First Year Articles

If you have a first year student, let us help you find the articles that are most helpful right now!  

Have a request for a topic/post? Leave a comment below. New articles come out regularly to help you get the most from music class by playing and learning at home

Parent involvement is the single most critical factor determining a student's long-term achievement in music. In Let's Play Music, parents attend class with students, and they don't just watch! Find out the why, the what, and the how of being an awesome music parent in this post.

The first year of the Let's Play Music program is light on the practice schedule, but when recital time comes, it's time to ramp up the regular, recorded practices with an intention of polishing the recital songs. Get a fun practice chart and some ideas in our blog post here.

Solfege is a powerful tool for ear training and singing skills. Find out why it works, why we use it in class, and how you can learn solfege quickly in this series:

Part One Here

Part Two Here

Part Three Here

Let's Sing! In PART ONE, learn why singing is a fundamental musicianship skill and essential for ear training. Read it here.

In PART TWO, help your child sing on pitch and match pitch with some exercises and activities. Read it here.

YES. We do teach perfect (absolute) pitch. Find out what this term means, how we teach it, and how it will benefit your child. Superpowers, here you come! Read the post here.

Ready for a fun exercise? Turn your favorite story books into song! Story time just reached a new level of greatness! Read our post and enjoy some easy to sing books- or create your own.

One facet of ear training is recognizing major and minor sounds. We have lots of fun training with a classic song and teach you a cup-passing-game in this post.

Have some pitch-matching, ear-training fun at home with your tone bells and a classic memory game. Find out how in this post.

We use vocal channeling to expand your range with this Halloween song. Plus some trick-or-treating with memorable melodies. There's even a coloring page just for fun. Read about it here.

Tambourine Train: Understand the difference between BEAT and RHYTHM, and learn more about helping your child find and keep a steady beat with some games and tips in this post.

Ever wondered: what exactly is ear training and what can it do for you? Find out a bit more from an ear training expert by reading this post.

Meet the BLUE BUGS! We use rhythm syllables to teach accurate and easy rhythm reading- find out how. Read the article here. 

How can building blocks and jungle drums help teach musical rhythms? Check out clever ways to think about subdividing beats in this article. Read more here.

The autoharp gives students a chance to read chords, play accompaniment, sing, and keep rhythm. Even without a harp at home, you can practice skills from class: read this post to see how.

We sing several traditional nursery songs in each of our programs. Find out why (and read to find out what happens next to the 3 blind mice) in this post.

Chords are a foundation for understanding music, composition, and improvisation. This classic song demonstrates what you can do with just one chord- check out some of the ways we use Paint to explore chords and inversions at many levels, in this post.

Make a major scale artwork to display in your home, starring YOUR CHILD. SO CUTE. Read more here.

Big Ideas that Shape Let's Play Music:

• Educating the Whole Musician: What does that mean? 
• Parent Involvement is Key: How does it lead to success?
• Let's Sing (part I): Sing first: Why Singing is Fundamental
• Let's Sing (part 2): Help me sing on pitch
• Perfect Pitch: What is it? Will my child develop it in LPM? 
• Group Lessons: Why group lessons are best for your child right now
• SOLFEG Part 1: When You Know the Notes to Sing
• SOLFEG Part 2: 7 Reasons We Use It to Teach, How It Helps Us Succeed.
• SOLFEG Part 3: Learn the Handshapes
• Learning to Read Music the LPM Way
• What exactly IS ear training? 
• Start with Piano: How Piano training prepares you for any instrument 
• Orff: His Influence on Let's Play Music, why we love our tone bells.  

Extend Your Learning with These Songs and Activities from First Year:

• 3 Blind Mice: A happy ending (and why do we use folk music?)
• Goodbye, Old Paint: Layers of Learning
• May There Always Be Me: Music's Power to Reach Children  
• I've Been to Harlem: Hear major and minor, Play the CUP GAME
• Oooh, Halloween!: Witches, Black Cats, Goblins Too!
• Thanksgiving Fun with 5 Fat Turkeys: Something For all Skill Levels 
• Meet the BLUE BUGS: Why Use Rhythm Syllables?  

