Thank you for sharing your progress with LM ,that is amazing.I have no musical background and i would like to follow your example,but it is difficult for me to make that.I have some very basic questions for you,could you please advice me ?.Many ,many thanks.
1.How can i play the nursery rhymes from LM on the colored keyboard when the notes are not displayed for that songs?I did not find any notes or text for the nursery rhymes in the clap along section.I like that in the SM the notes are displayed for any sound you play.
2.How can i recognize the notes behind the sounds from the nursery rhymes?
3.How can i use the chord files with the LM piano keyboard for chord training?
4.How can i learn the child to sing aloud when she is hitting the keys ?
5.Where can i download the LM colour for printing it out?
1.How can i play the nursery rhymes from LM on the colored keyboard when the notes are not displayed for that songs?I
-There are no lyrics, but rather they are sung in solfege names. Go to “Play & Edit” > “Music Notes” > and then scroll all the way down to the Children’s Songs folder at the bottom. When you click a song once and it turns blue, on the right hand side of the screen is the lesson preview. It may say “Show: Multiple Notes” or “Note Scroll” for example. I don’t know what is the best way, but you can experiment with what you and your child prefers in how the notes are displayed. Just click the settings cogwheel.
2.How can i recognize the notes behind the sounds from the nursery rhymes?
-They are all sung in solfege so you will be able to recognize them by their name, do, re, mi, and so on.
3.How can i use the chord files with the LM piano keyboard for chord training?
-Just stick with what is in the daily curriculum and then any extra exposure to chords from free play is great. You can reinforce those same chords on a piano/keyboard for variety but you do NOT need one if you don’t have one already. Sure it’s nice to have, but not a requirement.
4.How can i learn the child to sing aloud when she is hitting the keys ?
-Model the behavior you want to see in your child, encourage them "okay, now it’s time to sing! can you sing DO? (singing) Sing when your child is in the bathtub, when you are out for a walk, before bed, you get the idea. If you mean while hitting the keys of a piano, then just model the behavior you want to see 100% of the time whenever possible.
Here’s an update: Yesterday morning we were getting ready for our day and a neighbor’s car alarm began to go off outside. Lily said “Hey, that’s a So!” I went over to the piano and played the note in time to the car alarm which she thought was hilarious, and sure enough it was a So. Her ear training has worked fabulously.
We also took her to her first day of Yamaha group piano lessons yesterday and it went so well! The instructor was happily shocked at how knowledgeable she is about music, she did so well in class and is thriving with her at home activities. She was able to read both the lyrics and the music in her music book without issue, so the transition to black notes has proved to be fairly seamless. The colors really help with the initial differentiation and I will continue to use them in LMs for fun and visual interest. I did take the colored notes of off the piano yesterday (although I left them on the other tabletop keyboard upstairs) and she is navigating it so well already without them and she can easily hear any mistakes she makes. They are like training wheels and they really, really helped draw her in and feed her passion for music in the earlier days, now she can express herself on the piano without them. She is also starting to play with all of her fingers, rather than just her index finger.
Owen’s ear’s are really coming along too, and he is really enjoying playing with his “do-re-mi cars.”
Here are some recent music videos of my kids using Little Musician and applying the concepts they learned in the program. WE LOVE LMs!
(Note- the first note is “re” and correctly selected orange, but it sounds like he’s saying Ra. He’s still working on his speech and things don’t always come out clearly!:))
No, Piano Wizard colors are different. The other drawback (which is why I opted NOT to use it) is that the software doesn’t “stop” for the child. Even if they don’t hit the notes or get them wrong, they keep coming. Although they are supposed to move at “a snails pace” at the slowest setting, it is still too fast for a young child between 1-3 in my opinion. The other thing is that the colors just look “off” IMO, I am strongly drawn to the rainbow colors and visually it’s difficult for me to look at them all jumbled up. In the earlier stages, there is a ton of background imagery that I find distracting for small children who can have trouble focusing. If those three things were fixed, I think it would be a great program and I would be be happy to try. Alas, that is not the case so we looked for something else.
Edited to Add: You can change the colors in LMs to be anything you want, or even upload your own icons so if you WANTED to make them match PW, you could. However, you would lose all of the really cool, fun animated icons because they are part of the color coding, unless that is the colors exactly matched up with PW and you just needed to switch the existing icons around (versus import new icons).
Great videos! They are having such fun! Your sun is quite vocal, I can hear him desperately tring to match the pitch of his voice to the notes. Amazing for such a young child! He will be a great singer very soon. :yes:
My kids have also surprised me by naming the pitch of a horn ( on an iPad app!) correctly. Even more surprising was that I knew they were right because I could tell what pitch it was! LMusic is working really well in this house. It’s actually getting to the point where our old electric piano may need to be replaced as I can hear 2 notes that are a little off. The kids havnt noticed it yet. Well it is half as old as me… :wub: So it’s had a good innings.
