Hi, guys! I am back with a new book! You Can be a Musician: A Defense of Music

[HH]

thank you for your honestly!!!! yimmy..

You are welcome!
On my you tube channel there are 85 videos: lessons, exercises, tv coverage, students. Feel free to explore

http://www.youtube.com/user/lenkaolenka?feature=mhum

[HH]

I am starting to do my research on the Soft Mozart and Piano wizard sytems, so I can grasp what Hellen and Chris are on about (because it's mostly over my non-musical head).

 I thought this youtube clip gives some good insight so that I could grasp the soft Mozart idea.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/6bUeNO6U7tI&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/6bUeNO6U7tI&rel=1</a>

Yes, for some reason this video is getting more and more popular.
I like the another one better, because there is native speaking narrator 
Once I accidentally errased it and now it has only cople of 'views' - used to be several thousands... Oh, well
Here it is:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/5sMGHC3A2aM&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/5sMGHC3A2aM&rel=1</a>

[HH]

Now I am planning to give you some lessons that would help you to develop your piano technique!

I think, regardless of what instrument do you play or don't play and what method you use, these ex-s would always add to your music experience!

I teach my students to play them from 2+ up. Here is my 3 year old Gracie playing most of them:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/5AWPULoTYDk&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/5AWPULoTYDk&rel=1</a>

The First Steps of the Piano "Walk"

Playing involves the work of all of your fingers in a set sequence. The perception and consciousness should have full control over all that is needed for the muscles to play. To accomplish this, the muscles must be exercised. Provided that the exercise is simple and easily memorized, and that work on it doesn’t distract from the main goals, it is the most effective way to teach the hands and fingers to work.

The key phrase for a starting pianist is "walking along the keys." Putting our fingers on the keys for the first time, we become year-old toddlers again, taking our first steps. The difference is, this time, we’ve got a minimum of five legs instead of two!

There is only one way to learn to walk, and that is – to walk! In this regard, exercises and songs are like prescribed strolls. An active exploration of the keyboard achieves a score of useful goals.

    * 1. They develop coordination between the fingers and keys.
    * 2. They train the perception to fixate on this coordination and the keys at the same time.
    * 3. They allow the vision to become more familiar with the space of the keyboard. After several trips forward and back, it no longer seems as scary and mysterious.
    * 4. They help to slowly memorize how the black keys are grouped in twos and threes, and how the white keys are organized in octaves and in order.
    * 5. They help to apply the music alphabet to the keys.

The effectiveness of exercises doubles if stickers are used (it’s like applying a road map with the names of the keys), and if each pressed key is also voiced out in Solfeggio.

Many argue that exercises are too tedious and mechanical. Again, this is the view of more mature musicians. But at the very beginning, it’s the other way around. The task of the exercise, its predictability and repeatability, is a great starting point for the new skill of "walking."

Plain, repetitious movement can quickly be memorized, and the attention is free to focus on the coordination of the fingers and hands. Rather than worrying about figuring out where to go and how to find out the direction, the student can move on autopilot and focus on the fingers and the sounds they make, slowly developing a feeling of balance.

[HH]

Every Toddler Can Play Hannon!
 
A toddler can learn to play the piano just as easily and relaxedly as he can ride on a tricycle. And what’s more, he should!

To teach my preschoolers to walk with their fingers along the keys, I picked out several of the simplest exercises. We need to cover the entire keyboard gradually and with every finger (Do Major in perpetual movement), with a little help with a stretching exercise (Hannon 1), and with the help of alteration between black and white keys (Chromatic Scale) and three keys simultaneously (Triads).

I taught children of various ages to play these exercises. The quickness with which they grasped these movements surprised me, and gradually the age group of the students I taught lowered… to two years old! It turns out that at the age of two, most kids can master the coordination of their fingers and are absolutely able to "walk along the keys" with both hands.

