Category: Blog

I think it’s often been thought that stories are for entertainment or kids. Scientists are finding out stories are much more important than we thought. They’re not just parables that teach a lesson or a way to pass down history from one generation to the next. It turns out that stories are how human brains string together perception into our linear experience of time.

Not only do stories reflect the way we experience time they also act as a construct that our brains use to drop details and memory into.  Trying to remember a random list of items is difficult. However, if they are incorporated into a story where each item has relevance, meaning is created helping to string it all together. Memory experts have long had a technique they use called ‘memory palaces’  and it’s based on a very similar idea. They create a mental walk through of a location they have in their mind and place all the items in the location. Even in this scenario, our minds can not resist the urge to overlay a story on the walk through.

Music is a natural form of storytelling that has existed forever. Not only do melodies make words more memorable, even when there aren’t words there is a natural structure that tells a story and leads the listener through a linear capture of time. Music captures emotion and injects it into the story giving the listener cues on how to feel about the content. Music also reflects the language and culture that it comes from.

Any composer or songwriter understands the basic mood tools they can use to affect their listeners. Even if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ve heard them and felt their effect.

• Minor keys or chords may evoke sadness or melancholy

• Major keys or chords can evoke happiness or excitement.

• Diminished 7th chords are good at creating suspense and were often used in silent movies. Imagine the scene where the heroine is tied to train the tracks with a train barreling her way as the audience agonizes over whether she will be saved in time.

• Augmented 7 chords have been used in TV and movies when characters are thinking back to something that already happened or are dreaming.

• Tempo is another tool used to affect the listeners. Fast tempos can get the heart rate up and slower tempos slow down body rhythms.

• Dissonance creates conflict.
• Resolution indicates conflicts being resolved. Every good story has conflict that needs to be resolved.

• Question and answer also fill an important role in music. In English speech, our voices go up when we ask a question and down when we give the answer. Question/Answer is a tool that not only creates contrast but also gives the listener a reassuring experience. We all want to feel like our questions will get answers and maybe even more basic that they HAVE answers.

 

Music is a little snapshot of how we perceive time and how our mind creates the stories that inject meaning into our experience.

Since I began teaching I’ve thought a lot about what my experiences (both good and bad) are as a learner. I often think of the two people that were the most patient teachers with me, my mom and my grandma. I think they’ve both influenced me a lot not only as a learner but as a teacher.

I think my mom’s biggest strength as a teacher was in breaking things down into manageable steps and chunks that could be understood and accomplished. I definitely use that skill everyday but it was a skill that I took for granted until I started mentoring other teachers. My experience has been that most teachers don’t break things down enough and often come to the conclusion that something is too difficult for a student when it’s totally possible when broken down enough.

The thing that always strikes me about my experience learning from grandma is the environment she created.  She always made me love being there. My happiest memories of learning are with her yet it was never at the expense of doing things well. All the things that she taught me are things I excel at and still have a passion for. Love and discipline can coexist. This got me to thinking about how much the environment you are in can affect how successful learning is and how you feel about it.

Recently I woke up from a dream where I was at my grandma’s house and we were talking about a sweater I had tried to knit. I wasn’t sure the sweater could be rescued or that I would EVER be able to knit one that turned out well. I was feeling discouraged and doubtful about my abilities to figure things out or do something well. I also felt frustrated that I had poured so much time into something that failed. You may think, ‘It’s only knitting.” but how you feel in the middle of a failure is bigger than how much cosmic importance the thing you’re doing has. It’s a snapshot of your ability and confidence in yourself to navigate difficulty. How you feel directly affects the actions you take or don’t take and whether you are successful at conquering obstacles. I remember telling her what was wrong with my sweater and she said, “Don’t worry we’ll figure it out. I need to finish cleaning the kitchen and then we can sit down and work on it.”  I felt the anxiety and doubt melt away. I knew from past experience that she could help me right any mess I had made and learn where I went wrong. We were in the middle of doing dishes together when I woke up feeling peaceful and content. My emotions were so vivid in the dream that they stayed with me all morning. I woke up before I could conquer the obstacle but I already fully believed that it would be conquered. The warm cocoon she created in her house always had the ability to make me not only believe in her but in myself.

