All Together: Singing in the Kitchen {Giveaway}

Though we enjoy music as much as anybody, Chris and I are musically challenged.  Save for a few piano lessons when I was 12, I have no musical abilities.  But that doesn't mean I don't like to sing, and try and do it all the time at home.

I believe that music not only affects the atmosphere of one's home, but that it fosters reading in children.  After all, reading is often a sing-songy activity for little ones anyway.

When the new book, All Together: Singing in the Kitchen arrived on our doorstep last week, I was eager to delve into a subject that I have no experience with--music.

Written by The Nields sisters, Nerissa and Katryna, both professional singers/musicians as well as parents, All Together is an encouraging, inspiring book about incorporating music into our daily lives, even amidst the exuberance and chaos of parenting young children.

The Nields Sisters

The book is very conversationally written, and since the sisters each have children of their own, they know from experience how challenging it can be to pull out a guitar for a round of Kumbaya (or in their case, something a little more interesting).  Plus it comes with a CD of the Nields singing their canon of songs.

The Nields talking about growing up in a musical family

Rather than making music into a big production, they encourage lots of singing--while doing dishes, cleaning up toys, cooking, etc.  Basically, music can manifest itself at any opportunity.  I love their idea of compiling a family "canon" of songs. This is something I am working on mentally at the moment, trying to list some of our favorite tunes, both ones that we like and ones that our parents sang to us.  I relish the thought of passing down some old and new songs to my sons, and to my (hopefully) grandkids.

Much of The Nields' ideas in the book come from their popular HooteNanny music classes geared toward kids and their caregivers.  Techniques like creating homemade instruments, writing songs (even just silly on -the-spot ones) and musical games and play.  There's even some basic instructions for taking up a guitar and learning to play it, though frankly that scares me a bit. :)

I'm so glad this book made its way into our home. I really think it's changed how I view music in this family.  Time to turn off Pandora, and loosen up those vocal chords!

WIN IT!

Two lucky readers will each win a copy of

All Together: Singing in the Kitchen

 

To Enter
Visit Shambhala Publications and tell me why you'd like to win this book or which chapter in All Together sounds really appealing to you.
Extra Entries (you must complete the first mandatory entry before doing the extras.  Also, leave a separate comment for each one):

• Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link (2 entries)
• Subscribe to my updates
• Follow my blog publicly via Google Friend Connect
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• Share this post on your Facebook page and leave the link (I'd love it if you tagged me or the sponsor in your post)
• Follow @katydidandkid and tweet this giveaway, leaving a link to your tweet in the comments. You can tweet once per day (leave a comment each day). You can copy and paste my tweet if you'd like: #Win a copy of The Nields' All Together: Singing in the Kitchen book http://goo.gl/fb/ivSFD @KatydidandKid #Giveaway

US mailing addresses only. One entry per household.
You must do the first entry in order to enter ("I want to win, thanks!" comments will NOT be 16considered). You will have until Wednesday November 16th at 11:59pmEST to enter. The winner will be chosen via random number generator the next day and notified by email.I'll also post the winners on my blog HERE. If I don't hear back from the winner within 72 hours, I'll pick another. 
Disclosure: I received a copy of All Together: Singing in the Kitchen or review purposes.