Well week 2 of the research project has come and gone. This was my first week attending Let's Play Music classes, as there were no class sessions this week due to illness. So, this was the really cool part. I had read all the manuals and lesson plans before attending my first class, but I was unsure of how everything was going to go down. I sat in on a total of 4 classes this week, (next week it will be 5). So, yeah. I am really enjoying my time at Let's Play Music (provided I get enough sleep the night before). It is way more fun to sit in on the first year classes. The kids there are so excited and they have so much zeal. It's adorable. The third year is the trickiest. Being the last year, it's the time where the program really becomes exponentially more difficult. Classes are jam packed with theory and honestly, it's way harder to make the classes fun. Lorie and I both agree on this point and I think there should be another, optional year to explore in more depth the topic introduced in the third year. Can't change it now, but just my opinion. Lorie is really amazing to watch. Each week we meet and go over the lesson plans for the week. She lets me make suggestions. I notice that the second classes always go a lot better than the first, just because she has a way better sense of the timing. Lorie was probably one of those kids who tried super super super hard in school and made sure every little assignment was done to perfect. It's crazy how much effort she puts into everything. We went over my violin lessons and she gave me some books and good practice suggestions. As far as observing my piano students, I am now taking notes and making efforts to incorporate what I have learned in Let's Play Music to my own students. Yesterday I found myself singing the song for chord inversions. "The note above the gap's the root". It was as pretty useful way for teaching inversions. I wish I could put a few of my students back into LPM, it would be good for them to get the ear training. I also now always ask my students about staff relations and I started incorporating solfegge teaching. Practicing the violin is very fun, when I actually do it. I'm working on a habit. Yesterday I actually set the timer and practiced for 30 minutes. It was a huge victory. I'm used to being able to play whatever I want on Piano and on Violin I have the mental capacity of a much better musician but the technical talent of a 2 year old. (This 3 year old kid is just way more adorable than me and 10x as talented).
The purpose of this research project is simple: what method works best to teach individuals how to learn an instrument. By simple, I mean there aren't too many layers here. But music education is far from simple. There are many schools of thought concerning the proper way for beginning music students to pick up an instrument. (And many that say you shouldn't even begin learning music on an instrument but through other techniques). The goal of this project is to design a new method for learning the violin based on observation of the program Let's Play Music and my own piano students. Observing different methods of teaching music under while in my internship, I will then put those techniques to practice in my own practice as I begin learning the violin. I will also record the responses of my own piano students to different techniques. The goal: to asses what methods of practice can be utilized when a student is having trouble in a particular area of study. But first, an introduction to my Internship. Let's Play Music is first a music theory course that utilizes piano playing, singing and classical music to teach young children notes and develop pitch and other ear training. Let's Play Music is the type of program I wish I was enrolled in as a child. It would have made my life 100 times easier as a serious musician. The fact that it teaches young children music concepts like chord inversion, cadences and more at 4-8 years old is honestly astounding. I am very excited to begin working with my mentor, Lorie Briggs and to see her classes. There are 3 different levels in LPM (Let's Play Music). I have the chance to observe all 3 years of the program. I am very excited to begin classes! In a about a month, I will be able to team teach with Mrs. Briggs. The philosophy behind Let's Play Music is that there is a "Musical Window" for children learning to play the piano (but I believe it applies to every instrument). Here is the explanation from the Let's Play Music curriculum. But, in my words, it is this. The older the student, the more educationally prepared they are. But the older they get, they also become more stubborn, set in their ways and their natural inclination for music becomes less pronounced unless capitalized upon when young. This is a really interesting concept that makes common sense, but I've never seen applied in such a manner. (I think the closest thing I really have heard about this "Music Window" is where parents make their babies listen to Mozart to make them smarter).
