see these kids get involved and befriend my students. It's an excellent social interaction for both parties. For the months following the shows, there is a noticeable difference in the attitude of the regular education students towards the exceptional education students. Prior to the show, there may be some staring going on in the hallway as my students walk by, and there's definitely some intimidated looks. However after the show, the attitudes are completely different. The students wave and say hi to my students, give them high fives. It's amazing.

I particularly enjoyed the show this week, partly because the performance was the first time I saw it! With the other shows, the music therapists are heavily involved, and I see the acts for MONTHS leading up to the performance, so it tends to lose it's special-ness, if you will. At this particular school however, we took a secondary role, only helping prepare one act. So the rest of the show was new to me, and I was floored! Seeing my students dance with their peers from the rest of the school just gave me chills.

Following the performance, we attended an awards ceremony for my students called the "Yes I Can" awards. Every student it individually recognized for their accomplishments in the classroom. We had a packed house of parents who were all beaming with pride. Towards the end, one of the teachers read a poem she had written, which she couldn't even get through without choking up. Needless to say, every parent in the crowd had tears streaming down their faces as well. It was a "warm-fuzzy" kind of day.

Just 2 weeks left!

Day at the Capitol

Today, I got the opportunity to join members of the Music Therapy Association of Georgia at the State Capitol in downtown Atlanta to talk to Senators and Representatives about getting music therapy recognized at a state level.

It was a long, but very rewarding day. I'm very interested in politics, and have always loved getting involved. I've called state politicians, marched to the Capitol, and volunteered for campaigns. However, I've never had the opportunity to sit down and meet with Senators or Representatives. That is, until today.

The trip in itself would've been fun. Georgia has a beautiful Capitol building. Portraits of past governors line the walls (including former President Jimmy Carter), grand staircases, a huge golden dome in the center, and it's all located in the heart of downtown.

But the best part was getting to sit down with these politicians for half an hour and talk to them about what we were trying to do, and what their recommendation is to accomplish our goals. We got to educate some of them on what music therapy really is, and others were already very familiar and supportive. One Representative we talked to told us his wife was planning on being a music therapist, before she met him and got sidetracked starting a family.

I think the most important aspect to me though was that everyone we talked to was supportive of what we were doing and seemed genuinely interested in helping us. In fact, a Senator and Representative each told us that they would like to draft a resolution to read in front of their respective legislative bodies to raise the profile of the issue.

Our specific goal today was not to introduce language to these politicians to get their support, but rather to see what they feel the best route would be to getting the MT-BC credential recognized at the state level. The most logical options were either a license, registry, or simply an official recognition of the MT-BC credential and leave it at that.

In today's political atmosphere, the emphasis is on a smaller government with less spending. For this reason, a majority of the people we spoke with recommended against the license route, if for no other reason than other routes were more likely to successfully pass through the legislative bodies. However, many also mentioned that this would save music therapists in the state from having to pay a license fee. We did speak to one Representative who was for the license, as it would give more liability protection for music therapists.

I learned a lot about the process, and it was very cool to speak with them in person. What efforts have been ongoing in your state?

Concussion links

While not necessarily music therapy related, a topic that is of great interest to me is concussions. The subject is interesting to me for a few reasons. Firstly, I'm a huge sports nut, and unfortunately concussions are a big part of athletic competitions (especially my favorite sport, football).
Another reason I find them interesting is that I've always been absolutely fascinated by the human brain. Just think about this for a second: every thought, feeling, emotion, smell, taste, and everything you've ever seen is because of this big ol' mass of tissue in your skull. Every opinion you've ever formed, any idea you've ever come up with, every breath you take, every song you listen to, the very ability to read this sentence and understand it comes from billions of cells all working together. Unbelievable! If that just doesn't blow your mind (so to speak), then I just don't know what to think...(get it?)

While browsing a favorite sports blog of mine the other night, I stumbled across this article from the New Yorker about the frightening long terms effects of concussions in athletes, and how this might effect the future of contact-sports like football and hockey. While I don't necessarily agree with everything in the article, it does make for a very interesting read and brings up important questions that must be addressed soon.

Through this article, I found a fascinating blog entitled "The Concussion Blog". It focuses on concussions issues in various sports.

I thought I'd share these links for those who might enjoy "nerding out" on topics like this, as I do.

