Warning:
Music and brain.
I met with Gordon Shaw personally, when he was finishing his book ‘Keeping Mozart in mind’. He told me about the experiment, when they divided second graders in 4 different groups: piano, computer, choir and control. The piano group got 30-40% better results in academic testing at the end of the year.
During our personal conversations I shared with him my thoughts about that. Playing piano develops fine motor skills like no other activity. All pediatricians know, how important fine motor skills are for brain development of young kids. By playing piano with 10 fingers, coordinating both hands at once our kids develop bridge between right and left hemispheres: corpus callosum.
This bridge is like a ‘highway’ between 2 ‘big cities’. Difficulties in learning start when there is no balance and lack of communication between hemispheres.
All other aspects of music and brain development already discribed before me - so, you can find many articles by googling ‘music and brain’
What is music education?
Let’s start from what is NOT:
Music appreciation is NOT music education.
Knowledge of terminology and theory is NOT music education.
Singing songs, beating drums and marching are NOT music education.
Playing a tune or two by heart is NOT music education
Playing one voice instrument is NOT music education
Music education - is music literacy: ability to produce music as a language of multiple sounds by reading music notation in mind or with piano as a basic instrument.
‘Music ear’ myths
All human being are born with music ear.
Inability to carry a tune comes from… our native European languages.
European languages built the way that we have to focus on consonants.
Example: rd ths wrds nd ndrstnd wht sd. By reading only the consonants you may understand what is written.
Pitch of our languages has no meaning and many people percepts music the same way: on the speech level. Instead of singing they are ‘saying’ melodies.
Moscow University conducted a research and found out that all people in countries of mandarin languages carry tune and have no problems with music perception and singing.
They also found out that ‘music deafness’ could be easily cured with voice/music training.
Kids hear music even before their birth and develop music appreciation through listening. Yes, it is very important for them to listen classical music, but you don’t have to jump from one CD to another chaotically. Better to get a CD and listen to it a month or so before changing it to another: this way they learn all the ‘twists and turns’ of music materials, memorize the patterns and melodies and appreciate it on more comprehensive level.
Most of the kids of 24 months and older capable of controlling all the fingers of right and left hands and coordinate both hands. From 24 months we can start training them to play piano.
Producing is essential for learning new staff.
If we want child to learn something, he/she has to copy it by touching, saying or repeating our own movements.
To make music part of our childrens’ lives we have to give them freedom to read music off the score and produce multiple sounds with their own hands.
Keyboards (piano instruments with easy touch) are best for music training.
Many educators claim that keyboards can ‘spoil technique’ of playing piano. It is not true! Mozart learned how to play using ‘easy touch’ harpsichord and was perfectly all right with that training. However easy touch helps to develop motor skills effortlessly.
You don’t have to be a professor of music to teach your child to play piano and read music!
Music training is better to start from learning basic piano exercises. Learn how to coordinate your own fingers and pass the knowledge to your kids:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP4DTUHd2ac&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipwRCObYhLQ&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVW7S3QSVR8&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEpRduS89nI&feature=channel_page
In order for kids to play exercises with 2 hands you have to place stickers on piano (I will explain about this later)
Natural proportions.
Our right hemisphere is developing first, because first we learn to see, to hear, to feel and to touch and after that learning to use logic, reasoning and abstract thinking.
If you buy new mobile phone you try to play with its buttons before reading any instructions.
Happy learning and desire to learn more comes from concrete experience to abstract (not vice versa!)
Before I would explain more, please, watch the video about natural and effective ways of learning new things here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DCsNah6CtI&feature=channel_page
This is enough for today. I will continue tomorrow.
Ask your questions!
Thanks, Hellene! You’re giving us a wonderful music lesson! 
This is a very good point!! Yes, we’ve heard about that too. This was discussed in this thread in relation to the effect of ‘finger games’ on speech:
http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-signing-speaking-foreign-languages/speech/
Yep! I often tell people having a hard time learning mandarin that they must SING it!
