Letter from Betty for June 2016

Hello,

Summer is upon us, and with it a well-deserved break for school-age children. But how do you keep your child's mind expanding and still ensure a summer chock-full of fun? Luckily, opportunities for special summer activities abound.

One thing to consider are camps or summer offerings that involve your child in summertime music and musical training, Find out about the amazing benefits we now understand about the way young minds are uniquely sparked by the pursuit of musical instrument mastery in our feature article for June: "How Musical Training Lights Up your Child's Brain with Mental Fireworks" complete with an animating video that will put a smile on your face, and hopefully, a song in your heart.

And on a related note, have some fun with our "Fun Stuff To Do" bonus feature: "10 Musical Instruments You Can Make." We'll show you simple directions to make everything from a Rubber Band Guitar to a Garden Hose Horn to a Bottle Cap Tambourine. Happy music making!

Summer is the time to relax, unwind and have fun, but continuing academic studies is important to be certain material learned during the school year is not forgotten. It is also a good time for previewing material that will be covered in the first few weeks or months of the upcoming school year. Furthermore, high school seniors can get a jump start on their college applications. Make sure to reach out to your child's tutor to schedule summer sessions to keep learning in motion!

Finally, please remember that whatever your educational needs, Foundation for Learning is ready to assist you with caring, one-on-one, individualized tutoring, SAT/ACT test prep, and educational evaluations. Please don't hesitate to give us a call at 973-425-1774 for a free consultation.


Best regards,

Betty

Betty Bodenweiser
Director
Foundation for Learning

New: Sign up now for Chess and Math Clubs

UPDATE: 6/1/16, 8:30 pm - Dates corrected.

We have established a dual-focus, Chess and Math Scholastic Club at Foundation for Learning!
                           
Chess Club: Sundays 11:00-12:00
Learn theory lessons, work over problems, and play chess!

Math Club: Sundays 12:00-1:00
Discuss and solve fun, interesting and challenging math problems! 

1st Session June 19, 2016 – July 17, 2016
(no session July 3)
2nd Session July 24, 2016 – August 14, 2016

Cost: $90/per club, or $160 if signed up for both clubs

Students entering 3rd - 8th grade are welcome to attend. Please contact Betty at (973) 425-1774 or Betty@foundationforlearning.com to learn more about the clubs and to sign up!

How Musical Training Lights Up your Child's Brain with Mental Fireworks

The benefits of music education have been researched for decades and there’s quite a lot of consensus that music and music education have a lot of benefits, even beyond the pure enjoyment of it all. Most recently, neuroscientists have been excited about the significant differences they have seen between the brain functions of musicians, when compared with non-musicians.



It has become clear that music education before the age of 7 has the greatest benefits to brain development. Furthermore it has been found that it only takes, at the very least, an hour a week of structured, formal music education to make permanent and positive changes to the brain functions of every child. Does this mean that there are no benefits for older children? No indeed! Music has significant benefits for older children and teens as well.

So how does music make a difference?

Dr Nina Kraus led a research project at Northwestern University that reported that musically-trained children were found to be better at processing sounds and language. This research was presented to the American Psychological Association. Additionally, they found that musical training can alter the nervous system to create a better learner. Learning music improves the concentration, memory and focus of children in the classroom by improving their neural functions. Dr Kraus also said that music appears to remodel the brain allowing for improvement in the connections between sounds and meaning, the very process by which babies learn to speak. "Music automatically sharpens the nervous system's response to sounds," Dr Kraus explains.



Additionally, moving in time to a steady beat is closely linked to better language skills, a study suggests by researchers at McMasters University. People who performed better on rhythmic tests during this study also showed enhanced neural responses to speech sounds. The researchers suggest that practicing music could improve other skills, particularly reading. They also found that the musical group that they studied performed better on memory tests, literacy and math abilities. The authors argue that rhythm is an integral part of language and music exercises that ability. This study was reported in the Journal of Neurosciences and the journal Brain.

Is there a difference between listening to music and actually playing a musical instrument?



When you listen to music, multiple areas of your brain become engaged and active. But when you actually play an instrument, that activity becomes more like a full-body brain workout.  Educator Anita Collins explains that fireworks go off in musicians’ brains when they play, and there are long-term positive effects of this mental workout. Practice strengthens those functions and allows the musician to apply that strength to other activities as well.  Music enhances memory functions and strengthens the important ability to multi-task. Just 1 hour a week of musical training: singing, playing instruments, learning how to read music, learning to understand musical concepts, that’s enough to see a change in test scores, classroom performance, behavior, and even the structure of the brain itself over time.

Here is a fabulous animated TED-ED video by Anita Collins that will convince you to include music in your day.



