How are Soft Mozart kids doing?

[linzy]

I was wondering how other parents of young kids doing the Soft Mozart program are doing? My 3 year old only now is developing the attention span to play songs though with both hands without losing interest by the end, but now that he's doing it I'm hoping his progress will speed up. Overall we've been very happy with the program and I feel like my kids are going to be very proficient piano players. We really didn't have the ability to bring them to piano lessons, and I didn't have the confidence or knowledge to teach them.

I would love to see videos of some of the other kids playing, ideas as to what you guys do for your lessons as well as other things (besides LM) you might use to supplement their music education. We aren't able to purchase little music right now, but we do still use classical magic frequently in the car and my kids like to sing along to alot of the classical songs. I'd love to see how other kids are doing and what other parents are doing to help them be successful.

Here he is today:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/8aW2ZZ23ITI&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/8aW2ZZ23ITI&rel=1</a>

And here is big brother (age 6) with a song (Musette) that he was working on memorizing (that's why the notes are hidden until he plays them):
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/H1qyr5J7ojA&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/H1qyr5J7ojA&rel=1</a>

And this is his 3rd day of learning Ode to Joy:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/1jFlBPwsUXk&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/1jFlBPwsUXk&rel=1</a>

[bella]

Great review Linzy , thanks xxx .Like you Music lessons are impossible for us , We live in a very remote area and i am not sure i could trust the skills of  the few available teachers . I had softmozart for a while now but we were not consistent in using it till wonderful helena offered her Skype support and that was a turning point for us . Talking to her was very inspiring to me and my kids . Suddenly they want to do their lessons daily so they can play better and show the lady on skype how well they are doing . our kids are almost the same age . My youngest only now is accepting lessons , he is actually inspired by his sister success and started asking me to show him how to play when before he refused any lessons . he loved playing by himself , hitting notes and singing solfege , but wouldn't have a lesson with mama , till now , My daughter loved to watch her own video on you tube , so we decided we will practice pieces every week and by the end of the week , we will make a video and posted for Helena , friends and grandma ( lives far ) to watch them play . I shared our very first video on facebook and she was happy from the positive response she got from her grandma and aunties . now f she knows she has to play more to continue to impress them of course it is not a reason to play piano . She alway said she loves to play but she was very distracted and not consistent .
I was actually motivated by your posts and Tamsyn on softmozart and a bit jealous that you just started and are doing so well . if you could do it, so do we . I showed my kids your kids videos and told them those kids are the same age like you , look how well they are doing , only because they were willing to practice every day , you can achieve the same .
oh and something else that helped mama decided to learn herself , i am not sure how much time I have , but there is something magical , so much different to sit down and start playing myself , both kids leave everything and run to take over the keyboard and say our turn now . I don't see the same enthusiasm about playing when i simply announce time to practice piano , they are not always willing to leave what they are doing to come and play .
I would love to hear from other mums who successfully taught themselves to play with softmozart .
thank you Linzy to start this thread here xxx.
And thank you to Helena and the wonderful parents on softmozart for their great help and support in making learning to play piano possible for us .
viv

[sonya_post]

Linzy,

Yes thanks for this thread.

I have 3 doing piano regularly. One with Down Syndrome who is 4 1/2 and one 2 1/2 and one 21 months. I think girls are easier to teach than boys. That is my current experience. The oldest and youngest are girls, the middle is a boy. We've been at this for over a year - with  slow but steady progress with the oldest. She is now playing with one hand using all of her fingers. She has no trouble reading all the notes. Down Syndrome causes some issues with muscle tone, we have had to spend a bit of time trying to get her finger to do what we want them to. She will practice 20 - 40 minutes depending on how tired she is.

My son, the middle one, has had progress off and on. He played through HCB the first time at 18 months. Then nothing....not one single thing but banging for 6 months. Then I had a really good where I got some good footage of him or no one would have believed me. Then nothing for 6 more months. He's now practicing fairly regularly. Nearly everyday, but sometimes he will practice more than once. Usually not more than 10 minutes at a time, but some days he'll go 30. That is when he is asking to play guess key school. He likes to feed the spider and then tell me how Mr.Oops is getting pretty hungry.

Ana, the youngest, has all the note icons memorized and played through HCB the first time about a month ago.She will play and try very hard some days, but right now she is very interested in how sound works. She likes to go to the keyboard sing a note (she always calls it La) and then press a key until she finds the one she is singing and then she will look at the stickers and call out the note she just sang. Her father is a decent musician, was startled when she did this at home on their piano - minus the note announcement because they don't have stickers. She is developing perfect pitch on her own by trial and error.

