Category Archives: Never Too Young!

Piano Maestro is Available at the O’Connor Music Studio

Posted by MaryO on

Piano Mania

The O’Connor Music Studio has a copy of this app if you (or your student) would like to try it during a lesson.

I see great potential with this app and think it could be useful for you at home.

It’s a fun game that can be used with a piano, the iPad or it can be hooked up to an electric keyboard.

Piano Maestro is free for all OCMS students to use on their own iPads at home.  Your student’s piano lesson books are most likely included to help the student learn the pieces – accompanied by a full backing track!

 

Read a review at Piano Mania Review » 148Apps » iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch App Reviews and News.

Coming Soon for Younger Students!

Posted by MaryO on

RT_Front-cover

This new method book is at the publishers right now.  I’ve already downloaded the Teacher’s Guide and I’m liking what I see.

From the Piano Pronto website –

Roadtrip! is a primer level method book for very early beginners ages 4 and up. Students master basic music fundamentals while creating a musical memory book that becomes a keepsake item to commemorate their maiden voyage into piano lessons.

18 songs: Non-position based; black key pieces; R.H. & L.H. only pieces; on-staff reading only
Also features: improvisation activities; ear training; composition; teacher duets

What this means for the O’Connor Music Studio – younger beginners will be able to get a great start to their musical lives.  Previously, I’ve only accepted students starting at age 6.

Starting with the new school year, interested parents can enroll their students from the age of 4.

Register for lessons here: http://ocms.mymusicstaff.com/Register-for-Lessons

 

Music helps children learn maths – Telegraph

Posted by MaryO on

music-math

 

For tapping out a beat may help children learn difficult fraction concepts, according to new findings due to be published in the journal Educational Studies in Mathematics.

An innovative curriculum uses rhythm to teach fractions at a California school where students in a music-based programme scored significantly higher on math tests than their peers who received regular instruction.”Academic Music” is a hands-on curriculum that uses music notation, clapping, drumming and chanting to introduce third-grade students to fractions.The programme, co-designed by San Francisco State University researchers, addresses one of the most difficult – and important – topics in the elementary mathematics curriculum.”If students don’t understand fractions early on, they often struggle with algebra and mathematical reasoning later in their schooling,” said Susan Courey, assistant professor of special education at San Francisco State University.

via Music helps children learn maths – Telegraph.

Conductor Transforms 15 Little Children Into Concert Pianists in Only 5 Weeks

Posted by MaryO on

In this new campaign by Folksam, one of the largest insurance companies in Sweden, 15 children, aged 2 to 5, were invited to participate in a challenging musical experiment lead by Sweden’s famous conductor, oboist and composer, Jan Risberg.

For a duration of five weeks, these lively and boisterous children would take piano classes in order to learn a 19th-century musical piece by French composer and pianist Erik Satie. The entire experience was intended to be playful and fun for the kids.

Risberg used creative techniques to teach the chords and the melody, like colored keys, sound boxes and simple word associations like “pancake”.

And the result is possibly the most endearing thing we’ve ever seen!

via Conductor Transforms 15 Little Children Into Concert Pianists in Only 5 Weeks.