Why I Avoid Classical Piano Training for My Daughter (+ Little Musician Update)

[KL]

From my latest blog post:
http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=126

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Firstly, some good news for all of you who've been waiting for Little Musician: We're very close to beta launch now!

In my next blog post, I will give a more detailed update on where we are, and what Little Musician will include.

For this blog post, however, I would like to 'set the scene' a little by explaining my musical background, my approach to giving my daughter musical training, as well as some of the thinking that went on behind the creation of Little Musician.


My Musical Background

I started learning the piano at the age of six, along with my two older brothers. Like everyone else I knew learning the piano, I was taught the traditional way: learning how to read and play sheet music, and most of the time learning pieces for the purposes of piano exams. I took exams all the way up to Grade Five.

During those years, despite good exam results, piano was not very enjoyable for me. At one point, I even made up my mind to quit. But, because I never managed to pluck up the courage to tell my mother of my decision (I was ten!), I carried on with it.

I consider myself lucky to have continued because, after attending boarding school in England (age thirteen), I actually started to enjoy playing the piano. One major reason was that I stopped taking exams. Under the guidance of my teacher there, I learned to play pieces that I truly enjoyed, like pieces by Gershwin. (I just loved the rhythm and jazzy feel!) I continued taking lessons until I left for university at eighteen. I would say I became quite good at it, often winning school competitions and playing at school recitals.


Classical Piano Training for Felicity

Now that I'm a dad, would I put my daughter, Felicity, through the same classical piano training? My answer: No.

Firstly, I would take a long hard look at any system which focuses largely on getting exam results.  I feel that this can really take the joy out of playing the instrument.  Sure, the training and practice will make you a better pianist, no doubt.  But what I’m far more interested in is being a better musician.

So, what did my classical piano training actually teach me? In terms of practical playing skills, I learned to look at notes on a page, and to play them on a piano keyboard. I learned to play many such pieces very well. I received great applause and admiration when I played those long and difficult Grade Eight Gershwin pieces, especially since I often played them from memory.

But what about when I had no sheet music in front of me? Or, what happened when, with the passage of time, I could no longer remember the pieces? What was I actually able to play?

The answer: NOTHING!

Surely, I don't mean that literally, right? How about a simple tune like “Itsy Bitsy Spider”? Come on! If I could play all those piano concerto pieces that well, surely I could play “Itsy Bitsy Spider”!

Nope. I basically wouldn't have a clue how to play it! Sure, I could give it a good guess. But it would involve a little hunting and pecking, and a lot of praying that I'd play the correct note.

You see, for all those years, I was taught (and taught very well) only how to translate notes on a page onto the keyboard through my fingers. I see a note, and I know which key to push. And even if it's a difficult piece, if you give me some time to practice, I could do it very well.

But if you don't show me the notes on paper, then how am I supposed to know which keys to push? Just from knowing what the melody sounds like? Sorry, doesn't help! I can translate the music notes that I SEE onto the keyboard, but not the notes that I HEAR (whether externally, or internally in my head).

That's because, even though I can reproduce a very complicated piece of music in my head (complete with all the different parts), I basically have no idea what those notes are. I was simply never trained that way.


Introduction to Solfege

I always admired people who could just improvise and play any tune on the keyboard. This was especially so because I sometimes played in a band and composed music, and not being able to do that was a severe handicap. It dawned on me, when looking down at the keyboard, that despite all those years of learning the piano, I basically didn't really KNOW it at all! I could operate it mechanically, sure, but without any deep understanding of it.

Many years ago, I had a Filipino singing teacher who could also play the keyboard. He never took any piano exams, and could never play some of the pieces that I could. But he was someone who really understood the keyboard. He understood it as well as he understood his own voice. The keyboard was like an extension of his body. Just name him any song, and he'd be able to play it even if he had never played it before. A song was too high to sing to? No problem! He'd just transpose it down instantly.

So I asked him how he did it. And that, sadly, was the first time I heard about solfege (or "solfeggio", as he called it).

"What's that?" I asked.

"You know, like: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So..." he replied.

"Oh, from ‘The Sound of Music’?” I asked. “Yes! I know that song!" I commented enthusiastically, though I still had no idea how a song from a popular musical could help.

