By Christy | The Practicing Pro
Would you like to inspire your musician to perform for others this Holiday Season? Share the GIFTS of Music by performing and by using my Christmas Advent Tree!
This Christmas Advent Practice activity is a special holiday tree that is inspired by a tree I made last Christmas, for my 2 adult children, when we spent Christmas in Mexico! I wanted to recreate this special tree for you THIS Christmas!
Sharing the GIFT of music
13 minutes of music can make you feel relaxed, have more positive thoughts, feel more peaceful, feel more emotionally stable, and less overwhelmed. What would it be like if your player understood that they have the ability to help others feel all of that. It is pretty incredible! Music is an amazing GIFT that does make a difference in people's lives.
Children can be taught at a very young age that their music makes people feel happy and we as parents and teachers need to take the time to purposefully teach them that.
Christmas Caroling
Every year we go caroling together at our school. We have over 75 violin players and their families all-singing Jingle Bells and Jolly St Nick, walking down the street.
It is so fun!
The most amazing miracle happens though when we go to a home where an older person lives or someone who is alone and you can see the unmeasurable joy on their face.
After the caroling, we go back to the school and have hot chocolate and cookies together. I love to hear the little comments from the children as they are so excited about the people that they made smile!
I always make sure that I point out to the children that they made such a big difference in these people's lives. It is easy at this moment to remind them about how special they are that they can play music and make other people feel happy!
Don't miss out on it!
How amazing is it for your child to know that by practicing each day and taking lessons that it DOES pay off because now they can make others happy like this? That makes them pretty special!
However, If you just practice and go to lessons and never play music for others then you are missing out on all of this. To help you all to have these experiences for your students and children I have made a special practice activity for all of you!
Christmas Tree Advent - Downloads
I made all of the ornaments for the tree and you just need to download and print them! You can print them in black and white and color them yourself and maybe even add some glitter! Or you can use the ones that are already in color like I did with Brenden.
I also printed mine on card stock - but you can also use regular paper.
Pre Colored
Ball Ornaments - FREE pdf download
Candy Cane Ornaments - FREE pdf download
Angel Ornaments - FREE pdf download
Bell Ornaments - FREE pdf download
Star Topper - FREE pdf download
To Color
Ball Ornaments - FREE pdf download
Candy Cane Ornaments - FREE pdf download
Angel Ornaments - FREE pdf download
Bell Ornaments - FREE pdf download
Star Topper - FREE pdf downloadHow to use the Christmas Tree Advent for practicing
There are 24 rounds of ornaments, one for each day just like an advent calendar! Use these to count down the days until Christmas!
All you need is 9 pieces of green construction paper and if you don't have green construction paper you can use a color printer to print off 9 pieces of green paper or put your kids to work coloring them! For the tree trunk, I used a piece of a cardboard box.
Put one ornament on your tree for every day that you practice. Aim to practice for 24 days without missing! But if you do miss it's ok - you don't have to use them all and you can always add them after Christmas or even make extras. It's really up to you!
On the 25th Day, December 25th, put the Big Star on the top!
Special Ornaments:
You will notice that there are 4 angels, 4 bells and 4 candy canes.
Angels: these are for when you do a special concert or play for someone! (these are the most important ones!)
Bells & Candy Canes: these are for special things that YOU get to pick! (an example is a focus on scales or 6 extra review pieces etc...)
This is what I used:
9 pieces of green paper (colored, construction paper or printed) for Tree
Ornament and Star Topper Downloads - printed
Scissors to cut out the ornaments and topper
colored pencils/markers (optional if you choose to color your ornaments/star)
glitter (optional)
glue
One Happy Practicing BOY!
You can print extra ornaments, or email this link and share them with your friends or cousins and do this activity together. Share stories and photos back and forth.
Please send me a photo of your in-progress or your completed Christmas Tree! It always makes me so happy to see how hard you're working!
hodderchristy@gmail.com
Check out my Free PDF download Checklist for a Successful Music Practice for teachers and practicing parents.
Your easy checklist for successful home music practices from Christy, the practicing pro. Whether you are a new or seasoned practice parent or music teacher, this checklist will help you organize before, during, and after practices for effective and fun practices.
INVITATION from Christy Hodder:
Speaking of amazing practices, let me tell you all about the digital course, the Practicing Pro Academy. This is for the serious practicing parents and music teachers and is an at-your-own-pace, step-by-step, online course to bring you more effective, positive, and fun home music practices. Registrants receive a special package in the mail from me, and I am with you in person with Q&As to answer all your questions.
Learn more about PPA and join the waitlist HERE for the next Practicing Pro Academy course. It's only offered once a year so you don't want to miss it. The registration will only open for a few weeks and I'll let everyone on the waitlist know immediately so that you can grab one of the spots.
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