Afternoon Ti

Season Two Episode 61 Sunday Sip: Thanksgiving Priorities Hello friends and welcome to Sunday Sip on Afternoon Ti.  Each Sunday for the remainder of the year I plan to share a single idea, thought, or meaningful take-away in hopes that you’ll be encouraged and inspired as you prepare to enter the next new week of teaching.  We’ve made it to Thanksgiving break!  Have you considered how you’re going to spend the next week?  I’d encourage you to write down or put together a few ideas of things that you want to make a priority this week. They can be as simple or detailed as you like.  Choose a few priorities and then plan time for them to happen.   My four priorities for my Thanksgiving break are: Take a nap a few days this week - I value my naps and I function well during the week because I take one every weekend.  Yes, every weekend. I push myself hard all week long and on the weekends my body still wakes me up early because it’s...

(Blogpost only - no podcast episode) I'm always looking for ways to use song material in fresh, new ways.  One of the songs I enjoy using around Thanksgiving time is "Over the River and Through the Wood."  Not only is the meter in 6/8, which is a nice change from typical duple meters, it offers an opportunity to create new sections based off of small building blocks of rhythms within that meter.  Additionally, the song only uses 4 chords so it can be used easily with bass xylophone accompaniment or ukulele! Over the River and Through the Wood A brief history of the song: The song originated as a poem called "A Boy's Thanksgiving Day" by Lydia Maria Child and was first published in 1844 in the book Flowers for Children, Vol. 2 .  There were originally twelve verses in total.  We often sing it at Christmastime, but the original versions of the first two verses are: Over the river and through the wood To Grandfather's house we go The ho...