Does your child have a favorite song, bedtime story, or moviehe requests over and over? As adults, we are constantly seeking new stimulation, while children often crave just the opposite.
Repeating activities helpsneural pathways develop tocreate long-term memories. Repetition gives kids a sense of power, accomplishment, and belonging, so it's no surprise they crave repetition.
It's true in music class, too. When we play a new game in music class, there is often some trepidation as everybodywondershow it's going to work. The next time we play, students are more at ease. They know with confidence, "I belong here, I know what happens next, I know what we do in this game, and I am a success in this class."
Layered Repetition Large doses of learning are squeezed into Let's Play Music classes by layering content. Yes, we may sing the same song for seven classes in a row, but each time, as the students become more proficient, we add new elements.
Students get the repetition they need for mastery and confidence, and teachers have a sneaky way to introduce new material in each and every class.
Below are some possibilities that your teacher may focus on over the weeks, all within one song. Want to help us get the most from class time? Listen to the music at home so your child is already familiar with the song and lyrics before class...your teacher doesn't want to spend much time on that.
Notice the lyrics, what do they mean?
Listen carefully to the melody, can you recognize the common melodic patterns? Can you play the melody on bells/ keyboard? Can we transcribe the melody?
Shall we sing the entire song using just solfege and handsigns instead of lyrics? Can we transpose to another key/ multiple keys?
Focus on the ostinato. Play it on bells/ keyboard while you sing.
Can you hear the harmony? What chords do you hear? Identify the chord progression.
Audiate parts of the song.
Listen to the rhythms, can you identify the bugs?
How does this song make you feel, how do you want to move/dance? What words describe the type of sound or style of playing?
Notice the format of the song- do sections or phrases repeat? How are thesections different?
etc.
The Rule of Seven
In Marketing, there exists a well-known idea that a prospect must see or hear about a product at least seven times before they'll take action and buy it. The point is, the ability to generally recognize something is strengthened with multiple encounters.
This is why, in music class, we will also present several songs or games for each concept covered (common melodic pattern, common rhythmic pattern, minor tonality songs, common chord progressions, legato vs. staccato, etc.) Experiencing each concept in multiple, slightly different musical examples gives students a chance to better recognize and isolate the element.
Spaced Repetition & Memory When we learn a new bit of information on Day 0, we all start to forget the information right away. It's a bummer, but that's just how the brain works. Our brains need cues to get the message, "hey, this stuff is worth remembering."
The forgetting curve looks like an exponential decay curve.
Each time we review what we know (and start to forget again right away), the decay curve is a little bit flatter. Each time we can allow longer periods between review, and we can remember just a little bit longer before we start to forget.
The trick for optimizing learning is to plan repetition of activities and information so that the reviews coincide with the intervals of time when students are starting to forget their facts. With organized intervals of repetition, we can study smarter, not longer.
That's why we sing a new Let's Play Music song or game in every class, several times, when it is first presented. Then it comes back (less frequently) for us to review and sing.
Remember Every Song If you want to study smart, try creating your own spaced repetition learning: review pieces of information that you are retaining well less often than pieces that you are not remembering well.
Here's quick piano example: Choose the piano songs you want to review. How about every song I have memorized. Attempt to play through the songs. Based on how accurately you can remember the song, decide if you will review it again tomorrow, next week, next month, in 4 months, or next year.
As part of your routine, each time you play piano, include some work on a new piece you are trying to memorize and include a play-through, from your schedule of a piece that you already know.If your list is short and you're having fun, you might play more songs than are on your list (playing memorized songs is really fun.)
The importance of the list is to remind you of your songs- if you wait too long, you'll forget what you worked hard to memorize in the first place.
Remember, the goal is to practice again just as you are about to forget, and that happens at increasing intervals each time. By making it part of your routine to play through one memorized song (it's fun-you won't mind), you'll retain every song you've ever memorized, forever!
There
exists a piano-playing dilemma in the world: Parents know that piano lessons are the best way to begin musical education (read our post), BUT a child’s ability to
hear and internalize music peaks way before his ability to precisely control his fingers. Parents find themselves in a quandry: "Should I put my child in piano lessons now, even though his fingers are not really ready, or should I keep him out for a year or two but miss out on meaningful music and ear training during a critical time!?" Let's Play Music has solved the dilemma! In
the first year of
Let’s Play Music, we took advantage of the ears' sensitivity in the
‘Music Learning Window’ by
emphasizing ear training, rhythm training, melodic patterning, classical
music
listening, and harmony exercises without requiring finger dexterity to participate.
