3-D Snowflake How-To

Choir students will be making these to hang in the MS Commons for the holidays. Here's a how-to in case someone wants to try at home! I like to use scrapbook paper to mix up the look a little (plus it helps with these visuals!).

1.First, take a square piece of paper. It doesn't matter the size as long as it is perfectly square. The larger the paper, the larger the finished snowflake.

2. Make a triangular fold, then repeat into a smaller triangle.

 3. The tricky part...it helps if you can set your triangle on the table as in the pic below so you KNOW you're cutting the correct side.

 4. Make 3 parallel cuts from the bottom fold-the one touching the table (as below). Start from the longest side and end closest to the point of your triangle.

 5. Unfold the paper. It should look like a God's Eye. If it looks like a weaving loom full of parallel slices, you cut from the wrong fold on the triangle.

 6. Take the inner-most points and wrap them around to meet. Glue in place.

 7. Now, take the next set of points and wrap them the opposite way to meet. Glue. Notice, you're working from the center outward. Important to ALTERNATE the side that you wrap the points toward.

 8. Repeat for the rest of the points so that you've got 4 total wrap-arounds.

 9. The finished product should look like the pic above.
10. Repeat the entire process with 5 more pieces of paper so you end up with 6 total pieces.

 11. Align the points of pieces and staple (or glue) all at the same spot. (it will be the center of the snowflake)

 12. Glue or staple the joints together at the fattest point of each piece. (Where finger points above...)

 13. This is all the pieces of my purple snowflake. My sweet daughter tried a piece and it didn't get cut correctly, so my flake has 5 sides. :0)

14. Here's the finished product done with white paper! Won't these look cool hanging all over the commons? THANKS to my good friend Mrs. Green for showing me how to make these several years ago at FES! They have served me well over the years...

We Interrupt This Blog...

Sorry there's been such inactivity here; not much in the way of Fab Friday schtuff. The push for the Pops Concert and then the push for the Veteran's Day programs (which went wonderfully!) put our Fab Friday snippets on the back burner. I'll try to get back in the saddle, but now we've got the push for Winter Festival and the Holiday Concert. Shocked, I know. Music departments at the holidays...sheesh!

Fab Friday Clip 10/14

Interesting Instrument: Hang Drum
Technically, players don't like them to be called "drums". They are similar in principle to steel pans used in calypso music. Quite a unique and captivating sound. Notice how strong the sound can be with even the most gentle touch.

Listening Log: "Seisouso" from Quidam

This week, we listened to a tune from Cirque du Soleil's show "Quidam". Here's the official trailer for the show, which happens to be my favorite of all the Cirque shows.

Mongolian Throat Singing

Sorry MSers, I thought I had uploaded these last week! Our final clips celebrating the

"Amazing Human Voice" are of the phenomenon of throat singing. There are a few styles, including those that use overtones (my favorite). If you want a completely different approach from the typical Mongolian/Tuvan/Chinese/ Siberian style, check out the Inuit Indian style of throat singing. So different from what our western ears expect, but amazing!

Counter Tenors: Two Completely Different Styles

We are discussing various voice classifications. Countertenor is a male voice that utilizes the range of a typical soprano. Some countertenors employ a highly developed falsetto (Nick Pitera below), while others have the purity and range of a true soprano (Greg Pritchard above). Kind of interesting, huh? **Thanks to Rylie for introducing me to Nick Pitera!

Fab Friday Clips 9/23 Bobby McFerrin

Indeed: an amazing human voice! Be sure to listen closely at around 2'12" as he vocalizes 2 separate sounds--harmonizes with himself!