In Search of Japanese Sesame Street

As a musician, it's only natural that that I'd gravitate towards jingles and songs to help me study Japanese. This had me wondering, "Is there something like Sesame Street in Japanese?" I didn't get far in my search. Once I found GenkiJapan.net last year, I called off my search. These earworms truly stick with you.I'm at the point that I launch into singing "10 Little Samurai" when trying to remember the counters for people and sound like an anime character when rattling off the colours in Japanese.

But don't take my word for it. Check out these free video study aids for yourself:

"10 Little Samurai"

"Colors" ("Colours")

There's plenty more video tutorials on Genki Japan.

Konnichiwa Minna-san!

こんにちは みなさん！はじめまして。 I've been studying Japanese for nearly a year-and-a-half. "Doushite?" you ask? It just seemed like a natural progression seeing as I watch many shows in Japanese (anime and live action) and have quite a few JPop and JRock artists on my mp3 player. Then, there's my karaoke set list.

There are several books that I would like to read "raw", seeing as it is unlikely they will be translated into English. Ditto with some of the music scores that I've ordered from CD Japan. Someday!

わたし は おたくです。So here is an account of my journey of learning Japanese and appreciating the fun and the wacky aspects of life that the Japanese culture has to share. またね！

Music Blogs Worth Checking Out

Now that I've successfully migrated my blogs from Blogspot to Wordpress, my hands are full with cleaning posts up from the back-end - checking and updating links, tags and the like - before I can get back to the happy task of writing music reviews, interviews with fellow musicians and feature articles. In the meantime, please check out these music blogs which will keep you updated on upcoming music events in your area:

• CBC Music Blog

• CKUA Music Blog

• FFWD Weekly's Upcoming Events Blog

Do you have any music blogs that you like to check out? Please share them!

RCM and ConCan on Youtube

Students - did you know that the Royal Conservatory of Music and Conservatory Canada have their own Youtube Channels? Check out tips, great performances, repertoire demos and interviews with musicians past and present. Conservatory Canada Youtube Channel

Royal Conservatory of Music Youtube Channel

A Time to Organize, A Time to Think

It's the beginning of a new year. My main goal for the Christmas Break was achieved - migrating all my blogs to Wordpress. Sure, there are things yet to tweak and widgets to add; but the hard job is done. My other main task - to attack all the loose paper I kept shuffling from one Bring Forward folder to the next. That too was achieved. My file organizers are significantly tidier.

I guess I shouldn't complain that I didn't get anything accomplished over the break. Between that and practicing madly for Christmas and New Year's church services, I deserved the imposed break that my cold gave me on Week 2.

This has me reflecting upon the ongoing struggle to stay on top of things. To just stay organized. Between loose papers, music books and emails - we have a lot of clutter in our lives - so much that it's easy to drown in it.

However, I continue to press forward at tidying up the back end of things. Strangely, it gives my brain time to wander and think about lesson or presentation ideas that have been floating just on the periphery of consciousness.

I've taken to using the countdown timer app on my phone. It has helped keep the daunting task of decluttering my mess somewhat bearable. 30 minutes to clean email, 30 minutes to tidy up my blogs, etc. Bite-sized chunks. That's the key to whittling this monster mess down.