cybermommy
Posts: 70
Karma: 55 Baby: 1
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« Reply #17 on: April 24, 2009, 02:35:24 AM » |
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I can recall learning to read music when I was four. My mother sat me down with a "the Green Book, Pre A), explained to me how the notes went up and down the staff, and just let me practice for myself. There was a crack on the A key above middle C--that helped. I was motivated in trying to play songs ahead of my older sister. No fancy method, no flash cards, no computers. Just good old sibling rivalry.
I continued formal piano lessons with a conservatory professor through the senior college level and never had any problems with the sight reading testing before a jury. I can play music by ear and most of the time think I have perfect pitch, but when I play my own piano too much (which is sadly out of tune), I start to think all other pianos are playing a half step too high.
As an aside, I will mention that my heritage is Chinese, but I am hopeless in Mandarin. The rest of my family speaks or at least understands Mandarin, but do not have perfect pitch.
I tried the doremisoft games linked by HH (Hellene) for myself before trying them with my child.
My experience with the first game (notes falling from trees into baskets) was interesting. I found it quite challenging, as I am used to a traditional horizontal staff, so I found myself relying on the piano pitch played with each note, rather than reading the note on the staff. My ear could identify the note quicker than my eye could see and rotate the staff mentally. In IQ testing in fourth grade, my spatial mental manipulative ability was apparently one of my stand out strengths, so it leads me to wonder how much more difficult it is to learn the staff first vertically and then have to learn to rotate it.
I also found it difficult once the staff was placed horizontally to use the left and right arrows to move the baskets up and down. There are up and down arrows on the keypad. It seems that using those would just remove one bit of confusion out of the game, especially for a young child, to whom these games are targeted.
I liked the second game, with the horizontal staff and the puzzle pieces a good deal better. I can see this being something my child would be intrigued by watching, then of course want to try. However, my complaint is the same--the up and down arrows would be much more intuitive, but one can only use left and right arrows.
I do think the games are very clever and engaging, even though they have not sold me on the interchangeability of vertical and horizontal notation.
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