instruments

How to Guide Children’s Improvisation and Composition

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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?

The Lessons of Failure: Sometimes you win, Sometimes you lose.

/ etstrab / 2 Comments

There’s of course truth and a lesson in this song by the Shins from Yo Gabba Gabba.

But it’s okay, you try again… Do your best so you hold your head up high.

Like all worthy pursuits, especially those where the word “practice” comes into play, failure is a part of the journey. Practicing music can be full of small and large failures; the failure to execute a particular phrase in the music, or getting flustered and forgetting your solo in the middle of a recital. Small and large, failure brings with it many lessons, and those lessons benefit us in all facets of life. For those who are amateur musicians, learning those lessons while having fun with music can soften the blow, while for professionals it can come with many more ramifications, like losing a chance for career advancement or the ability to support yourself.

Let us concern ourselves with the amateurs, ourselves and our students or children in this scenario. What are they learning about failure? What should they be learning?

Failure is another stepping stone to greatness- Oprah Winfrey

  • It’s ok to fail. I’m putting this first, because I think it is the most important. Everyone fails at something some time. If you don’t, it’s either because you are one of those one in a billion people who are geniuses who are good at everything, or, more likely, you never try anything you think you may fail. In my students, and even my own children, I see us becoming a culture that is failure-adverse and it is stifling creativity and possibility. No one who has ever created anything good or beautiful got it right the first time. Authors have editors, inventors have multiple iterations of the same device, and computer programmers issue patches for their programs. If your students can sight read everything you put in front of her, you are not challenging her. You are holding her back; holding her back from failure, but also holding her back from success.
  • Failure teaches humility. It’s good to be reminded that we are not perfect and that other people may be better at something than we are. It shows us what we should work on or what we could accomplish with more work. It sometimes shows us that we may have chosen the wrong path. Humility is not shame. Failure that comes despite hard work should make us proud, but ground us in reality. Maybe I choked in my piano recital and played horribly, despite the hours of practice I put in. I should be proud of my practice, but there is a lesson I have to learn- maybe I didn’t practice enough to feel confident in my playing, or maybe I need to practice being confident (the latter is much more difficult!). No matter what, especially if I am comparing my performance with someone else’s, I should come away humbled by their success, but not jealous of it.
  • Practicing failure teaches grace. Just using the word grace seems antiquated, but it is a quality that is rarely focused on, but when you meet someone who has it, it is inspiring. By grace, I mean the ability to act in a controlled, polite, and smooth way, without awkwardness. A good musician never gives away their mistakes; don’t make a wrong note worse by adding a grimace or a shake of the head. THAT takes control. Control of the body and control of the mind. When you don’t pass the audition, you don’t pout, or complain- you learn and move on. Sometimes we have to grieve our failures, but we have to learn to do so in way that is mature and appropriate. Children have trouble with this, and we understand that, and try to comfort and calm them, and teach them skills to control and focus their reactions. When this skill has not been learned in adulthood, we get inappropriate comments on Twitter that shame the author, or millionaire rap moguls embarrassing themselves on national award shows.
  • Failure teaches determination. How many people are admired for their stick-to-it-iveness? You can’t have that trait if you don’t often fail. Failing often is a good teacher. It helps us grow, it helps us get things done. Your child is learning that at the piano right now while she is practicing that same measure over and over and continually missing the last note. Then- ah ha! She gets it! And misses a different note in the process. No matter, she is learning to stick with it until it is right. That’s a good quality to have in an employee, but an even better one in an employer. She is willing to put in the work to make herself better, which is what it takes to be successful. It’s a small lesson now, but it will pay off as the stakes are higher and she is willing to put in the work and try again and again for what she wants.
  • Failure teaches problem-solving. Every time a music student fails to play her piece correctly, she has to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. Music teachers teach many different methods to practice to refine pieces in as little time as possible. Teachers teach and students learn how to prioritize musical goals, and that is a skill that translate into prioritizing other assignments at school or work.
  • Failure teaches what success means. The better we know failure, the more we are able to recognize success in its many forms. That means, small successes, not just ones that are accompanied by awards and people telling us “good job!” There’s a satisfying feeling to perfecting the piece you are working on, even if you never play it for the audience and hear their applause. The perfection is not the gratifying part, it’s the accomplishment of overcoming the struggles that challenged us.

As parents and teachers, it is important for us to put failure into perspective for children. No one likes losing or not being able to do something that they are striving for, but it’s a part of living and learning. Children should be given opportunities to fail and succeed; they should be sheltered from neither. They need developmentally appropriate challenges so that they can grow into adults who are not afraid to reach and fail in order to succeed.

How do you talk about failure with your children?

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

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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

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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!

A million different things to do with shaky eggs…

/ etstrab / 1 Comment

Ok, maybe not a million, but there are a many, many different activities to do with shakers. Shakers are probably one of the best first instruments. I mean, we give infants rattles as soon as they can hold onto something, and then they are shaking away. Before we get into the activities, here are a couple of tips when it comes to infants/toddler/preschoolers with shakers.