Students practice harmony and rhythm without much dexterity
I like to tell parents, "We let their
ears and brains internalize as much as they want, as fast as they want-
they don't have to be held back by what their fingers could perform
at this age!" Can advanced concepts be taught to little students? Yes,
yes, they can. If they hear and internalize the concepts early on,
they are ready for abstract conceptualizations we explain it to them in year 3.
Get Started on Keyboards Typical second year students are 5-6 years
old and ready to begin using the keyboards. At the beginning of the year, they are not usually happy to sit still or practice for long periods. For this reason alone, I generally advise against enrolling 5-year-olds in private 30-minute lessons. At this age, they learn best through active play (read our post here) but enjoy focused bouts on the bench, progressively lengthening in duration. Let's Play Music is specifically designed to meet the needs of this age student, and that means being more active and fun than sitting still! 5 year-old hands and fingers are still quite weak and uncoordinated, so keyboard experiences must be
simple training exercises that progress slowly. For a bunch of ideas for playful (non-piano) ways to strengthen fingers before and during the GREEN semester, read our post here. Of course you'll be doing your on-piano drills from class, too. It will take some time before the fingers catch up to what the ears and mind have already learned! The beauty is that the child's trained ear will correct his fingers. I find it very satisfying to have a student say, "gosh, that didn't come out sounding like I expected.
I better double-check my fingers and play it again." Likewise, I find it
worrisome when a non-LPM student pounds out a song at the piano and cannot hear his own errors!
Posture at the Keyboard
An example of improper posture. PC Julie Fishbeck
The keyboard is a phenomenal teaching tool. We wish to introduce it properly and with correct technique. But be aware- technique is best adapted around age 8, when students' ability to precisely control hands and fingers is finally developed. Wise private piano teachers will wait until age 7 or 8 to focus on technique drills. (Remember, age 5 is the time to focus on ear training.) The following are things parents and teachers can encourage during Let's Play Music, but they are not expected to always be maintained/ enforced. That will come during private lessons.
Arm Position:ideally your child's elbows will be slightlyhigher than the keyboard. Teachers with electric keyboards can lower them, but with a real piano at home you'll have to raise your bench height or use a booster. Adjusting seat height is perhaps the most impactful change you can make. Arms should hang loosely from shoulders. If elbows are too high or low, it's impossible to achieve a level wrist and a correct hand shape and the student often hunches up the shoulders to raise her own arm. Teacher Anna White purchased these piano cushions for $20 to boost students up, but also uses these cheap foam craft squares to create just-the-right-height for each kid. Marnie Christensen and Mallory Harris (Gilbert, AZ) remind us that you can go old-style an old phonebook bound in duct tape, or a new pack of printer paper! Flat Feet:it seems unfair that we just made you raise your child up and NOW we are saying the feet should reach the floor! Dangling feet can cause a student to lean back away from the keyboard. A footstool, book, or box can be placed under the feet so the student is able to lean forward slightly. you could buy this perfect piano footrest for $80, but Teacher Misty Burnett (West Point, UT) found that IKEA pull-out drawers were just the right size and shape. Bench Distance: the child should sit far enough from the keyboard so she sits perched on the front 1/2 of the bench, leaning forward ever so slightly, and can put both hands in C position comfortably. Sit up! Remind your child to sit up tall, like a string is pulling up on her head, so her back is straight and shoulders can relax down. Green Turtle Shells are not for shoulders to hide in (you are not a turtle!) If you see a chin poking way out forward, remind your child to pull her chin in and sit up.
Hand and Wrist Position Wrists and Fingers: 'Bubble Hands' is the term we use to explain the soft,
round, natural position of the hand on the keyboard. This position allows for natural movement of
the fingers, making it possible for all fingers to touch the keys at the same
time and promoting relaxation in the hand. Did you notice that although all finger pads touch keys, it's the side of the thumbs that rests on the keys? If fingers are stiff and straight, thumbs can't even reach the keys. That's why we sing "Rounded like a bubble, fingers flat are trouble…"
In class and at home, your child will practice holding a REAL BUBBLE so she can see and feel the shape her fingers take. Once the bubble is
no longer used, her brain and muscle memory take over to reproduce this
perfect bubble shape whenever possible. Of course, when she begins playing, variations are expected. Bubble-hand is an ideal position to strive for, and it will come as
fingers grow in strength from years of practice. Pop the Bubble When doing scales, we must pop the bubble for a moment. Teacher Justine Turcotte shows how to avoid "chicken wings" while popping by creating "cat claws" during the cross-over.
