During this time an elemental approach to learning incorporating the natural learning process is essential as these children are too young to read music. Four years of age is the perfect time to commence piano lessons.
Hence an over arching philosophy of Whole Body Learning is for children to start learning piano from an early age. Music can certainly be considered a language and children who learn music especially with a focus on listening and singing will develop excellent pitch - for some that will be perfect pitch.
This occurs because of the rapid development of the ear and its connections to the brain during the ages of 4 & 8 years. Those who are lucky enough to speak more than one language, will often have a “local accent” in both languages or be "accentless" in the other language. From the ages of 4 - 8 years is the point in life when accent in language and speech is developed and cemented. At this age students aural development learning capacity is at its strongest. Research has concluded that starting piano lessons at the age of 4 or 5 offers students’ brain stimulus that enhances future learning and impacts on academic results. This meant there was a need to be able to read hence traditional piano lessons were often not commenced until a child was about 8 years old. For many piano lessons has been about “reading the music” and playing by reading.
With that came a necessity to read music. The advent of inexpensive paper allowed easy distribution of printed music. Paper before the 19th century was a rare and expensive commodity and not readily available to the general public. Prior to the 1800s music was taught by ear, passing on tunes, melodies and harmonies through listening, movement and dance. The “traditional” approach to instrumental and piano music education started in the 19th century with advances in paper manufacturing technology. Whole Body Learning for piano is quite different from “traditional” music lessons. We are confident you will have the same experience with your students. In this approach, all the learning happens in the lesson, so even if they don’t practice during the week, they tend to remember what has happened because it is embodied. What we have observed in our own teaching is that students find learning easier and more fun as well as achieving a more musical outcome which incorporates aural, rhythm, performance, improvisation and reading. Over the last 30 years of teaching, Susan Head & Paul Myatt have explored many approaches and incorporated what we believe has worked best for our students and us as teachers. Bringing them together to develop pedagogically sound, educational pathways for instrumental and piano teaching is unique. These strategies for teaching music are not new. It is based on the ideas, concepts and approaches of Orff & Keetmen, Dalcroze, Kodaly, Suzuki, Gordon and the current research into neuroscience and how the brain learns. Whole Body Learning is an approach to teaching music that can be incorporated at any stage of learning for any piano or instrumental student.
0 kommentar(er)
