Music As The Source Of Childhood Development

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Music As The Source of Childhood Development

When should a child begin music lessons? Is there a correct time, age, grade level?
Why should a child start?
Should it be because the parent wants them to?
Would the child's desire to play an instrument be part of the reason to begin?
Do the parents and the child understand the commitment?

These and other issues are something that we music teachers encounter quite often. I hope that this will be a place where you, the visitor, can comment and we can maybe share some knowledge with each other. A problem solving place, maybe.

Contents at a Glance

Childhood Development As It Relates To Music Lessons
Favorite Music Related Sites
A Place For Music Teachers and Educators to Share

What Is The Mozart Effect?
Does Mozart's Music Make A Difference?
For Blujay Stores Owners: You May Add Your Store

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Childhood Development As It Relates To Music Lessons

How An Incredibly Wise Woman Changed My Thinking

Years and years ago I met a woman who totally changed the way I thought about my life's work. She was a very wise, and sometimes blunt, piano teacher. She had written a series of books, The Magic Reader, and allowed me to represent her when she gave workshops. I purchased her books from the publisher and sold them at her workshops. It was at these workshops and on the occasional car trips that she shared about how difficult it is for a very young child to learn to read piano music.

I had never thought about it like that. I always thought anyone could learn to do it.
She said that if we take a child, whose abstract thinking is not developed, and expect them to solve the riddle of reading piano music, we are creating a frustrating learning environment.
Piano music is written on 2 staves.
The top staff is for the right hand and the bottom is for the left.
Reading from left to right, just like we read a book, is the easy part.
The hard part is trying to read the notes as they go up and down on the staff.
Up means we play to the right and down means we play to the left.
Talk about confusing to a small child. Then, reading 2 staves at the same time. Wow, no wonder I had been having problems with some of my students.

How did this knowledge change the way that I teach? First, I refrain from teaching note reading to anyone who is not able to do math well. What? Does that have anything to do with music? Yes, absolutely.
Math is an abstract concept. When a very young child is first learning their math skills they have to have something concrete to help them understand. That's why most pre-school, kindergarten and first grade students learn first by counting objects and then learning to add and subtract by using objects. Touch and sight play a huge part in this process. As the child develops this skill they are able to visualize without the objects.
When does this happen? There is no cut and dried answer to this. Each child develops at their own pace.

I took this tiny bit of knowledge and applied it to the teaching of piano. Any student who is younger than second grade is never expected to read notes right away. We explore music through singing
listening
movement
playing rhythm instruments
playing xylophones designed for young children
exploring the keyboard for patterns and listening for high and low sounds, loud and soft sounds, long and short sounds.
Most of the time I use Lynn Freeman Olson's It's Time For Music and lots of visual aides and props.

During this pre-reading process I introduce the printed page. These pages never have the staff. I used books such as Frances Clark's Time to Begin and Stephen Covello's The Little Avante-Garde.

When I feel that a student is ready for the staff I use a series that, like Frances Clark's book, begins off the staff, teaches proper posture, hand shape, strength exercises for the fingers, arm weight for tone production. (This, all before the notes are even introduced) Very simple concepts at first - like following a series of notes going up and down - without benefit of the staff. The series that I use most often is Nancy and Randy Faber's Piano Adventures. I really like this series for several reasons but for now I will address only the earliest beginner issues.

Finding out that up on the page means to go right on the piano and down means to go left on the piano is a huge thing to learn for the youngest student.
They learn about the black keys first. They see and feel the patterns of the keys.
A short while later they learn about the "white keys" and begin to apply the alphabet to these keys. Because they have already seen and felt the pattern of the black keys, it is easy for them to locate all of the keys by alphabet name. Some of this would have already been addressed in the Frances Clark book.

I also like to use the Lynn Freeman Olson book Music Pathways Piano Solos Level A. It has pieces at the beginning that can be learned by rote. The students love them and feel like they have succeeded. This is so important at this point in their learning.

I invite anyone who is interested to share in my guest book any ideas that you may have in regards to this area of music teaching or learning.

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http://musicchickmusic.blujay.com

Favorite Music Related Sites

Listed below are some of my favorite sites related to music. You may find that some of them are useful, or not.

