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  1. Lesson 1 – Life As An Astronaut
    4 Activities
  2. Lesson 2 – Playing Musical Instruments
    4 Activities
  3. Lesson 3 – Internet Addiction
    5 Activities
  4. Lesson 4 – Exercise Habits & Mistakes
    4 Activities
  5. Lesson 5 – Animal Intelligence
    4 Activities
  6. Lesson 6 – Worst Job
    4 Activities
  7. Lesson 7 – A Brief History Of Jeans
    4 Activities
  8. Lesson 8 – College & Career
    4 Activities
  9. Lesson 9 – Urban Agriculture
    4 Activities
  10. Lesson 10 – Life In NYC
    7 Activities
  11. Lesson 11 – Stay-At-Home Dads
    4 Activities
  12. Lesson 12 – Embarrassing Moments
    4 Activities
  13. Lesson 13 – The Stanford Prison Experiment
    4 Activities
  14. Lesson 14 – About My Pets
    4 Activities
  15. Lesson 15 – The LEGO Story
    4 Activities
  16. Lesson 16 – Favorite Movie/Book
    4 Activities
  17. Lesson 17 – Tattoos In Different Cultures
    4 Activities
  18. Lesson 18 – Parents
    4 Activities
  19. Lesson 19 – Origin Of Santa Claus
    4 Activities
  20. Lesson 20 – Just In Time!
    4 Activities
  21. Lesson 21 – U.K. Vs. U.S. Business Culture
    4 Activities
  22. Lesson 22 – Broken Bone
    4 Activities
  23. Lesson 23 – The Amazing Human Body
    4 Activities
  24. Lesson 24 – American Football
    4 Activities
  25. Lesson 25 – Wedding Traditions
    4 Activities
  26. Lesson 26 – Study Abroad
    4 Activities
  27. Lesson 27 – The Tiny House Movement
    4 Activities
  28. Lesson 28 – What’s Your Pet Peeve?
    4 Activities
  29. Lesson 29 – The Jackie Robinson Story
    4 Activities
  30. Lesson 30 – Childhood Memories
    4 Activities
  31. Lesson 31 – A Fairy Tale
    5 Activities
  32. Lesson 32 – Grandparents
    4 Activities
  33. Lesson 33 – Urban Legends
    4 Activities
  34. Lesson 34 – Achieving Goals
    4 Activities
  35. Lesson 35 – Creative Work Environments
    4 Activities
  36. Lesson 36 – Mistakes
    4 Activities
  37. Lesson 37 – Best Pranks In History
    4 Activities
  38. Lesson 38 – Vacation
    4 Activities
  39. Lesson 39 – Junk Food
    4 Activities
  40. Lesson 40 – Abilities
    4 Activities
  41. Lesson 41 – World-Changing Mistakes
    4 Activities
  42. Lesson 42 – Volunteer Work
    4 Activities
  43. Lesson 43 – Utopia & Dystopia
    4 Activities
  44. Lesson 44 – If I Were President…
    4 Activities
  45. Lesson 45 – The Future Of Medicine
    4 Activities
  46. Your Feedback & Next Steps
Lesson 2, Activity 4
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Hi, my name is Peter, and I wanted to tell you about some of the musical instruments that I have played. I have played the clarinet, the recorder, the guitar, the bass guitar, the piano, and the instrument I’ve played the most is the trumpet. I started playing trumpet in sixth grade, and played all the way through twelfth grade on a regular basis.

One of the hardest things about learning to play trumpet is how to position your lips. With a clarinet you have a reed, and with a guitar you have a string, to make the sounds that you need. But with trumpet, you have to hold your lips in just the right way in order to make the proper sound. One of the tricks my teacher taught me was to say the letter “M” – once I say the letter “M,” then I have my lips in the proper position to play.

The cool thing about playing trumpet is that it can play a wide variety of music. I was able to be in the jazz band, the marching band, concert band, and pit band, because I knew how to play – and we had a lot of wonderful experiences.

The really neat thing about playing an instrument like this is it’s best when you play in a group – and music has a way of bonding people. I made new friends, I made old friendships stronger, and it was a really neat experience to be able to perform for an audience. We performed for a wide variety of groups, and it’s – there’s something about music that really entertains people.

Now I haven’t been playing my trumpet since high school, but I do play guitar. And one of the great things about guitar is that you will run into a lot more guitar players – and so there’s greater opportunity for collaboration, and just sitting down and having a good time on the spot.

The hardest thing about playing guitar is teaching your hands to do what you want them to do. It’s all about muscle memory. You may know in your head what you wanna do, but you have to help your fingers learn where to go, playing chords, getting your fingers to move to the proper spots every time.

The other difficult thing that you might run into is fatigue. After a while, your hands just get tired in the beginning. But as you keep playing and building up your muscles, that won’t be a problem anymore.

One of the things that I like most about guitar is that I can listen to a song on the radio, and learn how to play it – AND sing along with it. With my trumpet, I could either sing or play – but with my guitar I can do both. I enjoy playing for friends and family, with friends and family, and sometimes just sitting down and playing for myself.

But if you get the chance to play a musical instrument, I hope you take that opportunity. It really is a fun time. I’ve had so much fun throughout my life because of music – and it’s something that you just can’t compare to anything else. So I hope you take the opportunity, and thanks for taking the time to listen.


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