When I was little I thought that my grandma’s house was magical. I finally figured out that it wasn’t the house, it was her. Even though my grandpa was the more dominant personality, the environment in the house was like a fuzzy warm force field emanating from her. Over the years, I noticed the environments I’ve experienced and how they have the ability to make me feel. Whether it’s stressed or unwelcome, excited or content, I find that how I feel in an environment directly affects what I do and what I’m capable of in that moment. If an environment feels judgmental or intimidating, I know it’s going to make it harder for me to be at my best.

There are certainly physical things that can add to creating an environment but there is a part of it that can only be brought to life by the people in it. A big part of the force that each person exerts into the world comes from their own ideas and attitudes. When people are nurturing and positive, they send that out into the world around them and if they are negative and judgmental that’s what they send out.

I’ve thought a lot about what I want to send out into the world and what kind of environment I want for myself and the people around me. I want to create a place that makes me and the people I bring into it feel safe and happy. Content yet curious to explore possibility, where creativity and learning percolate and where students enjoy being. I’ve tried my best to create this in Treblemakers. It starts with a friendly little dog greeting them at the door, a lending library for students to sit down with a good book on a comfy couch or whiteboards to draw on while they wait for their lesson. Meanwhile all around them teachers and students are doing amazing things with music and the energy buzzes with inspiration. Understanding that our environment and the people in it fuels creativity has impacted me not only as a teacher but as a creator.

I think the right environment not only makes us happy but primes us to be receptive to learning. If we’re busy feeling fear or anxiety, we can’t really be at our best and we certainly will be less likely to take the kind of risks that true growth requires. Learning can be an uncertain and vulnerable place. Students are bravest and at their best when they feel safe, encouraged and believed in. There’s often a thought that a high-pressure environment will drive people to ‘rise to the challenge’. Although I think it’s admirable when people achieve under stress, I think that speaks more to their ability to shut out negativity rather than that the negativity caused the success. I wonder what their achievement would have looked like if they had been in an environment that encouraged and inspired them instead?

I feel like a lot of people write discouraging answers to these kind of questions. Mastering an instrument and getting pretty good at it are two very different things. You can get to a level where it is enjoyable and you sound good pretty quick. The mistake is in equating it to hours necessary because it really matters how you string the time together not just the raw amount of time. That being said, it can help to have some sort of framework to understand what it takes. I did some math using a practical plan that most people should be able to follow:

30 minutes x 4 times a week = 2 hrs

Simple Pieces Within One Month= 4 weeks x 2 hrs = 8hrs

Complex Pieces Within One Year= 52 weeks x 2 hrs = 104 hours

You could be playing simple enjoyable pieces within a month. You could be playing more complex pieces within a year IF you pay attention to these few things:

1. Regular, small amounts of practice will yield better results than putting in marathon stretches sporadically. Daily is ideal but three to four times per week will still get solid results. Practicing often is more effective and less work because it eliminates time spent remembering or relearning. Don’t skip days because you don’t have at least a half hour to spend. Revisiting information at regular intervals is crucial in saving it to long term memory. Doing one thing, even if it’s flash cards on the train, EVERY DAY will make learning successful a lot faster.

2. Concentrate on WHAT to accomplish instead of HOW LONG to practice. Make a plan that will work on foundation skills as well as playing skills. Playing an instrument incorporates a lot of different skills such as reading, rhythm, theory, coordination and expression. Try to do a little work on foundation skills and a little playing every time you practice. Example: Sight reading for 5 minutes, 2 Scales, perfecting notes and rhythms on a section of an easy song, a few measures of intensive work on a challenging piece.

