MP3 Saturday: Sketch in 5/4

Here's another sketch I've been toying with in 5/4 time.

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Contemporary Native American Artist, Kay Walkingstick with Upper Elementary Students

The 4th and 5th Grade classes started the year off learning about contemporary Native American artist, Kay Walkingstick. This lesson was created by my colleague, Victoria Ford and is part of a tub of resources on contemporary Native American artists. It is available …

Outsider Artist of the Week

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MP3 Saturday: September Waltz Sketch

Here's a quick little song sketch I put together. Eventually, I'd like to arrange it for clarinet, trumpet and trombone.

You can download Return of the June Bug for free here!

You can buy four track wonderland on CDBaby or iTunes

Support the arts and leave a tip!

Outsider Artist of the Week

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My Life in Records- Chapter 2 pgs 22-25

Read this comic from the beginning here or start at the beginning of the current chapter.

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MP3 Saturday: Nice Work If You Can Get It

One of my favorite songwriting teams is George and Ira Gershwin. I don't really care for George's symphonic pieces. They're a little too square for my tastes, but when he teamed up with his brother to write pop tunes, he really hit his stride.

I was first introduced to …

Not Quite Music That Inspired It All

This song from Oliver wasn't really on my mind when writing My Life in Records, but it was probably hummed quite a bit when I was four or five. Check out the meat tossing butchers about 2 minutes in!

New Character Designs for My Life in Records

I've been toying with the idea of changing up the style for My Life in Records for the second part of the story (after Chapter 3 wraps up) I've been drawn to a more realistic, yet angular style and I've also been using a simple crow quill nib pen. Unfortunately, the …

Art "Criticism" in the Elementary Classroom

I rarely get into much art criticism in my classroom. We do a lot of art making and art history, but we don't get much time (or I don't make enough time) to approach making judgments about art.

Last year I started with great intentions. We started with a game I learned …

Outsider Artist of the Week

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MP3 Saturday: We're Not to Talk About It

This song exhibits my rather meager banjo playing skills. It also features my wife, Traci, on clarinet to complete the Brechtian goodness.

The lyrics may get a major overhaul, because my wife is encouraging my to not use the same words in every song and I might just …

The Feast Day of St. Augustine of Hippo

Piero della Francesca. St. Augustine. c. 1465. (Panel of the Sant'Agostino Altarpiece.) Mixed techniques on wood panel.

Collect for the Feast Day of St. Augustine:

Lord God, the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the …

Acknowledgments

Sometimes the comments are pretty quite 'round here on the blog, but I know somebody's reading, because my site meter tells me that visits are up. I don't know how many of you stop by for a one time visit, or have wandered over here and stayed.

This blog is pretty …

Identifying with Suffering

One day when I was fasting, a new Kindergarten student had a meltdown. I found out later in the day, that his family had been evicted, were living with relatives and ate about once a day. His stress about the uncertainty of his living situation and his hunger were …

The Feast Day of St. Bartholomew

Jusepe de Ribera, The Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, 1634
Detail (those hands are awesome!)

Collect for the Feast Day of St. Bartholomew:

Almighty and everlasting God, who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach your Word: Grant that your …

Outsider Artist of the Week

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MP3 Saturday: Carnival of New Alexandria

I realized way too late, that my post last week got half eaten by blogger. I had a whole part about how I made the drum loop and got that Dick Dale guitar sound. Someday I'll try it again.

Not much to say about this week's song other than its taken me longer than I'd …

Back in the Saddle

Work started up yesterday, so I'm pretty busy this week. The kids come in tomorrow and its going to be a good year- I can feel it. (Well, anything will be better than last year!)

Blogging will most likely be a little spotty for a few weeks as I transition back into …

The Feast Day of Bernard of Clairvaux

I don't have an image of Bernard of Clairvaux, but I do have a hymn he wrote that I rewrote the tune for.

O Sacred Head Now Wounded (download)


Collect for the Feast Day of Bernard of Clairvaux:

"O God, by whose grace your servant Bernard of Clairvaux, kindled with the …