I don’t know about you, but I’ve been listening to Christmas since October 1st.

Not ’round the clock, of course, and not to simply annoy my family, but here’s the facts: If you’re a music teacher or a gigging musician, you’re professionally obligated to be listening to, practicing, and perfecting Christmas tunes long before the calendar finally flips over to December 1st. I’m responsible for three Christmas performances and recitals by both my elementary school students and my studio kids, I personally go Christmas carolling every year with friends, and it’s become a bit of a family tradition for me to play through some Christmas favorites at the family gathering on Christmas day. If I didn’t start preparing my kiddos until December 1st, there’d be no Christmas shows. (In fact, my first one this year is actually on December 1st!) free cut pattern without registration.

So, contractually, I’ve got to start my personal Christmas music prep season before the leaves even fall off the trees. You’d think that by the time the actual Christmas season rolls around, I’d be sick of listening to Christmas music. You’d be wrong! I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC… with one exception.

The radio.

I don’t know about your local radio stations, but my local radio station – who is starting Christmas music today at 2pm, which is what prompted this post – plays the same 50 or so songs on repeat until December 25 (because apparently, that’s when the Christmas season ends – insert eye roll emoji here). Ok, maybe by the time you factor in different versions of the same carols by different performers, the playlist grows to about 100 different tracks. I checked last year, and if I remember correctly, the most “recent” song in their entire library came out in something like 2015 herunterladen.

Let me repeat that, the most “recent” song in their entire library of music came out – let me double check my math – 9 years ago. Do you know how much new Christmas music has been released since then? A LOT.

It’s overwhelming the number of new Christmas albums that are released every single year and absolutely infuriating how little airplay they all receive.

Just to give you an idea of just the tip of the iceberg, a few years ago I started curating my own Christmas music playlists, one for literally every single mood whatsapp illegally download. My “Holiday Pop” playlist, which includes music from 2000 and on (with just a few throwbacks I couldn’t resist), currently sits at 663 songs and is 36 hours long (and counting). How deep does the iceberg go? My Megamix, which includes every Christmas song from every list (more or less), has over 2500 songs and is 144 hours long. That’s 6 solid days without a repeat.

And I haven’t even updated any lists with 2024 releases yet.

When people tell me they don’t like Christmas music, I can totally relate windows media player deutsch kostenlos herunterladen. I hate what the radio station has done to Christmas music, too! (When I ask some follow up questions, it’s almost always the same answer – that the radio station plays the same songs and that gets boring really quickly). But also, at the heart of it, I still really love Christmas music, and it makes me so sad that people who do celebrate Christmas have been so turned off to one of the nicest parts of the season.

So here’s an early Christmas gift for you – links to all my Spotify Christmas playlists. I haven’t had the time to update any for 2024 (I have to admit, I didn’t get to spend as much time on them in 2023 as I would have liked either), but you know I will video aus mediathek downloaden online! Now taking bets for how long that Megamix will be by the time I’m done with it this year!

Let’s kick things off with the aforementioned “Holiday Pop” playlist. This list includes a variety of genres, as the only requirement is that the music is released after 2000. This will give you the most current take on the holiday with many GREAT originals and some lovely covers of classics. As I’ve been typing up this blog post, two songs that have stuck out to me are a beautiful rendition of “Silent Night” by The Lovely Unexpected and “Christmas Song” an original by Tim Reynolds and Dave Matthews.

Ok, from here on out, to make sure I don’t skip over anyone, we’re just going to go in alphabetical order. Next up is “Americana Christmas” which includes country, folk, bluegrass and blues. There is some Jethro Tull in this playlist and I know, I know, they’re British, but their Christmas music still fits the folksy vibe here so we’re going with it.

Next up is “A Capella Christmas” which includes a lot of choirs, Pentatonix and Straight No Chaser.

In this playlist, you’ll hear holiday choirs, but you’ll also hear some big orchestras, too, so this playlist is aptly named “Christmas Orchestras and Choirs.” Basically, this is the classical music flavored playlist for all you Mozart lovers.

“Christmas Remixed” is probably the shortest of all the playlists (not even 100 songs), but it’s a fun listen. It’s remixes and dance music versions of Christmas classics.

“Instrumental Christmas” is an absolute grab bag of selections. Everything from some more traditional classical ensembles, to groups like Mannheim Steamroller and Trans-Siberian Orchestra are here, plus musicians like Lidnsey Sterling, the Blue Man Group and a variety of jazz ensembles. Like I said – this one is chaotically all over the place!

“Jazzy Christmas” is exactly that – a lot of jazz and a little bit of the blues, too.

This one is another bit of a grab bag of genres, but with good reason. “Lawrence Christmas” includes, you guessed it – family favorites. We are, of course, not even limited to one language – there are a variety of Ukrainian favorites in there, of course, in addition to classic rock Christmas songs that my family has been rocking out to since I was little.

This next one might be a bit controversial for some, as it’s my “Retro Christmas” playlist. This one will probably feature the majority of what gets overplayed on the radio, but, c’mon folks, they’re classics for a reason!

