I’ve been teaching how to count rhythm to most of my students using Michiko Yurko’s genius method of naming note values with easy and fun to say words. I highly recommend her book Music Mind Games for all music teachers and home-schoolers and interested parents..
For example, a one beat (quarter note) is called BLUE.
Two eighth notes are called JELLO.
An eighth note triplet, where the three notes are played in one beat is PINEAPPLE.
And four sixteenth notes is HUCKLEBERRY.
This is so much more fun and easier to remember than when I was in school learning, “one -eee- and – ah.”
Practice counting the beats of any song you already know and other new ones as well. It becomes a much easier task to learn a new piece if you have internalized the rhythm already and can then focus on the pitches and fingering.
This past week, I did just that by having several of my students learn “Go Tell Aunt Rhody” by first counting out the song in this Blue Jello way. Then, by teaching the distinct hand signals for each, which adds another level of kinesthetic learning, I played the melody while the student counted out the piece. After 3 or 4 times, the melody and rhythm are so ingrained, that playing it on the instrument becomes just a minor technical matter. It’s already in the body, brain and ear! The results? Everyone learned much, much faster and without the stumbling and frustration.
A book I recently read describes the importance of communication using multiples levels of engagement. Made To Stick, by brothers Chip & Dan Heath, is a NY Times Bestseller and popular among business and marketing types, but is equally usable by teachers and parents. Anyone, looking to make their ideas “stick” can benefit. So one of the main principles of the book is the concept of CONCRETIZATION. By making abstract concepts concrete, giving a physical nature to the abstract, it makes it easier to grasp. So by adding hand signs to the funny words for each note, we add another layer of concretization. By saying it aloud, making the hand gesture and using the Blue Jello words, we are creating a unique kinesthetic experience of what was just quarter notes, eighth notes, half notes and whole notes.
And besides, how much more fun is it to say HUCKLEBERRY, GOOSEBERRY, JELLO BLUE?
We’ve been doing some great explorations of the roots of rock and roll which began with the basic form of the 12 bar blues. These 12 measures are like a pattern, a recipe that hundreds if not thousands or hundreds of thousands of songs have been based. Once you know the “recipe” you can cook up your own or play all of the variations. Here’s a few of them.
You can view these video clips and read along in the music notation I gave you. If you need another copy, here it is.
Our Winter Music Recital 2010 at Pacific Library, Brooklyn, NY
I’m so proud of all the great progress and awesome-ness of all my students. And some of you said you were afraid of playing in public! Doesn’t look like it. Congratulations to you all!
Pacific Library branch of Brooklyn Public Library – 2:30pm
Everyone is sounding so good and ready for this week’s recital. So here’s a reminder of the event. It’s at 2:30pm on the third floor of the library which is located at the intersection of Pacific Street and 4th Avenue – right near the Atlantic/Pacific subway stops and the Long Island Rail Road.
There is a GED class going on in that space until around 2pm so we need to set up quickly. I would appreciate any help from the parents as I’m not sure if the chairs will be arranged for us. Also help in cleaning up will be greatly appreciated. I’ll be bringing my digital piano and will set that up as soon as we are allowed too.
There will be 20 or 21 children performing each for between 1 minute and 3 minutes. So I expect the whole affair to be done within 45 to 60 minutes. We have the space until 4:30pm.
The space is provided free to community events and we must give thanks to librarian Salvador Salame. We hope to impress him so we can book a summer recital here too.
Please note, I plan on video recording the entire event and will share the clips on my website. if anyone prefers not to be included, please let me know.
Thanks and I look forward to seeing you on Saturday afternoon!
The recital will be open to the public at the Pacific Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library from 2:30pm to 4:30pm on Saturday, January 30, 2010. It was the first of the Andrew Carnegie libraries to open in Brooklyn in 1904 and features a lovely third floor light-filled auditorium with windows.
Special thanks to librarian Salvador Salame for the space.
I’ve been talking with many of my students about the importance of not trying to learning in giant gobbles but rather in small bite size pieces or slices of pie. Learning a new piece is like eating pie; you don’t eat it all in one bite. You take slices, and then forkfuls and then chew on each bite a while before moving on to the next.
