At home music instruction?

[warriormom]

I am interested in teaching my 5 year old an instrument and/or buy a DVD set that will help teach him at home. BTW, I did take a couple of years of piano from 8-10 and my husband is a drummer. We do not have the money to pay for private lessons in Atlanta. Do you have any suggestions? Here are the programs I am considering:

 

1. The Violin Book

2. Music for Little Mozarts

3. iPlaymusic

 

If you have used these programs, please let me know. Any suggestions? :bigear:

[kangato3]

I used Music for Little Mozarts for both my boys, from about 5 years old until they started formal piano lessons, around 7. I don't have a music background and thought it was easy to implement and very fun for young children.

Louise

[kathkath]

you could probably do alfred's prep series for children for piano.

[Gratia271]

The Violin book series is outstanding!

[warriormom]

Can you share with me the strengths and weaknesses of Music for Little Mozarts and The Violin Book?

[MeganW]

I have a friend who swears that she is having really good luck with these. I have not heard her kids play, but she is someone whose opinion I really trust, so they are worth a look.

 

 

 

 

Focus on Suzuki Piano (About Suzuki)- Mary Craig Powell;

 

 

Studying Suzuki Piano: More Than Music : A Handbook for Teachers, Parents, and Students (Suzuki Piano Reference)- Carole L. Bigler;

 

 

Suzuki Piano School - New International Edition- Volume 1 (The Suzuki Method Core Materials)- Dr. Suzuki;

 

 

Suzuki Piano School: Performed by Valery Lloyd-Watts (Volume 1&2) (Suzuki Method)- Shinichi Suzuki; Audio CD

[warriormom]

Does she have a background in music? I am wondering since mine is so limited.

[MeganW]

I think she said she had a year or two of piano in elementary school, but had forgotten it all.

 

FYI - Suzuki does require YOU to learn alongside the child.

[Alicia64]

I have absolutely no instrument background except I always wished I could learn to play the piano.

 

My boys are 7 and we just bought a great Casio keyboard and the Pianimals curriculum. At first I was reading Pianimals angry thinking, "but where is the middle C key on the keyboard???"

 

But once you find the middle C -- and you already know where it is -- you're good. Today we played Mary Had a Little Lamb, My Country Tis of Thee and Twinkle, Twinkle.

 

People on WTM recommended it. We can't afford the cost of piano lessons either.

 

Alley

[kalphs]

Take a look at Bastien Piano available at www.sheetmusic.com

A few years ago I played through the first level of the children's books to get a feel for the program. I recently purchased the Bastien Adult Piano course as a refresher course for myself.

[JoyfullyNoisy]

For piano, try My First Piano Adventures by Faber and Faber (published by FJH). It comes with a fun CD for the student to play along with and it provides a solid foundation (there are three books in the series, leading up to level 1 of the elementary books). The website also provides lesson video guides.

 

http://pianoadventures.com/myfirst/

 

Good luck!

 

:)

[Shifra]

I also had only 2 years of piano instruction (although I was a little older; I was 12 and 13). Music for Little Mozarts is a scripted program so it is relatively easy to follow. If you get the Music Discovery book, you will need the CDs also. The CDs has the script and music for both the lesson book and the music discovery book. But whether you can teach it to your child depends on how much you remember from your own music lessons. If you remember absolutely nothing, then you will need more of a program geared toward homeschooling. Music for Little Mozarts is really meant for teachers of piano who want a program for preschoolers. If you remember most of what you learned in piano, then it is OK.

[catz]

My son has done 4 1/2 years of Suzuki piano with a teacher. I'd be really cautious about taking that series on without either a teacher or quite a bit of piano background (or at least a very strong interest in learning piano yourself). There is quite a bit taught and covered that is not in the books, not to mention the leaps are very technique based (even the very early pieces require particular hand position, posture, etc to move on). I think it would be hard to just jump in with this approach without a really big parental commitment (honestly, it's even a big commitment WITH a teacher. I learned piano with my son through book 2. He's well beyond me now finishing book 4). When my child started Suzuki he started in the Suzuki book, a sight reading book, and a theory book. I would think if you started in something like Little Mozarts you'd be covering all these bases.

 

I have heard wonderful thing about independent use of the Little Mozarts series though from other homeschoolers and heard it's a great starting point. It's simple to buy and to jump right into.