3. Build Good Habits. Keep to one finger per key whenever possible and use good fingerings. It may not feel comfortable at first but you won’t build the dexterity or habits you need to play harder things if you don’t. Make sure to Connect Notes (legato) throughout phrases. Keep fingers curved. Work on transferring weight from finger to finger instead of using finger muscle. Sit in proper position on the edge of the piano bench in front of Middle C with weight over legs.

4. Learn to Read Music. This will allow you to learn new things easily and jog the memory of old pieces. Take a small note range (add three notes at a time), drill on it, practice with these free flash cards, use an iPad app (Piano Notes Pro) to quiz on it, try to play songs (Treblemakers Piano Method- Book 1) only using those notes.

Don’t be tempted to take too big of a note range at once. Too much new information at a time overwhelms and takes much longer to master. Just memorizing and learning by rote will limit what you can do. One of the most important things that people don’t consider about reading is that it gives you a tool to access the memory (in this case a song) you saved. Most of the time the problem isn’t in building the memory, it’s in accessing it. Build as many links as possible to that memory so it’s easy to bring it up when you need it.

5. Learn HOW to Practice. Good practicing methods get results that are quicker and last longer. LOTS of repetition of small pieces is the most effective way to get results. Students and teachers often conclude that something is too difficult because they underestimate how much repetition is required or how small things need to be broken down. Resist the urge to only play things front to back during practice. Allowing yourself to play mistakes over and over only strengthen them. Take the spot and give it lots attention. Play in front of it and behind it. Make notations in your music so that you see the area coming up and remember the issue BEFORE you get there.

6. Make practice plans and goals. It’s easy to stagnate or jump around too much and not accomplish anything without a plan. Put together a good practice plan to address skills you’ll need and pieces you want to play. Write both your plan and what you accomplish each time down in a notebook. This can help keep you on track and make you accountable. Every so often look back and assess your progress and goals. If you’ve accomplished some of your goals, add new ones. Be specific in your skill goals. For example, rather than writing ‘improve reading’, write ‘master reading notes middle C through G in right hand’. Then when it’s time to adjust goals you will know exactly what you’ve accomplished and what you need to add next.

Good luck!

As a private lesson teacher, this is a question that I hear a lot. Music education is an important part of a child’s education. It is because of my conviction in this value that I am a musician and an educator. There are many important life lessons in learning music and having music be a part of your life, in addition to its therapeutic value and ability to add happiness.

Eventually, it will be their choice how they want music to fit into their life, but giving your child a solid foundation gives them more opportunities in life (even as early as middle school). In competitive school application processes, music education can be a distinguishing factor for the selection committee considering a student for admission to middle school, high school and even university. It also gives them an edge when becoming part of band, chorus or other performing arts programs.

1. Kids are not ready to make smart decisions on their own about the big things yet. If a child knows that there is an opportunity to escape from a struggle or a responsibility there *will* be a point when they’ll take it with no real thought of tomorrow. Take quitting off of the table. Focus on helping them accept that struggling is part of growing and learning and that commitment is part of getting good at something.
2. Long-term success relies on the forming of good habits. Set reasonable practice expectations that you and your child can stick to and make them a regular part of your routine. Slow and steady really does win the race. Try to remove the guilt when you get off routine and allow yourself a break here and there for holidays etc. Just make sure that it’s temporary and not for large stretches of time.
3. Music lessons should not be torture. If they are, find another teacher. An important part of a teacher’s job is to inspire. You can teach students through doing music they love. If they don’t know what they love, expose them to different things until something ignites that spark. Learning is way more effective and lasting when you have willing participants (both teacher and student).
4. Recognize when ‘I hate this’ is coming from frustration or fear of failure and not actually from the thing they’re ‘hating’. No one likes to feel bad at something. Teaching music for over 20 years, I’ve had many a student complain about a song when it feels difficult (often a song they chose!) and then when they can do it, it becomes their favorite thing to play. Don’t allow them to say ‘I hate’. Make them replace it with something productive, like ‘I can do this’. Neuroscience has discovered that you can create the feeling you want to have by going through the action or the thought that goes with it (negative or positive).
5. Institute a visible reward currency that they earn for practicing and can spend on screen time (or whatever they like doing). The idea of this is not bribery but to link work with reward. The currency should be mainly ‘time related’ not material. Use poker chips or something they can drop in a see-through container so they can see their work add up. This part is important. Kids need it to be tangible and visible in order for it to matter to them. You can tweak this, but this is the currency system my family uses:

