Posts Tagged music learning

Games in Music Lessons and Their Benefits

How my music school grew from 6 to over 200 students in under two years.

When my husband and I started our music school – everyone around us thought it couldn’t be done. It had not been done in our home town much and no one we knew had ever quit their day job as a teacher to go and run their own music school business. we weighed up the pros and cons of it all and decided after it all that it was a challenge that we wanted to pursue. So we went ahead and before we knew it we leased a commercial premise, found ourselves a program and we were on our first opening day ready a raring to go!

Our first term was tough- we enrolled thirty students and half of them quit within a few weeks. We couldn’t work it out – here we were fully established, credible teachers and it wasn’t working. What were we doing wrong?

We could no longer think the same as we previously did in working in schools and operate the same teaching methods because they were not working. Something we were doing was not right and we had to find out what it was quickly.

We talked to our six families that we had on board and any families which came through our doors. We asked them all the one simple question:

“What is it that you would like to get out of have music lessons for your child?”

With this question we found out some very important information. Because our parents were doing this in their free time with their children, it had to be FUN. A parent didn’t want to pay for lessons if it was all too hard or if their child didn’t enjoy it and they definitely didn’t want to bring their children because it was good for them. The other observation we made was that if a parent enjoyed lessons, then their child would as well. The parent didn’t even have to be in the room, but when a parent asked their child how their day was and what happened in music, if their child was excited about it, it would in turn make the parent excited as well. It had to be fun for both child and parent.

With this information, we started implementing different ideas. The children would tell us that they enjoyed playing games and so we took this to the next level. In fact everything in our music sessions became a game of some description.Teachers never had a chance to sit down in our school – they were too busy having fun and playing games. Notes would be learn’t with stories and note races, kids would be running up to the piano with special cues, games were played learning pieces – even aural activities were a game. In general the place became a bustling games area! …. And the other thing that started happening was that we were suddenly growing out of control. We only had a small music school premises, but suddenly there was no room left in the car park, in the hallways and parents wanted to start learning in this method as well in our lunch hour!….many had told us that MUSIC HAD NEVER BEEN SO MUCH FUN! On top of this, our older students started achieving the highest exam results we had ever seen…

So what changed?

All we did was come up with strategies in playing games. Basically we came up with literally thousands of games ideas and on a lesson to lesson basis and for two years we tested them, made them work and we taught them to our staff members and students. The spin off effect was that students started remembering more…and therefore achieved higher grades.

In essence this is what the FUN music company is about. We no longer have time to teach anymore because we are too busy packaging the ideas we have been using in our years as music teachers. It is impossible to be a teacher and to keep coming up with more and more ideas without an end in sight. So now we are ready to share these ideas with others.. so that they dont need to be spending years getting it right. Our passion is to make music learning fun and easy for everyone at the click of a button – not just for those in our home town, but to share it around the world and increase the enjoyment of music for everyone.

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Kids Music – The Benefits of Educational Music For Kids

It is interesting to observe how fast children learn when they are young! Research supports our observations that learning experiences must begin in the early years from birth to age five. This is a critical time in a child’s musical and cognitive development. The benefits of music and movement in the preschool years have been well documented. Research studies show that music enhances brain development and academic learning. Music affects many areas of brain function and neurological development. Many levels of neurological readiness exist in children, and music is a powerful enhancer at each stage of neurological development. The earlier a child is exposed to music and movement, the better. Research findings include:

  • Children who receive early music training score higher on standardized tests.
  • The use of music during learning can increase a child’s IQ.
  • Young children who take music lessons show different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year compared to children who do not receive musical training.
  • There is a link between spatial reasoning and participation in music and movement activities.

Preschool children are at the beginning of the learning spectrum. Parents and teachers set learning patterns and attitudes and introduce children to learning by providing the first exposures. These exposures should encourage the joy of participating in music and making music. Joyful experimentation will result in the growth of musical skills and lay the foundation for future music learning as well as for future academic success.

As a music educator for 40 years, I have seen the positive results of music education for children. At Silly Bus performances, I enjoy seeing the positive reactions of the children to the songs and interactive presentations as they learn a variety of educational skills and concepts. The music and shows have great appeal for children.

As children make music, listen to music, and move to music through a variety of experiences, they develop creative abilities, attention spans, motor and rhythmic coordination, socialization skills, mental agility, and the ability to process aural information. It is very important for parents to expose their children to music and to encourage participation in music and movement activities informally at home and in more organized music education settings.

Movement is innate in children and provides the basis of everything young children learn. It contributes to the growth and coordination of the large and small body muscles. In addition, movement is an important nonverbal learning tool. Preschoolers understand much that they cannot yet put into words. They demonstrate their understandings through gestures and other movements. As we observe the child’s movement, we gain insight into what the child is thinking and understanding.

