classical music

How to Guide Children’s Improvisation and Composition

/ etstrab / Leave a comment

How old do you have to be to compose music? 18? 12? 5? Younger?

Mozart was only five years old when he wrote these first compositions.

My son isn’t yet five and he writes compositions, too… but he’s no musical prodigy. He is not as proficient in music playing or writing as Mozart was. He can’t yet articulate his musical thoughts on paper, but he can improvise musically with words, rhythm, and melody.

Everyone who has been around music and is allowed to experiment with music has the ability to do this. With proper encouragement, every child can improvise. So, how did we get to this point?

  • SING. All the time. Play instruments or just play rhythms by clapping or patting or beat-boxing. What you will find is that your child will start repeating the things you do at different times.
  • Let them experiment, even if it is annoying. Sometimes they will sing loudly or sing the same word over and over. Try to put up with it. You can try to redirect their efforts or ask them to try it more softly, but don’t tell them to stop!
  • Start by giving them ideas to riff on- start a silly song about what you are doing and give them a turn to improvise. They will probably start by changing the words to a tune they already know, which is ok.
  • Provide an accompaniment for them or have them provide an accompaniment for you. Beat-boxing is a fun way to do this. This shows them you can improvise something without words and is an easy way to practice ensemble singing/playing.
  • Make any time a good time to improvise! Do it in the car, in the bathtub, at dinner…
  • Let them play at conductor and tell you what the song or piece should sound like. Have them try to describe it to you as best as they can and try to make their composition come to life.
  • As they get older, start introducing technology to record themselves. They will spend so much time playing back their songs, and with programs like the iOS’s Garageband, they can add drums or other instruments to their recordings and have fun making it sound new and different.
  • As children progress in their musical learning, they can make composition maps- that can be anything from crayon drawings of what it sounds like, to prompts like “high, major, duple, du de du de, soft, fast.”
  • When your children learn music reading and writing, you can have them compose on free printable staff paper, like that found on this webpage: http://www.blanksheetmusic.net/

The most important thing is to find time to make music together and have music-making be fun and feel judgement-free. Perfecting a composition or figuring out how to express verbally or visually what you hear in your head can be frustrating. Make them feel safe and not on-the-spot when composing and improvising. Allow them to see you make mistakes and laugh it off. Music-making at home doesn’t need to be perfect to be enjoyable.

How do you improvise or compose with your family?

If you’re teaching my kid piano (drums, violin, etc), why are you singing so much?

/ etstrab / Leave a comment

I often get asked about all the singing that my students do in their piano lessons, so I thought I’d write a quick response so that while your child might be learning an instrument, you know why they spend so much time singing. This will also help you guide them in their lessons.

The voice is our first instrument. We use it to express ideas, but first we used it to express feelings, and then music. Our voice is something that we internalize and becomes part of our thinking process. You read things in your own voice in your head most of the time. Young children often read aloud and some whisper to themselves or mouth the words for a long time before they learn to read silently. This silent reading is called audiating, and we do it when we read music, too.

Audiating is important to word reading and music reading, but it is very difficult to measure. So, how do I know that my students are internalizing the music on the page? I have them sing. If they can sing it, they can play it. However, with any new skill, especially one as complex as music-making, they may not be able to physically do it at first. If they can sing it perfectly, but not play it perfectly, I’ve narrowed down where they problem may lie. More than that, though, it is turning them into better musicians. They need to develop rhythm, melody, and tonal fluency and literacy in order to translate those skills into competent and expressive piano playing.

So, take your child’s singing homework (which all of my students have, as well as piano homework) seriously. Sing with them, listen to them, give them feedback. Help them check on the piano that they started and ended on the same pitch. Sing in the car, while you do chores, or walk around the neighborhood and sing those songs and patterns they are learning in their lessons. Sing their piano piece when they can’t practice at the piano. Your child will be a better student and a better musician for it!

Chime in- how do you help your child with their lesson assignments?20150327_150912

Is there such a thing as too early for music lessons?

/ etstrab / 4 Comments

20150327_150814

The short answer is no. The long answer is maybe, and I’ll explain why.

