Has anyone used the Taneda Method to teach perfect pitch? They put out the game on www.wehearandplay.com that uses colored stickers and balls. I would love to hear a review for someone who has tried it, and what age your child was when you tried it. They recommend starting at age 3 and that by age 4 1/2 your child will have perfect pitch.
Am I correct in assuming that noone has used this? I would love to hear some comments. Thanks!
I haven’t used it, but I do know that children can be taught to sing with perfect pitch. It looks like a neat program, if perhaps a bit pricey. I have seen different programs that use color coding like those stickers, and it works great. The problem with stickers is that it’s hard to clean them off the keys, and can be distracting. I have made a homemade chart similar to this product
http://www.pianoforpreschoolers.com/index.html
with my piano students, and they do very well with it. With a chart like that, you can take it off and put it on without dealing with stickers. I will look into this program more, I’m curious to see what they do with the balls. The Orff and Kodaly methods are my favorite for very young children, but I’m always looking for more.
Could you please elaborate on what you do with the Kodály & Orff Method to teach children music.
We are familiar with Solfege and perfect pitch. We have lessons to teach about all the different instruments. We have some lessons to teach the basic of reading music.
Do you use rhythm syllables? How do you teach rhythm? Please share your experiences with teaching little ones music.
I have written a little bit about it here:
http://www.professional-mothering.com/music-for-preschoolers.html
My oldest is two and doesn’t have a lot of patience for any formal lessons yet. I sing to him a lot, and I often will sing in solfege to both of my children. I sing the major scale, and I’ll sing simple nursery songs with the words and solfege, just to give him exposure. Of course, I was a music major, and am kind of a nerd that way. Before my children were born, I would do that for my husband, or while I was doing dishes, etc. Much of what the article talks about is what I have done with my piano students, whom have been as young as 5. I do use rhythm syllables, and I think for very young children that that’s the way to go. It’s complicated for a young child to understand that “this is a quarter note and it gets one count”, but to teach them to say “ta” when they see one, suddenly it’s a concept that they can grasp. I use rhythm syllables with my older piano students when they do rhythm exercises, but they also need to know it’s a quarter note, etc. We have also purchased a glockenspiel, and I pull that out a lot and let both of my kids strike the keys.
I would like to send my kids for music classes, but not knowing how to go about. Is there any advice from the parents in this forum with regards to how to choose a music school or which musical instument should I send them to? My are 2 & 1/2 yrs and 4 yrs old.
Yamaha piano classes only begin at age 3+. Is there anything you would recommend doing with your child before age 3 to prepare them for Yamaha classes?
Dear Laughingwater,
Yes! I am currently using the Taneda method “We Hear and Play” to teach my daughter piano. We started when she was 3 1/2 years old. She just turned 4 years old a few days ago. The color-coding & large notes & large everything definitely makes learning to read notes MUCH easier. I actually am amazed at how easily she can read & unknowingly count the quarter notes, half notes, whole notes, etc. I started piano with the Bastien method when I was 5. I wasn’t going to start my daughter this young. However, I wanted to give her the best opportunity to develop perfect pitch. So, we’ve been playing the perfect pitch training games. I have to say that she’s not as excited about the games as I thought she would be. She definitely is MUCH more interested in “playing piano” and reading through the piano repertoire book. We did “piano lessons” with the Taneda method book off and on for about 6 months–depending on her interest level. Now, at age 4, we’ve “graduated” to Vol. 2. I’ve been very happy with the program overall as far as teaching note-reading. I have yet to see if the perfect pitch is there yet. From their textbook, it seems that you won’t be able to tell if the perfect pitch is there until later even though the training starts early. I have to say that she can match notes/sounds much better than 1 year ago. However, I’m not sure if that’s one more year of life experience rather than the Taneda method alone. Hope this helps!
Sincerely, Violin