The power of music

I’ve been thinking about writing a blog about the powerful effects of music for a while now.

I haven’t really listened to much music since I was a teenager. I don’t know why but it hasn’t interested me much since then, until now.

Five years ago I was suffering with postnatal depression. I received a priesthood blessing which specifically told me to seek good music and hymns. Foolishly I didn’t. The Lord is so wise and I now believe that seeking such music may have helped shorten or ease my depression.

Reading in 1st Samuel 16 (in the Old testament) King Saul is troubled by an evil spirit (not sent from the Lord). His servants suggest he uses music to help him. King Saul seeks the best musician and his music helps to sooth his soul.

It turns out that when King George of England was having memory trouble he also read this passage of scripture. As a result he Commissioned Handel to write music specifically to help him with his memory. This is why George Frideric Handel wrote his water music

From what I’ve been reading
on music and the brain, if students use this sort of music as background music whilst they are studying for exams they can improve their grade by as much as 8%. Music used in one of the experiments I read was Mozart's SONATA for TWO PIANOS It's really beautiful!

It’s not that the music makes students learn any better but that the music stimulates both hemispheres of the brain. So if a student is studying maths this stimulates the left hemisphere of the brain. If they are simultaneously listening to Handels water music the right hemisphere is also stimulated (the artistic imaginative side). So the student will make connections between the two - maybe an equation will become associated with a melody or image. This means when they need to recall a piece of information there are more and stronger connections and associations for them to draw on which makes the required information more accessible.

I also found out that Thomas Jefferson used music to help him write the declaration of independence and Albert Einstein played the violin to help him think through problems!
Besides all this the scriptures tell us that:

“For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.” D&C 25:12

I’ve included a few links in this blog to beautiful and inspiring music. If you know any particularly beautiful or inspiring pieces of music please leave a link in the comments box. Thank you. xxx


My favorite violinist is Andre Rieu he is soooo amazing.

I also really enjoy this particular rendition of Rhapsody in Blue.

Pizza with Grandma!

Grandma got creative over the summer and made homemade pizza with the children.

This is an activity that brings joy (and mess) every time!
It's also a fab way of getting the little ones to eat their dinner. That makes mummy very happy!

Footprints

1 Peter 2:21

"...That ye should follow His steps"

I had some left over tiles that have been sitting in the garden for months, so we decided to put them to creative use!

The best part of this activity was brushing the paint brush on little legend No. 1, I didnt realise how ticklish he is!! 
I tried loads of different paint and practiced with each one on paper first, but none of them seemed very vibrant.  Can anyone recommend a good paint for this activity? (I tried wall paint, poster paint and toll painting acrylics). thank you.





I Can See A Rainbow!

Genesis 9:13

“I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for

 a token of a covenant between me and the Earth.”

Home Made Rainbow Crayons!

These crayons are fun to make and use up all those odd broken bits of crayons that lie in the bottom of the crayon tin.  Thanks to Gemma for showing me how it’s done!  xxx

choose all the broken pieces of crayons.

Put the crayons into disposable oven proof containers.

Put them on a low heat into the oven (between 50-100 degrees)

Score them whilst they are cooling to make it easier to break.  Hey presto! Recycled crayons!

 

Boat collage

My husband bought a boat earlier this year (a wayfarer).  We made a collage of it with the children, (they are very proud of it).  This is how it's progressing:

hubby drew the boat and then the kiddies got to work!

unfortunately we had to break for bedtime :)

and its almost finished!  just a little bit of family fun :)

making more progress by pinning on a background.

Cake Auction

The youth at our church held a cake auction last night.  It was brilliant!  They raise about £400.  My favorite part of the evening was when our little legend No. 1 shouted a bid for £100 (it was supposed to be £3)!! 

I baked four delicious banana cakes with a recipe I found online :

http://www.food.com/recipe/best-ever-banana-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting-67256

But I used this frosting instead: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/6096/lemon-cream-cheese-icing.aspx

yummy yummy, they all sold for between £6 - £7.50!!  I was quite pleased with that :)

my giant tea cake was a disaster though!  I tried it twice but it didnt work either time.  The trouble I was having was the cling film got stuck in the chocolate once it was set! (I didnt want anyone to gag on a piece of cling film)! I got this recipe from:

http://www.fingertipstv.com/ourmakes.php?makeid=306

So if anyone has any success with this please give me some tips!!

All in all it was great fun and a genius way of raising money! well done Dereham youth :)