Ah, thanks! That's means a lot to us.

She has a few mistakes but that is only because she didn't pre-drill the chosen 6 before her recital.  I think she does super well for not having practiced.  Thanks for your time.

I thought you found it best to put rhythm and beat on hold and that is what we were disagreeing about. But now you are showing that you don't put it on hold...? Well, there seems to be a disconnect.  And since you posted your wonderful videos, I would like to share mine as well. Mine is of my little girl age 4.5 at her first recital here at home. She knows 20 songs and we chose 6. She has been focusing on rhythm, tempo, and proper key strikes at the same time for each lesson.  She began playing 3 months ago. 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/2JQWfjOP4JA&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/2JQWfjOP4JA&rel=1</a>

You are one with many hats. A Marionette Master, Cycle Instructor, and Neuroscientist.  I guess by the time we are done learning things, we all are small masters in many different areas as things seem to become related to one another.  I like to use Strider bikes in our home yard to teach proper balance and train my children on bikes. Tehehe.  I'm not sure how it relates to teaching dancing.  Those connections are made in our daily life, through our daily activities.  Not through dance instruction.

Dance instruction, or piano, is more than that. Like I said, Dance and Music instruction EXPANDS upon the connections that have already been made to create an art form. One that would not be complete without rhythm and beat. I help my kids develop their fine motor skills by doing puzzles, large motor skills by letting them play outside.  These connections shouldn't have to be developed during dance instruction and piano playing.  Dance instruction and piano playing is a time for refining those skills and turning them into art.

Maybe I am missing something. Could you clarify how steady beat and rhythm fit into your marionette analogy?

Maybe if you tell me where you are going with this so we can go from there.  And I am not sure if you have children or not, but I don't MAKE my baby do anything. We do things together according to my more experienced mind and body. That's something babies love us for.  And yes, I have physically moved my child's body to a beat while I have counted.

Yes. I cannot think of any other way. Either the parent is keeping the timing and count for the child while music is playing or parent is moving baby's body while keeping time or counting aloud or just moving to the beat of the music without saying anything but that is still keeping physical timing so it still a form of counting and timing with a baby. 100% yes. Even when we dance with a baby with no music, we keep time and tempo with our bodies otherwise the child wouldn't be able to tell dancing apart from seizures.

You are saying that it is okay to not focus on rhythm while learning more complex skills.  I am saying that the counting is the only way to learn more complex skills.  There are a lot more counts than 1-2-3 in dance. Some moves happen at 5/8, etc. So, counting should never be put on hold. It is always building and keeping place.  We have to have it. It can not be put on hold for some delusional greater achievement.  You need it for the achievement. That is what I disagree with.

I will be posting a Piano Wizard blog post as well. Here is the latest PW video from our family:

Here's my girl after working with Piano Wizard since the first week in May. She completed book 2 about a week ago and the book recommended a recital and party afterwards. Such a fun time!! Out of the 20 songs she knows, I picked 6 and she didn't pre-run through them for the video. She did such a great job. "It's Raining Cats and Dogs and Elephants" is her favorite. At one point, she could play each song at 100% but she has a few errors on a couple of the songs from lack of pre-drilling. I am okay with that. It only shows how much she remembered and she remembered a lot.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/2JQWfjOP4JA&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/2JQWfjOP4JA&rel=1</a>

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I danced most of my childhood and early adulthood and I definitely do not agree with this.  Sure we learned complex moves at the bar and without music, but we always learned them to a beat. Either to music or by vocals from our instructor. The moves were hard to learn and hard to make our bodies connect to but as soon as the music was played, we were able to make the unmanageable movements effortlessly.  We never, never, never did any drills without a count.  Some of my fondest memories learning whole dances are of my teachers dancing in slow motion, *always* calling out time. To the side, 2, 3, Move low down 4, swoop up 5, 6, and hip 7 AND 8.   There was always a beat or a rhythm. A steady beat is the glue that holds the complex pieces together

Whether you are dancing with your whole body, or just your fine motor skills, you need to know where to move and when otherwise it would be chaos.  And the reason why music and dance are so beneficial is because they expand and continue to develop the very FIRST thing we ever learned, a beat. That's why we crave music and dance so much.  Music would never have made it if we were to put beat and rhythm on back burners until we understood the complexities first. It would be like making sure a small child could put on their own socks and shoes before teaching them how to walk. The desire isn't lacing up your own kicks. The desire is walking.  The desire for learning music, is music.

We are in the lesson right now of the It's okay to be mad but it isn't okay to be mean.  We just "opened" the lesson last night. Tonight we are going to be learning the different degrees of mad with a recommended Mad-ometer. Hahah!! I thought that was super cute and it sounds super helpful with the meter measuring from "Not Mad" to "Pop-Your-Top Mad." I love the dialog it gives. There is dialog all throughout. I am hoping my child will simply state: I am "Pop-My-Top Mad" instead of showing it. I am on page 83 and we have done many lessons. This is the first time that the lesson has asked me to pre-make something for the lesson.  It has given recommendations but never pre-make for a lesson. I found that interesting. On the topic of recommends, there was this pretty great idea a few lessons ago for teachers in classroom settings to take pics of (willing) children while having an expressive emotion. Then it suggests to print them up and place them in different binders for the set of emotions and place in a quite corner so children my relax and browse through the different binders with pics of the children they see the most expressing different emotions so the student can have a better understanding of what a friend maybe going through by simply glancing at them.  The lesson for that night was about what to do when you see a sad friend and what to do if you *are* sad. 

