Age: We began LMs when Lily was 2.5, she
demonstrated PP at about 3 years old, after about 6 months of use. She seems to have
acquired it somewhere between 4-6 months of use.
Frequency of Use: We used LMs at least 5 days a week, twice per day. We used the beta version which was primarily brief chord exposure and the bulk of our lessons was singing nursery rhymes in solfege.
Parent's Musical Background None. Never played an instrument, never learned to read music, started from square one. Everything I have learned about music was learned through LMs or through other random children's music DVD's here and there.
Access to an Instrument: We purchased a tabletop keyboard about 4 months into use and put colored notes on the keys to match the notes in LMs. She would then play her songs on the keyboard after she memorized them all by heart. She was naturally drawn to this and needed no coaxing, she loved it (and still does).
Tracking Pitch Progress: I asked her to guess the keys on the piano before we started using the program, and then tested her pitch about every month or every other month. Sometimes I would play games with m&m's or skittles using colors that corresponded to the note to gauge her progress. I tried to "test" her in a fun way that she would be excited about it and not feel pressure. I would also let her ask me the notes first so I could model the behavior. I always did pretty poorly.
We later played games with colored plastic balls as well. In the beginning, she showed absolutely no of being "naturally" gifted with PP and probably got zero of the notes correct.
Other Progress We have since moved into focusing on identifying black keys, note placement on the staff, and chord identification. She can now correctly place notes and read music on the majority of the G Clef. She can play songs on the piano, first with one finger and now she is beginning to play with all of her fingers. In LMs, if I change the piano in Free Play to be any instrument she can correctly identify the notes regardless, as well as in a car alarm. She also spontaneously began to transpose solfege nursery rhymes on the piano after about 7 months of using LMs.
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Age: Owen began using LMs at age 1 year, 7 months. He demonstrated pitch accuracy after about 8-10 months of use, it's difficult to approximate because I wasn't testing him very frequently.
Frequency of Use: We used LMs at least 5 days a week, twice per day. We used the beta version in the beginning which was primarily brief chord exposure and the bulk of our lessons were nursery rhymes in sung solfege. We have been a bit less consistent in the last 2-3 months on account of preschool challenges (time), I think he would have progressed a bit faster if I had been a little more consistent.
Tracking Pitch Progress: We primarily played and tested using colored plastic balls and more recently, rainbow colored match box cars which he LOVES.
Access to an Instrument: Owen started playing on the piano and plunking out songs with one finger probably around age 2-2.5 years old, so for the last 6 months on and off although he is not as naturally drawn to the piano as Lily, his interest is increasing.
Other Progress Owen can correctly place many notes on the Treble Clef, especially on the bottom half of it, and can correctly name some of them even without colors. He sings many nursery rhymes in solfege by memory and really loves music in general. He also plunks out some nursery rhymes using one finger on the piano. He is beginning to identify the notes on the piano without visual cues (colors).
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I can now read simple music and correctly place notes on the treble clef. I can also hear the differences in the chords and can correctly identify them most of the time. I think my pitch has improved since beginning and I can locate all of the notes on the piano without visual color cues. I was excited to see progress in my knowledge and capabilities because I've never even understood music at a basic level until now.
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