Teaching your child music, what has been your experience?

[Maquenzie]

Oooh, that is very cool...

You know, you could just paint that on a wall.  Hmmm... (I'm so not adverse to painting things like that on a wall    I painted the continental US, large, in one of our hallways  ).

In the same vein, I found something neat too.  I'm hoping to get the rythym blocks to put in the 4-year-old's Easter basket. 

http://www.e-znotes.com/products_1.html

I really liked the music whiteboard with the Little Mozart stuff, but didn't think the other stuff was what we were looking for.  I really love the EZ one.

[andreasro]

I got a lot of ideas from some of you here on the forum, and I didn't get to read them all!
We use Trebellina and TweedleWink for teaching musical instruments, perfect pitch (and our keyboard to help us, too).
YBCR has also been a wonderful resource of children songs that our son likes to learn and loves to sing. Here's the link to a youtube video I recorded with him singing the first English song he learned with YBCR, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/CrYgvM2JVF8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/CrYgvM2JVF8&rel=1</a>

(He likes to hear and learn the same song in Chinese, but it will take time for him to learn it properly... even in English he has to work on it, not that he doesn't do that many times a day...).
I intend to use real instruments, so I made a list - with the help of Trebellina video - of instruments we can buy and use in the house for the music lessons. (I even found some useful videos on Youtube for learning to play different instruments, beside those free lessons teaching piano).
We're working on making big prints to stick/hang on the walls with lots of stuff, including geography, math and more, music included.
There are a lot of things we can use to teach music, but this is what we can do with him at his age, regarding our resources.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

I recently came across a new CD series to help with Pitch development and posted a review here. Just thought I would share for those of you looking for more ideas for your music programs, I really like them.

http://forum.brillkids.com/product-discussions-and-reviews/review-of-tune-toddlers-cds-great-stuff!/msg67238/?topicseen#new

[andreasro]

I recently came across a new CD series to help with Pitch development and posted a review here. Just thought I would share for those of you looking for more ideas for your music programs, I really like them.

http://forum.brillkids.com/product-discussions-and-reviews/review-of-tune-toddlers-cds-great-stuff!/msg67238/?topicseen#new

Thank you, I looked into it. So each CD teaches the same things but on different background? (I ask for financial reasons :P )

Andrea

[TeachingMyToddlers]

yes, exactly. they are very, very similar. If you wanted to go with just one, I would probably go with the baby maestro because it's the most "nuetral." Baby dj has different backbeats and baby rocker has some guitar in the background here and there.

[heath]

I was listening to the sample songs and I felt that the background music in baby rocker was less than baby maestro.  So is baby rocker better? Sorry, I have no music sense and I don't know what it means by "nuetral".

Are there other CD's like these... a little bit cheaper?

[andreasro]

I was listening to the sample songs and I felt that the background music in baby rocker was less than baby maestro.  So is baby rocker better? Sorry, I have no music sense and I don't know what it means by "nuetral".

Are there other CD's like these... a little bit cheaper?

I like things to be cheap, I'd like to know the answer to your question... But if this were the only thing offering this kind of teaching and useful too, than I would buy it, but only one...

[TeachingMyToddlers]

I guess it's a matter of personal preference really. There is no "wrong" answer, they all teach the same with different backgrounds. I just meant that on the Rocker one they have a little bit of guitar stuff in the background here and there and on the Baby DJ one it has some very-very minor "scratching" type sounds sprinkled in. It is nothing harsh at all. They are all good, but  I personally would pick Baby Maestro out of the 3.

As far as there being something out there like this but cheaper, if there is I certainly have not heard about it. I have been scouring the internet looking for various products to endorse at my Early Learning Workshops and this is the only CD of this kind I have found. The quality is very good. It is designed to be used over the long term to gain the full benefit, at least 3 times a week.

[heath]

Thank you for the reply.  Yes, the quality is very good.  Is there any particular reason why you would prefer Baby Maestro other than the fact that the other two CD's have little bit of scratching kind of music and quitar stuff? 

Any other music experts in the fourm have any other opnion?

May be we should send them an email to see if they would be willing to give us group discount.  I sent them email about some questions, I had and the email bounced.   or may be the owner can join us and give us some more information.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Heath-

Previously he did respond to my emails so I will contact him and see if he is willing to join this forum. I have no idea about a group discount, depending on the answer maybe I will suggest that he could join BK and put some coupons in the forum shop or something.