1 white chip earned for practice or other things (walking the dogs, homework, dishes, etc.)

5 white chips equals a red chip

5 red chips equals a blue chip

1 red chip buys any one of the following: 1/2 hour of screen time and may be used consecutively

1 blue chip earns something extra special: go to a movie, trip to the craft/toy store etc. Generally 1 blue chip is worth roughly $25 in cash, but should be used in a pre-defined venue such as movies, toys, books, games, etc..

As a music teacher, the most common regret I’ve heard from parents is the personal regret that their parents allowed them to quit lessons. People often have this perspective even if they didn’t have a great experience with lessons. Most people enjoy music; learning it should tap into this joy and shouldn’t be the cause of driving students away from music. Practicing is a responsibility but it shouldn’t be a burden. Striking the balance between discipline and love is an important part of making music lessons be a positive addition to life and not a negative one.

Music has been marginalized in our educational system and relegated to an extra that’s ‘fun’ but not necessary. And often when it is taught, it is so watered down and sporadic that it doesn’t begin to have the full impact it’s capable of. People are led to believe that you are naturally talented or not and that maybe it’s ‘not for you’ if you weren’t born with natural ability.

Life Skills:

It is often said that getting to Carnegie Hall is 90% work and 10% talent. The point being that talent does factor in if you’re trying to be a world-class musician, but even then it’s mostly work. There are so many skills and benefits to be gained from studying and being involved in music that it seems ridiculous to say someone shouldn’t bother to learn if they don’t have the potential to be a concert pianist. Focusing, self-discipline, commitment, struggling, and learning how work on one’s own strengths and weakness’ are all things that can be gained from studying music or learning an instrument.

Students Capability:

You would never tell a child who’s not a natural at math not to learn because maybe ‘it’s not their ‘thing’. Most people are going to need to be able to make change and are capable of learning quite a bit of math even if they don’t end up being a physicist. And who can really say anyway at such an early stage what people are capable of or that being a physicist or concert pianist are the only worthwhile choices.

Therapeutic Value:

Music has the ability to move people and can be a powerful force in their lives. It can console us when we’re down, motivate us to get things done and allow us to vent unhealthy emotions. It can reflect any emotion and even change our mood when we hear it. It’s hard to find a person that music has no effect on, and that’s just from listening to it. It’s power becomes even greater when a person is involved in the creation or performance of it.

In order for our kids grow up to be happy, healthy, productive adults, they need to have a well-balanced education. Growing up should be a time to be exposed to different subjects, sports and arts. All the skills they learn ultimately add to whatever they end up doing for a job but also add to make the rest of their life richer.

When I first started thinking about doing Treblemakers Day Camp, I was excited about the cool projects and in depth experience I could give students that I don’t normally have enough time to delve into during one-on-one lessons. I love using my imagination to come up with exciting ways to learn and create.

When I was little, I used to say I was going to have a LOT of kids. When I grew up, I realised that I couldn’t do that and still have time to do all the other things I wanted. I wanted to spend my life being creative and immersed in music. In Day Camp, I get to be creative, musical and have ten kids. I LOVE spending all day with these guys and always feel a little teary at the end of the session but also COMPLETELY exhausted!