Save this one for December 24 and after the holidays, because it’s “Sacred Christmas.” If you want to be very traditional, you know you don’t actually start singing Christmas carols in church until December 24 and the carols stick around til sometime in January. You won’t find Rudolph, Frosty or any other pop Christmas figure in this playlist, only the shepherds, angels, wise men, and of course, Jesus and his fam.

For all my Ukes in the crowd, “Ukrainian Christmas.”

If you want to get in on seasonal, wintery listening, but don’t celebrate Christmas, don’t worry, I’ve got you, too! “Winter Songs” does get a little repetitive (there are a lot of versions of Let it Snow, let me tell you), but it’s still a nice variety of songs from a variety of artists.

And finally, the “Christmas Megamix.” As I add new music to each individual playlist each year, it all also gets added to this one, so this, I guess, is the most chaotic playlist of them all. You’ve been warned!

Oh, you’re still here and reading? Well, first of all, thanks for making it all the way to the bottom of this collection. I hope you’ve found a holiday playlist that contains some new favorites! And if somehow I’ve managed to miss a song or whole album, please leave it in the comments! I work every year to add new music to all my lists, and am happy to include your suggestions. Being a seasonal DJ is more of a year-round endeavor, so all help is welcomed!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

I had one of those weeks this week.

One of these really good weeks, actually.

The kind of week I want to write about because I want to remember it. It was filled with a lot of really important teaching moments for me. The kind of moments that remind you to keep going, that remind you, hey, the kids really are alright.

I teach music, art, and dance at a Catholic elementary school – these are all school stories this time around.

Ukrainian dance is always a mixed bag minecraft behavior packages. It’s an after-school group, there is no audition required, and it’s open to students from 3rd through 8th grade. I have some students who have been dancing with me since before the pandemic, I have some students who didn’t even know what Ukrainian folk dancing was before September. And I have them all at the same time, in one big happy group, anyone who wants to come. I’m not sure I know what the ideal number of students for a dance class is, but I’m sure I do not have it this year. I have over 30 students of varying abilities on the stage with me all at the same time.

You already know I have behavior issues. Not because the kids are bad, but just because there’s so many of them putty dateien herunterladen! And they’re all together! Did I mention there are 30 of them? And only one of me? And some of the kids could do all the moves with their eyes closed, and some of the kids are still working on moving to the beat of the music without tripping over themselves. The older kids get bored; the younger kids get frustrated. Somehow, we still manage to have some fun every week.

We’ve been working HARD since the beginning of September, just trying to get the new kids through all the basic moves, and that hard work is finally paying off. This week, at only our *checks calendar* sixth meeting of the year, we finished the choreography for our first dance.

It’s not difficult icd 10 kostenlosen. It’s not long. It’s not complex. But it’s done. And the cheer they let out when I announced that we had finished it? DEAFENING. I had the presence of mind to capture the moment in a selfie (something I often forget), and the sheer joy from these children is just beaming straight out of the pic. I’ll share it on my Facebook page, you’ll have to go check it out.

It may have been a bit of a struggle to get there, and we still have some cleaning up to do, but I could not be prouder of these kids steam all games. The kids who have been dancing with me for six years, and the kids who’ve only been with me six weeks alike. They’re giving it all their ALL this year, and their enthusiasm is infectious.

—

Now for a heartwarming story.

I’ve got a kid in one of my lower grades, who has some issues, he has had some struggles in his life even at his young age, and to complicate matters, there is a language barrier that we are ever so slowly working to take down. But this child loves coming to all my classes, he loves dancing and singing (even if he’s not singing the right words.. or melody), he loves art sims 4 kostenlosen vollversion deutsch mac. Who needs to speak the “right” language to enjoy these things?

We were working on steady beat in his class this week, and discussing the importance of a steady beat in a song like a lullaby. So I started rocking my imaginary baby to a slow, steady beat.

So of course all the students join in, too, with all their imaginary babies. And this student joins in as well. He bounces his baby gently like the rest of the students. Then he does something that is a little peculiar I guess when you are on the outside looking in but it’s something we’ve come to expect from him, he just burst out into some energetic dance moves, and then he sat down. (He is definitely a dancer!)

I noticed, though, that he was looking a little teary-eyed. I knew that I didn’t know enough of his language (and he didn’t know enough of mine) to really be able to communicate what was going on, so I walked over to his table as I went on with my lesson. Instead of trying to talk to him, I just held my hand out to him on the table, for him to hold if he wanted to, and I went on talking to the class. I was just hoping he would know I was there for him in that moment.

He immediately grabbed my hand. Looked right at me and said, “I love…” and we locked eyes for a sweet little moment. Then he let go. The classmates at his table and I were fully invested, “What do you love?” they asked. I said to them, “maybe he’s just vibing right now.” That is the lingo nowadays right? We smiled at each other, I squeezed his hand, and I got back up soon after and continued on with my lesson.

This is why I teach. Sure, I want my kids to understand steady beat, but I also want them to be feel safe. Most of all, I just want my students to know they are loved.

