Category Archives: Stringbean’s HE

If we want to do some music at melrose…

I thought something really short and simple, so minimal practice at the time and then in the concert would work.

So I thought maybe the tambour from p17 a new tune a day for the violin. Has a variety of skills OK

so for confident – or those that have practiced [sill scan in!]
all on D string 4 crotchets then 2 minims : DEF#F#: G G : F#EF#D: E E : DEF#F#: G G : F#DEE: D D played twice

for those just starting opens stings only minim then 2 crotchets: A AA:D DD:A AA:A AA:A AA:D DD:A AA:A AA. played twice. for beginner recorders, playing a G instead of D may be easier

and for total starters, just play load of A’s OR D’S at random any rhythm!

lots of scope for tambourines and other percussion for littlies.

There is more of it we can do, but I was thinking short and sweet prob best.

A BA:G G :F#EF#G:A A :A BA:G G :F#DEE:D D : [REPEATED, THEN FIRST TUNE AGAIN X2]

D DD:A AA:D DD:A AA:AAAA:D DD:AAAA:D DD: [REPEATED, THEN FIRST TUNE AGAIN X2]

What do you think? Should suit any instrument ? if anyone really wants to do this, pop it on the camps list or in comments box. thanks

edited to add – written out [for Sarah], but you may want to write it out again yourself! [I appear to have no control with the mouse!!]. I think for those on strings, if we do the middle bit, might as well make it loud and play D and A strings together. Adds some fun for not tune.

melrosemusic

for me, it will always be mattachins from the capriol suite – I can’t remember how often I played it in diff guises growing up!

notes

not-v-local tots group with crafts and latin for girls

Panis romanae

Some Stirring
SB been good at piano practice this week, also done some maths and handwriting. both girls watching muzzy german.
fun playsession with rainbowsR

all done by chris as i have had dreadful week of slog! SB been up late, and have played games together

Return of the absent blogger?

Problem I have is that it just seems rather boring – but I did bold things :-)
Morning started with Sb doing some of the music theory book she started the other day with Helen . BB got me to help her with the Ikea wooden construction toy thing making a helicopter. Then they both moved on to the polyhedrons for a – BB wanted a house for lizard and then some general playing about with things. We sorted out books for returning to the library and then had breakfast, SB catching up on a few of the library books, chased them up trying to speed up the getting dressed and sorted procedure which can take forever left to their own devices.

Off to the library in the rain and wind, BB pleased to be using her umbrella to keep her dry. Storytime, selecting new books, home again in the rain via the shops for lunch supplies.

Home, SB settled down with a Rainbow Fairies book, which she knocked of in the hour or so before lunch. I drank coffee and read books with BB and did boring household tasks. After lunch they both did a bit of stuff on various websites, SB piano practised and then entered some kind of educational limbo where she spent 2 – 21/2 hours doing maths and handwriting that should have taken a lot lot less, so we didn’t really get onto anything else much before it was time to cook dinner.

After dinner, I rapidly chased BB up to bed. In one of her Jekyll and Hyde moments, one minute she was sitting happily eating dinner, next minute she was being some sort of annoying mad dervish, out to annoy SB in as many ways as possible. When she chased after SB waving a pair of scissors a swift intervention and imposition of bedtime was deemed appropriate.

SB watched a Roar episode, and then we did the Roman city jigsaw whilst awaiting Helen’s too late return from work.

Roman City Jigsaw

So she had late bedtime. Tonights excuse for coming down when she should really have been asleep was that she wasn’t warm enough (gloss over that it’s been much colder than tonight before) – told her to wear her fleecy bunny suit.

Miserable monday

was somewhat hit by emotional and crap viral unwellness, feeling v sick and dizzy, stuffed up, and bleurgy. SO I didn’t go into work, and for once didn’t feel guilty [i am good at guilt] because i feel i have nothing left to give in botheredness, its already attributed. I read another lucie chat book to both girls, SB read to me about dinosaurs. they all then cycled off on a playdate and i collapsed in heap on sofa with duvet and tablets.