After reading Hellene's book several times and doing other research I've some to a couple conclusions, which should be pretty obvious those those of us in this forum, but we lose sight of them. 1. I just need to keep putting in input and they will, at some point, let me know what they know. And they probably will not do it one second before they want to. 2. If I keep putting it in, they are learning even when it does't seem like they are even listening to me. 3.It is way easier to read than it is to write. It is easier to learn read music than to play piano. The kids have to make their fingers do an awful lot of stuff. So, patience is in order. It may be that it isn't that they want no music, they just don't want to work so hard playing music.

One of the things I learned from a mom on a Suzuki violin forum is that I am expecting too much too soon. Some kids are physically ready for the demands of playing at 2 and 3 - other kids are not. But, we still take lessons. You take lessons because you are preparing their minds and the ears for playing. extra years are worth a lot down the road. There are several Asian moms on the forum that make their children take out the violin listen to the CD while holding the violin, and then put the violin back the proper way. They do this for several months and attend lessons. That is all they get done. But it works. Maybe all you need to do now is teach respect for the instrument. You can have your child sit at the keyboard and not bang while they listen to gentle piano tunes in the song mode.  ( I don't necessarily mean you guys, but others who may see this.)  What to do when they won't practice, do LM, or anything: listen to the music alphabet CD. It is ear training. The kids who listen the Suzuki CD the most progress the fastest. The nice thing about the CD is that the notes aren't just played they are sung, so the children are training their voices as well. Because they are sung in solfege they are memorizing the scales. This isn't stuff they have to learn later, it becomes part of who they are. We have it on in the car and in the house as much as I can stand it. When we don't have that on, we have the  Suzuki one on.

The card work is very important also. While the song is playing, find and place the cards in order. Eventually move that to placing the right notes on the staff. You don't have to do all of the songs, but work on one or two a few times per week. And work through the entire CD. In the file sharing section of SM there is a ton of resources to do this with ideas to make it fun. We carry the solfege circle ( int he files sharing section) in the car and take it into the Dr. Office or any place where I think we might have to wait and we do the various Solfege scales from the CD and point to them on the circle.

I think it important to remember that Hellene's goal is to teach music literacy using the piano and software as the primary tools. They are quick and effective. So, even if you are not progressing in the playing department for various reasons, you can still do the rest.  My oldest son just painted an old board we had lying around white with electric tape staff lines so that the kids could start putting the note heads on the staff - I want them to be able to sing the songs they are learning in solfege and place the notes on the staff in the right spots. You can do the same thing with regular paper or card stock and laminate it. I think of this as teaching another language not necessarily playing piano. But we are learning the piano....

As far as LM goes, it is helpful, very helpful, but not necessary. Soft Mozart will do much of the same things but it is not as easy as pointing a clicking. As a busy mom, I like the point and click nature of everything BK does. When you are tired you are more likely to pull out a BK lesson than drag out a bunch of cards and a staff or hook your laptop up the the keyboard. But,there is something valuable about taking the cards, handling them and putting them in order. Or placing notes on the staff yourself. It is entirely a different way of learning. 

This is Ana at 19 months - my son is trying to be her teacher.....I was holding the camera with one hand and trying to restrain him with the other.


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/vvfBSJw7SHQ&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/vvfBSJw7SHQ&rel=1</a>


I have a couple new ones I need to get uploaded and will post those later.......

[andreasro]

Linzy, what a wonderful review! It's lovely to see your 3 year old playing! I'm sure you are happy!
It tooks us months, a year in fact, for my oldest to play both hands willingly, in Gentle Piano. He wanted to do that on his own, without software, and more like fooling around or trying to copy what I was playing. My heart melted when, on New Year's Eve, right before the countdown, he put both hands and started playing!

http://youtu.be/JxcC27Mezxw

WOW! That was the trigger moment! Then he wanted to play any songs I gave him only with both hands! This means I first have to choose carefully not to frustrate him.
Also, I always have to keep an eye on helping him play with the hands properly, to develop a inner rule, or inner habit, of playing notes on green area with right hand and those on brown with left hand. Sometimes, usually around Middle Do notes, he takes advantage of what is easiest for him  

I did record him on video after the WOW moment. Hope to be able upload them soon.
He loves music and piano. And for him Gentle Piano and Mr. Oops, and the Butterflies are his favourites. He loves to learn piano because it's fun, much fun, not only for him. His younger brother is watching too. And usually my attitude is a supportive and happy one; sometimes I just keep quiet and watch till he finishes to play a song because I want to see how his mind is working and what he can do. Usually I am amazed of his fast learning, and his understanding, or thinking.
Sometimes I prefer just to set the songs to play and make sure he places the fingers where he wants to or where is needed - because he CAN place the right fingers on the right keys, only he does want to try me, my vigilence  