—

Which brings me to my final story, which is really more of an observation than a story. I’ve had many conversations with teacher friends on the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sure, the health threat has been minimized, but the weeks (months… and in some cases, years) of isolation took its toll on everyone, and I think behavior-wise, us teachers are still seeing the effects in our classrooms.

And usually, when we have this conversation, we’re never talking about any good side effects. It’s always the negative. But I’d like to posit that there is an actual positive thing to come out of the pandemic with these kids.

I teach art, which is great, if you’re someone who likes to spend most of your day just cleaning up messes while occasionally teaching kids how to paint. What makes my life a whole lot easier are the helpers, and there are always helpers. Always. But what I’ve noticed in the last few years, is the kids are just so darn nice about it. They’re not helping because they’re supposed to. They’re helping because they genuinely want to. They volunteer to do it, they go above and beyond, they do it all with a smile. And if they won’t be able to see the people they’re helping – they leave them a little note instead.

When I came back around to this table before the next class came in, my heart just about melted.

The kids are gonna be alright, guys.

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GUYS! I’m so excited to be playing out in the next few months. Check the Upcoming Shows page for details, but I’ll be at Hailey’s in Metuchen AND Paragon in Clark not once, but TWICE happy birthday song download! These restaurants are family-friendly and so am I. I love playing a mix of rock and pop from the 60s to today to please all the generations. (And yes, I will pull out the Disney tunes if I must!) Bring the fam, all your closest friends, or make it a date night powerpoint entwürfe kostenlosen. Either way, I look forward to seeing you!

I’m always happy to take requests and learn a new song, so if you have one, please drop me a line… but check out my song list first because maybe I already know it Download beautiful pictures for free!

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Earthsongs, Metuchen, NJ – Saturday June 24 @ 2:30 – 4pm. I’m super excited to be a part of this event. Linda and her ceramics studio Earthsongs are celebrating their 30th anniversary herunterladen! What an accomplishment! In addition to celebrating a wonderful woman and all the art she has helped others create over the years, it is also a fundraiser for Ukraine, and I am honored to be able to entertain by playing an exclusive set of all Ukrainian music herunterladen. If you can’t attend in person, I am hoping to live stream at least part of my performance, but I can’t promise it will work the way I want it to lol pc game free. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and check in around 2:30 to get a glimpse!

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Something you probably know about me is that I’m Ukrainian. Well, technically, I am Ukrainian, Hungarian and Czech, but I am most active in the Ukrainian-American community here on the east coast irc herunterladen. I’m active in my church community, I teach Ukrainian dance at my church’s school (in addition to music and art, of course), and I work at a Ukrainian dance camp for six weeks during the summer in the idyllic Shawangunk mountains in New York flugzeug spiele pc kostenlosen.

The Ukrainian community, both in Ukraine itself and across the globe, is a tight-knit community and we are able to easily enjoy and participate in cultural activities, buy Ukrainian products, find our favorite Ukrainian artists on YouTube and Spotify, and congregate at Ukrainian businesses and cultural centers double head.

For all of our abilities, however, and the ease with which we can engage in our culture, I have found a little gaping hole that I seem poised to be able to perfectly fill games app for free.

You see, when you’re a dance teacher, you’re practically a whole DJ on the side. You’re constantly looking through your CD collection (yes, almost every dance teacher I know still uses CDs, especially the Ukrainian dance teachers) for the perfect piece of music for the exercise, combo or choreography you want to create for your students hoe ebook bol.com. And while there are quite a few resources for full dances, there are almost zero resources for a Ukrainian dance class. And that is where I come in.

At my summer job, I accompany ballet and character classes at a Ukrainian dance class. What I do for my ballet classes is akin to what you would find from Joey McNamara or Nate Fifield (look them up on Spotify for a relaxing change of pace), in addition, of course, to the classical ballet music one would expect in a serious dance class. I have plenty of sheet music resources, from my own music collection and sheet music I can purchase online.

For my character classes on the other hand… All of that music comes directly out of my own head and heart. I have two primary sources for sheet music: A small songbook I found in my grandfather’s collection after he passed away, and my own musical mind. If I don’t have the music already written out, I transcribe it from any old recordings I can get my hands on.

So in addition to the 20 million OTHER things that I do all year long, I realized that I have to answer this calling to fill this void. So I started a Patreon….

Miss Anna’s Dance Music!

The point of Patreon is that I can create something – in this case, Ukrainian dance music recordings – and my patrons can help support me on my journey. Because contrary to popular belief, musicians can’t survive on “exposure” alone. Studio time costs money. Recording rights cost money. I’m doing a lot of work on my own, but to take it to the next level, I need the support of the people who already enjoy my music, or who just recognize the importance of what I’m trying to do.

For as little as $3 a month (I sound like PBS), you can support me on my quest. If you’re feeling extra generous, you can of course join a higher tier and give a little more each month, but for real – if you could “buy me a cup of coffee” each month and fuel my piano playing fingers, that would be more than enough to keep me on track!

So please visit the link above and support me if you can! Dyakoyu and thank you from the bottom of my little, musical, Ukrainian heart.