Music Lessons

Want to know how to save tons of money on beginning music lessons for your kids? Learn to play the instruments with your child. So far I have been able to stay about 1 or 2 steps ahead of the girls on piano and violin. I read books and watch videos then teach them what I know and encourage them to practice. Usually they get to know the pieces better than I do since they are practicing more (and focusing on one instrument). For a DIY family like us, this is the way to go.

Our kids are surrounded by music on a daily basis. Daniel plays the guitar every day and sometimes, in the evenings, I play with him. They were born in a musical family. My parents have always played instruments and are now in a band. Daniel's dad is also a musician, music lover, and instrument collector. All of these things have helped make them into the musicians that they are. Most importantly, they practice every day and they are proud of the sounds that they can make.

Daniel is learning a classical guitar accompaniment to go along with a duet that the girls know. The kids love when we all play together:)

Here's Arianna playing 3 songs from her Suzuki book. Ellen is playing Red River Valley. They've both been playing for almost a year. The sound that you here towards the end of Ellen's video is a helicopter.

Here are the books we are using for piano.
Alfred's Basic Piano Library. Started with level one. Now going on to level 3.

For violin I ordered this Suzuki book and CD from Amazon. I had to watch a lot of videos on youtube to learn how to hold the bow and play the violin. This is my favorite guy and he has a whole series of beginning violin tutorials.

Tennessee Trip Part 1

We took a trip to Mountain City to see my nephew Will who was staying with my mom. While we were there Mom and I took the kids hiking and exploring in Johnson County at Backbone Rock. This beautiful area had hiking trails along the creek, up to backbone falls, and over the the rock tunnel. The kids spent hours playing in the water and exploring the area.

The sign says "Danger, Bears are active in this area."

Playing in BB's studio. We all had a chance to jam...

Another harvest and other summer fun

I like to use the blog as my gardening journal. Here is what we harvested this weekend. It is always a fun challenge to figure out the best ways to eat/cook all these veggies. Not sure what I'm going to do yet, but we'll probably have pizza, stew, stir fry, and salsa throughout the week.
Gardening is not the only thing we've been doing in recent weeks. We spent a day on the river in downtown Columbia...
These are the traditional rock jumping pictures. Remember the ones from last summer?

We've also been going to the free Saturday night concerts in downtown Columbia. They are always fun. We bring a quilt, picnic, frisbee, and books. Frisbee throwing is a lot harder than it looks. I'm not much better than the girls, but we all have fun trying. We usually stay until it gets dark. The bands are not always great but sometimes we get to hear really good musicians. I haven't been bringing my camera but the one time I did the only picture was this one that Ellen took of Daniel and me. We are nice and hot since it is probably 9o something degrees (remember these are evening concerts!). Not a great picture of me but we were having fun.

On stage with rock star Billy Jonas

Billy Jonas comes to Columbia once a year. We look forward to his concerts because they are so much fun. He plays a guitar and also other instruments made from recycled materials such as buckets, barrels, bells, pots and pans. We have a few of his CDs including his newest one called Happy Accidents. He plays all over the US and abroad.

This year he was playing in the Richland County Library as a part of their summer reading celebration so it was a free concert. (another reason to love the library!) We got there early and the girls piled in the front rows with the other kids and adults. During the concert he taught the crowd one of the new songs and the sign language to go along with it. After singing the song all together, Billy called Ellen and her friend on stage. He said they were doing the signs so nicely he wanted them to demonstrate:) Ellen was shy but did a great job. She was so excited but I could tell a little nervous to be up there. He is a rock star to us! Anyway, this was a few weeks ago but I'm just now getting to uploading the pictures. We had a great time at his concert as always. If you don't have his music you should check him out. I bet your library has his albums in the children's section. That's where we found him when we lived in Indianapolis. We didn't realize he was from this area until we moved here and we found out he had a huge following.

Billy Jonas

Last week we went to see one of our favorite musicians, Billy Jonas. He plays every year at the Richland County Library so it is a free event. The kids get to pile in the front of the audience and dance and sing together. We all know all his songs since we sing along in the car all the time. He is an amazing musician from Asheville, NC who plays recycled items like plastic jugs, buckets, barrels, and all kinds of bells and horns. He creates wonderful music with that "junk", a guitar, and his voice. Here is a link to one of his concerts where he is singing and banging one of my favorites, Some Houses. Check him out and if you have kids you should definitely look him up.

