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What Age Should Your Child Start Piano Lessons?

There isn`t a parent who doesn`t want their child to be good at something and one of the more common aspirations is playing piano. There`s something about being able to dance your fingers across the ivory keys that appeals to both parents and children. The big question on every parent`s lips is “When should my child start piano?”

The younger, the better. We`ve all heard about the likes of Mozart and other child prodigies who began playing at very tender ages, 3 or 4. Getting a child into piano that early means they will have the most time possible playing, even if they don`t end up being extremely gifted in the area of music.

Introducing Young Children to Piano

You can start peaking your little one`s interest in music right from the start. Listening to classical piano while in the womb and after birth will give your child an early appreciation for the piano. They will be far more interested in playing than if you simply ignore music all together and then abruptly introduce it as you want them to play.

If you`ve decided to start your very young child in piano, it is very important to find the right teacher. Toddlers can`t and shouldn`t be expected to, focus on one thing for a long period of time. That means lessons will certainly need to be cut into smaller, more manageable bites. Most 3-4 year olds do very well with 15 minute lessons.

You really can`t expect a 3 year old to learn the same way a teen or adult would, so having a piano teacher that understands the age group and knows how to communicate effectively with a small child is vital. Without this, you`ll find that children don`t learn well and will rapidly become frustrated with the instrument. The idea is to keep it fun and enjoyable, particularly at this young age.

With a good base to build on, small children will often go on to play piano for the rest of their lives and this gift of music is definitely something that they will treasure in years to come.

Older Children and the Piano

Of course, not everyone can start their toddler in piano lessons so early. In some cases, parents may not have even considered the possibility until their older child came out and asked for lessons. This is a common scenario, where the child is the one interested in playing.

First, you`ll want to ensure that this isn`t just a passing phase. Most parents do this by requiring their children to take a minimum of one year of piano lessons. This is more than enough time to get a good taste for the music and after a year, a decision can be made, to continue on or to leave it.

Children who instigate the learning process tend to stick with it better than those who are forced into it at an early age, but they may be slower to pick up the concepts behind the music and it can be a bit of a struggle for older children to learn to read music in some cases. However, if the effort is made, it can be an excellent way to learn more about music and no one has ever done poorly because they learned to play the piano.

To make the piano lessons a success, be sure to have a way for your child to practice daily. It`s important they have this opportunity, no matter what their age. While younger is still better, that certainly doesn`t rule out older kids who are interested in learning.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_Nutt

Tags: child prodigies, classical piano, ivory keys, mozart, piano teacher, playing piano

Posted by Mike on August 23, 2008 at 4:15 pm under Piano/Organ Lessons.
Tags: child prodigies, classical piano, ivory keys, mozart, piano teacher, playing piano
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History of the Piano

Acoustic pianos have been around for about 500 years, giving the piano a long history of providing music. Despite numerous attempts to create an instrument that involved strings and a hammer, Bartolomeo Cristofori was the one who is credited with actually inventing the first acoustic piano.

The First Pianos

Cristofori built several pianos, but no one is precisely sure of when the first was created. We do know that the Medici family had one of the pianos in 1700, and evidence suggests that it was built in 1698. These early pianos were quite different from those of the modern music world, but they were a truly great invention for their time.

The difficulty with pianos was that the hammer needed to hit the wire, then return to its original place without bouncing and yet be ready to go again within moments. This was finally achieved and Cristofori managed to find a way to create this effect.

The Growing Popularity of the Piano

Despite his hard work, Cristofori was not able to make his new instrument famous. Then, in 1711, a diagram of his design was distributed and more people began to build pianos. One of them was a man named Silbermann who added the first damper pedal to enhance the sound. It was he who showed Bach his first piano, though Bach decided he didn’t like it at the time and only showed interest much later, once the instrument was refined.

In the 18th century, the Viennese began to construct pianos. These were built differently, with dual strings for the notes, leather covered hammers and elegant wooden frames. The keys were the opposite colors of today’s pianos, with the regular keys being black and the others white. Mozart used these Viennese pianos to compose his music at the time. These are now referred to as fortepianos, to differentiate them from the modern piano.

Modernization of the Piano

As the Industrial Revolution made new technology available, it became possible to build pianos with heavier strings, made of stainless steel, for a fuller, stronger sound. The size was also amplified, making it possible to have seven or more octaves, as opposed to the original five or the fortepiano.