My ignorance on the subject was plain to see. Since the day he enlightened me how solfege works (and that solfege did not 'come from' that song!), I have always kept in mind the importance of learning solfege.


Yamaha Music School

Fast forward many years to when Felicity was born. I was already thinking of how to train her musically. I knew only one thing. Classical piano training (at least, the way I was taught) was not the best way to help her develop musicality.

I had heard many good things about the Yamaha Music School, so I enrolled her at age three, in the "Music Wonderland" course. It wasn't really about learning the piano. It was more concerned with music appreciation and exposure. One year later, the piano-playing began with the "Junior Music Course". In her first lesson, Felicity was taught to play “Middle C”.

Except it wasn't called "Middle C".

It was "Do”.

The other striking difference between this course and traditional piano lessons is that singing forms a big part of it. In fact, the sequence is this:

- LISTEN

- SING

- PLAY

Yep, playing comes last.

By labeling each of the notes with solfege syllables, students read and reproduce music by singing out the notes. It’s only after that that they play the notes on the keyboard (often while singing).

In the Yamaha Junior Music Course, there is a huge emphasis on learning solfege. In every class there would be solfege singing exercises, like what you see here:

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

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ryN9yNsX5A8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ryN9yNsX5A8&rel=1</a>

(As an aside, here's something interesting to note for all of you familiar with the right-brain flash card method for teaching babies skills such as reading and math. Often, when Felicity's Yamaha teacher plays out the notes, it's all very fast, and the children are expected to repeat or guess the notes very quickly following her demonstration, with no time to think or analyze. This reminds me of the right-brain flash method where information is delivered rapidly in order to be accessed directly using the intuitive right brain without the logical left-brain's interference. Maybe whoever designed these exercises in Yamaha compared notes with Shichida?)


The Most Important Instrument

You see, solfege is designed for singing. Compare singing "C, D, E, F, G" (See, Dee, Ee, Eff, Gee) with singing "Do Re Mi Fa So" and it should be obvious which system is more practical for singing.

And that's one of the great things about learning solfege: It encourages the use of the most important instrument that we will ever have—our VOICE. Frankly, I'm now astonished that a lot of music education completely ignores this vital instrument and, instead, just focuses on teaching traditional instruments like the piano and violin.

Ignoring the voice seems to go hand-in-hand with ignoring solfege, and I think that has partly got to do with the fact that many music teachers today themselves were never taught solfege and therefore would not be comfortable (or even know how) to teach solfege. And I think that’s such a pity, because teaching children to sing solfege is so easy and natural – which little child has reservations about singing out loud, even if it may not be in tune? If using the voice were encouraged and fostered from young, I believe children would grow up to being less self-conscious about singing. (And I would probably invest in karaoke bars!)

Anyway, just by sitting through so many of her Yamaha classes, I've already picked up a lot myself, and can easily 'map' most melodies into solfege now. So, too, can Felicity, to some extent. When she sings a tune, I would sometimes ask her, "Now sing that again in do re mi." (She has never heard of the term 'solfege,' even though she knows all the syllables.) She would do so, sometimes with amazing accuracy.

When I show Felicity a simple piece of written music, she can often sing out the melody. Some of you may have seen the video where I wrote out words like “clap” on a doodle board and Felicity (at 12 months) would read out the words. Now, in a similar manner, I would place black dots (representing notes) on a magnetic board with the musical staff lines, and she would sing out the notes for me.


Like Teaching Children To Read

That brings me to an interesting metaphor that I’ve noticed about teaching solfege.

Imagine looking through a musical score and being able to 'read' it (by singing it out, or having the melodies reproduced in your head) as easily as you’re able to read a book (aloud or in your head). Knowing solfege is like being able to read words.

Conversely, not knowing solfege is like not knowing how to read out words.  It’s like all you're able to do when encountering words is to type them back out on a computer, and let the computer read the words out for you.  In both cases, you have become dependent on that machine / instrument to be able to hear the words or music.  By having focused on training our fingers to operate an external instrument instead of training our own musical instruments (our ear and voice), we’ve effectively outsourced the most crucial part of musicality, with dire consequences.