My selection of the aforementioned exercises isn’t coincidental. At first I only worked with the scales that were very easy to imitate and memorize, but gave a maximum freedom of coordination. Then, I checked how the children took to them and how effectively they developed their coordination. It turns out that I wasn’t mistaken. These exercises, described in more detail later, really do help kids to get familiar with the keyboard’s space, and my students ‘run along these paths’ several times a day with delight.

Once, a mother of one of my three-year-old students told me a story about her toddler. Having learned these exercises, he was so amused by them that at the moment that he noticed a set of keys, he’d move towards them as if drawn by a magnetic force. More than anything, he enjoyed ‘wandering’ along them with his little fingers. One day, finding at a music store, he moved towards the biggest grand piano in the building with purpose. He immediately started to play the chromatic scale, shifting along the seat after his hands. Onlookers fell into an indescribable rapture, but he continued to play attentively, not paying the slightest attention to the adults. He was happy: he was doing it!

The ability to do something with one’s own hands is the greatest pleasure for little kids. They’ve got the most powerful internal stimulus to learn: the delight of achievement. Playing exercises is exactly what they like best.

Here is a short write-up of the exercises that work as a support in developing technical coordination in my classes.

When I was invited on Talk show, I was given 6 year old girl ro teach her how to play in 15 minutes. First, I 'opened' her coordination with exercises. This is exactly what she was playing at the 'recital' before song:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/O5ckaCgk7To&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/O5ckaCgk7To&rel=1</a>

Here is a video about how I teach an adult:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/MwtupuN-D24&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/MwtupuN-D24&rel=1</a>

[HH]

Stretches, or Hannon 1

I start with ‘stretches,’ the first Hannon exercise. This is like the ‘ignition key’ for the car, namely the hand. Hannon helps to cover the space of the entire keyboard, using all of the fingers in turn. It gives the perception an important lesson: the ocean of keys isn’t so wide, and it is easy to swim in it. It shows how to move around in the space in circular movements, and how stretching the fingers helps to skip across a key in order to continue moving.

Beginners first play Hannon with stiff fingers, which is natural. The main assignment of this exercise is to ‘awaken’ the mechanics of the hand and to force every finger to work independently. It implements a simple guidance in its activities: "stretch, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven." Later, when the fingers have been properly worked out, kids easily place their hands down with rounded palms and play with the tips of their fingers.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/eP4DTUHd2ac&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/eP4DTUHd2ac&rel=1</a>

[HH]

The Chromatic Scale, or "White Cat, Black Cat, and Mouse"

This exercise helps to organize the fingers into the right curve; it uses only the strongest fingers, the first and third, and this frees the other fingers from too much stress. This scale is extraordinarily useful for the familiarization of the white and black keys, necessary for the proper placement of the thumbs. Playing the chromatic scale with both hands is very helpful in the development of coordination and concentration; in the intervals between the black keys, each hand plays a different sequence.

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

[HH]

Triads, or "The Three Sisters and Three Brothers"

Triads teach the coordination of three fingers of the hand at the same time. At first this is very hard, and kids confuse the first, third, and fifth fingers with the second and fourth. By separating the fingers into ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ along the code of the keys, I was able to bring my kids’ attention to the difference between these two groups of fingers. At first, when the exercise is played by one hand at a time, the children watch to make sure that the ‘unwanted guests (2 and 4)’ don’t show up while playing with the group of 1, 3 and 5. In order to master the coordination of these fingers, they play the triads many times.

Later, when they can achieve this without difficulty, we play the triads in all of the octaves at a quickened tempo. This helps kids to comprehend the octaves at a tactical level. Later, the exercise can be played with both hands, and develops the coordination between them.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/vVW7S3QSVR8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/vVW7S3QSVR8&rel=1</a>

[HH]

Do Major Through Continuous Movement

This exercise is perfectly symmetrical. It teaches to place the first finger (thumb) after the middle and fourth fingers for a continuous playing of scales. The scale is played through continuous movement, one hand at a time, from the Do of the first octave to the very end of the keyboard.

    First, we learn the magical formula: 123-1234-123-1234-123 etc.