No real reason in particular I chose that one, really! Like I said, they are all very, very similar. Maybe just nothing in particular stands out about the Maestro one I guess?


I also wanted to add this I read today in my Suzuki book. I know lots of Doman parents follow the Suzuki methods for violin/piano, but even if you don't his books are worth a read. (I think IAHP might endorse him officially? not 100% sure though).

The "story line" of his books seem to jump around and could flow a bit better (I am not the first to notice this, others have said the same in reviews).  I think some of it might have to do with the translations or cultural differences in the way information is presented, just a speculation, because Suzuki is clearly a very intelligent man. His analogies and observations on talent education in general are good and his perspective is surely worthwhile, making it worth my time to read more of his work.

Anyway, in his book "Ability Development from Age Zero" on page 8 there is a subsection "Even Tone Deaf Children Can Be Developed." You can read it on Amazon if you look up the book and click "look inside." Search for the term "tone deaf," and select the second one that pops up on page 8. It's just a little snippet but he refers to similar situations in his book Nurtured by Love. In this situation, he explains how he was able to cultivate talent in a 6 year old pupil Toshiya Eto. He absorbed too many out of tune lullabies as a child and apparently no "in tune" lullabies. He explained you cannot correct the old tone deaf gamut but instead must make a new one. By exposing the child to the correct tones again and again and again, "the old gamut* gradually wore thin and was erased. (*gamut= a series of recognized musical notes)."

He makes another example of his previous book regarding a pupil singing "ti" too sharp in solfege repeatedly which was ingrained in him. He said that the old "ti" cannot be erased but instead must be *replaced" with a new "ti" heard thousands of times. I will have to look it up, I think he said 4 thousand or something!

Anyway, it seems to tie in with this Tune Toddlers theory of providing the "correct" input from the beginning. His theory is in line with Suzuki who devoted at least a half a century to music education and trained up countless musicians. His life was truly fascinating. I just thought the correlation was worth sharing.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Just an update, I did contact Scott over at Tune Toddlers and he will be joining us soon.

My daughter's Prezuki music teacher is simply wonderful, I cannot say enough good things. The last two times in class she brought in Action Figures and Finger Puppets of the famous composers. How cool! I found them on Amazon and added it to my ever growing wish list. The kids got to say "how do you do?" and listen to that specific composers music while they shook their hand.  sooo cute. I think I might have heard of these action figures & finger puppets before, probably on these forums, but had long forgotten about them.

http://www.amazon.com/Unemployed-Philosophers-Guild-COMPOSERS-FINGER/dp/B000V6H4WA

http://www.amazon.com/Accoutrements-Beethoven-Action-Figure/dp/B0006FUA3G/ref=pd_sbs_t_2

[lzp11]

Thanks for all this information about the Tune Toddlers CDs, teachingmytoddlers, I am really interested in them although they are quite expensive!  I hope there's a possibility of a group discount for members of the forum!

[heath]

Thank you for all the information.  I read Nutured by Love and it is a very interesting book.  I guess we wait for Scott to join us.   I am definately interested in getting the CD's.

[The Maestro]

Tune Toddlers Q &A

Hello to all. There have been many questions about Tune Toddlers CD's recently. I am honored to share my music program with such caring and devoted parents. I created Tune Toddlers for my 3 children to help them develop relative pitch skills. I dedicated a great portion of my life studying voice from the best instructors in the world. The one thing they each had in common were these beautiful scales and arpeggios. I knew how much they helped me develop a deeper understanding of the language of music, and it seemed so evident to me that they would help my children as well. I initially recorded the scales in my studio and produced a CD for my baby daughter. As she grew older, it became apparent that she possessed a natural understanding of music. I went back to the studio and created Baby Maestro for my next two children. This time I added drum beats and symphonic music. I felt that I was finished. Just play Baby Maestro and my children would develop good relative pitch skills. Still, there was something Maestro David Kyle told me many years ago that I couldn't get out of my mind. He said that ALL babies are born with perfect pitch, but lose it if they do not hear music before the age of 4. I began researching the scientific communities for studies on this subject. I found one study after another confirming what the Maestro told me some 30 years ago. "All babies are born with perfect pitch, but will lose it if they do not use it! " Music is a language. Language is learned during the first few years of life. At about 2 1/2 years of age, our brain begins to discard information we don't use. Think of it like a computer cleaning it's hard drive. Absolute pitch skills take up a lot of brain power. Western language is not a tonal language, thus absolute pitch is not required to communicate. This is why only 1 in 10,000 westerners retain this skill. Many eastern languages are tonal by nature. In Mandarin Chinese, the word Ma has four different meanings depending on the pitch used when speaking it. Perfect pitch is common place in China. Scientific studies now say there is a window of time, for a child between 1 month and 6 years old when you are able to teach them to have: perfect pitch, language, and a perfect sense of time.
 This is why I expanded Tune Toddlers from Baby Maestro to include Baby Rocker and Baby D.J. I wanted to share different beats and rhythms too. It is also important for the parents to like the CD's so they will play them for their child. Any one of the Tune Toddler CD's will provide the full range of music ear training a baby needs to retain perfect pitch, develop relative pitch, and instill a perfect sense of time. I found that my children liked to dance around when listening to Baby D.J., Baby Rocker is a high energy CD that is great for play time. Baby Maestro is fantastic for nap time. The most important thing is that the musical information in complete, consistent, accurate, and engaging. Babies love to learn! Tune Toddlers is educational and fun for babies. I am always happy to answer questions about Tune Toddlers. Please contact me at [email protected]

