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If you would like to have newsletter alerts and other news and updates delivered to your email address each month, please visit the Songwriting for Kids Website and join the email list at the top of the page. There are lots of fun things to do while you're at the website, too!
Here’s what’s in this month’s newsletter:
Can Your Legs Move this Fast?
Contest: The Luck 'o the Irish
NEW! Fiction Writing for Kids: Summer Camp I Wrote a Hit Song! Contest
Get Quoted on SFK.COM!
Quote of the Month CAN YOUR LEGS MOVE THIS FAST?
My husband, Kevin, is Irish (and I am a little, too). One of his favorite holidays is St. Patrick's Day. He loves all things Irish. Shamrocks, certainly. Green, definitely. But most of all, he loves leprechauns! He truly plans to find one at the end of a rainbow someday and collect his very own pot of gold.Kevin also likes Irish music. Check out this cool video. This is an Irish band called The Chieftans, and they are playing a traditional Irish dance set with a Spanish piper named Carlos Nuñez.
Carlos began playing the pipes when he was 8 years old, and played his first concert when he was 13. By the time he was 18, he recorded the music for the movie "Treasure Island" with The Chieftans.
- Can you count how many instruments are played in this video?
- How many have you seen before?
- You can learn more about these Irish instruments here.
- Now watch the dancers.
- Turn up the volume and try to dance along.
- Can you move your feet that fast?
CONTEST: THE LUCK O' THE IRISH
Yes, songwriting requires things like skill and talent. But in order to write a good song, you also need a little LUCK!You could have the LUCK to play a "mistake" on the piano, but it actually sounds better than what you came up with first.
Or your mom might say something at dinner that sparks an idea for a song...what LUCK!
You can't think of the right word to rhyme with "pan", and you look up to see your baby sister coloring with...you guessed it...crayons!
LUCK is all around us, and if we pay attention, it's easy to see how lucky we really are.
So, this month, I decided to have a LUCK O' THE IRISH CONTEST. All you have to do is click on the "Comments" button at the end of this blog post, or click here. Then type the story of one of the LUCKIEST things that has happened to you. It could be anything, big or small.
At the end of the month, I will pick one entry (randomly), and that LUCKY person will win a free CD! Oh my lucky stars!
NEW! FICTION WRITING FOR KIDS: SUMMER CAMPEver had dreams of becoming an author? Come spend a week learning how to write your own book. This workshop for kids entering grades 4-6 will teach core concepts of fiction writing including Character, Plot, and Imaginative Writing. Each student will write and illustrate their very own book. Come join us! Who knows...you could write the next Eragon!
This summer's Fiction Writing for Kids workshop will be held at Bowdoin College, July 23-27. For more details, please visit www.SongwritingForKids.com.
Registration for all summer fiction and songwriting workshops held at Bowdoin College (Brunswick, Maine) will open on March 30th. If you would like to put your name on the waiting list before then, simply send me an email. Registration for the Waynflete (Portland, Maine) summer session is already open! Visit Waynflete's website for more information and to register.
Click here for more information on Songwriting for Kids Summer Camps.
I WROTE A HIT SONG! CONTESTIf you are age 12 and under, you can enter the I Wrote a Hit Song! Contest. The deadline for the first challenge has been extended to April 30, so you'll have another 2 whole months to work on your hit song and enter it in the contest.
All you have to do is write either a Color Song or Picture Song. For instructions visit the Activity Room.
One LUCKY winner will receive a Songwriting for Kids T-Shirt and also have his or her song published on the SFK website!
GET QUOTED ON SONGWRITINGFORKIDS.COMIf you are a kid and have ever attended a Songwriting for Kids workshop at your school or summer camp, or if you’re a parent or teacher who enjoyed sending your kid(s) to a SFK workshop, I’d love to quote you on SongwritingForKids.com. Simply send me an email and tell me what you (or your child) liked about the workshop. Please include your name, age, and where & when you attended Songwriting for Kids. If your quote gets picked, I’ll publish it on the website, AND send you a special prize in the mail! Visit Songwriting for Kids to see what some parents already had to say!
QUOTE OF THE MONTH"You should laugh all the while, and all other times smile."
from When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, a famous traditional Irish song
Well, that's it for March!
Thanks for being a part of the SFK CLUB. Keep chasing those rainbows!
Always leave ‘em singing,
Josephine