  1. Hand-sized is a good rule of thumb (haha! get it?) for this group. If the shaker is at least hand-sized, they might be able to get it in their mouth, but they shouldn’t be able to choke on it. If they can wrap their hand around it, the more proficient they will be at shaking it on (or around) the beat. If it is top heavy, they will be more likely to drop it and it will impede their ability to play on the beat.
  2. Try shakers of different materials/ textures/ timbres. Shakers are more interesting when they can make all sorts of different sounds! There’s plastic, wood, gourds, wicker, long, short, big, small…
  3. Plastic or wood shakers for those that are putting instruments in mouths. Unfortunately, with kids, this is a fact of life. For some children, putting things in their mouth extends beyond infanthood into years 3, 4, and even 5. This is not necessarily a bad thing; some children are just more connected to learning through that route. Once they can understand you, try to discourage them putting instruments in their mouths, without being too harsh. Replace instruments with choke-able parts with safer ones.
  4. Show them, don’t do it for them. You should show them how to hold or play the instruments, but do not shake them for them to the beat. They will learn from watching you. While doing it for them gets them on beat faster, it does not help them develop beat competency in the long term.
  5. Don’t forget to move! Shaking shakers while moving keeps children interested and is great for developing rhythm!

There are many, many different ways that you can use shakers. They are great at keeping the beat, but it can get boring if you always do it the same way. Get creative!

  • Count the beats- I like to beat them on the floor in front of me from left to right. You can count the beats, “1-2-3-4,” or just show them with the shakers. It doesn’t really matter if the children can count with you or not. 20150321_164906 20150321_164908 20150321_164910 20150321_164953
  • You can also draw a circle to show the beat. circle shaker
  • Shake to show volume. Start down low and quiet, and get louder as you raise the shakers!
  • Hide the shakers behind your back.
  • Play freeze! Have your children watch whoever is the conductor and stop when they stop!
  • Pick different body parts, maybe ones that go with your song, or just pick any one! 20150321_165027 20150321_165030 20150321_165051 20150321_165053
  • Play copy-cat. Play a rhythm and have everyone else repeat it. I suggest doing the listen-repeat several times to ensure that even young musicians can catch on.
  • Pass the rhythm or beat- pass a shaker on the beat by placing it in the hand of the person next to you or in front of them. You can also have the first person play a rhythm and the next repeat it. Then they make up a different rhythm for the person next to them.
  • Roll the shakers on the ground, like you’re cracking a hard-boiled egg or like you’re rolling dough (this get’s the core of the body in on the action, which is good for internalizing the beat!).
  • “Fry” the shaker like an egg in the palm of your hand.
  • Move the shakers to the beat while showing fluid movement, like a figure eight pattern in the air
  • For a challenge, move your shakers without letting them make a sound! Perfect for practicing audiation!
  • And many more! If I think of more, or if I get ideas from readers, I’ll add them! Send me your great shaker activities that you do at home!

Filling your family’s music basket

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If you want your children to be able to create music, they need lots of practice! Having a basket of instruments, either that you bring out for music time or have available with the rest of their toys, gives them a chance to explore music on their own and experiment with different instruments. Knowing just want to get can be difficult. Many toy stores sell kits, but these often include plastic toys that make more noise than music. There are so many different companies that sell instruments and movement props, that I cannot even begin to name them all. Time and again, though, I find myself using West Music for the things that I need for class, and I have never been disappointed. They aren’t paying me, and I wouldn’t discourage you from trying to shop for the best price, but they are having a movement prop sale in March, so if you want to order, now is the time! Here is a list of things that make great additions to your music basket (you can also check out my West Music wishlist to see some of the instruments I recommend):20150312_090545

  • Small drums and tambourines. Because your kids are small, drums they can handle easily, like the ones pictured above, are best. They can be frame drums, which are hand-held, small floor drums, drums with mallets, like lollipop drums, or even small bongos. I’d stay away from drums with fiberskin heads because while they sound great, don’t hold up to being hit with mallets, which is what your children will want to do.
  • Shakers. Shaky eggs are a favorite because they can be easily held by babies. Small maracas are great, too. Plastic ones hold up better, but wooden ones do sound better. Some wooden shakers are shaped like animals, which are fun for children. Stay away from big, adult-sized maracas. They are too heavy and cumbersome.
  • Castanets, tone blocks, and small hand-held percussion. There are so many different kinds, and they can usually be found for a couple dollars a piece. Kokorikos are a lot of fun. Rain sticks and be a fun and beautiful addition to music time.
  • Movement props. Scarves and streamers fold up and can be used in many creative ways by children while they dance. I really like using rubber bands, like the ones on my West Music wishlist, so that we can stretch and move the music together as a group.
  • Props for singing. Toobaloos and kazoos can help children find their singing voices, as well as puppets, or even play microphones.
  • Books. In order for children to become accustomed to seeing musical notation and connect it with the music that they make, they need to see it and have it be around the house. The Wee Sing series is great at providing notation, pictures, and CDs to sing with. Sing the songs and look at the music in the book, just as if you were reading words to your child.

Do you have favorite instruments in your collection at home? If so, let me know which instruments you or your children just couldn’t live without!