Melodious Monday - The Music Choice

We finished up the Be's... Hooray!  It feels so great to accomplish things!  So, moving on.  Today's FHE is on music.  My little boy LOVES music.  He will stop what he is going and run around the other side of the sofa, totally enthralled when the right commercial comes on... what brings him running???  The music!!  It has absolutely nothing to do with the actual commercial, it's all about the music.  And he's only one!  Music can have such an amazing effect on us.  But it can also be detrimental.  Let's get started.

Prep:  Go through your iTunes library and select a play list of songs you enjoy.  Use YouTube to find brief clips of some heavy metal and music you may not have in your library.  Or check out your teenagers CD/MP3 collections...  I know when I was a teenager I didn't always choose the most "Spirit-Inviting" music...  Choose about 5 different songs, all different genres, for your list.  Include Church music as well as music you may not approve of.  It'll help get the point across.  Promise.

Lesson:  Hand out a piece of paper to each member of the family.  Help your younger kids, if needs be.  Play a short clip, 10-20 seconds, of each song you have chosen.  Ask each person to number their paper.  Tell them to write down one or two words for each clip that describes how they feel while they are listening to the song.  When you have finished playing the clips, talk about the different things you felt during each song.  Which songs made them feel good inside?  Encourage your family to choose only music that is uplifting.  "Music is an important and powerful part of life. Don't listen to music that drives away the Spirit, encourages immorality, glorifies violence, uses foul or offensive language, or promotes Satanism or other evil practices" (For The Strength of Youth, "Music and Dancing," p 20).

Activity:  Choose 3-5 songs out of the Hymn Book or Children's Songbook to sing as a family.  Or choose a new song to learn as a family.  If someone in your family is musically talented and can accompany, ask them to do so.  If you have accompaniment on CD's, use those.  Or you can find some super useful resources HERE.

Treat:  Nilla Wafer No-Bake Cheesecake.  It's WAY yummy!  Click HERE for the recipe!