We are now in our ninth year of Treblemakers Day Camp and I have gotten to do so many amazing projects. We’ve done Garageband, composing for music box, music videos, group performances, singing in harmony and even written music for a puppet show. We’ve created origami, designed t-shirts, made shrinky dinks and felt creations. We’ve played four square, whiffle ball, kickball and dodgeball. One constant has been defying expectations in the quality of work that kids are capable of.

Students come out of camp having learning a tremendous amount yet raving about how fun it was. We have many return campers every year and always some beginners. We have regular Treblemakers students and students from other teachers that come to add group playing to their experience. Camp is a great way light or reignite the spark for learning music. Not only does it get students excited about learning it also gives them a serious boost in progress. We play music every day for two weeks and drill on music foundation skills through fun activities such as computer games or game show.

Through all of this we bond together as a group whether we’re playing in the park together, creating music or battling it out in game show. The beauty of it all is that they get to see firsthand and be a part of what we can do together as humans. None of it is possible or quite as spectacular all alone. When all the music parts come together and they are singing all out, it is pure magic. I love getting to orchestrate that happening.

The reason method books fail to build strong reading skills is a two part problem.

Part One: Most popular series are old and don’t integrate any of the advances we’ve made in understanding the brain, memory and learning. The most popular piano method series have been around for decades, some even as old as from the 1940’s. People are invested in using these old books even though they are not effective in teaching reading or exciting students. Newer series tend to be written following the same formula as the old ones. They may try to be more fun but they’re no more effective at teaching reading.You may wonder how have people learned to read if these books are so bad at teaching it? That comes to the second part of the problem:

Part Two: The way that students learn has changed. You can get away with using non-optimal systems if students are immersed in constant repetition over a long period of time. The problem is that today’s students are often overcommitted, don’t practice everyday and have a choice on whether to take lessons or quit. The old system could work for some but it often drove the joy out of learning and didn’t work for the majority of people.

What doesn’t work with method books:

1. Too much information is introduced at once. Three to four things (or notes) is optimal for the working memory to hold and use effortlessly. This allows students to use information to play music on the spot. The most effective learning involves not only drilling but also using information in a real world situation. Introducing too much information at a time takes much longer to master and bogs down the working memory causing mental fatigue.
2. Not enough repetition on information before adding more and moving on. The few books that start with only three notes (which is a good number), immediately add new notes after one song. Students quickly memorize songs and are no longer practicing reading.
3. Systems that avoid reading, such as notes written in, finger numbers, or learning by rote don’t allow students to build or practice reading skills. Never use a system that will have to be replaced later. Learning involves forming habits. It is much more work to undo habits than to build the right ones from the beginning. Systems that can be built on not replaced are more effective and less frustrating.
4. Using acronyms to learn note names. In order to read and play music in real time, information retrieval needs to be lightening fast. Acronyms quickly become a crutch and take too many steps to bring up the information.

What strategies work? Small Amounts of information (3-4 notes) should be introduced, drilled on and used till mastered before adding more. Plenty of fresh material needs to be provided on each note range to allow students the repetition needed to commit the information to long term memory. Information needs to be revisited at regular intervals over time to cement learning.

This is what motivated me to write Treblemakers Piano Method Series. When you use learning strategies that are more effective everyone does better. The majority of students that would normally quit within the first year actually learn how to read and get past the hardest part which is building a foundation. They can gain skills easily without feeling frustrated or overwhelmed and then are often more motivated to practice because they also get to a level where what they can do feels satisfying. It’s hard to keep slogging away at something if you don’t feel like you’re getting good at it. And of course the students that are diligent, do amazing. Ironically, those with the most aptitude often struggle the most with reading when it isn’t approached in a smart way. Their playing ability grows so fast that their reading level feels too far away from their playing level making it seem too difficult to tackle.

Hundreds of students have learned with Treblemakers Piano Method since I first wrote it in 2009. Without a doubt, they’ve gained strong reading skills without the struggle that my students before encountered. As teachers we should be striving to make the learning experience more successful for more people. I know that  the writers of the method books that came before were striving to do better for their students and were innovators in their time. It is our responsibility as educators to BUILD on what those who came before contributed not just pass along unchanging traditions.

