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Primary Music- General Advice On How To help Your Child At Home

Music in General:

  • If your child is not enjoying their private instrumental tuition, change teachers. Chances are that your child’s teacher is not engaging them in their learning/ choosing pieces that interest your child, etc. Encourage your child not to quit, and try a new teacher. Your child may think they have become disinterested in the instrument, but other factors could be in play.
  • Good instrumental teachers can be hard to find. It is best to go with someone recommended by a friend, but if you don’t know of anyone, you can try “Music Teachers Online” at this address: http://www.musicteacher.com.au/. Ideally you’ll want one half-hour lesson a week, which should cost around $35- $40. In my opinion, an hour is too long for young children.
  • Don’t project any negative feelings you have about music onto your child. If you think you have no musical talent, don’t talk about this with or in front of your child. If you say something like “we’re not musical”, your child will believe it and will quickly give up hope. You may think that you are paying your child a compliment by saying “He/She is great… I’m completely useless!”. Your child is more likely to presume that if you are “bad” at something, they will be too. You don’t have to lie, just stay positive and stay interested.
  • Play “name that tune”. Hum/whistle a well-known tune to your child and have them guess what song it is. So simple, but so fun and effective! This game is great for aural skills, and for pitch-matching and accuracy. If you aren’t great at singing/humming tunes, reverse the roles and have your child let you guess the tune.
  • Provide “instruments” for play-based learning. These could be “proper” instruments, such as a keyboard or ukulele. They could also be digital versions of instruments (apps), or “found sources”, such as pots and pans.
  • Focus on your child’s interests. If they love a particular song, encourage them to sing it and to work out how to play the beat/rhythm (using simple body percussion/clapping etc). If you have a keyboard at home or a Keyboard App, your child could also try to work out some notes from the song.
  • If your child is particularly good at or is interested in mathematics or science, they may enjoy learning the formulaic process of reading and writing music. I have found that students with an interest/ proficiency in these areas tend to like constructing music logically; making music “sound good” by following defined rules and patterns. In this case I recommend taking piano lessons (and possibly theory lessons). If this is not plausible, encourage your child to research the “rules” of music online.
  • If your child is someone who learns by looking/ listening/ moving then I recommend listening to a lot of music, particularly duets. Learning both parts of a duet helps the musical ear and assists in learning harmonies. Disney duets such as “A Whole New World”/ “Love is an Open Door” are great starting point.
  • Ask your child to explore the music they love, and to share it with you and/or their siblings. If your child wants to research online, there are some amazing clips to be found on YouTube.
  • Make sure music is fun, and not forced. Kids go through stages of being interested in different things, which is natural. If you are having to “force” your child to practise then there is a big red flag saying something is not right. Try to work out why this is- there could be a number of reasons.

 

School Stuff:

  • This blog is a good place to find songs for each grade level. Children can practise at home, share with their siblings, and leave us comments. We have to approve each comment before it appears, and if it is sensible and relevant, we will always reply.
  • Download some of the apps we use in class so that your child can have some fun at home and feel confident with the tools we use. Some of the apps we recommend are: Staff Wars, MusicLab, MyNoteGames, Garage Band, Beat Sneak Bandit, Flashnote Derby, Treble Cat. There are many more great apps, so if you find one, please post a comment on our blog about it!

Thanks! Mme. Davies & Mrs. McKenzie  🙂

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