A Discussion about Kids Ear Training The Best Early Music Education
Kids Ear Training
Kids Ear Training is one of the most important courses a parent can use to educate their children in music. Countless studies have shown that children exposed to music training early on perform better at all STEM skills. The Ear Training for Children and Others Young at Heart is a great course to introduce ear training into a child’s education. Many of the exercises subliminally add a music educational element as the child works at singing a simple children’s song. Although these exercises are simple, they build a great foundation so that a child becomes familiar with the fundamentals of music. And the best thing is, they don’t even know it’s happening!
Feedback from Parents on the Kids Ear Training Course
I’ve had a few parents who bought Ear Training for Children respond with some feedback on how the program is working with their kids. Here’s one of the emails that I thought was exceptionally helpful and insightful. (I had to smile when I read #6)
In the situation below the customer has both a pre-school child and a teenager:
- I think it a good idea to sing out loud with your kids, more often than not. Younger kids want to do what their parents do. My older son seems embarrassed to sing alone, just like many adults I guess. When I am singing too he seems to respond because it’s not something to worry about.
- If they want to just listen, let them listen. Sometimes just you sing, sometimes you both listen. Let this be a no-conflict activity.
- Play/sing in the car, which you mentioned in your book. I did this twice daily for ~5 minutes with my solfége tracks with my daughter to/from daycare. On the way to/from daycare/school/sports and she has started to join in and sees it as a game.
- After mastering at least the lyrics track: sometimes just sing the melody together (any format) without the track; I got practice in holding the correct pitches in the key while hearing my daughter not be in key (was very difficult for me at first!)– eventually she started singing it correctly with me.
- I have a piano in the house and I’m encouraging my daughter to learn the degrees/names/solfége for any song she is playing. This mapping of degrees/names/solfége to the instrument seems to be helping. I have also been encouraging her to “play along” with the lyric track on your course — while singing, so the mismatch is obvious. I think as she advances we can work on the “random” note exercises in your book having her both sing and guess notes.
- Your “give-a-quarter” idea as motivation for practicing has worked wonders! She has practiced without complaining every day, and sits through her lessons without constantly losing focus. She’s earned enough to buy a fidget spinner. :) Thank you!!
Other Resources for Kids Ear Training
The Total Beginning Ear Training Course also has some simple ear training exercises appropriate for very young children, especially if a child has a lot of problems with the Children’s Ear Training Course we have discussed in this blog post. The Total Beginning Ear Training Course has a series of MP3s that have a student guess whether one note is higher than another. These exercises can be make into a game and go a long way to getting kids to focus on sound. There are also other exercises that would be more appropriate for older children. These are also useful for adults who may have ear training issues of their own.
The Historic Precedents Of This Kind Of Music Education
You might enjoy checking out the “Music Education Genealogy Chart” located on my artist’s site. You will clearly see the historic progression of pedagogy that is the basis for Muse Eek Publishing Products. Great musicians throughout history have been studying the ideas presented by Muse-eek.com which derives its content from a a lineage that stretches back to Scarlatti!