Much playing went on, and when they returned we had a violin practice. BB played katanimo and then then the ikea building things with screwdrivers etc- think it was bjgga or somesuch nonsense. SB made some shapes with polyhedrons – she was seeing how many she could do and we talked about their names. She found the theory made easy book one very easy, and enjoyed racing through until I said enough!
SB then has her ballet and swimming run. Very proud of her for doing all the swimming today, as she has been very worried. BB and i watched bob the builder, did bob the builder jigsaws and played mother and baby games. on SB’s return we read radius and the king of angleland all together, with BB doing actions with papo people- cute! SB then had a thought about angles.

lots of bedtime stories, but she is still frightened of aliens.

Blogging from the new laptop

how very exciting. needing to get used to a whole new keyboard. well, the last laptop was on a plugin keyboard [as 2 integral ones had malfunctioned] which didn’t always work, oh and had no working battery. so, i have spent more money than i should have [but still far less than most!] on a ow end laptop. widescreen unusual, and glad i wear glasses! vista and turnpike incompatible, so my sys admin has rigged up a virtual xp popup with turnpike inside it – weird!

Anyway, we had a very busy day today, with lots of playing and doing. SB did both piano and violin practice, and we are going to try and do 4 15 min practices of each a week. doesn’t sound much, but to us will be a challenge! BB painted her money box pig that she got yesterday, and very happy she was with it too. We three sat together and read lucie a la plage, me french, SB english and SB and BB both did the pronunciation at the back, and then we read a ladybird book about dinosaurs for a bit. the girls did some general playing with this and that whilst i flickred yesterday. SB made her fairy house and BB stickered.

After lunch :wink: BB did some plasticine and then watched muzzy whilst SB and I had a fab time with her science kit - this enviro battery is fab [note they mixed up the description of the enviro battery and the dynamo torch!]. we chatted about electricity and currents again, made a working bioclock with oranges and with vinegar got a sound cell to play [just!]

More playing and we all snuggled to red the katie in various paintings books before watching dancing on ice with pizza, then a dinosaur prog and to bed.

title averse!

Hmm, we had a lovely morning of latin and science with local home ed friends. it is certainly popular! the children do prob about 1/2 of latin and roman related talking, and about the same of science or craft. The group does aim to do both! then loads of rampaging. we were late [as usual] so it had [as usual] a late start. perhaps one of my new years resolutions should be to not be late!! The science was water based – thinking about liquids, how they seemed to work, and then what might sink or float, how we could change the shape and perhaps it would float, and then we added salt to see if it would then float. A very untechnical description of why this happened! [by me, so i can be rude] we also looked at surface tension and made a mess! This was all greatly enjoyed, prob due to mess, and pics on flickr! lots of playing children after whilst parents got to chat.
SB had rainbows, and BB has been asleep. I’ve been texting family, scrabulous, and our mondeo is now fixed – woohoo.

SB has done a fair bit of ‘home ed’ with chris these last 2 days, with maths, handwriting and piano practice. Since back from rainbows we have read stories from the usborn stories of dragons, some SOTW2 [Christianity comes to Britain], thought about doing some calligraphy and found stuff for tomorrow for that, and read Lucie Chat en ville. such a good series from the book people that I have accidentally bought it twice!

quick catch up blog

well, this weekend I have mostly been eating potatoes. no, this isn’t some new years faddy diet [though heaven knows that I need to shift a fair bit of weight and get fitter this year – I may have said something similar last year. in fact, o the subject of new years resolutions, I made 3 last year, and I’ll try with them again this year], instead this is the try to chase migraine away diet. my job goes through cycles of stressful and majorly and exorbitantly stressful. We are in the latter phase… This tends to increase frequency of migraines, and also seems to reduce the success of any medication. Everything taken thus far has been totally pointless. A bullet in the left temporal region would be far more effective. Anyway, I am blogging, thus the potatoes would seem to have finally won [and plenty of fluids]

However, it being typical that my migraine occurs when off work, I have tried to great levels to still have some interaction with my lovely offspring. ooh, btw, there seems to have been a great reduction in baggy poo poos since normal service has resumed. A low level of them is tolerable!

