"The True Meaning of Christmas" (Glickstein/Spraggins)

A month or so ago, one of my songwriting partners, Matt Glickstein, asked me to help provide lyrics to a melody he had conceived.  He was wanting to create a song for his students at the Lanai Academy of Performing Arts in Hawaii to perform.   We worked together and came up with a song called "The True Meaning of Christmas."  Matt had the kids recorded a demo recording, and they plan to perform the song several times during the Holiday season.  One of these performances will be at a special Christmas concert appearance by up-and-coming jazz artist Brenna Whitaker.  We are very proud of the kids and of the message behind the song.  Stay tuned for more updates...

"The True Meaning of Christmas"
(Glickstein/Spraggins)

Performed by students of the Lanai Academy of Performing Arts

Lanai, Hawaii

General Music Class Fun...

My General Music Classes recently finished a unit on "Rhythm" and "Pitch."  The culminating activity was to have them read and perform simple melodies from sheet music on pitched tubes ("Boom Whackers") and xylophones (bells).  The students seemed to have learned a great deal in a short amount of time and were able to play these simple melodies with minimal instruction- a good sign that they understand the concepts we've been working on.  It's always difficult to have this much activity in a classroom, but the organized chaos seemed to be well worth the effort! Next week, we start a unit on Music History!

My new job...

I've just started my new job as the Band Director and General Music teacher at Haywood Middle School in Brownsville, TN.  Stay tuned for updates!