Dr. Shinichi Suzuki called it “steps.” To match the right step to the child, you need to adjust according to the individual.
Each slice denotes a teachable phrase of music
So how do we do this? By breaking up the piece into digestible chunks. Often I will use my handy colored translucent tape to mark off a measure or a phrase that we want to concentrate on first. So going from the “red phrase” to the “blue phrase” or whatever. This has been tremendously successful.
If your child has come home with some of my music with a multicolored tape collage on it, have no fear, we’re just learning a new piece – in slices!
One of the core concepts of my approach to teaching music to young children is the use of colors to represent pitches. I’ve used this with great success on both piano, guitar and in reading music notation.
Those of you studying with me have already seen my piano covered with translucent tape and my guitar with colored stars up the fretboard.
Here’s a link to that highlighter tape that I use. Thanks to my son’s first grade teacher Melissa for the great tip.
We’re celebrating all the hard work, fun and music we’ve experienced this year. Come join us at the Music Recital on Saturday, June 13 at 1pm in the community room downstairs at the Park Slope branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.
I expect that 10 or so of my students will be performing but all my students, family and friends are encouraged and welcome to attend.
Poster design & illustration by Dana Zaldo. Thanks Dana!
A recent research study on the linkage between the arts and brain development shows that students of music have definite structural changes in happening in students who practice as little as 15 minutes a day.
So, I’m not making this all up! It’s really true.
From the Baltimore Sun article:
Charles Limb, a Johns Hopkins doctor and a jazz musician, studied jazz musicians by using imaging technology to take pictures of their brains as they improvised. He found that they allowed their creativity to flow by shutting down areas that regulated inhibition and self-control. So are the most creative people able to shut down those areas of the brain?
Most of the new research is focusing on the networks of the brain that are involved in specific tasks, said Michael Posner, a researcher at the University of Oregon. Posner has studied the effects of music on attention. What he found, he said, was that in those students who showed motivation and creativity, training in the arts helped develop their attention and their intelligence. The next great focus in this area, he said, is on proving the connection that most scientists believe exists between the study of music and math ability.
The imaging is now so advanced that scientists can already see the difference in the brain networks of those who study a string instrument and those who study the piano intensely.
This is a wonderful piece that has been published many times. It reflects how I feel about teaching and the wonderful teachers I have had in my life.
That Is Why We Teach Music
Not because we expect you to major in music
Not because we expect you to play or sing all your life
Not so you can relax
Not so you can have fun
BUT
so you will be human
so you will recognize beauty
so you will be sensitive
so you will be closer to an infinite beyond this world
so you will have something to cling to
so you will have more love, more compassion, more gentleness, more good–in short, more life
Of what value will it be to make prosperous living unless you knowhow to live?
THAT IS WHY WE TEACH MUSIC.
- Author Unknown
Thank you to the late great Andy Blackett, Pete Brasch, Sal Piccolo, Mark Elf, Seth Shapiro, Gene Bertoncini, Ron Sadoff, Pat Castle, Rudolph Palmer, Lucy Galliher, Katie Agresta, Conrad Cummings, David Speer, Joe Lovano, and all the other teachers formal and informal, in my life who have given so much to my life.
If you are currently taking lessons with me, you will know this as the Peanut Butter Sandwich or the Mississippi Hot Dog.
It’s a great first lesson for anyone studying the piano, regardless of age, as it builds finger strength, independence and gets your hands in the proper position. So much of music is based on muscle memory. So you may as well get it right from the start without all the bad habits that can lead to muscle fatigue or carpal tunnel syndrome or tendonitis.
This is such a wonderful book that details the life of Shinichi Suzuki, the man behind the Suzuki method of music education. It is more than just a nuts and bolts, but shows how his epiphany on early childhood education came about and why music should be essential to every child’s education regardless of their future careers. Highly recommended.
