Rebekah Maxner, of the Notekidds website, is hosting another Win Your Wish List contest this year! Just visit the Notekidds website, select $75 worth of your favorite materials, and fill out the simple form on this page. One winner will be drawn from the entries received and will be the recipient of their selected wish list items! There are lots of great materials to choose from, so have fun (but hurry, because the contest ends this Saturday, October 31)!

Here is a list of the winners of the drawing for The Right Note Assignment book:

#2 – Emily

#3 – Carla in MT

#9 -Rebecca (of Piano Teacher Blog)

#16 – Justin K

#23 – Shamra

Congrats to all of you! Just send me an e-mail with your full name and address and you should receive your colorful assignment book soon. I know you’ll love it!

Laura Lowe is hosting a giveaway for a Composer Activity Pak over on her blog. The Pak is produced by Homeschooling in the Woods, a company known for its Hands-on History Paks. I loved making lap books growing up, and I know many other students enjoy them as well.

This looks like a wonderful educational resource! Just head over to Laura’s blog to enter the giveaway. And if you blog about it on your blog, she’ll give you an extra five entries! The drawing will take place on Monday, June 8.

Have you seen the new Alberti Publishing Company yet? Their first published product is a fabulous piano assignment book called The Right Notes that incorporates snippets of music history on every page.

Alberti Publishing has generously offered to give away 5 copies of their colorful assignment book to readers of Music Matters Blog. All you have to do is register on their website and then leave a comment below on this post. I will use a random number generator to select the five winners on Monday, June 1, at noon.

Here’s a cool extra incentive – any super sleuths who can identify the upside down illustration in The Right Notes Piano Assignment Book can also enter for a chance to win an iPod! Visit the contest page on the Alberti Publishing website for all the details. So, even if you don’t win a copy, you may want to purchase a copy and start investigating for a chance to win something even better!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Animusic DVD giveaway. Here are the five winners of the DVD set, randomly selected using a random number generator:

#12 – Joy

#31 – Emily

#22 – Natalie

#17 – Cindy

#3 – Judy Bonnell

If you are one of the winners, just e-mail me with your mailing address and I’ll pass it on to the folks at Animusic!

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to enter the giveaway to win a set of Animusic DVDs! The drawing will be held this Friday at 12:00 noon (CST)!

Have you seen these super cool music animations produced by Animusic?

These highly creative animations are sure to mesmerize students, and are a fun resource for music teachers. In fact, Animusic has produced and made available free teacher guides for both of their DVDs. The guides were prepared by music teachers and correlate with items 6, 7, and 8 of the National Standards for Music Education. The first DVD has 7 unique music animations and the second one has 8.

Each animation lasts about 4 or 5 minutes. The videos on the Animusic DVDs have original instrumental music, which spans a variety of musical (and visual) styles. There is also one version of a classical piece – “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Mussorgsky. Check out the Reviews page to see how other music teachers are using and enjoying these animations in their teaching.

Now for the good part…I was recently contacted by Animusic and they’ve offered to give away 5 sets of DVDs to readers of Music Matters Blog! All you have to do is leave a comment below to be entered in the drawing. And, just for fun, you can earn an additional entry by linking to this giveaway from your blog or website. (Just leave a second comment indicating that you posted a link and then you’ll be entered twice.) I’ll hold the drawing next Friday, April 24 at 12:00 noon CST.

Thanks again to everyone who filled out the Music Matters Blog survey! The three winners of the practice incentive programs are: Steve, Kendra, and Charcie. Congratulations! I’ve sent each of you e-mails with more information, but let me know if you didn’t receive it and I’ll get the practice incentive program of your choice sent right over.

Stay tuned for some new and exciting developments here on Music Matters Blog, thanks to all the great input and suggestions I received!

Thanks to everyone who has already taken the time to fill out the brief survey I created! I really appreciate the feedback I’ve been receiving and know this will be a huge help in putting together new ideas for Music Matters Blog this year. Remember, complete the survey by this Friday, January 15 for your chance to win a free practice incentive!

Well, I didn’t exactly mean to disappear from here for two weeks, but I took two weeks off of teaching and I guess my lack of routine carried over into blogging! I’m really excited to get back into teaching next week and have all sorts of grand ideas of things I want to do and accomplish. Things related to my own musical development, things related to my students, things related to Music Matters Blog, etc. I doubt all of them will get done, but it’s fun to write them down and try!

In an effort to provide the best possible music education blog that I can, I’ve created a short survey to find out what kinds of posts you like the most, and what new ideas you’re most interested in for future posts.

Just click on the image or the above link to go to the survey. The survey will be open until midnight on January 15, 2009. The best part is, you can win a prize if you participate! I will draw 3 names from all the respondents, and those 3 winners will each be allowed to select a practice incentive program of their choice for free! Winners may choose from Go For the Gold!, Let’s Have a Ball!, and Climbing the Ladder to Success. (If a winner already has all three of these, I will extend the prize option to include several other free downloadable products.) Once I close the survey on January 15, I’ll announce the winners and send the prizes!

Thanks for being a part of Music Matters Blog. I really value your feedback! May God bless your year of teaching throughout 2009!