My opinion on the topic is somewhat split. I am completely smitten with college football, and one of the things I particularly love is a good defense. I love watching teams with good defenses work. I love big, punishing hits. It's one of the things that drew me to my favorite team (The Seminoles of Florida State, GO NOLES!) when I was growing up. FSU had a famous defensive coach named Mickey Andrews who was known to tell his players to "hit until the last echo of the whistle," meaning don't stop hitting until the very last possible second that the refs allow. I love the psychological effect a punishing defense can have on an opposing offense, making them play timid. To me, it's what makes football great.

However, if I was honestly asked if I had a son (or daughter), would I let them play football? And truthfully, I would be very concerned if they did. Why do you think I chose to be in the band (aside from a total lack of athletic ability)? The thing you have to remember is that those are other people's sons getting hit every week on the gridiron.

So as you can see, this is a topic of great interest to me, and I thought I'd share a few interesting links you you all. Thanks for reading!

Parts of the Cell lyrics

Just realized I forgot to put up lyrics for the cell rap, so here they are. Recording is in the previous post.


A million here, a million there
Way too small to see
But listen up, gonna make you aware, see

Let me tell you about the nucleus
Where the brain of the cell is
Little tiny chromosomes are wrapped up inside this
With the cell’s info
And when it’s time to make more
The nucleus makes another copy of these chromo’s (chromosomes)

Then we got the membrane, making sure the cell’s safe
Holding it together out there, taking up space
What goes in, what goes out
Prepared like a boy scout
If you still don’t know, let me tell you what I’m talking ‘bout

Cells. These are the parts of the cell.
A million here, a million there
Way too small to see
But listen up, gonna make you aware, see

Cytoplasm is a substance like jelly
Stays inside to keep the cell healthy
Check out these vacuoles, they’re like the cell’s suitcase
This is where the cell puts its food water and waste

Listen up, ‘cause I’m giving you an education
Mitochondria are the cell’s power station
And vesticles provide the cell transportation
Now we’re almost done, so start the celebration

Cells. These are the parts of the cell.
A million here, a million there
Way too small to see
But listen up, gonna make you aware, see

Plant cells have a structure called the cell wall
Provides strong support so the cell doesn’t ever fall
Finally, chloroplasts are the last organelle
Making food, but not for animals, only plant cells

"Parts of the Cell" by Andrew Littlefield

Last week, I got a request from the teacher of my 5th grade EBD class. She asked that I write a song or rap about the parts of a cell and their function. "Hmmm," I thought, "tall order."

But ta-da! Here it is! A few students in the class have mentioned to me that they like Lil Wayne, so I took the beat from his song "A Milli" off the album "Tha Carter III" (which, in my eyes, wins the award for best album cover in the last decade.)

Enjoy!

"I Like Counting By Two's" piggy back song

Giving my first video post a shot! Apologies for the poor sound quality, all I have to use is the microphone on my webcam.

This is a piggy back song I wrote for working on counting by two's. Here are the lyrics for the song:

I like counting by two's!

It feels alright

Skipping every other number

Counting pairs is out of sight

Yeah!

2, 4, 6, 8, then there's 10

12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 it's true

I like counting by two's!

I like counting by two's!

It's my favorite thing

Look at all these even numbers

Makes me want to get up and sing

Yeah!

2, 4, 6, 8, then there's 10

12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 it's true

I like counting by two's!

I like counting by two's,

I like counting by two's!

(Bridge)

I like counting by two's!

It feels alright

Skipping every other number

Counting pairs is out of sight

Yeah!

2, 4, 6, 8, then there's 10

12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 it's true

I like counting by two's!

I like counting by two's,

I like counting by two's!

These are the video's I used to learn the guitar parts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5sccusIra0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3LpGgDETbI&feature=related

Enjoy!

Winter break and snow days

It's been an eventful few weeks since my last update.

At the end of last semester, one of my schools had a holiday program. This was quite the experience. I wrote about rehearsing some of this show back in November. It was very exciting to see it all come together. As you can imagine, it was also interesting trying to get about 50 student with special needs on the same page at times, but in the end it was perfect. My parents even got to come to one of the performances too, which was great.

Over Christmas break, I got to experience my first white Christmas. My parents recently moved to North Georgia, and we got about 3 inches of snow Christmas morning, which was a blast.

This semester started on a Wednesday, which made for a short week. Then this past Sunday, we got 5 inches of snow over night! This resulted in school being cancelled both Monday and today (Tuesday). Yesterday, my roommates and I had a blast trying to make sleds out of whatever we could find in the garage, making snowmen, and generally behaving like 8 year olds in the snow.

We'll see if I can get out tomorrow, but the news just said the ice could be even worse in the morning, so it may end up being a veeerrrry short week.