Mental Technique Your child looks at a note on the staff or hears the teacher say a finger number. Then, she thinks about what the notation represents, decides which finger corresponds to the note, and sends a signal to the finger to 'press down'. This arduous hand-to-mind-connection process can take a while –
much longer than it takes adults. This process is practice, and although it is slow and may sound ugly, this is what builds the muscle memory for future playing. (Read our post on muscle memory) It is critical to not press down on a
child’s finger to play the key. Although we want to help "speed things up", this only interferes with her brain’s processing and will rob her mind of the chance to learn how to translate cues into muscular movement. (You can't practice for your child.)We should not even touch the finger, as this
disrupts the connection from the muscle to the brain and disturbs the 'bubble hand'.
What you can do:A better way to encourage your struggling child is to press the
key at the top of the key near the soundboard (we call this the “player piano method”). Her finger will feel the key drop beneath it and she'll experience the sensation
of the muscles moving in the correct way.
This gives the brain a nudge toward learning to send the proper signal to
the finger. Teacher Misty Ralphs in Chubbuck, ID (studio link) has an additional game for practicing finger numbers that YOU can play at home: she blows bubbles into the room, and the students have a chance to pop them, but only with the specified finger as she calls them! Technique Drills
Once the
hands are correctly placed on the keyboard and each finger feels the key
relationships, we train the fingers to play smoothly from one finger to
the next. Each finger gains the
ability to independently press down with adequate strength. All of the keyboard
technique songs are essential for developing finger strength, control and dexterity. Undoubtedly, once you graduate from Let's Play Music, your new teacher will have many additional technique drills to add to your study. By then, your child's finger musculature will be mature enough to handle some very complicated patterns and commit them to muscle memory! -Gina Weibel, M.S. Let's Play Music teacher
I was recently on a 5-hour flight with my four-year-old, and we stayed busy the entire time. I had packed her Memory game and her Let's Play Music tone bells amid other toys and books. Together we invented "Memory Sounds," a way to play the Memory game using tone bells to strengthen both ear-training and memory. If you have a new set of tone bells and are looking for another fun way to put them to use, read on!
Sound Memory What you will need: A Memory game (check your local thrift shop- I got mine for $2), a set of Let's Play Music tone bells, and a curtain or binder or wall to hide the bells from the players/ listeners. Set Up You won't need all of the matching pairs from your Memory game. At most you will need 8 pairs. Set up a divider so your child can't see the bells. Lay your bells from left to right, high to low: this seems backwards to YOU, but your child facing you will hear low sounds on HER LEFT and high sounds on HER RIGHT. Next to each bell, choose two different pictures to represent that sound. Finally, put the matches from all of those pictures into a "draw box".
The first time we played this game, we were in tight quarters on a plane (photos below). I used a blanket draped between our seats as a barrier, and had the bells on my tray. Since it was our first time and I wanted her to get confident with the game, I only used three pairs. If your child struggles with hearing and matching sounds, just use a few pairs, and use tones that are NOT adjacent (not an interval of a second). I used Do, Mi and Sol.
One-Player Game The listener chooses two cards and holds them up so the musician can see them. The musician states the picture and then plays the corresponding bell. "Train...ding! Banana...ding!" If the two sounds match, the player makes a pair. If they don't match, she tries a different combination of pictures. Even when she hasn't made a match, she's practiced identifying if the sounds match! A valuable skill! This game is fun and challenging for ANY family member, even recent Let's Play Music graduates. I was impressed how quickly my 8-year-old LPM-grad made matches. (In the video below, we hadn't yet realized it's best to have the bells laid out high-left to low-right for the musician.)
Multi-Player Game Each player takes a turn picking two pictures and listening to the sounds, hoping for a match. Just like in regular Memory, players can gain advantage by paying attention to the combinations chosen by others. Major Scale Strategy It didn't take my kids long to come up with a helpful strategy! Each time you guess two cards and hear the tones, set the cards on the floor in a line, placing the cards approximately as far apart as the tones sounded, with the higher sound to the right. You'll visually be lining up the tones and helping them find mates. At the end of the game, all of your pairs will be arranged in a Major Scale! Remove the screen/ divider, and you'll be able to check that all of the matches were correct AND they are all in the correct order to make a major scale. I hope you'll have some family fun game time playing this game as the musician or the listener. Just for the record, the white noise on the airplane was so loud that the tinkle of our tone bells could hardly travel more than a few feet: no patrons were harassed in the making of this blog post. -Gina Weibel, M.S. Let's Play Music Parent
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