This picture shows him doing some hand motions to one song. Even though it is blurry you get the idea of what the show is like with all the instruments on the stage.

July 4th adventure in Damascus VA

We traveled to Damascus VA to watch my parents band, Deja Vu, perform at the town's 4th of July celebration. They played before and after a fireworks show. There were also 2 Elvis performances before they played. It was my first experience at an Elvis concert. The Elvis' did all the classic songs, threw out hawaiian leis and scarves that the girls went up and caught, and even walked in and out with their security guards. What a show. The girls had no idea what was going on or why this guy was so dressed up but they had fun catching the free prizes! The band's performance was amazing. I can't believe that Mimi and BB are playing in a rock and roll band. They've always loved music and played a lot when I was growing up, but it is quite a transformation from their old working selves. Their retired life is a lot different! The other members of the band are younger and like their kids. They are a big family that love each other and love playing together. It really shows up on stage and in the crowd. Everyone had a blast. Way to go Mimi and BB. Mom has put together a website at www.dejavuband.org if you want to know more about them.


This is the crowd. A lot of people came out for the event. They had booths set up serving all kinds of fair foods but not as expensive. I was so surprised to buy a large lemonade for only $1 and a bag of chips for 50 cents.
I couldn't get the whole stage since I didn't want to stand right in front of everyone to get a picture. This is of the side so you can see BB on the keyboard. He's the leader of the band and plays keyboard and sings some songs too.
You can see mom just barely in this picture. She's in the back wearing white and a white hat. She plays keyboards and sings back up vocals.The lead singers are John and Diane, the electric guitar is Shannon and Billy's in the back playing drums. They are all amazing musicians.

Billy Jonas Rocks!!

I love the library. That's where I first found Billy. I search through the cds on our weekly trip and check out a few new cds. I just happened upon the cd called What Kinda Cat are You. I/we immediately fell in love with the sound. I started asking around if people had heard of Billy Jonas and most of my playgroup new and loved him too. They said he plays free shows around the area. Turns out he is from Asheville and travels around doing shows for families. The library sponsored a free concert here today and we had a blast. I think I like him just as much or more than the kids. I'm so impressed with his talent--how he can make such great music with such simple equipment. And he is so great with the kids. He plays a guitar for some songs but mostly makes rhythms on recycled jugs, pots, bells, tamborines, basically anything that can make noise. He had all the kids up and singing and dancing. Everyone in the crowd looked like they were having so much fun. After the show we hung around like groupies with a few other friends and talked with him and got a picture with him. You should look him up and listen to his songs. Very impressive. (billyjonas.com)

Way to go Columbia!

We had a blast on Saturday night at a free concert series put on by the city and held at a big park in downtown Columbia. We met up with some friends from our playgroup. The kids ran around while the parents chatted and listened to reggae music blaring from the stage. It was blazing hot but so great to see so many people out and enjoying themselves together. I was actually surprised to see the diversity in the crowd. Lots of families, singles and older maybe retired people. There were nicely dressed typical Columbia socialites sitting 10 feet from the scummy old guys who yelled "hey baby" when I walked by. (there is a story that goes with that and I actually caught it on video and will post later.) We stayed till the end (10pm) to see fireworks show. I was talking to another mother in the crowd who has been going to the series for several years and she said that this is one of the best things that Columbia spends its tax dollars on and one of her favorite things about the town. Way to go Columbia!

This is a picture of Daniel and his naked face with Ellen watching fireworks.

My parents started a band!

Mimi and BB have started a band called DeJavu. They play mostly oldies music. There are 7 members in the band now and they sound great. BB plays lead keyboard and Mimi plays backup and sings harmonies. Their studio is in their detached garage that they converted into a hi-tech recording studio! They practice twice a week and have a website (it's one of my links on the side of this page.) They will be performing in Mountain City at the Heritage Hall on April 14th. I'm so proud of BB who after working for years as an attorney for the LA senate is finally doing what he truly loves. All the band members are really nice and very talented. The girls love to listen to the band's demo CD that we just got and they sing along to the music while we are in the car.

My aunt Ellen and my mom (mimi) grew up around music and they love singing together. Here they were singing Brown Eyed Girl with the band and the kids.