Hmm… I wonder whether it’s really true that Chinese people have a better sense of tune than other races… I never really observed it to be so…
Very interesting last video you posted. I will wait for you to continue your ‘lessons’ before watching the next part!
Very informative!
Thanks!
Yes, thank you!
I have an electric organ my brother in law passed to the kids. We will follow all your classes as long as you keep teaching
By the way,your English is great (and I am from Kiev myself) 
Hi,
I have a two 1/2 yr.old and a 1 1/2yr old and just bought the Trebellina pogram. I have not received it yet, since I am in Mexico. What program do you use? Do you use this Doremifasoft method?
I have been watching the videos, but I have no clue on how to start. I have been looking for classes and there is a russian school here, but they do not accept my kid until he is 4 years old. Please do continue, this encourages me a lot…
Hellene, thanks for the discussion. It’s very interesting, but I do have a reaction to this:
I don’t get why all those things listed are “NOT music education.” Learning to sing and to recognize and appreciate music are all important and crucial aspects of music education. If a child never learns to play an instrument, having learned these things is still very important and beneficial. I think you are committing a simple logical fallacy: you’ve decided that music education can mean only one thing, the part that you think is most important. Perhaps it is most important, but that does not mean that the other things are not also music education. FYI I had 8 years of piano (and it was my first instrument) and know the violin well enough to have taught it for a living for a short time.
It’s very inspirational to think that we might teach our 2-year-old children Hanon…except that, of course, they can’t start with Hanon, it’s far too hard. It would be more valuable, for those with the tiniest kids you think can start learning piano, to explain how you can bring them to the point where they can learn Hanon. What do you do first?
I remember exercises from the beginning of first piano primers that go ABC-- CBA-- ABCBA-- A-- That’s a lot easier than Hanon and I think you even have to work your way up to that…
Hi Helen,
I love your Soft way to Mozart program, I already opened a thread about your approach some time ago http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-music/‘soft-way-to-mozart’-piano-teaching-for-little-kids-and-beginners/ and I even contacted you on YOUR forum and sent you an email. I would love to buy your program, I already downloaded all the demos (Gentle Piano and all other games) and I already play them with my 3 yers old daughter. I would love to teach her using your program but I would love to teach her Czech nursery rhymes first. You answered me that I can send you the music and your company would re-do them into your program songs. I asked your about the details and never received any answer. I would love to hear from you because I would really love to buy your program.
Thank you. Martina
‘To have sense of tune’ and ‘to carry tune’ are two different things, but many confuse one with another. For a long time I was at selection committee that was choosing kids to become students of state music schools. Due to the fact that in former USSR our government partially paid for music education we always had more kids than places and we had to provide initial examination. I noticed that kids who sang beautifully and were accepted with no questions, not necessary became great students later.
You are welcome!
Last summer I was providing seminars for music educators in Kiev. Beautiful city!
BTW, here is one of the best Russian website dedicated to Soft Mozart. They collect my articles and posts from everywhere. I think, their collection is the best!
http://www.ugatu.ac.ru/~trushin/SM/
Here is Russian speaking SM LJ community:
http://community.livejournal.com/doremifa_use/
Here is my book that I wrote (now it is getting translated to English):
http://www.kurdyumov.ru/esse/music/music00.php
I use Soft Way to Mozart approach.
Here, on this forum, I will try to share what is it all about: it is not just a ‘method’, but entire concept based on teaching as science. Stay tuned!
Thank you for asking this question! In fact, if people would be able to understand the difference, they would be able to combat global music illiteracy epidemic. Learning to sing and to recognize and appreciate music are all important BUT NOT crucial aspects of music education.
Music is a written language and literacy is only crucial aspect of learning this language.
It is not as hard as you think, if to use visual support during the process of learnong. Dod you watch my videos of exercises?