About Linda at Crafty Music Maker
Hello! I’m Linda Davis and I want to tell you a little about myself. I am a mother to 4 children and grandmother to 6 grandchildren. As an Air Force brat, I have lived all over the US and spent a good chunk of my childhood in Germany. My parents eventually settled in northern Idaho where I went to high school. I always had a love of math and was intending to pursue that in college until I picked up the flute in my senior year of high school and music became my passion from then on.
I was lucky enough to be a stay at home mom while my children were small. I really dove into crafting taking a tole painting class, a cake decorating class, etc. My kids’ birthday parties were always a lot of fun for me to work on: the cake, the games, the decorations. And I’ve always loved baking.
Here’s a summary of the formal stuff:
- Bachelor of Music Education – University of Idaho
- Master’s of Music Education – University of Nevada Las Vegas
- Orff Schulwerk – UNLV 3 levels
- Kodály – Southern Methodist University 3 levels (still finishing to be Nationally Certified)
- World Drumming – 2 levels
- Steel drums – Manette Steel Drums course in West Virginia
After teaching music privately at home, I jumped into the school system when my youngest was in preschool and then became a full time elementary music teacher when she started 1st grade. By then our family had moved a 2nd time to Las Vegas. Thirteen years later we moved to Texas which was tough because there are so many quality music teachers in this state, and it took a couple of years to get hired. But I eventually found my amazing school, and I’m perfectly happy at my current position. I have nestled in nicely as evidenced from my room reveal video.
“Schweitzer Mountain”
My other interests are exercising (only so I can eat more or so I think!), traveling, reading, hiking, snow skiing, and playing and watching hockey.
My blog goal started as a way to help other music teachers, but the pandemic had other plans. I had to teach all my students virtually and thus my youtube classes were born! I have totally shifted from writing blog posts for teachers to making videos for children, mostly to help them develop a love of music as well as skills to create their own, with a few craft videos thrown in here and there.
So that’s me in a (big) nutshell. Thanks for checking out my website! Please help me spread the word about my music classes. So many children can have their lives enhanced by sprinkling some music in it! And let’s all keep singing!
Hi Linda!!
I just wanted to share with you how AWESOME you are!! Due to COVID-19, my 2nd grade daughter is being homeschooled (in New Jersey) by yours truly LOL We stumbled upon your YouTube channel and WOW! THANK YOU for giving us another resource to expand her learning! You are so fun to listen to/watch/sing with/learn from, you have an amazing voice, and you have already shared such lovely lessons! We cannot thank you enough for providing this content! I sincerely hope that you and your family (including all of your kids and grandkids) stay super safe and healthy! Be well!
Gratefully,
Mrs. Alyssa Ziobro
Thank you so much! You have made my day. It’s wonderful to know someone outside of Texas is joining in on the fun. I was out of town last week and this will be my first week in the classroom face to face with students. As I will be teaching a few classes virtually, I’m going to attempt to keep my lessons continuing through YouTube, recording my teaching live and then editing them afterwards. It remains to be seen if I can make that happen, but knowing that I can be helping other children will spur me on to do my very best! Thanks so much for the feedback!
Hi Linda!!!
Thank you so much for your YouTube lessons! My 2nd grader is loving your YouTube videos! We are homeschooling this year, and your videos are a breath of fresh air! She loves, loves, loves your class! She sings continuously throughout the day and your songs are says in the mix. We are so blessed to have you in our home once a week!
Sending prayers your way from Pennsylvania for a healthy 2021!
Hi Linda!!!
Thank you so much for your YouTube lessons! My 2nd grader is loving your YouTube videos! We are homeschooling this year, and your videos are a breath of fresh air! She loves, loves, loves your class! She sings continuously throughout the day and your songs are always in the mix. We are so blessed to have you in our home once a week!
Sending prayers your way from Pennsylvania for a healthy 2021!
I am so glad you found me! I just love finding out about other children who love to sing their hearts out! Thanks for reaching out to me to let me know the videos are making a difference. I really appreciate it.
Dear Ms. Linda!
You are a great music teacher! I love your approach! Regards from Greece!
Gkely Mitroyanni
(Music Teacher in Greece)
P.S.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkyE3pd2Bek&t=81s
This is me trying to explain quarter notes and eighth notes through a personal funny tale. It is in greek… but I think it is easy to understand the story by the images and rhythmic sounds.
Oh my gosh, somehow I missed your comment! Now that it’s summer, I can come up for air and take care of unattended tasks. I loved your video! You have a sweet voice and great presence in your video. You are correct, my Greek language skills are nonexistent but I still laughed when the instruments all “crashed.” And I had totally forgotten about that Strauss piece too! Thanks for the refresher. And thanks for reaching out to me! Nice to know I stretched out across the pond!
Hi Linda!
I also wanted to thank you for your YouTube lessons. I started homeschooling my second grader the second quarter of this schoolyear due to Covid. Music was the class he was most sad to miss at school. I found your videos after trying a couple of other online classes that didn’t really mesh with what he was learning in school. Your videos were an almost seamless transition for him and he LOVES them. Thank you so much for your time and dedication in producing these resources for our kids. I’m confident that he will be able to return to school next year fully up to speed in music because of your classes. You are so appreciated!
Oh my gosh, I just found your comment! I apologize for the very late response. I am so glad to hear your son loves music and has benefitted from these videos. I think music as a subject got really hit hard for children this year. From a teacher’s point of view, because I didn’t have all the normal grade level performances and choir concerts, I was able to really focus on curriculum and my students benefitted from that, a silver lining in this tough year. Thank you so much for reaching out to me. I really appreciate it! It was quite a struggle to teach full time and create all these videos so it’s nice to know others benefitted as well. Have a great summer!
🎵 Hello Ms. Davis 🎵
I tried to post on your YouTube page, but I think it didn’t work. I just wanted to reach out and tell you how much I appreciate your excellent quality videos. My kids have always done fairly poorly at online classwork with teachers, so we decided to home school trough Covid. However, not having a full armament of musical paraphernalia, I struggled to figure out how to create an effective music class for my girls.
Then I found you. Yay!
The girls are very engaged and feel like you’re actually interacting with them, not just a little two inch person on a screen drolling on for an hour.
Thank you so much for helping us get through this rough year. We send our gratitude all the way from WA state. Thank you for you.
Hello Lara! Thank you so much for reaching out to me! I really appreciate the feedback, especially how your girls engage with the videos. I have lived in Washington 2 separate times, both on opposite ends, Seattle and Spokane, both beautiful country! Now I’m asking for a favor. Would you consent to letting me use your comment on the front of my website? If you prefer, please email me at linda@craftymusicmaker.com. And say hello to your girls for me!
Hello Ms Davies, I can’t express how thankful I was to find your music lessons on YouTube. We had a little surprise boy blessing, 12 years after our daughter and he is homeschooled. We live in BC, Canada and started your level 1 classes around December. We haven’t been doing it for the past 2 weeks but yesterday there was a little meltdown when we realized that we won’t be able to do lesson 25 to 31. Our son just picked up on everything you are teaching and I am just astonished by the way you teach all the music concepts. We would love to be able to continue learning with you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!