When each hand can do this, we place both of thumbs onto the Do of the first octave and play the scale to the very end. This exercise powerfully affects a ‘weak’ sense of the keys, and the technique necessary to move in opposite directions. It helps to understand the organization of the white keys and their sounds when played in order.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/vEpRduS89nI&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/vEpRduS89nI&rel=1</a>

[HH]

The Entire Journey Starts With The First Step!

Can a beginner really be allowed to play exercises with stiff, spread-out fingers out of tempo? Of course! More than that, this is exactly how he should play. After all, he simply can’t do it any other way!

Once, a music professor visited my studio. Seeing a recording of my three-year-old student playing Hannon, he was very unimpressed. "The boy is playing with improper hand placement!"

    "But he’s only three years old!" I countered. "His coordination is only starting to develop!"

    "He should play with rounded hands, or not at all!" he cut in.

    Then, I showed him a video of some of my older students. "And how is the hand placement of these students?" I asked him.

    "See. There you go! That is how it needs to be done. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you shouldn’t start that early!" He didn’t know that these kids, playing with free and rounded hands, jarred professors in just the same way a few years ago, groping along the keys with ‘improper’ fingers.

Why should we talk to the beginners about rounded hands? Their adventures along the keys aren’t much different from their first steps, made with small, bent legs to meet their mothers. Of course his fingers stick out in random directions, and in order to press the key with his pinky finger, he’s got to move his entire hand. The sense of the keys will come to him only when he develops his coordination. When properly worked out, the hand will easily assume a natural, rounded position. And there isn’t any kind of tension! When you know where you’re going, then the going gets easy!

The problem of ‘improper hand placement’ simply doesn’t exist. We thought it up ourselves. Comparing which students’ hands are the best, we are only satiating our own self-love. But the problem of cramped hands is absolutely real – though the kids don’t have anything to do with it. We’re the ones that cramp them, or rather cripple them, trying to force proper hand placement on them before we’ve taught them anything at all.

The most important support for coordination of the technique of playing is familiarization of the entire space of the piano. It isn’t learning the weight of his hand, but exercising over all of the keys that helps the beginner to gain confidence in his hands. Think for yourselves: where do you feel most confident, in a place where you know every corner, or in a place where nothing is familiar?

After learning to "freely run along the keys," a child will want to do something new. Then comes the time to learn some other ‘tricks.’ The student will look upon them with happiness and delight. Now, he’ll be able to:

    * - learn to play rhythmically with the help of a metronome
    * - learn to play more loudly and more quietly, with the flow (legato) and in jumps (staccato)
    * - learn to play on the piano without stickers.

And as for stickers .. As has been explained, their role to the visual perception of a child is simply priceless. Visual information on the keys is the most important support for the development of the technique of coordination.

Once I was a director of music department and replaced 'lessons about music' into music/piano lessons. With help of the parents we bought about 40 keyboards and every child was learning to play and read music every week. We always started with exercises! Soon enough kids were having contests: who plays faster or more acurate with metronoim and without. It was very positive experience!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/-1mPrAq7tlI&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/-1mPrAq7tlI&rel=1</a>

[Sarah108]

I have a question regarding this approach. In no way is it meant to be an attack on the product, I genuinely would like to learn more.

I understood that the tenet of early learning is that little minds are capable of SO much more and that if we don't limit our kids, that they are capable of doing such things as reading at 12months, having photographic memories, speed reading and more.

Is it therefore not teaching our children to think in a limited way that we do not start them reading music from the outset?

[Twinergy]

I have a question regarding this approach. In no way is it meant to be an attack on the product, I genuinely would like to learn more.

I understood that the tenet of early learning is that little minds are capable of SO much more and that if we don't limit our kids, that they are capable of doing such things as reading at 12months, having photographic memories, speed reading and more.

Is it therefore not teaching our children to think in a limited way that we do not start them reading music from the outset?

Perhaps I don't understand your question, but I don't see how this is limiting children.  Could you please give a specific example?