Talent is not inherited. The first month in a nightingale’s life determines its fate…I had always thought that a nightingale’s incomparable song was instinctive or inherited. But it is not so. Nightingales to be used as pets are taken as fledglings from nest of wild birds in the spring. As soon as they lose their fear and accept food, a “master bird” is borrowed that daily sings its lovely song, and the infant bird listens for a period of a about a month. In this way the little wild bird is trained by the master bird…It is not a matter of being born a good singer or a bad singer…the life force has a wonderful power to adapt to environment. If it has a good teacher, the infant bird will, through physiological transformation, learn from experience to produce tones as beautiful as those of it’s teacher. But if a bird is brought to such a teacher after being raised by wild nightingales, there is always failure…for the sake of our little ones, therefore, I stress as much as I can the need to provide the best influences in rearing children. – Shinichi Suzuki from Nurtured By Love.
ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2009) — A new study in the journal Social Science Quarterly reveals that music participation, defined as music lessons taken in or out of school and parents attending concerts with their children, has a positive effect on reading and mathematic achievement in early childhood and adolescence. Additionally, socioeconomic status and ethnicity affect music participation.
Darby E. Southgate, MA, and Vincent Roscigno, Ph.D., of The Ohio State University reviewed two nationally representative data sources to analyze patterns of music involvement and possible effects on math and reading performance for both elementary and high school students.
Music is positively associated with academic achievement, especially during the high school years.
However, not all adolescents participate in music equally, and certain groups are disadvantaged in access to music education. Families with high socioeconomic status participate more in music than do families with lower socioeconomic status. In addition to social class as a predictor of music participation, ethnicity is also a factor. Asians and Whites are more likely to participate in music than are Hispanics. While young Black children attended concerts with their parents, they were less likely to take music lessons.
“This topic becomes an issue of equity at both the family and school levels,” the authors conclude. “This has major policy implications for federal, state, and local agencies, as well as knowledge that can help families allocate resources that are most beneficial to children.” (More)
Many parents have expressed their frustration at getting their child to practice their musical instrument. Here’s some tips to help.
Re-frame the notion of practice from chore to a fun activity or even a reward. Don’t force them to practice, it will only drive them away from it.
Place the piano in a central part of the home. If a guitar, put it on a stand in the living room, or even hang it on the wall like in the guitar stores. All instruments have some kind of stand you can buy. By having it out and in easy reach, the instrument naturally gets picked up at various times of the day. If the instrument is in a far off corner of the house, it feels like a banishment or punishment.
Make a consistent time of music time everyday. Some people have found 5 minutes in the morning before school is a great thing. Others find right after school or just before bed. By having a regular schedule, it becomes a habit and that makes it easier to have consistent and frequent time at the instrument.
Take interest in your child’s playing (even if it’s awful). By giving attention, the child feels rewarded and they will get better – really, I promise!
Ask them to teach you the lesson (even if you already know it.) By teaching, the child has to be able to organize their thoughts and really know how to communicate the knowledge. They learn by teaching. This may work better with one parent than the other when one is a musician and the other not.
Listen to music in the home. Take some time to consciously choose music that features the instrument your child is learning. Listen to all kinds of music and talk about it.
Go see live music. Take your child to see live musicians and then talk about the concert. You’ll be amazed at the observations they make. They also may take a new interest in a different instrument as well!
Sing (or hum) together. Many people feel very shy about singing. Actually everyone can sing and if you start at a really young age, they can’t criticize you. You’re just their parent singing and that’s always music to their ears. Holiday carols or folk songs are a great fun family activity.
Take music classes yourself. In my lessons, I actively engage the parents to stay at least on par with the child’s musical knowledge. It becomes a family experience.
Have a family concert (or a music playdate). By having more people making music (or sounds, noise) it becomes a social and group activity. Fun! Just don’t play saxophone with a mouth full of potato chips – that’s gross – I know from experience.
As a teacher of music, this is a common question I hear. Every child is unique and while there is no one right answer, I can offer a few guidelines.
ABCs
One of the first “games” I play with my younger students is to have them order the letters of the alphabet. This is a chance for them to show off their knowledge, build confidence and break the ice with their new teacher. I do this by giving them a stack of flash cards, each with one letter on it. By connecting this to the musical alphabet, there’s usually an “a-ha” moment. So if you’re child knows their ABCs, it will be easier to connect the dots to the musical alphabet.
Interest
Having a child who is passionate about music is probably the most important thing. The amount of time required to master these new skills and concepts is great. Has your child been asking about music lessons? Do you listen to music around the house? Does your child sing spontaneously? If so, these are all great signs that your child is ready for more musical challenges and instruction.
