Musical Craft: Homemade Drums

Dear Friends,
I hope this finds you well and healthy.

As you may know, I am a novice crafter and a mom of a 4 year old boy. I've made many homemade toys to keep myself and my son entertained.

In my past life, I taught at Thomas J. Pappas Elementary School in Tempe, AZ, school for homeless children. I led a weekly music class, and my budget for the entire semester was $40.
Originally, I was awarded this opportunity to teach children how to play recorder, but I decided to change the curriculum entirely. We made several homemade instrument with household items, played, danced, and composed music together.

Today, I'd like to show you how to make a homemade drum.

Materials:
Fruit cup, Balloon, and Scissors

1. Inflate the balloon

2. Deflate the balloon and cut where the balloon narrows

3. Stretch the balloon over the cup

4. Hit with whatever you can find (I used my son's wooden spoon). Also, experiment with hitting different parts of the drum. 
You can also experiment with different sized containers and materials for the "head" (where you hit) of the drum.

Aluminum Foil (You will need a rubber band to keep the tension)

Construction Paper (You will need a rubber band to keep the tension)

Mandarin orange cup and yogurt tub

I made a youtube video demonstrating the sound of each combination of materials.

Sound demo for homemade drums

I hope you and the kids in your life enjoy making the drums, playing, and dancing with the music.
If you have very small children, please supervise them with the scissors, and sometimes, the balloon snaps off the drum.

Enjoy!

Best,

Kayoko

Book Recommendation: Kleon- Steal Like an Artist

Dear Friends,
I hope this finds you well.
Today, I'd like to talk about a book that was recommended to me by a conductor colleague of mine, Craig Davis (former Director of Bands at UTC).
It's called Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon.
Kleon is an artist from Austin (surprise!), and in this book, he gives advice on how to be creative.

This book is helpful, because it affirms us that nothing is original. 

Every artist steals. 

Good artist makes what they steal better.

I believe many artists struggle to be original, to find their "voice." Kleon points out that everything is a variation of ideas that are already presented. We just need to know what is worth stealing and how to make it "yours."

I hope this book also helps you feel at ease about being creative and allows you to create more freely!

Stay well!

Happy Reading-

Best,

Kayoko

Children's Book Recommendation: Composer is Dead

                                             

Dear Friends,
I hope this finds you well-

Today, I would like to introduce you to one of my favorite books AND music (!), Lemony Snicket's The Composer is Dead. If you have read any of Lemony Snicket's books, you know you're in for a treat. His books are clever, cheeky, and definitely entertaining.

CSO has performed The Composer is Dead a few times at Young People's Concerts and Family Concerts. The story is hilarious with lots of "inside jokes" for orchestral musicians, and the music composed by Nathaniel Stookey is absolutely marvelous.

Here is a link to this book (with CD) on amazon (please make sure you're using the "smile.amazon.com" to support your favorite organization- CSO!) :

Composer is Dead

Here is also a link to a youtube vide of this work:

youtube Composer is Dead

I hope you can join the Inspector in search for who killed the composer.

Happy reading/listening!

Best,

Kayoko

Book Recommendation: Bel Canto

Dear Friends,
I hope this finds you well and healthy.

My dog Tomo and I would like to introduce you to a book that was recommended to me by Don McDowell, the chair of CSO's Board of Directors.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

This book is a fiction based on an amateur terrorist group taking a few dozen hostages, somewhere in South America. One of the hostages is a celebrated soprano, Roxanne Coss. The story unfolds brilliantly, and it's definitely a page turner. Patchett's style is luxuriously descriptive, and I could almost hear Roxanne's angelic voice while reading.

If you're looking for a beautiful fiction to read this summer, I highly recommend it.

I also recommend "youtube-ing" the arias mentioned in the book to get a full sensory experience.

Happy Reading!

Best,

Kayoko