The youngest is inclined to music too. Here's him not banging the keys at 8 months old:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/-1sbU85Q0aQ&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/-1sbU85Q0aQ&rel=1</a>

Viv,
lzp11/Lee and Manda are, in my opinion, the models of a mother/adult beginner learning to play piano. Lee has just uploaded some videos: http://softmozart.com/forum/60-progress-diaries/8992-lee-adult.html. There's also a new adult following the Soft Mozart Academy credit guidelines, Corinne: http://www.softmozart.com/forum/60-progress-diaries/8966-corinne-45-years-old.html
To me, having Soft Mozart available as a tool has been one of the precious gifts I could have ever given myself. It's the only way I see my dream coming true - being an advaced even professional piano player. It will take me years, of course, till that level. It does not come over night. But it is very comforting to know that me and my children and even my husband if he wants have, anytime, the opportunity of learning at home, at our own pace, and be able one day even to compose or play along with vocal or instrumentals.

As for other materials, before having Soft Mozart we've used Trebellina. We're using LR files and PPT files made  with Soft Mozart icons by Lee and the other BK moms. And on Soft Moxart forum there are teachers and parents sharing brilliant ideas about games and cards and ways to teach toddlers. To tell you the truth, for now Soft Mozart is enough. Over time, I'd like to use music lapbooks or anything else Montessori inspired. But making music, hearing what comes out of our hands is my priority in music education for the three of us. Need to be more organized, yes, and trust more my children and myself, and practice more. That is why  I said about Lee and Manda. I'm not a model. I'm still struggling with playing both hands Nutcracker The Reed Pipes. Need more practice... We have had quite a break in the last few months...  

Andrea

[linzy]

Sonya, what a sweet video. I am so impressed by your daughters knowledge  of the keys and ability to take your verbal input and translate into her playing.

My little one was not ready to play for quite a while, on guess the key he would push the note and just hold it so that a new note would not come down. We mainly focused on playing do to so one finger on each key while singing. We did right and left hands separately and then eventually he built up to both hands together. He initially couldn't play the cords, either but we just kept working at it and playing the left and right hands separately. We also laminated the cards and he practices putting them in order do to do.

He still doesn't do lessons quite as frequently as his big brother and his attention span is significantly less. Maybe it is a boy thing, that they need extra time. It does make me so happy though when I hear him upstairs alone playing do, re, mi, fa, so and singing along in his little voice. So sweet.

[sonya_post]

Linzy,

On the first video, the sound effects were precious! Just keep giving the opportunity and do as much other stuff as you can. Your older one is doing fantastic. We've only used the program in setting 1. It was nice to see him using the others.

The little girl in the video is not mine and her parents refuse to give her up - I've asked. Evidently they want to pay for her college..... She and her sister and in my daycare. Her older sister is the one with Down Syndrome.

This is Miss Cayla right after Christmas as we are learning to use all of our fingers to play. She had been using one finger and now she is playing with all of them on her RH. We are working on the left. Her fingers are sort of short. My son is the one instructing her with a stick. He is a bit like your youngest.... :

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/hL2pWrcgEs4&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/hL2pWrcgEs4&rel=1</a>

[Tamsyn]

Taken from today's blog post:  (http://www.professional-mothering.com/2013/03/its-time-for-formal-review-of-soft.html)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZrgUgymBpAY&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ZrgUgymBpAY&rel=1</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/a996HvR1KeU&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/a996HvR1KeU&rel=1</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/pG99r-MQHx8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/pG99r-MQHx8&rel=1</a>

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Great post! We have not been using it as much with Lily because now her piano teacher is sending home extra work which replaces the time we used to spend on SM. However, it's all we use with Owen 99% of the time, and I am pleased with how his coordination is progressing. I still have him focusing on learning to play Hot Cross Buns, Ode to Joy, and Jingle Bells with two hands, when those three pieces are just right, we'll move on. So, in that respect we have been slow but I am looking for mastery. He is now playing HCB with two hands freely without any software and Jingle Bells and Ode to Joy with Right hand with no software. With the software, he practices all of those with two hands which is a good level of challenge for him at the moment. I have been meaning to capture recent video, and this post is as good a reason as any.