Fine Motor Skills
Many kids, especially younger ones, have difficulty controlling different fingers. With these children, I usually spend more time on singing, clapping and movement activities designed to internalize basic music concepts. With piano, these kids can play melodies with one finger. Other instruments may need to wait.
Which Instrument?
Voice is the instrument we already own. With all of my students, we sing, clap and speak out all of the songs we are working on first, to internalize their rhythms, pitches and phrasing. As we develop our voices, we can start to work on specific techniques like diction, phrasing, acting etc.
Piano is the easiest external instrument for anyone to learn. It does not require physical strength nor the building up of calluses or specific breathing techniques or lip tension. For all of my students, regardless of instrument, we spend some time learning the notes on the piano.
Guitar requires strength to press and hold down the strings. This gets easier the older the student. Check my website for recommended half-size guitars for younger students.
I would recommend piano as the first instrument anyone learns and then if there is interest, to move to other instruments. I currently teach piano, voice and guitar and may offer wind instruments at a later date.
Curriculum
A previous article about the Goals of Beginning Music Lessons will also give you a better idea of our first weeks of lessons and whether your child is ready to embark on the magical journey of music.
NOTE: This article came about from a conversation and a request from Melissa at Hip Slope Mama. The article will soon appear there too.
Ignite the passion, fun and excitement of music within
Introduce the names of the notes
Connect those notes to their location on their instrument
Connect those notes to standard written notation
Through achievements, build their sense of self confidence and self worth.
Have fun
To go through these steps, I have a variety of techniques and methods. Steps 1 and 2 are usually not a problem. If you know only the first 7 letters of your ABCs you know all the names of the notes in music. Connecting those note names, A-B-C-D-E-F-G to where they lie on a guitar or piano or xylophone can be a challenge, especially for 3 to 5 year olds. Once students know where the notes are on the instrument, we can make music and the fun begins!
I have experimented with many methods out there. One method is to use color to correlate note names to keys. I’ve been doing this with some of my younger students with great results. This is not synesthesia, where a person actually perceives one sense with matched with another like say “middle C is always a certain hue of red.” It’s using what is readily available as a transmission system that is highly developed in all but the color-blind.
However, there is a caveat. One has to know when to remove the “crutch of color” to allow the student to walk on their own. Otherwise they never progress to the next level.
For example, some electronic keyboards have a feature of a “follow me” type game. The student presses “play” and the notes play out a song whilst lighting up the proper keys. This is similar to a video game called Piano Wizard. The student presses the colored piano keys to play the game which is like a version of Tetris. The falling colored eggs or blocks line up with the piano keyboard. This may seem like a good idea, but it really actually interferes with the connection of note name, sound and location on the instrument. The student is wrapped up in just playing the game and winning points. I had this exact experience when I used this game with my son who was, at the time, just getting to know where the notes on the keyboard were. The game became a crutch and hindrance to advancement.
By using a removable translucent colored tape, I can correlate note names to the keys. Being removable is key. Once we introduce other methods of knowing where the notes are, the colors can get in the way.
I’ll write more about these and other methods in future posts.
This is a course by Robin Hall which teaches piano by starting with simple chords. More suitable for adult self-learners, but really great. Click Here!
About Your Teacher
I have been teaching music ever since I was a teenager and have been composing music for films, theater and commercials for the past 20 years. I studied music at New York University first as a double major of Performance and Education and then finishing in the Music, Business & Technology program. I play several instruments including guitar, piano, voice, saxophone, harmonica, bass, dobro, and just about anything else I can find.
Over the years I've also studied at Mannes College of Music and the Juilliard School of Music. You can hear/see some of my award-winning music for films at my film composer website. And here's a commercial music company I founded. I also was a VJ for MTV-Asia ages ago and now MTV doesn't even play music!
I am the father of a little guy named Alejandro who has also been a great student of mine. Happy Thoughts
is his first song available on iTunes, Amazon and other stores online.
Ready to start lessons?
As a teacher of music, this is a common question I hear. Every child is unique and while there is no one right answer, I can offer a few guidelines.
is his first song available on iTunes, Amazon and other stores online.
Ready to start lessons?