More Fun Ways to Succeed in First Year:

• Memory Sounds Game: A classic memory game using tone bells!
• Practicing Autoharp at Home (Even if You Don't Have One!)
• Your First Recital: A 10-day practice log to color and prepare for the day!
• Strengthening Fingers to get ready for 2nd year
• The Music is In Me: A Picture book about Let's Play Music 

 Even More Interesting Topics:

• EARN $200: We'll pay you when you refer a new LPM teacher!
• EARN $100: We'll pay you when you refer a Sound Beginnings teacher!
• Happy Money: 5 Principles to help you decide if lessons are worth the $$  
• 3 Big Ways Music Boosts your brain (from Good Music Brighter Children)
• SET A GOAL: An acrostic to help you launch your musical adventure
• How to Buy a Piano: You'll need one for second year
• How to Care For Your Piano
• Holiday Gift-Buying Guide for Musical Kids
• The Piano Guys Interview: Practicing, Composing, and the value of Friends

• One More Time: A Podcast interview with LPM teacher, Kara Olson
• LPM on the News: A News report with LPM teacher, Gina Weibel  
• LPM interviewed by Easy Ear Training: What is LPM all about?

CLICK HERE for posts about our CORE VALUES

CLICK HERE for Second Year Topics

CLICK HERE for Third Year Topics

CLICK HERE for Sound Beginings Topics 


 

Lindsey Judd: The First Teacher Has Impact

In the bustling suburbs of Chicago, IL, Let's Play Music is blooming in the studio of veteran teacher, Lindsey Judd.  Lindsey currently teaches Sound Beginnings,  Let's Play Music, private piano, and voice lessons: not a light load for a mom with a newborn (her 5th child) just arrived in 2014!

I Knew I Would Teach Someday

Let's Play Music students begin our program at age five.  That makes perfect sense to Lindsey; that's when she began lessons, too. Even back then, she felt the premonition that she, too, might one day become a music teacher.  "I think teaching was 'in me' from the start because all throughout my years of lessons, I took mental notes of what my teachers did: things I loved and things I didn't love. Now I'm finally incorporating all of what I've gleaned."

The First Teacher Has Impact

Lindsey told me about her first teaching gig.  "When I was fifteen, a family at church asked me to teach piano lessons to their two daughters. In one moment I was both honored and terrified! I remember sitting in the school cafeteria at lunchtime, a few hours before our first lesson together, feeling the weight of being the first one to introduce these girls to piano.  I knew that as a first teacher, I could shape their entire piano experience."  

Fortunately that first experience went very well and that first family (with 7 children) kept Lindsey as a teacher for them all.  She identified, early on, an important truth we hold dear at Let's Play Music: A child's first experience with music must be fun, playful, and loving.  The environment and attitude around the first experience determines much about the many years to follow for a young musician!

Just an example of the fun you might find in Lindsey's class: Baby Natalie made a guest appearance this week, in the role of Bunny as the students played 'Bunny's Birdhouse' on their keyboards.





Give Them Success 

Not all of Lindsey's early lessons were so successful. One very young student, petite and adorable, struggled with finger strength.  "She wanted to learn to play so badly! Her yearning was tangible.  It broke my heart to see her small, weak hands struggle to push the keys, week after week.  She eventually stopped lessons because it was too frustrating.  Years later, when I found the Let's Play Music curriculum, I remembered this student and wished I could have introduced her to LPM! It would have enabled her passion to flourish without the discouragement from having little fingers.  It breaks my heart to think that any child might associate music with disappointment. Let's Play Music was designed for student's to have the maximum positive musical experience, and I'm grateful for it."

We Teach Music...and Life Skills

Balancing a music studio and five young children isn't easy.  Lindsey let me know that Let's Play Music isn't just the job; it's helping her with the mothering! She says, "Teaching the LPM curriculum helped me rediscover the fun, spontaneous side of myself that got a little rundown in motherhood.  We now implement LPM methods in our home; for example, we create songs for routines, like our jazzy original tune 'Socks, shoes, coats and here we go!'. I can hum a few notes from this , my kids echo it back, and know what to do."

Lindsey hopes to share this love of music with her students- not just being able to read and perform music, but to use it in daily living, love it, and play with music at every opportunity. She told me, "Our lives have become a musical!  We burst into song when we are happy, and again when we're so frustrated that singing seems a better outlet than shouting." 

"Making up songs has become our family norm; on one trip home from the store, three children spontaneously starting singing to their crying baby sister to soothe her... in parts! Each separate, spontaneous lullaby was sweet, melodic, and rhythmically interesting, layered on the siblings' sweet voices.  The Let's Play Music curriculum isn't just helping these children with pitch and theory, they're also learning coping skills; they're also armed with music as a source of strength to use when life gets tough."

"These memories are the moments I hold on to and come back to when practicing seems hard or teaching lessons feels inconvenient." 

Lindsey holds a BFA in Music Dance Theater from Brigham Young University.  You can visit her studio website here or her classes in Skokie, IL.  It was a great pleasure to get to know her better!


