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Teaching Music
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I am looking for ideas for how to teach music to multiple ages, with little experience. We have covered music appreciation by listening to great music: Classical, hymns, folk songs, etc. But we haven’t really sang along. I have one child who sings off key. One is interested in learning to play piano. Another wants to learn ukulele. Our budget is small. I am considering teaching everyone the recorder as a first instrument. But do I teach singing or music theory first? I looked at a variety of music books by Alfred’s, Progressive, Christian Light Education, and others at Rainbow Resource. But I only become more confused.
I need something easy to use, for multiple ages with short lessons. I need an idea for a scope and sequence on what to teach and when. How many days each week should we have music lessons? Thanks for any direction you can give me.
I tried to teach it myself, I can play piano and thought I would teach the kids. It is something I needed to outsource because it was something I would drop first when the day was busy. When I outsourced it it forced me to not drop it because we were now commited, and my kids do enjoy it we just needed motivation.
In my experience to progress it takes practice. My kids practice 20-30 min four to five times/week and then lessons once a week for 30 minutes. All three play piano and my older son is branching into guitar as well.
For piano we use Alfreds piano series but my youngest started with Piano Adventures by Faber and those are really good too.
I would start with theory, the basics. Learning to read music what notes mean as they climb scales and also counts, how long each note lasts and such. My kids also take choir, with their piano teacher, and knowing the basics of music helps a lot when it comes to singing.
I know there are online learn to play programs for all sorts of instruments, that might be an option. I know a guitar teacher that will even do lessons via Skype which might be an option, maybe all your kids could do it at once. My youngest started piano in group lessons, was not sure how it would work, but it was fun and he really liked it.
Sorry not much help. Music can be challenging to commit to. It is so valuable but also so easy to let drop when the school days get crazy.
And as for singing off key… that takes practice and really learning to listen. My daughter wants to sing, but she is often off key. Helping out with their choir their teacher stops them, and has them repeat the note until they find the right key really encouraging them to listen to the music. My daughter still has long way to go, but is improving in listening and matching the tone and key.
I did think of something that can help motivate mom and students, having goals to perform. Recitals can be far away for my kids, but they have an opportunity to play at the nursing home they sing at monthly with choir (other kids play instruments as well) and that has been one of the most motivating factors for them. They get so excited to share what they have learned and worked on, not in a prideful way, but in sharing their gifts and the folks at the nursing home are so sweet and encouraging to the kids even when they make errors it has really helped build confidence. They have also had opportunities to help at church with children’s special songs.
Having goals, big or small, goes really far in helping motivate to practice and learn.
I don’t have music experience and I’ve been teaching my 4 and 6 yr olds to play the recorder using this book. It is very easy to follow along. The kids and I are learning a lot! I highly recommend it.
Thanks for all your replies. We decided to get everyone a $3 – $5 recorder at RR and a few music books which will teach notes and some theory. We will try to organize our hymns more formally to sing along once a week, along with playing the whole CD in our leisure time as we are accustomed to doing now. Maybe next year we can pick up more singing and other instruments. So we will try scheduling a daily 15 minutes music session for recorder or singing.
And I am thinking of visiting a home for the elderly maybe once a month for music performing, recitations, reading aloud, speeches, etc. That is a good idea.
For those who have taught music, I need help planning how to teach multiple children recorder with music theory using Penny Gardner’s Nine Note Method. She suggests the Aulos Symphony series, $22.50 at RR. But they also carry $5 Aulos student recorders. Do we all need our own recorder? This could get expensive with the Symphony series. Or would we share the same one? Will the $5 student recorder work just as well? (There must be a reason the price is higher…you get what you pay for.) Also, do we each need our own book, or share one? Have music lesson and practice altogether, or separately? Is this something older kids can teach themselves or is it better that we work together? I decided to allow up to 30 min. per day for music lesson/practice. Is this a good amount of time?
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