There is no age too early for musical learning (our brains are equipped to start learning music from birth), but that learning should be developmentally appropriate. Because children develop at different rates, there is no magic age to start music lessons. There are three- to four-year-olds that begin violin lessons and do extremely well. That doesn’t make it necessarily a good idea for your three- or four-year-old.

If you have dreams of your child becoming a piano prodigy, you’re going to have to put that on the backburner, because the chances of that are pretty small. However, if you envision your child taking piano lessons and coming to love music because of it, that is a much more manageable goal. That is also a goal that you can reasonably start on from birth. There are some practical ways that you can make that happen.

First of all, you are your child’s primary music teacher. If you want them to begin learning an instrument early, you have to be able to teach them. That may mean that you get lessons in whatever instrument you want your child to learn, perhaps years before they start. When they begin lessons, you will have to go with them. You will need to practice with them.

When you decide that they will start lessons, be careful about the teacher that you choose. You may think that the concertmaster of the so-and-so philharmonic that also teaches lessons is the way to go, but if that musician isn’t equipped to deal with younger students, it may not be your best choice. Find a teacher who specializes in teaching young students and your little one will be more successful.

Choose a beginning instrument. For many that is piano or violin because they are accessible to even the smallest students. Let the child get used to the instrument before beginning lessons. You want them to be excited about it before they start the hard work of actually learning the instrument. Also, be aware that the instrument that they start with may not be the instrument that they will want to play for the rest of their lives. Your child may begin violin lesson at 4, but when she gets to fourth grade, want to play trumpet in the band. You’ll have to be ok with this. After all, she’s still playing music, right?

Accept that it may be slow-going at first. Your child may just hold the instrument while you play and sing the song you are learning. They may only play a few strings or a few notes. You are going to have to find a balance between being a strict motivator and a gentle encourager. While part of this balance is to find your style of parenting/teaching, you also need to find which balance works for your children.

Each of your children may have different needs. One child may be self-motivated and find her own time to practice regularly without being told, another may need a more regimented practice schedule in order to stay on top of her assigned lessons. If you are too strict with the very self-motivated student, you may stifle her natural urge to practice and take the fun out of noodling on her instrument in peace. If you are too hands-off with your other (and I won’t say lazy, but maybe less diligent) child, they won’t get the push they need to discover how much they love playing. If you discover the best motivation style for your child, be sure to share that with your teacher, she can use that knowledge to help your child progress.

No matter the age, make music fun! Music is supposed to be a joyous, social experience; explore group classes, go to concerts, let your children try different instruments! Sometimes finding balance with different activities is difficult, so if they need to give music a break for a while, don’t be discouraged. Many children who start lessons early, find that maybe the first instrument that they tried wasn’t for them, or perhaps they weren’t ready to commit to practicing, or even that their first teacher wasn’t a good match. While I don’t advocate quitting, I think it is important for children to explore all of their interests without having to make life-long commitments. Just like with practice- try, try again!

Do you have any insights on how to begin early music lessons? Any other questions about beginning your child on an instrument? Please chime in with a comment!

10 Things You Should Do BEFORE Your Child Begins Piano Lessons

/ etstrab / Leave a comment

From birth, we should be molding our children’s musical environment. If you want your children to start piano lessons, or instrumental lessons, it is smart to prepare them for it with their environment. Here is a good list of what to do before your students start piano lessons.

10 Things You Should Do BEFORE Your Child Begins Piano Lessons | Music Schools International

Musical Play

/ etstrab / Leave a comment

Babies like to be bounced on laps; it’s a great way to elicit those infectious baby giggles. Did you know it’s also good for their musical development? Babies that are bounced on laps internalize the steady beat of the music. You can bounce to music you are listening to, or you can sing.

How about using this opportunity to make classical music fun? I sing themes from Rossini’s William Tell Overture while my daughter bounces on my lap and holds my hoodie strings like a horse.

It doesn’t matter if you sing it exactly right. The point is you are isolating the recognizable themes from the larger piece and portraying them in ways more relatable to a young child. They will begin to recognize those themes when they hear the Overture.

What musical games do you like to play? Do you listen to classical music with your family?