Thinking of Joining?

So, you're thinking of joining Let's Play Music or Sound Beginnings class! Hooray! 

We've put together a list of articles from the blog that will be especially interesting to you as you figure out what we're all about and as you decide if this class is right for your family. Enjoy reading and please leave comments or questions!

First: Enjoy our video overview: this is Let's Play Music!

If you know you want your child to learn piano, you may be asking which is better: Private Lessons or Let's Play Music? Read this article to get the low down on what makes these two styles different.






For readers with a child who is 3-5, wondering "why should we even bother with  music lessons now...isn't he too young?" Please read my post on the pros and cons of getting an early start (in an age-appropriate program).  

How much do music lessons cost? Diving into a new program brings new financial commitments. Read this post to learn some tips for making sure your money is spent in ways that bring the most joy to your family, and get some insight about how much you can expect to spend on early music lessons.






Read Are Music Lessons Holding Me Back? to address the worrisome problem that some adults experience: they took lessons as a kid, learned to read and play a bit, but still came out after years of work believing that they don't really know anything about music. Help your child do it right this time.

How Let's Play Music teach note reading?  In a very natural and nurturing way:  
Read our 7 Steps for Music Reading Success here. 

Read our post to see that we help little fingers develop strength and form in a progressive way.  We will help your kiddo start to develop good piano skills, but be aware that Let's Play Music is not specifically a piano program.  

PLAY is one of the Core Values at Let's Play Music. 
Read the post: We Value Play for four four big reasons play is critical for learning, and how we use play in our curriculum.

Research shows that group classes are a big part of creating a playful atmosphere where learning through trials can happen. Read our post to understand why, at this age, children learn best in groups. 

Another core value at Let's Play Music is: We Value Relationships. Read the full article to see how classes are built to encourage bonding between parents and children through an enriching, wholesome, and fun experience.  

We hope you are excited to join our Let's Play Music and Sound Beginnings family. Find a teacher near you today!

Oh Canada! Joanna and Lisa Bringing Music to a Nation

Sisters Lisa LeBaron (left) and Joanna Dick (right) of Sherwood Park, Alberta Canada, are the founding Let's Play Music teachers in the nation.  

Join the Family
Lisa discovered Let's Play Music in 2011 on a visit to Arizona.  After hearing about the program, she investigated online and was dismayed to discover that it was not an option anywhere in Canada!  Lisa knew her children would thrive with this fun and engaging program, so the natural decision was to join the Let's Play Music family.  Her sister, Joanna, was intrigued and decided to do the training at the same time.  

Both ladies took piano lessons as children and had a mother that taught piano lessons.  As a baby, Lisa sat in the room during her mother's lessons. When she started counting as a toddler it was not the regular "1 2 3 4" but "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and"!  Her musical fate was sealed, and it was no surprise that both sisters became private piano teachers.

Lisa completed her Piano Teacher's A.R.C.T. (Associate diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Toronto), while Joanna took music and education in University and currently teaches music at an elementary school.  The Let's Play Music classes are taught in Lisa's house and the sisters had their first group of students graduate in 2014.  

Use Music to Teach Music

Lisa says, "Taking a group of students through the entire 3-year program was an amazing way for us to witness the magic of learning music through music."  On many occasions, the sisters would be planning lessons and listening to the songs, saying "that is so smart and sneaky!"  The lyrics of songs an the musical concepts demonstrated in songs are used to teach concepts.  Joanna says, "It is always fun to see the parents have those same discoveries as they attend class with their children and see how we teach complex concepts while having a great time."  

Become a Better Teacher

Even with years of prior piano teaching, both teachers agree that teaching Let's Play Music has helped them become better teachers through the LPM method.  Joanna especially loves the rhythmic and melodic dictation that the 3rd year students do. She says, "I find it amazing that something I did in university, the children are able to do when 7-8 years old." She also loves the careful listening and ability to create harmony in class.  "When the moms sing one part and the kids sing another, it is fantastic! It is so fun to teach in a small classroom setting in such an enjoyable environment."  One of her favourite songs is the catchy jazzy 3rd year song, Let's Find the Root, because it's so exciting to put on sunglasses and rock out with the kids!  

More that Just 'Piano Lessons'

Lisa loves that Let's Play Music is focused on creating complete musicians.  She says "It is impossible to pick just one favorite thing about this amazing program. I love the puppet shows and how they instill a love of classical music.  I love to see my students bring their own puppets and all do the show together."  As a private piano teacher, Lisa sometimes found it tricky to fit all of the aspects of musicianship into lessons, but with the knowledge learned from Let's Play Music, she now knows how to find ways to incorporate these elements into her private teaching, too.  Ear training, note reading and singing are all elements that can be used to expand musical possibilities for students instead of just taking 'piano lessons'!  