Great stuff!!! You will not be disappointed.  So glad you were able to purchase a set.  I just love this product!

I have PW and I bought it when my child was 2. Still working on a review series. She is now nearly 5 and has just barely wanted to work with it but she is flying through it, now.  The coordination and timing is a lot of fun for her and she is on it All. The. Time! I couldn't be happier with her self-led devotion. My other daughter is 3.5 and she likes to jump on it, too. She doesn't have the success but she doesn't really notice her low score and it is still visually training her so I know she is getting something out of it. As far as music goes, I think LMS is best for younger ages vs piano "lessons."  If you already have it and are looking to reinforce the love of music, then you do have the hard choice ahead of you between SW and PW!!  I will try to work on my blog some to help you out.  Good luck!!

Ashly

It isn't the best blog in the world and I had trouble loading my video that night so you will have to click on video links, Lol! But it gets my thoughts out there :http://howtoraiseroyalty.blogspot.com/2013/05/piano-wizard.html#comment-form

Great question, GeniusExperiment!!  The DVD's are not updated material. The material builds and all of his DVD's are beyond amazing for teaching.  I love so many things about it and I also love so many things about LR.  LR is great to really enforce, *everything. And Titzer really lets you get the dishes done guilt free The DVD's are 20 mins with minimal parent involvement while LR is in front of a delicate computer and needs someone to work the mouse. If you are looking to cut some corners to save cash (totally understand), then don't buy your kid anything else!! Lol! Clothes and toys are overrated compared to the joys and freedom of an early reader. LR and the first series 1-5 YBCR kit with parent DVD and parent booklet are incredible, life changing, and family tree altering investments.  Good luck!!

Great topic, Tamsyn!!!  I started EL with YBCR.  Tony Robbins sums this up with his statement: We run from pain faster than we run to pleasure.  I was a very poor student, academically. The only saving grace for my overall brain health came from extensive dance classes.  My family and I didn't know that at time, but I am super grateful my mother had the resources to provide that for me otherwise .... I don't even want to think about what horrible shape I would be in.  Fast-Forward.  My oldest was 3 months old (She's now almost 5) I was at my parents' house, and I caught the tail end of a YBCR infomercial. Literally just enough to get the website address.  I bought it that day with ZERO research/consulting with hubby/talked with no one about it!!!   I was over the moon with the concept of the product and could care less if I ended up eating $200 if I was wrong.  I was determined to not re-live any pain from academics again!  

The product came and her and I got to work. My husband was very supportive and didn't mind. The product was not very well known yet and people (family) thought it was nuts but were happy to see all the attention I gave my daughter.  She read her first word, Baby, out loud at 9 months old. She started talking shortly after that and by 13 months, she could read over 50 cards out loud and could say simple phrases AND sing songs!! Being my first baby, I had no idea that talking and singing at that age wasn't a common thing.  She used to just trip people out!! They would jump when she would speak to them.  I think mainly because they weren't expecting to understand her.  Kind of like when you meet someone and you assume they don't speak your language and all of the sudden, you understand what they are saying. "Wait! Do I speak Spanish? Oh, no, duh, they are speaking English."  Hasn't happened to me personally but I have seen the reverse happen when my husband spoke Spanish to a man and he grabbed his chest and gasped. Then he interrupted and told my husband he had a 'flash,' he thought he had died, and then he laughed so hard he almost fell over.  Anyway, back to the story.  I very quickly understood that the program wasn't enough and I was bothered as to why Titzer didn't have a whole library of DVD's!! Didn't he realize how great his own program was and that we need a place to go after we are done with the first 5 DVD's!!!  Then, I found Brillkids. I learned of Glenn Doman from brillkids, and *then* the real research and dedication began. I came across a great blog by a favorite lady of mine, Tamsyn.  I bravely commented on her post and left my number and we have been EL mommy friends and more ever since.  Many things brought me here, but my relationship with Tamsyn, brings me here the most!!  

P.S. Titzer has made more DVDs and I dream of the day when all forces of  EL Producers come together and make an ultimate curriculum that can be bought in one giant program and is placed in homes and daycares all around the world!!!

Love this! Great find and thanks for sharing!

Ashly

Updated mine today.  What is the difference between Semester 1, Semester 2, and BrillKids Math Semester 1, BrillKids Math Semester 2?  I was on day 85 in semester 1 before I switched over and now I can't figure out my 'place'.  How do I proceed so I am getting the most out of the product?

Thanks again for your hard work! It looks great!!

Ashly