Have Fun With Your Music

HAVE FUN WITH YOUR MUSIC (with stickers) is a 40-page book with color illustrations on every page. Every other page has a small amount of text, where the text is like a small poem. The illustrations take the form of paintings of animals engaging in activities relating to music, and where the combination of each painting with the text provide a particular motivational lesson for children. The motivational lessons teach good habits for practicing on a musical instrument, using correct posture, how to present yourself before an audience, and so on. This describes three of the paintings and the accompanying poem-like text.

Page 9 shows six children, each wearing an animal costume (leopard, rabbit, bear) where each child plays a woodwind instrument. The text reads: What helps you want to practice? How about wearing a costume?

Page 11 has a painting of three dogs standing on a grassy hill. One of the dogs holds a cello. A violin sits on the grass near the other two dogs. The three dogs are painted quite well, and you can identify the species of each dog from the painting. The text reads: What helps you want to practice? Maybe taking a bow? Wow!

Page 13 provides a painting of twelve colorful birds, each standing on a telephone wire. Several telephone wires are strung between a line of telephone poles. All but one of the birds has good posture. The bird with bad posture is upside-down and is hanging from the wire. Six of these birds are standing on one foot, where the other foot is lifted up, and these six birds have the best posture of all. The birds include a flamingo (pink), a chicken (yellow), and a pheasant (blue). The motivational poem reads: The birds are taking yoga lessons to relax while they sing. Keep your body soft and relaxed as you play, while still having good posture.

THE AUTHOR. Rebecca Chaffee has a background in music. She played flute with an orchestra in a public performance of a Vivaldi Flute Concerto. Also, she played flute with an orchestra in a public performance of Unanswered Question by the great American composer, Charles Ives. More recently, the author started a company that designs, invents, and manufactures purses and handbags that are shaped like musical instruments. The purses and handbags closely resemble actual musical instruments, such as a violin, banjo, and piano. The company is called, VIOLETTESBYBECKY. This company also designs and manufactures note cards, each with a painting relating to music.

It is unusual to find intelligent guidance along with fun and creative energy to enliven the experience of young musicians. Becky Chaffee has an exceptional gift and brings a new and exciting approach to learning music. Young musicians will be charmed by her drawings and feel her presence and encouragement with every note.