I’m excited to announce the supplemental learning content I’ve created for Piano on Quizlet! I have created 43 sets so far and will be continuing to add more content for piano and also will create sets to supplement other instrument learning.

In case you are not familiar with Quizlet, it is a flashcard platform online and through mobile apps for students to learn and study information. It has study sets on all kinds of subjects for teachers and students to use.

Teachers can create ‘classes’ on Quizlet where they put ‘study sets’ for the students in their class to use. For each study set that a teacher creates, Quizlet plugs the information (terms, definitions, images and audio) into flash cards and games that students can use to learn and drill.

Students can start with untimed multiple choice ‘tests’, ‘write’ or ‘flash cards’ to learn information and then move on to timed games, like ‘match’ or ‘gravity’ (‘gravity’ is only on the computer version) to get information lightening fast. Complete mastery of note-recognition and other musical information is what allows musicians to read and play new music in real time. This is a fun tool that pairs with Treblemakers Piano Method Books and other curriculum to strengthen learning. I’ve always liked using flash cards in my lesson plans and this is even better.

I’ve created sets using the same learning strategy used in my teaching and method books.

1. Introduce small subset of information. (3-4 things)
2. Drill and use till mastered.
3. Introduce another small subset.
4. Drill and use till mastered.
5. Combine sets.
6. Drill and use combined set.
7. REPEAT!

I’ve included the free link below for anyone to join and use my class. This can help you track progress, know what information is mastered and what needs more attention. Students can also compete against themselves and others in my class for fastest times.

https://quizlet.com/join/MHjsy4aQz

Treblemakers Piano Class Quizlet Sets Available Now:

Reading 1 RH C, D, E- Pairs with C,D,E Songs in Treblemakers Piano Method Book 1.

Reading 2 LH C,B,A- Pairs with C,B,A Songs in Treblemakers Piano Method Book 1

Reading 3 A-E (Set 1 & 2 combined) RH & LH- Pairs with first half of 5 Finger Originals in Treblemakers Piano Method Book 1

Reading 4 F & G in RH & LH- Pairs with second half of 5 Finger Originals in Treblemakers Piano Method Book 1

Reading 5 LH F below middle C-RH G above middle C (sets 3 & 4 combined)- Pairs with 5 Finger Classics in Treblemakers Piano Method Book 1

Reading 6 RH F above middle C-medium high C

Reading 7 LH medium low C-G- Pairs with chord outline, parallel motion and chord pattern sections in Treblemakers Piano Method Book 1.

Reading 8 LH medium low C-RH medium high C (sets 1-7 combined)- Pairs with Treblemakers Piano Method Book 2 and a vast amount of supplemental music.

Reading 9 Anchor C’s- Pairs with Anchors Songs in Treblemakers Piano Method Book 2. Drilling on anchor C’s allows students to always have a well-known note nearby to figure out unknown or less solid notes from.

Reading 10 LH low F-low B

Reading 11 RH D-G above medium high C

Reading 12 LH low F-RH high G (sets 1-11 combined)

Reading 13 LH low C-E

Reading 14 RH high A-C

Reading 15 LH low C-medium low C

Reading 16 RH medium high C-high C

Reading 17 LH low C-RH high C (sets 1-16 combined)

Key Signature Major 1 (C,G,D,A)

Key Signature Major 2 (E,B,F#,C#)

Key Signature Major 3 all sharps (sets 1 & 2 combined)

Key Signature Major 4 (F,Bb,Eb,Ab)

Key Signature Major 5 (Db,Gb,Cb)

Key Signature Major 6 all flats (set 4 & 5 combined)

Key Signature Major 7 all sharps & flats (Sets 1-6 combined)

Major Scales 1 (C,G,D,A) How many sharps?

Major Scales 2 (E,B,F#,C#) How many sharps?

