http://www.kidsmusicplayground.online
Age range: 4-6-year-olds for Level 1
by Emerson Sandow
Scientific research has shown that music instruction is vital to the full development of a child’s brain. It is also understood that learning via fun or play is exponentially more effective than rote memorizing for incorporating and retaining information.
Cheri Roggow, founder of Kids Music Playground is acutely aware of these advantages in learning and she brings them to the fore of her online music instruction programs at www.kidsmusicplayground.online
At the website, Cheri presents a sampler of Level 1 in an entertaining and useful way. She provides prospective parents with an excellent cross-section of her curriculum for younger children and she covers all of the bases of music foundation.
Level 1, for 4-6-year-olds, teaches sight-singing, properly called Solfege and the hand symbols that correspond to the note names for the major scale. The child is also taught the musical alphabet, A through G. Opposites are presented, such as loud-soft volume; high pitch, low pitch; black keys, white keys and happy feel (Major key) or sad feel (minor key). A family can do this level together for one price.
Using what children are already learning and familiar with: Alphabet, numbers, opposites, weather, friends and family, playground — the musical learning experience is written in their language and is easier for them to learn and understand. Something to reiterate the connections that easily take place. From the beginning of Level 1, lessons include all three aspects of melody, rhythm and harmony.
Cheri also teaches growth-motor skills and fine-motor skills in each lesson, which is another advantage of music instruction that is irreplaceable and significant. Later in Level 1, she introduces melody, rhythm and harmony through puppets, rhyming stories and songs. Then she offers participating examples of each element of music. In this Level, Cheri introduces some note values – whole notes, half notes and quarter notes.
Every lesson from the beginning uses melody, rhythm and harmony. Toward the end of the year children are playing chords and melody — so using the hands together; there’s an amazing, natural progression combining all three components.
Ms. Roggow demonstrates her insight, gained from personal experience and years of training, that piano is the best first instrument to learn. It teaches note-reading more easily than guitar, allows the child to “see” as well as to hear the structure of harmony better than any other instrument. Portable, digital keyboards and synthesizers make a solid grounding in the keyboard even more valuable than piano application alone. What KMP teaches is a solid foundation for further musical study and playing other instruments, in Levels 2 and 3, which will be available in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Guitar and woodwind recorder will be added to the instruction list of these levels.
No other field of endeavor matches learning to play music for building true confidence in a child. Learning a skill at such a young age becomes the foundation for later self-belief in other areas. A KMP student starts with Lesson 1, does weekly ‘homeplay’, and 36 lessons later has mastered playing hands together on the keyboard, learned rhythms that include 2-eighths and rests, transposes, composes, and can sing and play simple ensembles to a piece. S/he quickly recognizes that with application to the task at hand throughout Level 1, many songs can be enjoyed by friends and family instantly giving positive feedback. Kids’ Music Playground gives the perfect start.
Gift your little person with this confidence-building, musical experience that will last their lifetime. Visit www.kidsmusicplayground.com today and begin your child’s musical adventure!