And similarly with writing.  Knowing solfege is like being able to write out the words that you speak or hear.  When listening to music, you know what notes are being played (at least relatively), so you're able to write them out.  Without solfege, the chances are, you'd be quite lost.  It’s a bit like listening to someone talk but not being able to take dictation because you have not mastered the alphabet.

I am, therefore, thoroughly convinced as to the benefits of solfege towards developing musicality and a good ear. That's why I consider any musical training (for any instrument) that does not include the teaching of solfege to be severely lacking.


Don’t Get Me Wrong

Just so that I'm not misunderstood and people don’t go away with the wrong impression, let me say a few more things about my beliefs:

- Not all classical piano courses were created alike. It may well be that the teachers I had were simply not very good and if I had had the fortune of having had a better teacher I might have a different view or experience. I must say, though, I thought I had good teachers at the time although I now quibble with their methods.

- Classical piano training, even though it has the shortcomings mentioned above, did give me other benefits. From it, I got a solid grounding in music theory, great dexterity with my fingers, and good hand-eye coordination.

- Even with classical piano training without solfege, one can still be reasonably musical and develop a good ear (though in a different way). Despite not knowing solfege, I, for example, still managed to compose musicals in college as well as pop-songs that were sung by Asian pop-stars, among other musical accomplishments I'm proud of.

- I'm not saying that classical piano training cannot help a student acquire skills such as playing by ear, or having a deep sense of understanding of music. Indeed, I know of people who were trained classically, without solfege, and who can play by ear. It just appears to me much harder to do so than with a solfege-based system. I believe those people I mentioned had natural talent that enabled them to do so despite not having the benefit of solfege.

- I'm also not saying that learning solfege is a panacea for all problems. Solfege itself has problems. For example: Should one use the 'fixed-do' or 'movable-do' system, and how do we apply solfege syllables to accidentals (like C sharp and E flat)?  However, these problems (to me) are minor compared to the benefit that solfege brings.

- Solfege is probably not the only way to develop a good ear and musicality.  However, it’s the easiest and most fun way that I know of.


Solfege in Little Musician

So, after this lengthy exposition, let me come back to Little Musician.

Here’s a surprise for you: solfege training forms a very important part of the program! 

When the curriculum is written, the emphasis on solfege will also be quite prominent.  In the beginning, I believe it is more important to call notes by their solfege syllables rather than C, D, E, etc., so that in addition to identifying notes using their names, children can also sing them out.

I will talk more about this in my next blog post about Little Musician.  (Subscribe to this blog to be notified!)

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So, any of you feel the same way I do about classical piano training?  Please share your thoughts!

[baz]

A good read!
I myself is a product of Yamaha. My mum signed me up for YAMAHA classes (started with Junior Music Course) when i was 5-6 yrs old. I was with Yamaha for more than 6 yrs before I decided to quit (against mum's will of course.. I was more interested in outdoor activities like Girl Guides & sports after i started high school ) Now, I can still play (simple pieces lar  ) and believe my music training helped me to excel in other aspects as well.

From what I went through, what made Yamaha different from the other training methods (that my friends in school were going through) were their emphasises on
- solfege
- sight reading
- improvisation
- hearing
- NO theory exams (not until you are way advance)

I still remember one mum shared that she sent her 2 daughters to 2 different music schools. One came home singing Do Re Mi Fa So.. and anonther was siginging A B Cs ! imagine her confusion :P

Cant wait to find out more on Little Musician! yay

[Skylark]

"So, any of you feel the same way I do about classical piano training?  Please share your thoughts!"

Can sign my name under your post   Minus the good ending of you liking playing piano after all, when you got a good guidance and no exams. I quit after 7 years, and was oh so happy to do so! Still able to read music, of course, but not able to play a piece by ear or without lots and lots of practice! Can relate to extreme pressure from studying and practicing for exams. Our teachers also discouraged any and all improvising, so after a while I was not able to even if I wanted to.

My husband, on a contrary, never got formal musical training. However got a lot of training in singing and performing ( professionally performing as a child on Italian, Chinese and Macao TV), he started to play guitar at 6 years old, and by 10 he was pretty good at it. He completely musically illiterate ( meaning he can not read music from the sheet and he taught himself to play guitar watching others), however he can play ANYTHING by ear not giving it even a second thought, beautifully! He loves music, has perfect music ear, sings and really inspired love for music in our children.