Broadwood was the first company to build these more complex pianos, though the Viennese piano makers quickly followed suit. It wasn’t long however, before France got involved in the creation of bigger and better pianos. In 1821, Èrard began to manufacture the pianos that would be used by the likes of Chopin.

This is also the time when the double pilot action was invented by Sebastian Èrard and incorporated into the grand piano, making it possible to hit a key again even if the hammer had not yet returned to its place. This mechanism is used to this day in grand pianos.

Modern Piano Innovations

The modern piano uses a soundboard and a metal frame that allows for heavier string tension resulting in stronger sound. This has allowed for string tension of up to a combined 20 tons, something that never would have been possible in the earlier wood frame pianos.

In 1826, the usual leather covered hammers were replaced with felt covered ones by Henri Pape. This allowed for more uniform sounds and the ability to experiment with different hammer types.

A few years later, in 1844, Jean Louis Boisselot introduced the sostenuto pedal which made drastic improvements to the piano sound quality. Around this time, there were experiments being done with the methods of stringing the piano. Eventually, a new method was developed that involved three strings per note and a special double level soundboard to allow for the fit of longer strings.

The piano has come a long way in the past 500 years. From a simple, soft instrument that was a novelty to a strong and very popular one, the piano has really come into its own.

Merriam Music is one of the most respected and renowned music stores in Toronto. When researching for piano stores Toronto be sure to check out Merriam Music’s huge selection of digital and acoustic pianos. Merriam’s Music School also offers piano lessons Toronto to students of any age.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_Nutt

Tags: acoustic pianos, bach, damper pedal, Hammer, modern music, mozart, wooden frames

Posted by Mike on July 29, 2008 at 12:06 am under Music History.
Tags: acoustic pianos, bach, damper pedal, Hammer, modern music, mozart, wooden frames
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At What Age Should A Child Learn A Musical Instrument?

When you have a child and they are old enough to walk, then they are old enough to begin looking at playing instruments.Many of the greatest musicians in the history of music have started out incredibly early. Mozart himself was playing the piano at the age of three and composing operas before he was 10 years old.

Of course, your child is probably not going to end up to be Mozart, but that does not mean you can’t start them early on the path to musical kinship.

Being a musician means that when your child is having trouble dealing with life, or they are depressed for whatever reason in the future, they will have the outlet of music to express their desires, hopes, dreams and fears. They will be able to use music as a tool to help themselves, and countless musicians in history have done exactly the same.

Like a writer or an artist, musicians use music to help them come to terms with the world around them and help make it a better place for themselves. This is why it is so important that you help your child learn how to play an instrument at a young age.

It can be tough at first to get your child to commit to learning an instrument, but the important thing is that you do not push it on them. You need to allow them to take their own time to learn how to play the instrument, because if you force it on them, they will only resist it.

Buy used instruments and allow them to choose which one they like. They may hate the guitar but love the bagpipes, they may hate the piano but love the accordion. As a result, you need to be able to find the instrument that is right for them to keep them happy.

It can seem daunting to go through this process of trying to find something your child will enjoy playing, but if you commit yourself to only buying used instruments, you will save oodles of cash and your child will not have to suffer through being unable to let their musical gifts wander. Buy used instruments and help them reach their full potential and do not be afraid to start them early on the path to musical greatness.

Music is a wonderful thing and it has the power to turn children into inspired little beings that love to play a note on the piano or dance around with a guitar. Plus, you never know when you buy an instrument, if it is going to be something your child will take off with. You could be helping the next John Lennon or Bruce Springsteen in their future legendary career. It may amount to nothing, it may amount to fame and fortune, what is important however, is that you allow your child to reach their full potential with the instrument they choose to play. Musical is a wonderful gift that you can give to your child.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for used CDs, autographed CDs, and used musical instruments. You can find the best marketplace for used CDs, autographed CDs, and used musical instruments at these sites for used children CDs, children autographed CDs, and used children”s musical instruments.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Victor_Epand

Tags: accordion, bagpipes, guitar, history of music, instrument, mozart, Music, musician, playing the piano

Posted by Mike on May 31, 2008 at 3:17 pm under Piano/Organ Lessons.
Tags: accordion, bagpipes, guitar, history of music, instrument, mozart, Music, musician, playing the piano
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How Learning Jazz Can Improve a Classical Musician’s Skills – Mozart Learned Improvisation

“…Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, and Liszt all excelled in improvisation, which was then referred to as extemporization…”

Classical music is a sophisticated art form where talking during performances (much less to the musicians) is frowned upon. Yet in jazz, it is very common for the audience to speak to musicians during performances as a way of complimenting their improvisational skills.