Truthfully, I don't even attempt to keep a notebook, it's just not going to happen because it's just not convenient for our busy family life.  He just looks at the number (whatever it is, better or worse is irrelevant) and cheers for himself at the end.    I hope I don't inspire anyone with my bad habits, but we just do it until it's mastered and move on. I am pleased with the software for him, it's very age appropriate and formal lessons would most likely not work at his current age and attention span. For my daughter, I am looking forward to the day I can load her Yamaha songs in the software and have her practice it that way, but right now her plate is full with the extra homework her teacher is sending home so she hasn't been using it so much lately.

With practice,Owen continues to become more and more confident at the piano as he goes. He loves to perform for his Dad (and me too)  and take a bow at the end. He knows what songs to practice and he operates the software himself for the most part when it's time to play. It's been a very good experience with him overall and I'm happy we are using the program.  Plus, he is left handed and I love than he has to use both hands to play. Knowing that we live in a right hand world, I think piano will be especially good for him.

I have learned to play some songs on SM too, but I find it easier to motivate my kids than myself. 

[karmie]

One of the things I learned from a mom on a Suzuki violin forum is that I am expecting too much too soon. Some kids are physically ready for the demands of playing at 2 and 3 - other kids are not. But, we still take lessons. You take lessons because you are preparing their minds and the ears for playing. extra years are worth a lot down the road. There are several Asian moms on the forum that make their children take out the violin listen to the CD while holding the violin, and then put the violin back the proper way. They do this for several months and attend lessons. That is all they get done. But it works. Maybe all you need to do now is teach respect for the instrument. You can have your child sit at the keyboard and not bang while they listen to gentle piano tunes in the song mode.  ( I don't necessarily mean you guys, but others who may see this.)  What to do when they won't practice, do LM, or anything: listen to the music alphabet CD. It is ear training. The kids who listen the Suzuki CD the most progress the fastest. The nice thing about the CD is that the notes aren't just played they are sung, so the children are training their voices as well. Because they are sung in solfege they are memorizing the scales. This isn't stuff they have to learn later, it becomes part of who they are. We have it on in the car and in the house as much as I can stand it. When we don't have that on, we have the  Suzuki one on.

May I know the link for this Suzuki Violin Forum?  Mine does suzuki violin & piano, and I would like to see a thread or discussion group on this.

[Mandabplus3]

I have no new videos to share but all 4 of us are making progress.
I practice the most efficiently and so I have the most progress    I now find all the songs in favourite classics 1 easy enough to sight read with both hands. Seriously if you had told me that would be true a year ago I would have laughted at you! I play at the next level up now ( favourite classics 2 if you want to compare) and find it a bit of a challenge. For adults playing I think it is really important to always be working on one piece that you find hard work. It should be challenging or you aren't progressing. At the same time do practice the old pieces for review and remember to play just for fun sometimes also.
The kids continue along the girls are enjoying the boogie albums. Neither of them are all that keen to memorise the pieces. But they will both play until they get a good score and tempo. I figure if they keep playing and stretching themselves then eventually memorising them won't be a problem. I actually think their piano teacher at school discourages memorising in favour of fast sight reading but I haven't yet asked her.
We also struggle balancing the two different piano program's and would love to be able to load their school stuff into soft Mozart to practice.
Jaykob will happily practice ( for 15 or 2 minutes) but he hasn't made any noticeable progress in a while. He seems stuck so I will probably give him something harder to work on to stretch him soon- hey it works for me right?
So I got some good reminders reading this thread.
First focus on IMPUT regularly. I know I say it all the time but even I forget. I often think learning piano is all about the playing. But I forgot my aim was to learn MUSIC and enjoy playing an Instument. It's a two step thing, I forgot step one! 
Also the reminder to listens o the songs was timely. I am sorting out my iTunes and I am heading over to the softmozart forum to download some songs right now! Yes if they listens to them they DO learn them faster!
Thanks again guys!

[linzy]

TMT, I'd love to see a video of Owen if you have one. What does a practice session look like for him?

[nee1]

Question please.

Will SoftMozart replace piano lessons (i.e., one offered by a paid teacher)? It seems several parents are using SM in lieu of formal piano lessons. Am I correct that with use of SM, one will not need to pay for extra piano lessons? I ask because I'm looking for the most cost-effective option. Thank you for responses.

[sonya_post]

Nee,

If you participate in the free skype lessons and watch the training videos, yes it can. It is not ideal. It would be better to have both. But you certainly can use this alone. We do, but there aren't teachers that would take my son this young anyway.