Major Scales 3 (set 1 & 2 combined) How many sharps?

Major Scales 4 (F,Bb,Eb,Ab )How many flats?

Major Scales 5 (Db,Gb,Cb) How many flats?

Major Scales 6 (set 4 & 5 combined) How many flats?

What is the relative minor? 1 (C,G,D,A)

What is the relative minor 2? (E,B,F#,C#)

Note Values 1 How many counts? (whole, half, quarter, eighth)

Note Values 2 How many counts? (sixteenth, dotted half, dotted quarter)

Note Values 3 How many counts? (set 1 & 2 combined)

Note Values 4 How many counts? (rests-whole, half , quarter, eighth)

What kind of note? 1 (whole, half, quarter, eight)

Chords 1: What numbers of the scale do they come from? (triads)

Chords 2: What numbers of the scale do they come from? (triads)

Chords 3: What numbers of the scale do they come from? (triads set 1 & 2 combined)

Chords 4: What numbers of the scale do they come from? (7ths)

Chords 5: What numbers of the scale do they come from? (7ths)

Chords 6: What numbers of the scale do they come from? (7ths set 4 & 5 combined)

A lot of teachers and parents have the misconception that small kids cannot read music and substitute other methods in order to get them playing the piano. This is just not true. The longer reading is put off, the further the reading level will be behind the playing level and the more most kids will resist doing it. That being said, four year olds have challenges in learning to read music that older kids don’t struggle as much with. If you tackle those obstacles, reading becomes completely doable. Finding out why a student is struggling is the key to solving the problem. If you land on a reason that isn’t the underlying cause of the difficulty, you won’t be able to solve it and will conclude that it’s not possible. These are two misconceptions that I hear frequently from teachers and parents.

Misconception #1: If they are not reading words yet, they won’t be able to read music.

One of the advantages in the beginning stages of reading music is that you only need to be able to recognize letters A-G. Most young kids can do this long before they are able to put words together or string words into sentences. As piano music gets more difficult, recognizing patterns will be necessary but in the very beginning it is mainly straight note-recognition. The difficulty that often trips young ones up is actually not seeing lines and spaces as individual things or as different from one another. We’ll cover this below.

Misconception #2: The music print is too small for their eyes to read.

Unless they have a vision impairment, their visual development shouldn’t be an issue by toddler age. I do give them jumbo staff paper to write on because they are still developing dexterity and drawing small or detailed things will be difficult. I don’t usually recommend starting before age four for other reasons: focusing ability, dexterity and ability to understand concepts.

These are really misdiagnosis of the obstacles small children have reading music. These are the obstacles that I see small children struggle with and how I solve them.

Obstacle #1 – Tracking:  Small children have learned to track with their eyes but not in the specific way that it happens in reading text or music. Following unmoving words or notes across the page from left to right is different than the tracking that happens when eyes are following something that is moving or looking at a picture where the eyes can bounce between objects in any order. When kids read learn to read text, sometimes they need to place a ruler or bookmark under each line of text until they can learn to follow the words across the page with their eyes without losing their place. In music, this is easily taken care of by having a teacher or parent use a pencil and pointing to the notes as they go by. This helps train their eyes to track. Eventually they won’t need it. It’s also important to work on keeping their hand in position (one finger per key) and their eyes on the music as they read. It’s easy for anyone to lose their place in the music if looking up and down between the keys and the music frequently.

Obstacle #2 – Understanding Symbolism: Adults use symbolism all the time and it is easy to forget that this is new for kids. Kids that have just learned to write their alphabet in all lower case may not be able to see that a capital ‘A’ is the same as a lower case ‘a’ or a cursive ‘a’. It takes training to develop this skill. Kids still need guidance to see what characteristics things have in common that allow you to group them together as the same thing. Here are the ways to train them to differentiate between notes on the staff. It’s always important to give them questions they can ask themselves to determine what they are looking at.