Joanna and Lisa both want their students to have fun in class and take away an enjoyment of music.  Learning an instrument is hard work, so with a fun foundation it can provide the stepping stones for so many opportunities for these kids.  The sisters commented, "It’s so fabulous that after completing Let's Play Music, although all the students have been in the same lessons, their strengths are not all the same.  The variety of ways they learn about music make it possible for them to all be successful in pursuing piano, voice or some other instrument.  For us, that is what we want our students to do, have music as a part of their lives to enjoy and share with others."  

Learn about class openings in Alberta, Canada HERE.

Educating the Complete Musician

Now that you've begun Let's Play Music class, you might be wondering, why aren't we on the keyboards yet!?  Why isn't my child doing drills and building up a big repertoire of performance pieces already!?  What's the holdup!?  Is my child falling behind in the music world!?

I often tell people, "we're not just a piano class, and we're not just a voice class, and we're not just a theory class...we're a complete musicianship program."  Our program is intentionally broad, and covers so much more than technique and repertoire. 

Why Musicianship? 

Can read music...but not improvise?

Imagine if your child could play a fancy piece of piano music beautifully, but he struggled to learn new songs or pick out a melody by ear.  

Or perhaps he doesn't seem to notice discordant mistakes until the teacher points them out.  

Or perhaps he plays his lesson repertoire just fine, but is baffled at the thought of improvising or creating music, wondering when his lessons are going to teach him how to do that.

On the flip side, what if he could sit down and easily play 'The Itsy-Bitsy Spider' by ear, but really felt overwhelmed trying to read any new songs from sheet music?

In each scenario, the student is learning from lessons that lack different elements of musicianship needed to create a complete musician.

At Let's Play Music, we nurture all aspects of musicianship before your child graduates into specialized programs like private lessons. We are building a foundation for broad musicianship that pays off in the long run.  It seems that there are so many elements to be taught, but luckily activities of each type are complimentary to each other: skill in one task helps a child have success in the others. 

The Big 5 Skills of Musicianship

I tried to put into words what defined lessons that would output a musician instead of a one-song-wonder. Luckily the concept is summed up in this interview at www.easyeartraining.com with Dr. Chad West. 

Dr. West is a leading expert and author of a recent article defining FIVE core skills that define musicianship. They are:

• Executive
• Notation
• Rhythmic
• Tonal
• Creativity 

Executive skills are the obvious ones: how to make your fingers actually technically play the instrument. 

Notation is also pretty straightforward: how to understand written notes and music theory in order to play what was intended. 

These two skills are the external skills of musicianship; progress in these skills is easy to evaluate because the results are external (the student's output is measured.)

Executive and Notation skills are the main focus of many school and private music lessons, often at the expense of other skills.   Students may take lessons for years, but still feel unmusical.  

After lots of practice with executive and notation skills, they are probably amazing at reading and playing music, but may still not feel like they can create music.

Our programs don't neglect tonal/ear training that often get left behind. Singing is necessary for feedback on how students are audiating, so we include singing as an important element of musicianship.

We believe a student is never too young to take what they know and create new music.  Teaching chord theory early empowers students to make new music and better understand the music they hear in daily life.

What Do We Cover?

Note reading AND ear training !

-Music theory: playing in 5 keys, transposing, understanding chord inversions, chord progressions, triads, creating scales and more!

-Ear training: interval recognition and singing, chord recognition, chord progressions, and melodic patterns

-Playing by ear: taking ear-training to the keyboard

-Sight singing: solfege, note-reading

-Vocal training 

-Dictation: melodic and chords/harmony

-Sight reading/ piano playing: two-handed repertoire in 5 keys, piano technique 

-Improvisation: melodic improv, chord style improv

-Ensemble playing and singing: harmonizing parts, following a conductor, listening to multiple parts at once

-Analysis of simple and classical music: puppet shows!

-Listening to music from various styles: class musical CDs

 
-Arranging and composing: students complete a piano composition to perform 

You're probably saying "Hey! when I was a kid, my piano lesson didn't cover all of that!" Life is better now! Our programs are carefully crafted and designed to help you raise a well-rounded musician.  

You CAN Teach Talent

With all of these skills in place, folks will be saying "he's a talented musician!" and not just, "he can really play piano!"

To answer the questions, "Why aren't we on the piano yet?" and "Are we falling behind!?" the answer is: We are taking the first year of class to train the ear and brain for success on the piano. We're training the large and small muscle groups, too, through harp and bell performance. We're fundamentally internalizing how music works, through a variety of types of training, so that when we play piano, we'll be truly successful as whole musicians.

Now remember, when your child asks, "What will be doing in class today?" simply and honestly answer, "fun songs and silly games!"  It's the perfect venue for all that hard work we're not telling him about.

-Gina Weibel, M.S.
Let's Play Music Teacher