Every time I pass a school band outside practicing, it always reminds me of when our son was in band in high school.  He started band in sixth grade and stayed in it every year into his college years.  I remember going to music stores in search of the right drumsticks and percussion mallets.   They also sell these online at sites like  tc helicon at Musician’s Friend.com, but we usually needed them really soon and found this one music store had them in stock all the time.

When it came time for finding a certain piece of sheet music for UIL competition, we would usually have to order online to find the exact piece.  The pieces our son would play for UIL were very challenging, but he worked hard on learning them.  His hard work paid off, though, because he was able to go to state UIL competition a couple of years and play a solo piece from memory.  His senior year, he received a “1” which is the highest score.  (There’s a story about how we were given the wrong information about the location of the competition sight which was in Austin, but that’s a story for another time.)   🙂

We are proud of our son and the accomplishments he made in band, and I thought about this when we were watching the Olympics.  People are talented in different areas, and while we can’t do what these amazing athletes can do in the Olympics, there are talents in the areas of music and art that are amazing as well.

One great invention that I really appreciate is headphones!  Being a school teacher, we depend on headphones to keep our classroom quiet for learning groups while some students are utilizing the student computers and also the listening center where students listen to a prerecorded story and follow along in a book.  If we didn’t have headphones then we wouldn’t be able to do as much with the students as we do.

Music lovers enjoy having headphones to use while listening to their favorite songs.   Monster headphones are even available that are supposed to “capture the sonic detail” for the listener.   And headphones are great for traveling so everybody in the vehicle doesn’t have to listen to the same music if they don’t want to.  I definitely appreciate headphones!

We are a family with several musicians.  My husband took violin lessons starting at age eight and then taught himself to play guitar in college.  He actually makes money entertaining playing the guitar and singing, he’s that good.  Our son took lessons (and was in school band for eight years) and plays just about any type of percussion instrument but mainly steel drums now.  He did play the marimba in high school (very well, I might add, to the extent that playing his UIL solo at a college try-out earned him a several thousand dollar scholarship).

If someone was interested in taking lessons but didn’t have much time or wanted to learn at their own pace, there are beginner guitar lessons available online.  Violin lessons would need to be in person, though, because how one holds the instrument is very important as well as technique.  I’ve seen online drum lessons but not online marimba lessons.  Before anyone considers music lessons for themselves or their child, though, they need to remember that the desire to play and the commitment it takes are very important aspects of learning to play an instrument.

For those of you who haven’t heard, I’m having a giveaway for the Fireproof movie which was the highest grossing independent movie of 2008, grossing over $33,000,000.  That’s awesome for an independent movie!
The movie revolves around Capt. Caleb Holt and his wife.  Caleb lives by the firefighter’s code:  “Never leave your partner behind,” and his job is to rescue others.  However, at home is a different story.  Caleb must face his toughest job ever…to rescue his wife’s heart.  What a beautiful love story!
This giveaway is open to all U.S. and Canadian residents.  Giveaway ends midnight CST, February 28, 2011. 

Here’s where to enter.

There’s something about books that’s appealing to so many people.  As an educator, I enjoying looking through children’s books and have a small collection from my years of teaching.   I especially look for children’s books with wonderful illustrations.  Being a visual learner myself, I think pictures can capture the imagination of a young child and help them to fully enjoy a story and want to look at books on their own.   And I can’t think of a better gift to give children than a book they will enjoy for a long time!

Have you read any good books or stories this summer?  It’s been so busy that I really haven’t done much reading.  I haven’t read any novels, biographies or weight loss success stories. There always seems to be something else that needs doing or blogging that needs to be done.  Let me know if you’ve read any good books or stories recently.