Music Reading
Craig Sale, Editor
A few years ago I auditioned some "graduates" of a local Kindermusik program (taught by one of our writers, Dr. Sally Sloane). Although only five years old, these students were clearly ready to read! Having never taught pre-school music myself, I wondered what happens in early childhood music programs that helps prepare children to learn to read music.
I asked teachers
of three representative programs being used today-Yamaha, Kindermusik
and Music Together, to share their insights. Their responses leave
me more convinced than ever of the value of early childhood music
classes.
from Kathy Anzis' article
Yamaha music education: learning the language of music. . . naturally!
Music is a Language
. . . to be heard, to be spoken, to be read. It is a powerful
aural art form, communicating and evoking human emotion in the
listener and performer.
Based on this premise, educators at the Yamaha Music Foundation in Japan (www.yamaha.com; see Music Education) developed a program to introduce young children to the world of music which would allow children to learn music the way they learn their native language-naturally! The success of the Yamaha Music Education System is due in large part to its commitment to developing age-appropriate methods to teach the language of music. Yamaha's approach to reading, therefore, acknowledges the preschool child's developmental stage and capitalizes on this child's natural attributes. . .
Kathy Nafius Anzis is the Director of Teacher Training for the Music Education Division of Yamaha Corporation of America. She earned a B. A. in Music with a piano performance emphasis from the University of California/Santa Barbara and a M. A. in Music History and Literature from the University of Southern California. A Yamaha music teacher since 1984, Ms. Anzis' own children studied in the Yamaha program, the eldest of which is a jazz piano major and has the kind of ear she only dreamed of developing.
from Sally Sloane's article
The Kindermusik goal: to develop a life-long love of music
Our pre-school music program uses all five levels of the Kindermusik® curriculum (www.kindermusik.com), augmented with activities from a myriad of early music education workshops including Suzuki, Orff-Schulwerk and Kodaly training. The program consists of the following classes based on age: Village (birth to 18 months), Our Time (18 months to 3 years), Imagine That! (3-4 years), and Kindermusik for the Young Child (4-7 years).
Our curriculum prepares the students for later notational reading by introducing rhythmic readiness, melodic readiness, and listening skills from our earliest levels. The most important component of the curriculum is the Kindermusik CD. Virtually all of the aural learning takes place for the child (and the parents) by listening to the CDs daily at home. . .
Sally J. Sloane received a B.M. in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a M.M. in organ performance from the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago and a D.M.A. in organ and harpsichord, also from the American. She is Director of Music at Grace Lutheran Church of Elmwood Park, IL, and has taught Kindermusik since 1995. She has served on the faculties of The Suzuki Academy of Chicago, Sherwood Conservatory of Music, and the Hinsdale Public Schools. She is the author of Music for Two or More Players at One or More Keyboard Instruments (Harpsichord, Clavichord, Organ), published by Greenwood Press. Sally currently directs Sloane's Kindermusik and maintains a private piano studio in Oak Park, Illinois.
from Jennifer Merry's article
Approaching music as something to be experienced
Since my music classes and lessons span the entire age spectrum, I sometimes joke that I can now take a student "from the cradle to the grave." Indeed, students may enroll in my classes shortly after birth, and continue in classes or lessons with me through their school career and adult years if they so choose. I currently have two programs for young children, each with similar musical goals, but with different means of achieving them. One program is geared toward children from birth through age four, with no activities obviously related to music-reading. The other program is for children ages five and six, and it gradually introduces reading concepts at the piano. Teaching both approaches has given me an interesting perspective on children's musical development and how important it is to use an age-appropriate curriculum. I have had students who took my pre-piano classes and then studied piano with me through high school, giving me a unique opportunity to observe this process firsthand. . .
Jennifer Merry teaches private piano and pre-piano
classes at the Music Academy of Northwestern University in Evanston,
Illinois. She is also the director of "Music Together, Glenview,"
an early childhood music and movement program. She holds a M.M.
degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University,
and is currently a regular contributor to Clavier magazine as
a reviewer of new music.
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