[aangeles]

Is it therefore not teaching our children to think in a limited way that we do not start them reading music from the outset?

I think she IS trying to teach children to read music from the outset. In the very beginning, she uses the different colors for the treble and bass clef to make it easier for children to see the notes - which I think is analogous to Doman using really large red fonts to help babies see the words - but the program eventually transitions to reading notes on normal sheet music as the child becomes accustomed to reading notes - much like Doman eventually reduces font size to more normal proportions as the babies' visual acuity develop.  This is in contrast to other methods that concentrate on listening to music and ear training with no sight-reading at the beginning ( Piananimals, Harmony road, Kinder music, Playing by numbers, Suzuki).  I also like it that the program also teaches Solfegge and does not limit the child to just learning the note names. I think one of the piano teachers said it best on a piano teaching forum -  "this program is not so much a method but rather a tool, one that does not contradict any other method but enhances it by helping students learn to sight-read sheet music in a relatively painless and effective way."

By the way, this is not meant to be a criticism of any of the other methods mentioned above - in fact, I am planning to have my daughter also learn violin by the Suzuki method.  I just think the ability to sight-read sheet music quickly and effortlessly will not hurt her and can only help her in learning to play an instrument.

[HH]

I think she IS trying to teach children to read music from the outset. In the very beginning, she uses the different colors for the treble and bass clef to make it easier for children to see the notes - which I think is analogous to Doman using really large red fonts to help babies see the words - but the program eventually transitions to reading notes on normal sheet music as the child becomes accustomed to reading notes - much like Doman eventually reduces font size to more normal proportions as the babies' visual acuity develop.  This is in contrast to other methods that concentrate on listening to music and ear training with no sight-reading at the beginning ( Piananimals, Harmony road, Kinder music, Playing by numbers, Suzuki).  I also like it that the program also teaches Solfegge and does not limit the child to just learning the note names. I think one of the piano teachers said it best on a piano teaching forum -  "this program is not so much a method but rather a tool, one that does not contradict any other method but enhances it by helping students learn to sight-read sheet music in a relatively painless and effective way."

By the way, this is not meant to be a criticism of any of the other methods mentioned above - in fact, I am planning to have my daughter also learn violin by the Suzuki method.  I just think the ability to sight-read sheet music quickly and effortlessly will not hurt her and can only help her in learning to play an instrument.

Thank you very much for such an insightful explanation! 

I am classically trained music educator and have to add to that list (Piananimals, Harmony road, Kinder music, Playing by numbers, Suzuki) traditional methods as well.

I think, the ground breaking question in music education is ‘to see - or not to see’

Why Soft Mozart doesn’t contradict with any existing approach ever created? Simply because it is just visually ‘explaining’ Grand Staff. There is no any ‘creation’ from my part and no ‘editing’ of original notation. Bass – brown, Treble – green. Colors of tree. Lines and spaces are having the same width – the same track of information by default. Lines notes are red  - spaces are blue for an eye to catch the difference. All the meanings preserved and made bold and visual.

Nobody was trying to adjust Grand Staff to the people’s perception before– everybody were trying to find different ways to trick the perception, but to keep Grand Staff the way it is,
I am blessed with parents like you, who takes time to go extra mile to learn about it!

[Sarah108]

Am I viewing the wrong product? I saw in the beginning, that there are only pictures and no notes?
Only after a long while do you actually introduce the notes?

[HH]

Am I viewing the wrong product? I saw in the beginning, that there are only pictures and no notes?
Only after a long while do you actually introduce the notes?

Sarah, what exactly are you viewing?   
What kind of pictures are you talking about?

Pls, take a look at the illustration below.
You also may download a free Demo of the program here: http://www.doremifasoft.com/gentlepiano.html

This is only program in the world that actually introduces kids from 2+ y o to music notation from the very beginning.

document.getElementById('recent_loading').style.display = 'none';document.getElementById('recent_page_box').style.display = '';

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