The Tickle Trunk of Textures

At the CFMTA Music Teachers' Convention, Dr. Jennifer Snow  shared some fantastic teaching ideas. One of them was her fabric board of textures. Her students are "imagination gardeners". Frances Mae Balodis expanded upon this in her talk about imagination. It was one of those ideas that I filed away and didn't think of again until Karen King posted about the Imagination Gardener on her blog. Last week, I finally made it to the fabric store:

I just couldn't picture a board of fabric swatches in my studio. That's when Mr. Dressup popped into my head. Aha! A Tickle Trunk of Textures (yes, I like alliteration).

Now, I spent way too much on fabric (that .2m minimum and 1.0 m minimum for fabrics on sale). For approximately $50, I bought enough fabric and trinkets to make not one, not two, not three, but FOUR Tickle Trunks. Thankfully, my brother is also a music teacher, so we split the bill and each have a spare set of fabric.

I am amazed at how well it works! Especially for the students who have trouble playing softly.

When I first show off the Tickle Trunk, I ask my students to pick something and we talk about what kind of song it could describe. That usually gets their imagination going.

Now if only I could get Maestro to let go of the fabric swatch with hearts on it.

The Power in a Name

Last week, I attended a beautiful Celebration of Life service for a fellow musician. It was a lovely service and celebration afterwards, with stories, Irish dancing, singing, tears and laughter. One resonating theme throughout the celebration was how Jean remembered nearly everyone she ever met. It was the first thing many people brought up. Not only that, whenever she saw you, she'd say your name with such joy that you couldn't help but feel good .

It kind of reminds me of something I read about the care that the Japanese take when exchanging business cards. A Japanese person will present their business card to you with a bow. You are to accept it in both hands with a bow and take the time to read both sides of the card. The little ceremony makes the whole exchanging of business information rather intimate.

Jean's knack for remembering names also reminds me of one of my favourite anime, Natsume Yuujinchou (Natsume's Book of Friends). Natsume is a high-school student who can see spirits. He inherited the Book of Friends from the grandmother (Reiko) he never knew. She "befriended" many spirits in her day and made them sign her Book of Friends.

Unlike signing a guest book, these spirits essentially formed a contract with Natsume's grandmother. They were bound to Reiko's beck and call until she released them. The thing is, she died young so now the spirits are hounding Natsume as her descendant, to free them by returning their names to them.

What's the real power in a name? Well, once we sign on the dotted line on a contract, we are bound, just like the spirits in the Book of Friends.

There is power in a name. People have performed great works in the name of God. Unfortunately, people have also performed despicable acts in the name of God. In both cases, the consequences can be small to life-changing.

At our base, our name is a part of our identity. At the mention of Jean's name, I see her twinkling eyes and hear the joy in her voice whenever she greeted me (usually accompanied by a big hug). It's the same with anyone who touches your life, for better or for worse.

I will miss the way Jean would light up whenever she said someone's name. In her name, I will try to work on my short-term memory more so that I too, can remember people's names and share the same joy and love that Jean exuded whenever she said my name.

How to Publish Your App A Must for New App Creators

If you have a mobile device, chances are, you have said, "I wish there was an app for that." Perhaps you're thinking, "How hard can it be?" and have started to create said app. Making an app is one thing, but how to you get it on the App Store? Author Grant Spink walks you through the whole process of publishing your iOS app in his first book, entitled How to Publish Your App. The subtitle says it all: "No code! Just a step-by-step guide, helping you through the tricky parts of publishing an app."

A quick search on Amazon reveals that this is the only book of its kind currently in the marketplace. So young author, Grant Spink (he's 14) saw an opportunity to share the lessons he learned in publishing his own app.

The first thing to take note of is that Spink says outright that this guide is to help you publish your app, not create it. You will have to look elsewhere for help in that area.

When Grant gave me a copy of How to Publish Your App, I was attracted to the layout. Flipping through the book, I could see that the design is very clean, with just the right amount of text and plenty of screen shots. Both copy and images are spaced out to give an uncluttered feel.

The guide is laid out into 13 chapters which outlines the publishing process in clear and concise steps. The first five chapters show you how to get set up as an Apple Developer: the obligatory introduction, Becoming a Developer, iOS Provisional Portal Outline, Requesting Your Certificates and Uploading Your Certificates.

Spink explains what is happening at each step and why it is important that you complete it. He provides links to the URLs to all the forms you need to complete. No hunting, no digging required.

The next two chapters prepare you to test and subsequently distribute your app: App IDs and Provisioning Profiles. He explains why these steps are important and walks the reader through the steps of creating profile.

Chapters 9 and 10 are critical for any new App Developer to go through. These chapters alone make the book worth its weight in gold: Getting Access to Contracts and Filling out Your Information. They walk you through all the legal, payment and tax forms that Apple makes all developers and sellers complete.

The final three chapters take you through the last stages of publishing your app: Adding a New App, Preparing an App for Archiving and Submit to the App Store. True to form, these final steps are described step by step with the requisite screen caps.

In an interview, Spink told me that he wanted to make the step-by-step guide simple enough that people without coding experience and complete newbies to developing apps can understand. I say that he succeeded in doing so. I have absolutely no experience in this area and after reading his book, I feel that I can publish my own app.

This young author has my brain going, trying to think of a couple of apps that I could create. However, I should probably just get to know my new iPod Touch first.

How to Publish Your App is available on Amazon in softcover ($21.08 CAD) and eBook format in the iBooks Store. At 122 pages, it's a very easy read.

Grant Spink is an actor, writer and student in Calgary, Alberta. He is the owner of Grantworks Media. I look forward to seeing what he does next.

Calgary Japanese Festival 2013 Blooper Reel

Some of you on Facebook liked the idea of seeing a blooper reel of my Calgary Omatsuri footage. Well, here you go. Technical issues and sliding guitars make for an interesting time:

The 2013 Calgary Japanese Festival was a grand success. There were more displays, more tents, more food and more cultural programming. It was too bad that some of the indoor programming was cancelled, and that some sessions happened out of sequence. I was really disappointed that the sword making session was cancelled.

If I have one suggestion, it's that the indoor programming repeats. Then attendees wouldn't have to choose between indoor and outdoor events.

Organizers are looking at larger venues for next year. Sugoi, desu ne?

Making a Practice Schedule

Hi gang! Sorry for the lack of updates. My Wordpress upgrade went wonky and everything was down for a while, but we're back with new practice tips and tricks. The key to making progress with any activity is frequency. That's why dance, sports and martial arts groups train three or more times a week.

As a musician, a lot of that training has to be done at home, mostly on your own. You need to manage your practice routine - an not just because you don't want your parents or your music teacher nagging you about it. You have to want to get better, which means that you need a practice plan and a practice schedule.

Here are some websites I've tracked down with some tips on setting up a practice routine, as well as some sites that have practice logs:

Establishing Good Practice Habits (FYI: He's right - practice your arpeggios!)

Kids' Music Practice Charts

Making the Best Use of Limited Practice Time

Music Practice Schedule Template

The Power of a Practice Schedule

The Musician's Way - Downloads (I think I'm going to try out the Practice/Creativity Log)

Now if you're an aural learner, that is you learn by listening, then record your practices regularly and review them. If you're a visual learner, record a video of yourself. It's as easy as grabbing your smartphone, tablet, camera or iPod Touch.