Magnolia Guitar
Guitar Lessons and Repairs in Arlington, VA
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Sample of the Acoustic Guitar Sound Lesson I prepared for 5th Grade Science (click to enlarge)
I’m honored to have been invited to give a presentation to all of the 5th grade classes of Taylor Elementary School on Tuesday, February 8, 2011.
Since they were already learning about sound, I designed my lesson around the history and science behind the acoustic guitar. It ran between 30-40 minutes and covered construction, origins, science, math and lots of laughs!
You can see an example of one of the slides I brought with me to demonstrate how luthiers figured out where to place the frets and why they’re spaced out the way they are. It’s quite fascinating, actually.
All the kids were super excited, well behaved and had all the answers to my questions and even had some good questions themselves. There are lot of musicians in the making at Taylor and maybe even a few future luthiers!
I love nothing more than supporting both science AND music at the same time. Many thanks to the teachers and students at Taylor for letting me a part of their day!
If you’d like me to present at your school, free of charge, please contact me.
Clarendon Day will have over 50 vendors, food from over 15 local restaurants and music on two stages including kid-friendly Baltimore band Milkshake, Love Canon (played backup for Josh Ritter in 2009), Northern Virginia’s favorite rapping son, GoRemy! and more.
In association with the Virginia Hospital Center Foundation Family Fun Day, there will also be a 10k/5k/Kids Dash and you can take part in fitness classes, health screenings, dancing and kid-friendly activities like face painting, games, and much more!
- 11:30 AM Milkshake – 2010 Grammy-Nominated Best Musical Recording for Children – For Kids of All Ages – From Baltimore, MD
- 12:30 PM Love Canon – Power 80′s Glam Bluegrass – Josh Ritter’s Back-Up Band From Charlottesville, VA
- 1:30 PM Sons of Bill – Rock/Alt-Country Band from Charlottesville, VA
- 3:00 PM Honor By August – Rock/Pop Band – Grand Prize Winner, Billboard’s World Songwriting Contest – From Northern Virginia
- 4:15 PM GoRemy – Clarendon’s Favorite Rapper!
The festivities take place on Saturday, Sept 25 from 11 am to 5 pm, in the area around Clarendon Metro station.
Here’s a real treat for you that a neighbor tuned me in to. Horse Feathers is playing at IOTA in Arlington, VA on Thursday July 29 at 9:00pm and the tickets are only $12. Remember, you can’t buy tickets in advance at IOTA, you just have to go! So, go check them out! You won’t be disappointed.
Horse Feathers is Justin Ringle (vocals, guitar), Nathan Crockett (violin, saw, vocals), Catherine Odell (cello, vocals) and Sam Cooper (everything else). This video is when they visited NPR in Washington, DC in 2009. Former member Heather Broderick is accompanying on the cello with Justin and Nathan in this performance. (And yes, that is a saw he’s playing in the last song. Love it!)
Catch Amos Lee perform at The Birchmere in Alexandria, VA on July 17 at 7:30pm. You won’t be disappointed.
Virginia’s own The Steel Wheels are playing at IOTA in Arlington on June 29 at 8pm. Check ‘em out!
Red Wing by The Steel Wheels with Robin and Linda Williams from The Steel Wheels on Vimeo.