 

I have a friend who swears that she is having really good luck with these. I have not heard her kids play, but she is someone whose opinion I really trust, so they are worth a look.

 

 

 

 

Focus on Suzuki Piano (About Suzuki)- Mary Craig Powell;

 

 

Studying Suzuki Piano: More Than Music : A Handbook for Teachers, Parents, and Students (Suzuki Piano Reference)- Carole L. Bigler;

 

 

Suzuki Piano School - New International Edition- Volume 1 (The Suzuki Method Core Materials)- Dr. Suzuki;

 

 

Suzuki Piano School: Performed by Valery Lloyd-Watts (Volume 1&2) (Suzuki Method)- Shinichi Suzuki; Audio CD

Edited January 23, 2011 by kck

[Sahamamama]

I used Music for Little Mozarts for both my boys, from about 5 years old until they started formal piano lessons, around 7. I don't have a music background and thought it was easy to implement and very fun for young children.

Louise

 

We also have Music for Little Mozarts, and it is a well-structured, easy-to-implement, adorable introduction to music for young students. While I bought it to use last year (2010) with the girls, I decided to wait until next year (2012) before we start. Why? Honestly, I liked that MLM has true musical substance in such an appealing package. It seems to me that a child a bit older than the target ages (4-6 years) could and would enjoy the program just as much as a preschooler.... maybe more?

 

In 2010 for Music, we sang songs, marched to a beat, learned to drum and clap to a beat, and simply enjoyed music. We also listened to the classical music of four composers: J.S. Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Mozart. We read a children's biography for each composer. The girls sang in our church's Christmas program, sang every Sunday at worship service, and generally sang all year long.... And that was enough for these little ones.

 

In 2011, the plan for Music is to sing our way through these Bible memory songs. Plus, we will continue our Composer Study with four more composers: Franz Josef Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Aaron Copland (or Leonard Bernstein). For the biographies we'll use this website.

 

We are in the same boat about not being able to afford private lessons. For three kids! So we'll do our best at home to lay a foundation for enjoying and making music, learning how to read music, learning about composers and their works, discovering the place of music in history, and learning basic music theory. There is more to music than performance.... if we are limited in one area, we will do our best and learn about other aspects of music. In later years, I plan to have the girls go through some of these resources from The Teaching Company (our library has them for free :D), especially "Understanding the Fundamentals of Music," "How to Listen to and Understand Great Music" and "How to Listen to and Understand Opera." We'll attend as many free or discounted concerts as we can. If we are able to afford private lessons in the future, and the girls are committed to practicing, we might go for it. FWIW, I wouldn't pay for lessons for a five year old -- maybe a 12 or 13 year old would understand the commitment required for such an investment?

 

There's more than one way to skin a cat. ;) HTH.

Edited January 23, 2011 by Sahamamama

[lukebar]

As a piano teacher myself, I would have to agree that embarking on teaching the Suzuki method of instruction without training could be very frustrating for both the parent and the child. The Suzuki books themselves have very little instructional guidance. Most of what you need to know about HOW to use the books comes from training seminars or from mentoring with other experienced teachers.

 

I think a much better route for parent guided instruction would be something like the Music for Little Mozarts. Or better still, a new method book which I have been using with my four year old students called "My First Piano Adventure", published by Faber and Faber. It too comes with a CD, and I think the course of instruction would be much easier to follow for home study.

[Mrs Twain]

I have been using Loretta Mitchell's _Ready-To-Use Music Reading Activities Kit: A Complete Sequential Program for Use with Mallet and Keyboard Instruments_. It is very basic instruction teaching reading music which you can use with the piano. It is easy to do with homeschool, though I think people who don't know how to read music at all or have never played an instrument themselves may not be able to teach it.

[LindaWood]

Hello,

 

I have a decent piano background (took about 8 years) but have no degree in music and very little teaching in theory. I have taught all our children (five of them) using Faber Piano Adventures. I like it because it tells me exactly what to do and it coordinates all the books together. There are even more helps now, because Faber has a teacher book that goes with the primer level and maybe level one? I have not used the First Piano Adventures book. My 18 year old daughter progressed to a different piano teacher about 3 years ago.

 

This same daughter taught herself violin through the Violin Book starting when she was about 14. It has been very thorough--there are checklists to complete to make sure that she is doing the right technique and so forth. She never really did squeak!

Linda