I've been wanting to send out a newsletter for awhile, so I'm happy to finally say, "Greetings everyone!" Here in the Washington, D.C. area where I live, we had many gorgeous spring days in April with sunshine, abundant cherry trees, dogwoods, azaleas and daffodils in full bloom. Wherever you live, I wish you beautiful weather, too.

1. Blue jello rhythm puzzle and rhythm bingo cards: A very helpful group of volunteer proofreaders/editors and I have put the finishing touches on these two greatly anticipated materials, and I sent them to the printer yesterday. Yea! They will be released for sale in two weeks; I will send around an announcement as soon as they are ready. Thank you for your patience - they will be worth the wait. The big blue jello cards - set 1 is nearly ready and will be next.

2. Revised blue jello word cards: Thanks to the innovations during development of the puzzle and bingo cards, e.g. new Blue Jello drawings and greater emphasis on rainbow colors for rhythm values, the blue jello word cards have been revised. I will be uploading the new files soon. If you've purchased these downloadable cards, your update is free. I will send an announcement and instructions when they are ready.

3. Danish website: Congratulations to Aalborg, Denmark on the debut of their own Music Mind Games website. There are photos, an interview with Danish teachers and me and other interesting things. There is great energy for Music Mind Games in Denmark. www.musicmindgames.dk  

4. Minneapolis, MN 3-day workshop (May 24-26): This Unit 1 Overview is a great opportunity to understand how to teach Music Mind Games and have a hands-on opportunity to learn how to play dozens of games. Planned to coordinate with the Suzuki Association of the America's Conference, the workshop will be at the MacPhail Center for Music. Registration has been great - there are a few spaces remaining. Information and registration available online. Includes a 10% discount on materials.

5. Free shipping to the Suzuki Conference: Young Musicians will be carrying a limited supply of Music Mind Games materials at their booth at the conference. This is your chance to save on those pesky shipping and handling charges with free shipping. Here's how you can make it happen for you. Email an order form (attached at the bottom of this newsletter) to me on or before Monday, May 17 and your materials will be waiting for you at the booth. This way you are guaranteed to get the materials you want. If you have questions, please send me an email. The sooner you place your order the better; it will be helpful to me. And if you're going to the conference, please stop by the booth and say hello!

6. Seven new Music Mind Games teacher trainers: During July 9-16, seven dedicated Music Mind Games teachers will be meeting with me for a Unit 1 Teacher Trainer Retreat. Each of them has taken Unit 1 and Unit 2 training multiple times, assisted me at workshops, taught Music Mind Games with their home students and led short workshops on their own. After July, each of them will be certified to lead Unit 1 workshops. Up until this point I have been doing all the Unit 1 and 2 training, e.g. 10 weeks of Unit 1 and 2 last year, so I welcome their help. New trainers will be Amy Fowers, Utah; Rachel Schott, Kentucky; Joyce Bennett, Virginia; Elizabeth Cunha, Maryland; Carsten Viuf, Aalborg, Denmark; Gitte Chren, Aalborg, Denmark; and Inge Brink Nielsen, Aalborg, Denmark. Kristian Dalgaard Nielsen, who has been very active in bringing Music Mind Games to Denmark, will also attend. After sessions here at my studio, the retreat will take place at the beach in Delaware. Check out Upcoming Workshops to see if any of their workshops work for you.

7. Welcome European dealers: To help Music Mind Games be more accessible to European teachers, three dealers in Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark are now carrying our materials: Notencafé in Luzern (Switzerland), ECHO Musikproduktion VÄXJÖ (Sweden), and Aarhus Musik - noder.dk in Aarhus (Denmark). Many thanks to Pia Siegwart (Unit 1 2008) for translating the text in the Puppy Packet and Panda 1 Pack materials into German. Her translations accompany all items sold by Notencafé.

8. International shipping costs: We are making efforts to find less expensive means to ship materials overseas.

9. Emily's blog: Have you visited Emily's blog on the website? She is an independent piano teacher living near Baltimore, Maryland who uses Music Mind Games in her lessons rather than in group classes. Emily has taken Unit 1 (2005) and Unit 2 (2006) and assisted me with workshops, editing documents and designing the Music Mind Games materials. She and her mother, who also teaches piano and Music Mind Games host a study group for local teachers in Baltimore who are interested in learning about Music Mind Games.

10. Freddie: This newsletter was actually ready to send out in April, but I simply couldn't bring myself to make the announcement that our dear dog, Freddie has died. Even now I am having great difficulty writing these words. Many of you know Freddie from the materials and tell me that you and your students talk about Freddie often. He died of natural causes on April 11 following only two days of being ill. My husband, Cris and I were with him in the middle of the night when he passed. The next day we buried him in our backyard. To honor him, we have planted a camellia bush and a dogwood tree that will bloom each spring.

Freddie was a rescue dog from our local shelter when he was about one-year old and was part of our family for nearly fifteen years which is a long time for a large dog. He was a happy, active shepherd-chow mix with expressive eyes. He was very intelligent, a good watch dog, loyal to the family, and walked off-leash in our neighborhood and on outings. He had an excellent memory and, as the little drawing of him shows, could really sing. We miss him greatly but we're comforted knowing that he is helping children enjoy music theory.