Important Factors involved in Teaching Music to Young Children
As I have discussed many times in my Blogs; an education in music is of immense value to a young child. It helps greatly in the development of the brain, it strengthens coordination skills, helps lay the “ground work” for self discipline, and gives them a skill that can lead to a life time of pleasure.
However, it does take patience, a calm firm voice, repetition, and persistence on the part of the teacher and the ability to present the knowledge on the child’s level. A baby does not come with an adult operating system pre-installed. Unlike a computer, the basic operating system must be installed by the parent or guardian, teachers, and other influential adults in the child’s life. They are responsible for developing the missing skills that will make this young individual a fully operational, talented, creative, and disciplined adult. Yes, it is a tremendous job, but a valued service to mankind and the world.
Training in music is just a small part of the total training of a child, but it does work on many of the important factors. Note reading and Timing are the foundation skills that must be mastered before almost any instrument can be played well. However, the challenge of learning the standard musical notes is just too difficult for most young children, especially those in the 4 to 8 year age group. There is so little about standard notes that relate to a young child’s knowledge base. By turning the notes into caricatures of familiar animals and creating fun and relative stories about each animal, the child can enjoy learning the notes. The animal notes allow the child to concentrate on timing as the notes are easily read. The Animal Note/Standard Note Flash cards used with word clues makes moving-on to standard music easy. To be honest, the method helps anyone who is having trouble learning to note read (even adults) to conquer the challenge and have fun while doing it.
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