I am often asked: what is the best way of teaching music to children?  My answer is:  find a good teacher, start your child as early as possible and help your child learn music even if you don’t play any instrument. When your child learns the musical notation, sit down and learn it along with your child.

What will your child know about Music by studying with me?  I would say: foremost, it is the concept of music. Through exercises on an instrument and by voice, the child will learning how a piece of music is composed, why pieces of music sound differently, and what the ‘tricks” are that make a piece unique.

How is this achieved?  It is achieved through learning music in three dimensions:  by playing an instrument, by studying music theory and by doing ear training. Only this combination brings a musician to a good performance, which means, to meaningful playing.  Meaningful playing evolves out of  the understanding of all musical elements that make up a piece. A musician needs to develop logical thinking about music.  This helps with memorizing and improvising and sight reading.

Solfege is a great system. It is a fully developed method of teaching ear training and music theory. Every element is taught step by step and through a system of different exercises that involve playing, singing and writing music.

It will be very rewarding to see how much the children can and will learn and how they will apply this knowledge.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Notation – sight-reading in treble and bass clefs

Scales – major, minor (three types); sight reading in parallel and relative keys

Key signature – circle of fifth; enharmonic keys

Beat, rhythm, meter – sight-reading in simple meters; subdivision of the beat

Principals of composition – creative work

Sequences – diatonic and chromatic; sight-reading and creative work

Intervals – perfect, major, minor; inversion of intervals

Chord and interval – construction of chords; triads – major, minor, diminished and augmented.