Pretty amazing difference, isn't it?

What I want for my children? I want them to appreciate music, be knowledgeable of classical masterpieces, but most of all I want them to love music and have fun singing, playing and composing.

Cant wait to see Little Musician!

[Krista G]

KL,

I really enjoyed your post. As a former piano player I can relate to what you said about not being able to play without a piece of music. It is quite sad. Unfortunately, many children do give up. I did after 7 years of lessons. My parents would ask me to play and unless I had a memorized piece or sheet music I was incapable of playing anything.

Fast forward to today. Four of my children have learned guitar. They did not learn to play scales and notes but have learned chords. They were able to make music at their first attempt. This positive reinforcement and joy in playing music they like has led them to learn more and more about the guitar. It amazes me because within a few months of playing they were writing their own music. Now, 2 1/2 years later they have developed into skilled players and songwriters. They have surpassed others who are taking lessons and I believe this is because they are able to understand music as an extension of themselves, as you quoted above. They can pick up a new song quickly and pick out the correct chords to songs they have heard.

I am not certain if this is similar to solfege, but I have seen through my own experiences and those of others that unless we truly understand music in the way you have described, we are just mimics with little or no creativity or understanding.

My father taught himself to play the piano through chords as well. He can sit at the piano and play music at any time without practicing. When he sits down, everyone gathers around to sing along. How I wish I had acquired this skill instead of taking years of lessons that allow me to play nothing without arduously practicing.

Interestingly enough, my girls have taught me to play the guitar. I understand more about music now, in just over a year, than I ever did as a child taking lessons. I may not remember the names of the strings on the guitar, but I can make music. Certainly if I had more time to play, my playing would improve, but within a few months of playing I could make music, something I never experienced as a piano student.

I look forward to Little Musician. I am sure it will be an answer to many parent’s prayers.

[2010BEBES]

Very interesting your comments KL and I agree with most of them. Basically with the issue that between learning only to read notes or only solfege, I prefer the last one.

Let me tell you a little bit of my music story. When a child I enjoy listening to my father playing music in his chromatic accordion. I never saw him read a page of music but he play by ear. Later on he changed the accordion for a keyboard but almost till the end of his days (at 84 yrs old) he delighted us with his beautiful music.
Being the 5th of his children, I was the only one incline to music and started learning at school at age of 12 with a piano accordion (chromatic was not too much use any more). I am an example of learning the ‘classical’ way and even know (almost 45 years later) I have to look for my ‘partitures’ to play something. It is very difficult for me to play by ear; I do not have that ability.

My oldest son learned to play the keyboard at the age of 10 for only 2 years. Even though he was taught also ‘reading’ notes he definitely show from the beginning that he inherited my fathers ability and could play a song even without reading the notes.

My grandson, his son, has not started music lessons yet but since he was 3 years old he likes sitting in front of the keyboard and playing something he called was his ‘invention’. Who knows if we have a future composer in the house. Luckily he is also more like his and my father in that they can repeat a song after listening once and not like me. …..It seems to be a masculine trait and not a feminine one? …. Just joking…
. 
Certainly I agree in the fact that it is good if you have music ability but solfege is something that can be acquired or taught just as reading and the earlier the better.

Looking forward to know more about Little Musician and seeing it soon.

[KL]

Thanks for your replies, everyone, and for sharing your stories too - I loved reading them!

[aangeles]

Hi KL,

I feel exactly the same way as you do about classical piano training! I too took piano lessons the traditional way for years and years and now am left with almost nothing to show for it. On the other hand, my husband taught himself to play the guitar, sang and played in a band, can play almost anything by ear, and loves music! I am praying and crossing my fingers that Ella inherited his musical abilities and not mine... 

I am so glad that Little Musician was developed with these considerations in mind. I can't wait for it to become available - It's been a long while since I've been this eager to spend money! 

Btw, I am curious, which "pop-songs that were sung by Asian pop-stars" did you compose? For all I know, I might have been listening to one (or several) of your compositions all these years... 