Yesterday we all went to the panto [may I state for the record that pantos are not ideal with a migraine, but the one hour journey each way was the major stupidity!] I actually enjoyed the panto [yep, even with a migraine, s must have been good]. The cast were enthusiastic, the audience keen and participatory, the story near negligible, just enough to run the gags and music. SB and BB loved it. Their faces shone with excitement, SB in particular loved all the shouting and clapping, BB also got into it. It was so worth it. Arranged by the rainbows – thankyou! I have to say that the look on SB’s face of sheer thrills and enjoyment was worth the hideous journey for me each way. She really loved it.
on return home, to be honest, I just died and went to bed. No idea what chris and the girls did , he thinks they played a game. I got up just before they were going to bed, and delayed things a it. but it felt better to play a game with them and read a story before chris took them up.

Today, still feeling in need of trepaning, i thought I would do better, so got up, read some history to SB, and we did french and latin conversation, times tables and read some barefoot stories all snuggled on the sofa. She then did some violin practice – now we have lost the other blasted book! Anyway, it was lovely to have such a snuggly time with SB. I get to have less snuggles with her now as she gets older they are only on her terms! She is such a lovely girl to snuggle and cuddle.
ermm, oh yes, SB did some webland. BB and I did jigsaws, read books, snuggled and did counting practice. BB amazed me by spelling today. she was spelling zoo lane and said zz oh is zoo!!! She also did some plasticining.

The final decs came down today, and the girls had a joint final present of a jousting papo set to go with the castle stuff. they were ecstatic and had great fun playing. we decided that we all loved christmas, but that the house needs lots of people in it to actually be christmas [BB's wisdom!] . Actually, BB has gone round being ‘wise’ on all sorts of topics recently. She is mostly seriously adorable.

we watched various natury things on tv, SB practiced various dance steps, we all played a few games all together, and generally had an enjoyable day.

my migraine has decreased somewhat this eve, but I have the usual worky nerves. Bah. i hope this is just a phase! Will look forward instead to centreparcs hols – not far away now!

forgot to say what SB made us both for xmas

for me – some beeswax candles
my present from SB

and for chris a remote control holder – yes she sewed this!

his present from sb

feels like last day of freedom

back properly at work tomorrow.

SO I got up relatively early, so I could go to # clinic with mum, to find that they had gone exceptionally early and were through and didn’t ring. I guess because it all seems OK. They are happy with the position and everything. Mum and Little Nanny have laryngitis though, and not too well, and their NYE spent worrying over my sisters breast lump – clinic for her on Mon, fingers firmly in crossed position.

So the girls and I carried on with a great wodge of crafts. BBhas now finished all the spoons, SB has painted all the fairies, and has now done the plaster of paris moulds that may get painted tomorrow [dependent on amounts of snow to play in]

We were prepared enough to put some tomato soup in a flask and whisk out for our monthly walk with Michelle and Chloe, which we had when we arrived. It was COLD. Michelle told me off for whinging!! SB and chloe are supposed to take pictures of whatever they were interested in. They did both take piccies, but SB gradually lost heart due to the coldness of her fingers. We did a dif walk this time to the formal gardens, and will flickr. Again BB was totally adorable – and has remained so at home. At present she is cooking for me [having slept in the car home she is beanying about!] A lovely time was had, and I am looking forward to these monthly walks. next time the quarry again.

We played with the RSPB welcome packs when we got home. lots of reading and discussion. we watched ballet shoes, which we all enjoyed.

good bedtime reading choice SB

DK’s bermuda triangle and invaders from outer space. just been down wailing. not an early night then!!