Please welcome another guest blogger for the Establish a House series. This time the topic is music and the impact it has on our children’s lives. There is a giveaway at the end!
Hello, I’m Sharlene Habermeyer. Thanks for letting me guest post today!
I am a mother of five boys and the author of Good Music Brighter Children
I was born with music in my heart. Growing up, whenever I heard music—either in nature or on the stereo—I always stopped to listen. To this day, birds are my favorite creation—why? Because they sing. My favorite piece of music is Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D. It has enveloped my being—totally and completely. Thank you Mr. Beethoven!
I started taking piano lessons at age five. My teacher, Mrs. Robinson was not impressed with my musical ability. In fact, she encouraged my parents to find something else for me to do, because she was convinced I would never amount to much musically. They ignored her and found another teacher for me. I continued taking lessons through college and after I was married, I took from Dorothea Alpert—one of the most influential and amazing people in my life. Today she is 102 years old and continues to inspire her students musically. She is a wonder!
My husband and I played music for our sons when they were in utero. It was not a planned thing—my husband and I listened to classical music each day and so our sons in utero listened to it. When our sons were born we started a tradition of playing music and reading to them everyday. As a result, our sons were early talkers and early readers.
However, our third son, Brandon had a very traumatic birth (too high in the birth canal and dragged out by forceps). The result was pre-frontal cortex damage leaving him with severe learning disabilities (among other things). As I studied different ways to help Brandon learn, I discovered that he, like so many children, loved and responded to music. So, I used musical games, rhymes, and songs to help him learn his school lessons. I also played classical music for him, and I taught him the piano. I was convinced that parts of his brain, rather than malfunctioning, were in need of the kind of exercise that one gets from studying a musical instrument. It was true—music became the catalyst for him to process information.
Seeing how music helped Brandon to learn, I began to seriously research the educational and brain benefits of music. It was a twenty + year journey. Back then I searched for a comprehensive “how-to” book geared to parents on the far-reaching benefits of music and finding nothing under one roof, I decided to write this book. Kirkus, the largest independent book reviewer in the nation described it as: “A magnum opus, fact-filled and inspiring, on the benefits of music.”
Where is Brandon today? Despite the dismal reports from doctors and psychologists when he was five, Brandon graduated with straight A’s in his double major (film and philosophy) from BYU. Music was key to his ability to learn and process information.
So, that is me in a nutshell. Now, I want to hear about you—do you love music? Do you use music as a teaching-tool for your children? Do you or your children play a musical instrument? What has been YOUR musical journey?
Last, being a teacher, myself, I admire mothers who homeschool. I’ve lectured to homeschool groups and respect the dedication and tenacity of mothers wanting the best education for their children and taking upon themselves that responsibility. My blog is geared to parents who are vitally interested in being their child’s primary teacher. I also give ideas how to use both music and children’s literature to incorporate other subjects.
- Mondays I post about a children’s book that can incorporate music, science, literature, and language arts (see “Moses Goes to a Concert”)
- Wednesdays I post about various music CDs the introduce children to all kinds of music that is both entertaining and educational (see “The Alphabet Operetta”).
- Fridays I post general aspects of music in the community and beyond (see, “Why Music Lessons Build a Bigger, Better Brain”).
My book also has an extensive 35-page Resource Section that includes (among other things) twelve different subject areas and the books and music that can be used to teach subjects such as animals, nature, solar system, etc. Also included is a list of music to play when children are studying to increase absorption, retention and retrieval of information.
If you are interested, please visit my blog: www.goodmusicbrighterchildren My book is available here
About Sharlene Habermeyer: Sharlene has a Bachelor’s degree in Art from Utah State University and a Masters degree in Education from Pepperdine University, California. She teaches college and in 1999, she started the Palos Verdes Regional Symphony Orchestra. It currently boasts over 100 musicians. She will be teaching at BYU Education Week August 18-22, 2014.
Contact
Please “like” me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodMusicBrighterChildren
You can access my Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and other blogs through www.goodmusicbrighterchildren.com
GIVEAWAY TIME!
Sharlene is giving away one of her books today. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it, especially the section on Music in the Home. It’s full of great ideas to utilize music in your home for children of all ages.
TO ENTER:
- Leave a comment answering one or all of the questions Sharlene asked in her post: “Do you love music? Do you use music as a teaching-tool for your children? Do you or your children play a musical instrument? What has been YOUR musical journey”
- Like Good Music Brighter Children on Facebook and leave an additional comment letting me know you did.
- Follow Good Music Brighter Children on Pinterest. Leave a comment telling me you follow.
