Climbing the Multiplication Tables

I got the following request via
email:

Can you send me a short clip sample of
the actual CD, perhaps the mountain
climbing one?

--V

The mountain climbing CD that she refers
to is called Climbing the Multiplication
Tables. Of course, it is not about mountain
climbing at all. Rather, it climbs the
multiplication tables from bottom to top.

Here's Climbing the Multiplication Tables:

Climbing the Multiplication Tables

I sent her a random clip, track 33. Here's
how she replied:

Yes the audio worked, but not quite what
I'm looking for. Same idea but a little
faster.

--V

I can't blame her for wanting it to go
faster. We live in a very zippy culture.
Everything moves along quickly.

Television and radio and the Internet are
all very fast paced. It seems like there
is barely enough time to slow down for anything
anymore.

Here's how I replied to the above email:

Thanks.  I really appreciate the feedback!
I'm sure there are many people who feel the
way you do.

My CDs are slow paced for a reason.  They are
designed to be played in the background while
you do other things.

However, I understand that picking up the pace
a bit would make them more entertaining.  However,
there are many products out there (singing
multiplication tables, for example) that are
designed to be entertaining.

I wanted to do something different.  I wanted to
do a CD that blended in the background rather
than was entertaining.

In fact, there are many who use my CDs to go to
sleep by.

Thanks again.  Honest feeback is very very helpful!

Kind regards,

Ed Abbott

I know that I'm bucking the trend. In the world
today, the tendency is for people to move faster
and faster and faster.

I've chosen to make my learning CDs contemplative
rather than exciting. I choose to sooth rather
than to stimulate. I choose to educate rather
than entertain.

While the short term effect of that decision may
mean less CD sales, the long term effects are what
I'm looking for. In the end I want people who listen
to my CDs to know their multiplication tables by
heart.

Ed Abbott

Spelling Words on Audio CD

I got a phone call from a man in Miami,
Florida. He told me he was interested
in my spelling CDs. I offer spelling
words on auido CD here:

Spelling Words Guy

The man said he was originally from Haiti
but he had gone to high school in New Jersey.
He graduated from high school barely knowing
how to read.

After high school, he made himself proficient
in reading by reading many many books. He
became an avid reader.

In spite of all the reading he has done, he
spells words poorly. He told me that he
could not spell even the simplest of words.

After I hung up the phone, I sent him the
7 spelling CDs given in the link above. He
has been listening to these CDs in his car
ever since.

He called me the other day after listening
to these 7 CDs for 6 months. He wants the
8th CD. Where is the 8th CD?

I had to admit that I've been busy and have
not made the CD yet. I just haven't been
able to get to it.

His phone call was very inspiriational to
me. I realize that there is a real need
for these CDS.

The man likes the CDs because of the pauses.
My voice pauses long enough to allow the
listener to spell the word before I do.

We've talked on the phone several times. He
told me in a previous conversation that
if he does not spell the word correctly
the first time he listens to the CD, he
is likely to spell it correctly the next
time he listens to it.

I, myself, love using audio CDs to learn.
That's why I make audio CDs. I love them
myself.

Ed Abbott

Learn to Add 9 Released

This is a new blog. This is
where I write about children's
CDs that I both author and offer.
Here's the link:

Children's Learning CDs

Learn to Add 9 is the ninth CD
in a series that teaches your child
to add numbers together.

Learn to Add 9 is found here:

Learn to Add 9

Mostly, the series teaches your child
to add a single digit to a single digit
and a single digit to a double digit.

Here's the series, from disc 1 to disc
9:

Learn to Add Series, 1-9

In this series, sums (results) range from
one to one thousand. Not on the first disc,
of course.

The first disc only sums as high as 12.

Here's the first disc:

Learn to Add 1

A primary purpose of this CD is to get
your child ready for subtraction and
multiplication.

In many ways, addition is a building
block upon which everything is built.

For example, in computer science, all
4 basic math functions --- addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division ---
are derived from addition.

In many ways, a computer is just an adding
machine. From its ability to add, all
other functions are derived.

If you are curious about this, here's an
article to get you started:

Two's Complement

Don't worry. My CDs are not complicated
like this article is. My CDs are dead
simple.

Each CD builds on the last. Each CD offers
only slight expansion in knowledge from the
last CD.

The pacing of these CDs is very slow. They
are slow, both in terms of pacing of the material
and pacing of the spoken voice.

They are designed to be played in the background
while you do something in the foreground.

Some children listen to them as they go off to
sleep at night.

However, they don't have to be used this way. They
can be played in the car as well. That is, if you
have a car CD player.

Hoping to do a Learn to Count series next.

Ed Abbott
Learning CDs
www.WebSiteRepairGuy.com