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Welcome to MacPhail Center for Music’s resource site with free music activities, tips, podcasts, student and faculty stories and more!

Showing 163 results.
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Fostering Music Creating with Michael Cain
Date: Oct 19, 2023

MacPhail Electronic Music Recording Arts (EMRA) Director, Michael Cain discusses the wave of content creation, creativity, and improvisation among teacher and student.

Three older adults wearing red bow ties and singing
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Voices of Experience Spring Semester Playlist
Date: Jun 6, 2023

View the end of Spring Semester playlist for Voices of Experience HERE on YouTube.

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Four Songs for Relaxation
Date: Mar 9, 2023

composed by music therapist, Mark Burnett Music therapy… listen, relax, breathe, and connect to the art of calm Written and composed by MacPhail music therapist, Mark Burnett for transitions, stressful …

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Lunar New Year Celebration at MNYO
Date: Feb 7, 2022

with Chi-Chi Bestmann Conductor & violist, Chi-Chi Bestmann brought her Erhu (The Chinese violin, which she learned while growing up in Taiwan) to share with her orchestra members. They read …

Person playing a ukulele
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Celebrate Ukulele Day
Date: Feb 2, 2022

with Patsy O’Brien It’s World Play Your Ukulele Day. We asked MacPhail Music for Life ™ (MMFL) teaching artist, Patrick “Patsy” O’Brien, why he loves the ukulele. He has only …

Barbara looking off to the right
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Barbara Cohen, Intro to Scoring for Film and Visual Media
Date: Nov 23, 2021

Imagine the opening credits of a movie. The musical score begins with plucky strings, light drums, and a bouncy glockenspiel. What genre of film are you about to see? Judging …

Tamara's headshot
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Time To Practice: Good Practice Makes Good Habits
Date: Nov 16, 2021

with Tamara Gonzalez Practice makes perfect. Practice makes permanent. The more I practice, the luckier I get. You’ve heard the cliches. But what do they say about practicing? Not much. …

Teacher and student standing together
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Prelude: Singer-Actor Performance Lab
Date: Nov 11, 2021

“Never pass up an opportunity to tell the story.” For voice and acting teacher Manon Gimlett, these are words to live by. As the program director of MacPhail’s Prelude: Singer-Actor …

Person playing fiddle
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The Mandolin Mantle | Richard Kriehn
Date: Nov 3, 2021

“It’s not just about a right or wrong note,” Richard Kriehn explains. He believes music is about expressing yourself – expanding your vocabulary and giving the world a glimpse of …

Person playing electronic cello
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GMI Artist In Residence: Greg Byers
Date: Oct 28, 2021

A Chance to Play Modern Music  As a longtime video gamer, cello teaching artist Greg Byers wanted to explore modern styles of their music for his Artist-in-Residence project, a video game music orchestra.  “We talked …

Group of students playing guitar
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The Importance of Group Class to Suzuki Learning
Date: Jun 2, 2021

Compiled by Ruth Bergman Some points are borrowed from Helping Parents Practice: Ideas for Making it Easier, by Edmund Sprunger Group class is one of the central components of Suzuki …

Words student, teacher, and parent with lines drawn between to form a triangle
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Adding Fuel to your Practice Parent Engine
Date: May 19, 2021

By Kamini LaRusso Transcript from 2019 Suzuki Association of the Americas: “Parents as Partners Videos” Hello! My name is Kamini LaRusso. I live in Minneapolis, MN. I am a Suzuki …

Teacher and a group of adult students singing
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How to Strengthen the Adult Voice
Date: Apr 1, 2021

When vocal teaching artist Jerry Rubino works with older singers in MacPhail’s Voices of Experience choir, he’s noticed that many times singers new to the group don’t know what part …

piano keys in black and white photo
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Why You Should Enroll Your Kids in Piano Lessons, According to Science
Date: Mar 2, 2021

Director of Individual Instruction, Timothy DePrey’s favorite article about enrolling your child in piano lessons. 

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