Think that music is a waste of time because it’s too unlikely that your child will turn it into a career? Well, not only is that wrong thinking but that’s not the point. Music is the gift you give to your child for their life.

Fun Stuff To Do: 10 Musical Instruments You Can Make

 

Rubber Band Guitar
Materials:

• A small, sturdy cardboard box
• An assortment of rubber bands that are large enough to stretch around the box. Choose a variety of lengths and thicknesses.
• A paper towel tube
• A pencil
• Duct tape

Directions:
Cut a hole about 4 inches in diameter in the top of the box. Stretch 4-6 rubber bands around the box and situate them over the hole. Slice a pencil in under the rubber bands on one side of the hole. Tape one end of the paper towel tube on the box, opposite end of the pencil. This is the “neck” of your guitar. Pluck or strum the rubber bands. Notice how the thinner and tighter bands make higher-pitched sounds, while the thicker and looser bands make lower pitched sounds.

Bottle flute
Materials: 

• Glass bottles (narrow neck) of various sizes

Directions:
Blow across the top of each bottle until you get a “hooty” sound. Notice how the sound changes as the size of the bottles change. Put some water in the bottles and notice how the sound changes with different amounts of water.  This is how flutes and piccolos make sound.


Comb clarinet
Materials:

• A small hair comb
• Squares of thin paper cut into 2”x2” sizes

Directions:
Hold the comb so that the teeth point towards you. Use your thumbs to hold a small piece of paper loosely on the comb. Put your lips lightly on the comb and the paper. Blow air across the paper and hear the sound it makes as it vibrates. This is how clarinets, oboes, English horns and bassoons make sound.


Straw oboe
Materials:

• Paper drinking straws

Directions:
Flatten one end of a straw by pinching ½-1 inch between your fingers. Clip the corners off the flattened end so that it ends in two points. Insert the trimmed end of the straw into your mouth with the flaps just inside your lips. Apply very light pressure with your lips as you blow through the straw. The two flaps will vibrate against each other and produce a tone. Try this with straws of different sizes and note how the tone changes.


Garden Hose Horn
Materials:

• A small funnel
• An 18:-24” length of garden hose
• A plastic snap-on hose connector
• Duct tape

Directions:
Insert the funnel into one end of the garden hose. Wrap duct tape around it to secure. This is the bell of your trumpet. Insert the smaller end of the hose connector into the other end of the hose and secure with duct tape. This is the mouthpiece of your instrument. Coil the hose so you can hold both ends as you play. Put your lips into the mouthpiece end and “buzz” them together. The hose length determines how high or low your instrument sounds.


Maracas
Materials:

• Small lidded container such as yogurt containers, baking-powder cans, coffee tines, butter containers, drink bottles
• Dried beans, seeds, uncooked rice or nuts
• Duct tape

Directions:
Partially fill the container with the small dried items. Secure the lid with duct tape. Notice the different sounds produced by the different containers as you hand shake your maraca.


Drum
Materials:

• An empty oatmeal or coffee can
• A sheet of heavy plastic (like a garbage bag) or a large balloon
• Ruler
• Marker
• Scissors
• Large rubber band
• Spoon, stick or pencil

Directions:
Measure the diameter of the can. Mark a circle 2-3 inches larger in diameter on the sheet of plastic and cut it out. Stretch the plastic tightly over the opening of the can and secure it with the rubber band. Use the stick, spoon, pencil or your hand to hit the drum.


Cymbals
Materials:

• 2 similar-sized pot covers
• Yarn or ribbon

Directions:
Tie the ribbon or yarn around the handles of the pot covers. Loop the ribbon or yarn around your wrists. Play by striking the two covers together.


Copper-Pipe Glockenspiel
Materials:

• A 10-foot length of ½ inch copper pipe
• Yardstick
• Pipe or tubing cutter
• 2 strips of foam rubber, each about 20 inches long

Directions:
Get an adult to help you with this project
Measure and cut the pipe to the following lengths, starting with the longest first: 11, 10 ¼, 9 ¾, 8 7/8, 8 ½, 7 7/8, 7 5/8
Lay the strips of foam rubber parallel to each other on a flat surface. Arrange the pipes in order from the shortest to the longest. Lay them across the strips of foam rubber like railroad ties. Experiment with various types of strikers to get the best sound.

 

Bottle-Cap Tambourine
Materials:

• A strong Y-shaped tree branch (hand-sized)
• 10-15 metal bottle caps
• Strong wire
• Hammer and a nail

Directions:
Get an adult to help you with this project. Remove the rubber liners from the bottle caps. Flatten the caps with a hammer. Use a nail to punch a small hole in the center of each cap. Thread the caps onto the wire and string tightly between the arms of the “Y”.