- Gina Weibel, M.S. 

A Happy Ending for the Three Blind Mice. Why folk music?

You child might be asking you: Why were the mice blind? Why did the farmer's wife chase them!?  What happened next!?

Rest easy once you've heard the extended story with pictures and happy ending, in this online (and offline) storybook by John Ivimey. The mice even end up with a pet cockroach…so friendly!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE BOOK

History of Three Blind Mice

This nursery rhyme became mainstream in children's literature in the 1842 publishing of "The Nursery Rhymes of England". However, it was originally written with music in 1609.  It is speculated that the origin of the tale of the mice came from the Catholic Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary), Henry VIII's only surviving daughter, who was known for her merciless hounding of Protestants.  The story could relate to Mary's 1555 execution by burning of three Protestant bishops.  The mice's blindness could be interpreted as faithlessness, alluding to their rejection of Catholicism.

Mary Tudor is also featured in the nursery rhyme "Mary Mary, quite Contrary", enjoyed by our Sound Beginnings Students.  The 'silver bells' and 'cockle shells' in the garden likely referenced torture devices like thumbscrews, and the 'maids' referred to The Maid (a pre-guillotine device for beheading).

Why Do We Sing Nursery Rhymes?

Let's Play Music adopts many Kodaly concepts of music education.  Authentic folk music has short form, pentatonic style, and simple, repetetive language.  The clear, simple, musical styles in nursery rhymes provide the perfect foundation for mastering beginning rhythmic and melodic skills.  Mastery of skills and concepts in progressive levels of difficulty is critical for the long-term musical success desired by Let's Play Music families.  'Three Blind Mice' is a melody that has withstood the test of time; any tune with poor melodic or rhythmic qualities would not have been passed from generation to generation for over 400 years!

"Kodaly felt that simple, expressive forms of nursery songs and folk music were most suitable for children because they were living music, not fabricated or contrived for pedagogical purposes. The language of folk music tends to be simple, drawn from speech patterns familiar to children even before they enter school."

"Kodaly felt a close relationship between the music of the people and the music of great composers. He believed that a love for the masterworks could be cultivated through a knowledge of and a love for one's own folk music."

Folk music plays an important artistic role for each musician: providing a cultural musical background.  In the Let's Play Music effort to educate the whole musician, we practice singing several folk songs to provide students with an ageless cultural background from which to draw from as they begin creating their own music.  

A fantastic way to understand the simplicity and richness of folk music is to peek at samples of folk music from several different cultures (click here).  You'll notice that each cultural video shows simple music, with only a few musicians, using instruments characteristic of their country.  Folk music often takes place outside for anyone to dance to.  Now that you've joined Let's Play Music, you'll have many opportunities to play and dance to folk music, too.

Let's Play Music also adheres to the 9 National Standards for Music Education.  Standard number 9 is: understand music in relation to history and culture. We offer a valuable string to the past when we teach children that music has been around since before even their parents were born!  Music has a role in life beyond just entertainment, and even beyond music education.  Your music teacher might let your child in on the secret that today they learned a song that is over 400 years old!  Back in that century, singing rhymes and songs to each other was the way people recorded history.  

A Little More Mi-Re-Do

Of course we love the simple melodies in folk songs since they give our beginning students the perfect complexity of tune to examine and identify.  Your child should be able to  hear and identify the mi-re-do in 'Three Blind Mice' and soon will be able to figure out how to pick out the entire tune, note-by-note on bells or keyboard from carefully listening and identifying solfeg. Encourage your child to 'mess around' with the bells, tell him that he just might able to figure out a well-known song, and chances are he'll come to you with a big proud smile once he gets it!

'Hot Cross Buns' is another easy mi-re-do tune you may want to sing and play with your child this week.  It actually ONLY uses these 3 notes!  (MRD, MRD, DDDD, RRRR, MRD).  If you let your child in on the 3-bell secret, and challenge him to pick out the melody, he'll master it like a jigsaw puzzle.  

Like any puzzle, we start with the easy puzzles that only have a few pieces.  Eventually your child's ears will be ready for more complex puzzles.  The ability to sing melodies from memory and pick them out on a keyboard is an exercise in relative pitch / intervallic ear training, some of the basic skills that Let's Play Music incorporates in our training of the whole musician.

-Gina Weibel, M.S.

Related Articles:

- Musical Superpower: Develop Perfect Pitch

- Ear Training: Learn to hear Intervals

A new Twist on a Classic Game: Memory Sounds

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