 Hellene is in the process of developing a whole new academy, and she will be doing webinars in the new future. This will make the program more complete.  Since you are going to use the academy, I recommend getting a 1 year subscription and then applying for a scholarship. It will save you about a $1000.

[Mandabplus3]

Yes softmozart can completely replace piano lessons. I personally use it with no teacher and I don't Skype Hellene either.
I do think to replace a piano teacher completely you need just a small amount of music knowledge.for confidence.  If you have done LMusic  with your kids then you know PLENTY to replace a piano teacher. Everything you need is on the softmozart forum. More is being added all the time but you don't need more than what is there already. If you want to do graded piano lessons ( so your child officially receives 6 grade certificate that's recognisable at uni ect) then you will need lessons at some point.
Using softmozart in stead of piano lessons for one year, practicing for 10 minutes a day replaces 3 years of regular once a week piano lessons! A staggering saving! One year of soft Mozart is $150 ( I think?) 3 years of piano lessons is $450 minimum! The children using softmozart will have better knowledge of chords, a quality musical ear, be able to transpose songs, play more difficult songs have more fun. The kids doing professional lessons instead will have better now ledge of reading the extra squiggles that pop up in music staff and will probably want to quit from boredom! They will also only just be using two hands, will rarely play a chord and will not be able to transpose even the simplest song let alone have any chance of perfect pitch.
It's not just a replacement it's a better choice for music education overall.
In saying all that 2 of my kids still take lessons. One of them doesnt. ( they one that doesnt is probaly a year ahead of the girls age for age) Why? Well it forces them to practice. I am not the one telling them to their teachers are. We need to lesson/practice commitment. Secondly my kids get to skip out on class time to go to their lessons. They do their lessons at school. Since school is easy for them a half hour break is a nice bonus. Thirdly, the lessons are cheap and we can afford it just now. In future I will find better use for that money and they won't do lessons any more. 

[TeachingMyToddlers]

In terms of replacing a teacher entirely, I think there are a couple of areas that SM is weak. (This is just my non-professional, non-musician opinion of course.)

1. Starting out in lessons, DD learned her first song which was played along to a CD. We buckled their seatbelts on the piano (which was super fun of course for the kids! So silly ) and they played "Do Do Do" with their right thumb and sang along. The cartoon DVD that accompanies the course had a corresponding video which we watched first. It showed a bunch of animals riding a roller coaster at a theme park. In between the "do do do's" of the song the kids were instructed to lift their hands up and make them loop de loop, say "Whee!" and come back down again to find do. So cute! Aside from the "extras" that helped make this one note song fun, I think SM starts out too hard with Hot Cross Buns for the very youngest learners. At least when we initially tried it at age 2 or so. But having a song of just one note might not be very engaging without all of the "fluff," so I don't know. The next song DD learned in class was "do re do" and then finally "do re mi, mi re do." But that first one note song was fun for even Owen to play at home and it gave them a very good feeling of achievement right off the bat. 

2. One area I noticed DD was weak in was her timing. I discovered this when she had to play along with her CD for class and she was better at hitting the correct notes than hitting them at the correct timing. We worked on it and she improved. In SM's defense, there are several other learning games that help teach note length and I think timing as well, but we have always gravitated towards the gentle piano feature more than anything, so maybe that is not a fair assessment. Plus, conscientiously working to lower her scores in gentle piano would work on improving her timing as well, but I didn't even realize her timing was deficient until she attempted to play along with a CD later on. I know Hellene also teaches students to use a metronome as students improve to help them polish their pieces, so perhaps we just never got far enough into it to develop that skill fully. It would be nice if SM had a feature like some other interactive piano software programs have to first "wait" for the correct note, and then "expect" the student to keep the rhythm after they know the song well (with an adjustable tempo).

3. Lastly, correct finger shape and finger number usage on the keys is something that is overlooked for someone that doesn't know they should be teaching it. We have made mistakes in this area and didn't know it until attending lessons in person. Had we interacted with Hellene via webinars (although they did not exist when we first started) or participated more in the Academy, etc, she would have gladly coached us on this, I am certain. But because I was just pluggin' along unguided, we made some mistakes in this area, as well. 

So my answer is it is probably best to use both, a teacher and software if possible. Software allows you to begin much sooner than traditional lessons! And it's fun, too. But if you choose not to introduce lessons (which you can traditionally do around age 4 or so I think?)  I would strongly recommend participating in the SM Academy and in webinars with HH. Let her be you official piano teacher if you do not want to take lessons locally. Take lots of videos for her to critique. She has a lot of knowledge she is willing to share and you will be flying blind without some kind of personal guidance on your piano journey.

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