[TracyR4]

Looking forward to seeing Little Musician.
This must be why my 7yr old came out not liking to learn piano. She really wanted to learn and I sent her for lessons only for her to tell me she doesn't like it.
Maybe something like this would be helpful. I'd really like for her to learn to play. 
Not sure if it was the teacher or just the music was confusing or a bit of both.

[karmie]

Ah... KL, that's why you should not start with the piano. Try another instrument!     eg. Violin. The children are inevitently trained in hearing as they learn. And for violin, often, they would work on the premise of a "moving solfege", altho' some teachers might choose to go with a "fixed solfege". Either way, it confuses me, being a classically-trained pianist myself. But my kids who learn string instruments have no problems. My eldest who is now 14 and plays the violin has no problem improvising, transposing, and arranging songs.  I also find it easier to play by ear using instruments like guitar or violin as opposed to piano. I'm always stuck with piano for that, and need scores to play anything.

[kizudo]

KL,
I so enjoyed reading your post.  It's seriously making me re-think our plans for the fall.  Unfortunately, Yamaha classes are a full hour's drive from our city. 

I've been looking forward to Little Musician since you first whispered the thought many moons ago!  Can't wait!!!!

[kauaiheidi]

I took violin lessons as a kid and was taught to read music, but I was never any good at playing by ear, which was very frustrating.  So I am all for a program that teaches children to play by ear.   Most moms I know have their kids take Suzuki music lessons.  Suzuki apparently emphasizes learning music by ear over reading music, at least initially.

However, I had read that the reason Suzuki teachers think children should learn by ear before they read music is because children learn to speak before they learn to read.  Since my daughter learned to read words before she could say them I thought maybe babies could learn to read music before they could play it or even sing it?  Is Little Musician going to teach skills for playing by ear and reading music?  I’m eager to try it, just a little confused about how it combines the Do Re Mi with the note names. 

[Mae_Jakob_Ka]

I am saving up because I want to buy something that teaches my son music. 

I am what you call "tone deaf". I can't sing,  and have no ideas about musical notes. People laugh when I sing so I only sing to myself, in the shower of course. 

I don't want my son to be like me. I have taught him to read, math, and EC but was not quite sure how to begin teaching him music.
I was very excited when I learned about Little Musician. My son likes BK softwares and am sure he will love Little Musician. I can't wait for it to be released!

Elle

[morganmusic]

You make some really valid points in your post! And I thoroughly agree, the Yamaha method is brilliant, and children should be taught proper pitch from the beginning of their musical education. However, I think perhaps your claims about 'classical piano' may be a little too broad... The Yamaha method is a method of teaching classical piano in essence, I think perhaps the method you were taught (and most children are as well), which is very much alike to the english reading 'look and say' method is highly reflective of an era in early childhood education from which music education, and numeracy and literacy are all gradually emerging. What is important is not whether we learn a 'classical' or 'jazz' method, but that an actual understanding of the function and operation of music is well taught and understood. Understanding is the key in anything. Yamaha is to the so-called 'classical piano method' as phonics is to look and say in english literacy.

What really interests me though, is why in your opinion solfege has such merit over simply saying the english letter names or other musical syllable methods? Further, what benefits do you think fixed do has over moveable do? This is a very interesting debate which I am still undecided on and would love to hear your thoughts about!

[Skylark]

I learned fixed Do, my husband - movable DO.    We are teaching my kids both 

I found the best Fixed DO vs Movable DO explanation in an article written by Tamsyn 

[TeachingMyToddlers]

I can only chime in as a non-musically educated parent of two young children who both acquired perfect pitch after using Little Musician-- the solfege method has been superior for us because it helped my kids internalize the pitch by expressing it simultaneously while playing an instrument. Singing letter names might have given the same results (I cannot speak on it as we did not travel that road), but for singing comfort (avoiding the recurring wide mouth shape of singing letter B, C, D, E, and G) and for differentiating similar sounding letter names, we found solfege to be superior. My kids are "bilingual" and can use both interchangeably although they are stronger in solfege.  After some recent lessons with a piano teacher that used letter names, my daughter will now spontaneously sing in letter names, as well. After her initial lesson, the teacher marveled that "she uses the language solfege so naturally, like she is a native speaker." That was a greater compliment that she'll ever know!

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