Songs help us to learn as well as express ourselves in a musical manner. Appropriate songs for preschool children include nursery rhymes, finger plays, educational songs that incorporate counting, letters of the alphabet, animals and animal sounds, colors, etc. Songs and recorded music should promote activities such as walking, jumping, dancing, and marching. Clapping or patting the steady pulse or beat of rhymes, songs, chants, and recorded music is a valuable activity and preparation for future music ensemble participation. The ability to perform a steady beat while singing, speaking, or listening to music aids the child’s success in reading and other academic areas. Music education is an important aspect for a child’s learning process in life. From simple beginning experiences the child is guided to more sophisticated musical and creative activities.

While music is a viable stand alone educational program, music also reinforces and enhances the learning of other skills and benefits learning in many ways. This is especially true for reading and language arts. Music helps children focus on the structure of sounds which is an important aspect in language development and literacy skills. Having a musical vocabulary of melodic patterns and phrases directly transfers to the ability to develop a spoken vocabulary of patterns and sounds-thereby aiding the child’s success in reading and communicating.

It has long been believed that brains change as a result of music learning. Researchers in neuroscience, utilizing recent advances in MRI technology, are actually studying the human brain in the act of creating or listening to music. And what they are finding is remarkable.

Perhaps the most exciting news is the evidence that music can actually change the physical structure of the brain – a fact that has critical implications for both education and medicine. Music may even be a major key to unlocking the mystery of how the brain actually learns.

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The Benefits Of Learning Music Theory

That’s music to my ear is a common phrase used to express a person’s emotional response to how a particular tune can make them feel. Some people listen to music all the time. Some study the art of playing an instrument. It’s therapeutic; it’s enriching; it’s a way of creating moods in any environmental setting. If you are interested in music for more than the pure enjoyment people get out of listening to it, then learning about music theory is an ideal mode for you.

Music theory can be an important attribute in a person’s life, for many reasons. People often ask, “Is music theory necessary?” “Why do we need it?”

First of all, even though you don’t have to understand how to read sheet music to perform as a musician, you will need an understanding of music theory. It opens so many other doors for you in the world of music. Music theory will not show you how to understand music, but with music theory you will be able to communicate musical ideas, explore music in whole new ways, and redefine the tremendous scope that entails the magical world of music.

Music theory allows you to voice your opinion with others in the field, expand your musical horizon. Give a little input to a fellow musician and you’ll get something in return.

Notations And Communicating With Other Musicians

Music lovers all develop a keen sense of awareness, musically speaking. Sometimes, musicians explain that if they study music theory, then it’ll stunt their creativity. Wrong! The world’s greatest composers were all masters of music theory: Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, J.S. Bach. These experts composed a keen understanding of the theoretical concepts. Years were spent studying the concept, down to some of the smallest details.

Music can be played by ear, picking out tunes without the aid of written music. Your ears can be your guide. The reason this is brought to light is that some musicians with strong theoretical training often disregard the art of playing by ear.

Think of playing music by ear this way: We’re all born as non-verbal creations. Communication begins with crying, making sounds, displaying body language. Parents quickly become experts on baby talk. It’s an innate sense. Over time, language develops by mimicking sounds. Toddlers don’t learn nouns and verbs; they learn to speak by example. Music can be the same way. Hence, the reason so many people pay top dollar for live performances. It’s invigorating, magical.

Understanding Harmony And Chord Progression

Chord progression and harmony, two features of music theory, help broaden any musician, regardless of their genre of study. Chord progression is a series of chords that are used to harmonize music. All compositions use chord progression. Those that improvise – which, as already mentioned, adds charm and magic to the environment of music – invent brand new melodies that blend in with an existing chord. It’s a musical transition, something that must be practiced, repeatedly. The great composers and musicians develop chord progressions and transitions until it becomes natural, a second-natured maneuver.

If a musician improvises in a more interconnected manner, these new melodies show the musician the progression as one whole unit, and not a series of bumpy transitions. The more practice that goes into this aspect of music learning theory, the more interesting substitutions they will develop along the way. Once the concept of chord progression and its structure is understood, it will be easier to remember. Jazz musicians, therefore, show a keen interest in the study and analysis of chord progression.

The study of music theory will show musicians and musical scholars that the objective, initially, is not to consider an entire composition in one sitting. Instead, musicians, students and teachers alike, view a chord progression in segments, or units. These units correspond to musical sections known as stanzas.

A stanza is the complete statement and development of a single musical idea. It’s a fairly simple act of dividing pieces into small manageable sections, with the melody itself forming, or suggesting the boundaries for sound.

Tonality, another element of chord progression, means different things to different people. Some would consider it to be this: any piece of music with a well-defined key center. Others envision any music that uses the conventional chords as tonal.

Music without the use of chords in a functional manner to reinforce a tonal center is not tonal. It is referred to as non-tonal music. The names of these styles are not always agreed upon between musical connoisseurs. But expressing difference is one key element that makes music such a beautiful art form, with countless possibilities.

So, if you are considering studying music, be it to play an instrument, teach music, or simply hone in on personal curiosity, learning music theory is a must for you.

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