My Blujay Store: My store where I sell new music for mainly piano but also vocal, instrumental and guitar.
National Federation of Music Clubs: Website for all members of the National Federation of Music Clubs.
Fellowship Ministries: Great resource for Christian Music. This couple has quite the story to tell.
Bruce Hoffman's Fiddler USA: Yes, I love country and bluegrass music! This is my all time favorite and he's a local boy who made it big.
The Praise and Worship Omnibus: Great resource page for worship leaders. Simple and yet very helpful.
National Piano Foundation: Fantastic resource page about piano, the history, manufacture of, noted artists. Also includes a bit about lessons, when to begin, the benefits, and how one chooses the instrument itself.

A Place For Music Teachers and Educators to Share

What Are Your Thoughts About How Music Helps Children Develop?

This can be a place to share what you know, what has worked for you to inspire your students, how you have succeeded with a challenging student. You can even share some titles of music that you love to teach or a particular method that has helped you to be a successful teacher. How about you even share about teachers who mentored you?

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poutine poutine Sep 21, 2008 @ 10:05 am

Very interesting lens. Love the way you explain your point of view.

Poutine

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CAFSCornerStore CAFSCornerStore Sep 6, 2008 @ 5:46 pm

Great information. I enjoyed reading your lens. I rated rolled and added you to my favorites.

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Jmacksgirl Jmacksgirl Aug 29, 2008 @ 1:32 pm

Great Lens, thanks for stopping by my Lens! I will read up on your lenses as well, feel free to ask me any questions if you are curious, thanks again!

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BusyQueen BusyQueen Aug 23, 2008 @ 9:40 pm

Hi musicchickmusic,
I rated,added you to my favorites and rolled ya to my 2 blujay lenses,thanks and great lens!

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BusyQueen BusyQueen Aug 23, 2008 @ 9:40 pm

Hi musicchickmusic,
I rated,added you to my favorites and rolled ya to my 2 blujay lenses,thanks and great lens!

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What Is The Mozart Effect?

What Is The Mozart Effect? by Q. Markos

There is no question that Mozart was a genius as his gift for music surpasses anything that anyone else has ever done. He was able to learn to play the piano at the age of three and was writing his own work by the time he was four.

Most parents can only dream of having a child that intelligent. The concept known as the Mozart effect has been around for a very long time. This is the theory that exposing children to his music will cause them to be extraordinarily intelligent as well.

Early doctors have also been documented as having patients with mental disorders listen to Mozart's music. It was believed it would help them to develop the skills they needed to overcome their illnesses. Some early reports suggested that children in a learning environment could increase their IQ by listening to classical music. It wasn't long after this that parents and schools were buying Mozart to expose their children to.

Some say this is all just wishful thinking, but there is significant research to indicate that listening to music can sooth the body and the mind. Is this the link that can help a person to relax enough to focus on what is taking place? It is believed that listening to Mozart can help a person to develop better listening skills. This is due to the varied pitches that occur throughout the music.

Testing that directly exposes children to Mozart music and then tests them indicates that they do experience a temporary increase in their skills. This is believed to be due to the environment changing. Since there is a calming type of stimulus taking place they are able to relax. This allows them to focus more on the task at hand.

It is also believed that exposing children to Mozart can help them develop more patience and the ability to sit for longer periods of time. For these reasons may schools have implemented programs to expose the children to about 15 minutes of Mozart each day. Yet the overall effects of Mozart are still debated. Some people really want to believe in it but some of the research out there indicates there aren't any verifiable benefits.

About the Author

"Q. Markos" is a the creator of VariousTopixs.com, a website featuring a variety of articles on varying topics. For more on Mozart, please click here

Does Mozart's Music Make A Difference?

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Music As The Source Of Childhood Development

Music As The Source of Childhood Development

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

Childhood Development As It Relates To Music Lessons

How An Incredibly Wise Woman Changed My Thinking

Favorite Music Related Sites

A Place For Music Teachers and Educators to Share

What Are Your Thoughts About How Music Helps Children Develop?

What Is The Mozart Effect?

Does Mozart's Music Make A Difference?

Thanks for voting! Now invite your friends to vote.

For Blujay Stores Owners: You May Add Your Store

Check Out Other Blujay Stores

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