[TmS]

We took a bit of a different approach with our little one - we're both musos (I sing, piano, violin, drums, guitar and bits and pieces hubby drums guitar and sings and bits and pieces) so we were both really reticent about lessons and decided that music would simply be everywhere all the time in all sorts of forms. We wanted him to love and appreciate music and have a feel for a whole bunch of styles and instruments so he could make choices when it suits him.

From when he came home he has had his own sticks and would sit on his father's lap and play together my husband would repeat the random rhythms he made - you have to be careful because as babies their movements are so random but it was great for his grip. Once he could pull himself up and hold on he had his african drum and bongos on which we would play rhythm games with him.

Also from birth a bunch of hand held instruments, eggs, maraccas, jingle bells (you must watch them every moment with these).

In addition to this he would watch Bass day '98 with Victor Wooten who was a child prodigy (it's a tutorial as well as a performance - talks a bit about how he learned from age two from his ten year old brother and how music to him is a language absolutely brilliant to listen to) and is one of the world's best bass players. He would also watch a drumming dvd with samples of the world's best drummers giving short tutorials. Live concerts of all varieties of music (well when I say all I must admit to a bit of musical prejudice I have refused to expose him to Nick Cave and other styles like death metal and grunge) he loves the band "return to forever" which is made up of some of the world's leading players he is also a big Sting fan (very happy about that the kid shows good taste) and has a tendency to say goodbye to the Wiggles and other such "children's bands".

From about twelve months on I gave him my grandfather's harmonica and a recorder and free access to all my instruments and he walks around composing little pieces and dancing while playing.The harmonica is great for children because they can easily create beautiful sounding tunes just by breathing he has taught himself to play dynamically and his compositions get longer and longer and more and more interesting. We also find they are very in tune with his mood at the time which is what we hoped for - a creative and emotional musician, not a note player.

For reading music he has tweedlewink and Doman Picture dictionaries and we have sheet music lying around everywhere so he often watches his father playing from drum charts before a gig.However we are not in a rush for him to learn to read music - we expose him he knows what the notes are and he knows what the rhythms are but we're waiting for his lead on when to combine it to an instrument. He is having way too much fun doing his own things at the moment and he has taught himself some very valuable lessons.

We sing to him constantly he has been to our gigs and watched from the audience or the changeroom and he has been to rehearsals when he's in the mood we have family band sessions all jumping around onto different instruments and just playing nonsense music - it's a lotta fun!!

Recently he watched the Incredibles (cartoon movie) for the first time. The intro music is in 5/8 and he was counting 123451234512345 in time with it without us having even thought about it so we're pretty happy with his rhythmical abilites. He also sings in tune (songs he knows) and makes up beautiful little songs to sing.

At this point we continue to let him play all of our instruments whenever he wants to - he picked up a ukele the other day and started plucking it with beautiful hand technique that he could only have got from watching the Victor Wooten DVD.

He worked out for himself that abc and twinkle twinkle share their melodies - it was an amazing discovery to him that he could sing two songs to the same backing, it was amazing for us to watch this dawn on him I wouldn't have really thought of pointing it out to him at this point.Bit silly of me really.

We know he has great pitch, great timing, expressive feel and a love of music now we're just waiting for him to decide what he wants to do with it.

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