- Follow Sharlene on Twitter. Again, leave a comment stating you are a follower.
Giveaway ends on Friday, June 6th at 5pm PST. Please make sure you leave an e-mail in one of your comments so I can contact you if you are the winner. Thanks!
I do love music! But I often forget about it as a teaching tool, or even just to enjoy it in the background. As a result my kids are NOT musically inclined and it makes me sad. Thanks for the information and encouragement!
I have always loved music. I would make up songs to sing when I had trouble making sense of situations when I was very young. I have attention deficit and as a child I don’t know that I would have been able to succeed as much as I did with out music! This is great because I have been struggling with how to increase musical exposure to my own young children. (esther.vanepps-at-gmail.com)
I love music! I have been playing the flute for about 22 years and it brings me great joy! I am also the chorister in the primary and I have so much fun teaching the children through song! I would love to learn more about teaching children in the home!!
I love SOME music. Other music stresses me out just having it playing in the background. I can plink around on the piano and would love to make time to really learn to play well, I just haven’t fit it around having babies 😉 My oldest (of 8) is 12 and plays well, the others are 9 and under and I hope to start them on piano as each turns 10 or asks to play. We listen to a variety thanks to Daddy’s different tastes. The book sounds neat!
I follow her on Pinterest.
I also like Good Music’s FB page now! Thank you!
I, too, believe that music helps us learn. All of our children have been required to take instrument lessons. We have two pianists and one guitarist. The youngest is still too young. I find their spacial and mathematical reasoning are better than some of their comtemporaries. Our oldest spent a few weeks in the NICU and all I did was sit on the side and sing to him. He’s always been musical and seeks out ways to create/ compose tunes. The youngest is a singer and finds ways to put everyday tasks to music. We are that weird family that can quote lyrics, too. My blog post titles are all lyrics 🙂 We love all varieties and types of music. It definitely makes our lives better. Thanks for your story.
Oh man, I love music. I come from an EXTREMELY musical family. My mom has an incredibly beautiful voice. My grandfather sang the Messiah tenor solo in the Tabernacle when he was 19 years old. He, along with my uncles and dad, were in a barbershop quartet for many years. And growing up, my dad was in a musical group with his siblings. So yeah, music is a part of me.
I wish I was more advanced than I am, honestly. I have an alto voice and it’s just not a soloist voice. I damaged my ears when I was pregnant (eardrum burst due to constant vomiting. Bad news, dude.) so I have a hard time hearing specific notes and pitch. When I was younger, I could hear a song once and have it memorized and be on perfect pitch. Now, I have a harder time with that. I like to make up songs – just parodies of regular songs, so I’m not doing the music part so much as the wordplay. I play the piano (took lessons for 2 years, the rest was self taught) and used to play the guitar. I play the harmonica by ear. And I started taking violin lessons at the age of 24. I’m 27 now and I feel like I’m not progressing due to the ear damage. So I quit, and I miss violin a lot.
My son, age 6, is very musical himself. He can memorize a song after hearing it once, and then sing it a thousand times and be on pitch. It’s amazing. he’s always responded very positively to music (he’s autistic) and we had him in Music Together when he was a baby. He took violin lessons for about 6 months and we decided to take a break because his ADHD was preventing him from listening during lessons. He is desperate to take piano lessons, so we are going to start him in that soon.
I think that answers most of the questions posed here. I love music and I’m glad I come from such a musical family, though it’s very intimidating. At Thanksgiving, we all gather around the piano and sing the Hallelujah Chorus. I have a YouTube video here:
Oh, and here is Toby at age 2 singing his version of the Hallelujah chorus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73N-x_G_qPo
I love music. Absolutely. I love to sing and play the piano. My oldest two kids take music lessons, one on violin, one on piano. I mean to play music more often in our home and just forget sometimes. My mom was very good about always having good music playing when I was a kid.
I also like Good Music’s FB page now! Thank you! Contacting me can be done at yahoo dot com. I’ll put the first part in next entry.
I now like Good Music’s pinterest board. Did you know the plural of yall is “allyall” ? That’s what my mom tells people anyway. (First part of how to contact me is in quotation marks there.)
I now follow her on twitter. Thanks! The book sounds awesome.
I love listening to music, but am not musical. I have 2 sons that are auditory learners with a musical and I need to learn how to teach better to them.
I liked her on FB
liked her on FB!
I love music and want my children to play instruments. We have a piano and I encourage them the use and discover it.
I liked her on FB!
I follow her on pinterest.
I love music & love to use it for teaching my kids! Thanks for the giveaway!
I liked her on Facebook.
I also followed on twitter