Elements of jazz can be found in gospel, country, pop, R&B, movie soundtracks, and other musical forms. However, when the average person uses the word “jazz,” they may not understand the culture or the language.

Many people associate improvisation with jazz and vice-versa. However, improvisation has been an integral part of classical music history, stemming back to the medieval period in Gregorian chants. These chants used additional melodies above the Cantus Firmus (fixed melody in Latin), which were improvised by Medieval musicians to glorify God. In the later periods, improvisation was used in performances outside of churches. J.S. Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, and Liszt all excelled in improvisation, which was then referred to as extemporization. Bartok’s “Mikrokosmos” were originally improvised as were Beethoven’s famous sketch books (which he later used in formal works).

Near the beginning of the 20th Century, improvisation disappeared in the Romantic Period as performers began mastering composers’ works note for note; the art of improvisation was eventually lost. Schubert’s impromptus, contrary to their title, were not improvised but written out methodically. Playing classical music well is a skill requiring great discipline and talent, but the same can be said for jazz. Both disciplines use the same musical alphabet, yet have somehow managed to create different nomenclatures for each respectively.

Historically, jazz music has not been associated with higher education. However, the great Scott Joplin, an African-American jazz composer of the late 19th to early 20th century, took formal lessons with a classical German-born piano teacher and the Creole performers of New Orleans were often Conservatory-trained in Paris.

Both classical and jazz music are disciplines requiring creativity. The classical musician, after mastering the techniques must interpret the score and bring the written notes to life in a performance. The challenge of a jazz musician is to use, simultaneously, both improvisational talent and the technique required to perform unplanned music for a live audience. To draw an analogy, a classical musician is like an actor with a full script – having to memorize and master it, then bringing the character to life. A jazz musician is like an actor with no script, only a few guidelines to follow, yet charged with creating dialogue and instantly performing in character. In its purest essence, technicality must be mastered. One would argue that the task of learning and memorizing a sonata (15-60 pages) or concerto (often exceeding 100 pages) is a phenomenal task! The best classical and jazz musicians must both be proficient in technique, but the more challenging task is for them to able to augment their technical skills in a performance to move their audience emotionally. All musicians need to play from their hearts to truly affect their audience in a meaningful way.

Jazz Studies at Juilliard, Yale, Stanford, Harvard

Recently, Conservatory Canada has implemented a new examination category implementing jazz idioms, nomenclature and styles. The Royal Conservatory has for several years used a popular syllabus for their studies selection. In addition to the previously mentioned Jazz Studies program offered at Juilliard, Ivy League schools have also shown their support; Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and Berkley currently offer or are implementing jazz programs. These institutions have embraced an original approach in combining classical and jazz instruction.

We cannot claim that one art form is more or less sophisticated than another. Classical musicians may not fully comprehend jazz culture, just as jazz musicians may not fully interpret classical culture. However, because music is a universal language, the understanding of its different forms and dialects are beneficial. These new “bilingual” musicians are able to better communicate with their audience in various ways. Following the same “early education” concept used for spoken languages, we need to educate children in both classical and jazz music. Children who study classical and jazz at the same time will be able to understand both cultures and fully realize their musical potential.

Oakridge Music Studios is a music education centre based in Vancouver, BC. The following music lessons are taught: piano lessons, guitar lessons, violin, cello, voice, singing, saxophone, trumpet. Music disciplines taught are: jazz, classical and pop music. Young musicians are encouraged to learn both classical and jazz – simultaneously – to excel and advance their music education. This unique bilingual teaching methodology of learning classical and jazz music disciplines is offered in a creative and imaginative environment to actively engage and unleash the young musician’s hidden music ingenuity and skills.

Please call us if you seeking music lessons in the Vancouver, BC area. —–
Oakridge Music Studios-a Vancouver music school
Original article posted at OMusicStudios.com – Jazz Improvisation Improves Classical Music Skills
497 West 40th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V5Y 2R5
tel: +1.604.321.1551 fax: +1.604.321.1555

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