TMT, thank you very much for sharing the videos! You have awesome results teaching kids at home music! I enjoyed watching your videos!
I was sorry to read about the SM games… It seems like it is our fault: we should educate our learners more about how to use them. They all built upon very advanced algorithms that feel every move of any player and acting accordingly. These games should be played in certain order and for very short time at the beginning, They build attention and focus skills of every child gradually along with ear training and music literacy. I wish to be aware of such issues to be able to help every family to use the program most effectively.
Here is some videos of ear training games that we provide with Soft Mozart. We found it necessary to develop piano technique alone with ear training and voice since fine motor skills development improves brain development of young children and perfect pitch of the piano can be the point of support for kids’ voice development:
Here is the same student Rachel transposing Bach’s Musette from different keys. This activity helps any child not just to recognize one note at a time, but to think musically in different keys. Rachel gained her skills to transpose from Note Alphabet game and other games from Soft Mozart (not just Gentle Piano):
Finally, I was happy to see Lily using SM pictures for Solfeggio syllables. Speech memory is the one of the most established skills. By saying the notes names and hearing their pitch at the same time every child is capable to develop ear for music drastically! Way to go, Lily!
The earlier our kids can produce melodies with chords the better. In our curriculum now we train beginners to pick the right chords to different melodies. How to provide such training you can find out in our forum!
The reason I say that the kids were frustrated with the games is that in the tree game (guess the note I beleive it’s called) as the player becomes more skilled in guessing, the notes move faster and faster. As the player “fails” they slow down again. However, Lily cried in frustration when we initially played the game because the notes would fall too fast and she could not keep up. She didn’t understand why she could do it one minute, and then the jump in speed was suddenly too difficult for her, so would say “Mama, make it go slow!” but I could not. So I told her when it gets to fast to miss some and it will slow down again, but it was just not ideal and that was the main reason we stopped using that game. The other game I remember playing (it’s been a while) was a picture puzzle game. Again, this is one played for speed. I would play it while they watched sometimes, but it simply went too fast for them and the pieces stacked up kind of like tetris. It would be an improvement to put optional speed settings on these games in additional to a sensitive default speed setting that responds to the players skill.
TmT, oh how much I wish to be able to write in English as fast as I do in Russian… Just finished some chapter of my book about this… You see,
our Games are not ‘games’ - they have to be used at the beginning in strict moderation since they are designed to develop not just kids’ music ear, but also their attention span. The algorithms are feeling every move of a player and gently pushes them forward.
If to start playing the games for 30 sec - 1 min of the game time and write the results down each time, Lily will gradually develop ability to think faster and concentrate longer.
You have to work on the games by spirals. Play 1 game a month for 1 min - next cycle - 2 min etc. You will be amazed how much of concentration Lily will gain. Soft Mozart kids differ from other not just with great music talent, but also by ability to concentrate and be focused and productive in school.
Please, try this approach and you will see the difference very soon.
hanks for that tip Hellene. I will have to use it with my own dd she is gets frustrated to but I will spiral her like you said.
@Tmt. There is a video where Lily is is working on a staff with note tiles where did you buy that from or where did you have that made? As I would like to buy one.
I’ll sell you one lol j/k I made it. It was extremely simple using posterboard, electrical tape, and laminate, and wooden discs from a craft store (AC Moore). The most “difficult” part was that it’s a bit time consuming to get all the lines even. I just took some pictures of the materials for you, along with the floor piano I made yesterday. I will upload them later tonight when I have a bit more time.
ETA: I just uploaded these to a photo hosting site and I cannot get a few of them right side up! Sorry about that, but you get the point.
Chord Buddies Do-Fa-La & Do-Mi-So. These came from the Dollar Tree and the craft buttons came came Michael’s craft store but neutral beanie babies would work just as well.
I also wanted to add that we pulled out SM again tonight, we have not used it in quite a while. I even installed a special shelf in my daughter’s room for the laptop to sit right above the tabletop keyboard 24/7, making it much more convenient and accessible. The kids and I have come a LONG way in terms of note recognition on the staff. What I realized is that with Lily’s piano book being horizontal and printed in the traditional way and LMs being horizontal, too, it’s more consistent for us to set the screen that way too (versus the introductory vertical green and white thick stripes). We are able to read simple music and it’s reinforcing what is being introduced in her piano book and in LMs, so I think we are probably going to get a lot more use out of it this way now.
Great idea, TmT!
SM is not conflicting with any method!
I have students sometimes that start from 5th and even 6th mode.
You are always welcome to let me know, if you need any help to teach Lily! Currently, for example, we are learning how to pick the right chords for different melodies. Believe it or not, but Lily can learn it too! It would enhance her learning experience and add to hear perfect pitch ability to hear harmony too!
In future she will be able to hear a new song and play it with chords. Very practical and valuable skill!
Even 2-year-old can start learning it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yntCK-Hy8E
We have Solfeggio and Chords dedicated to these games.
Here is the section in our music academy where we learning the chords: http://softmozart.com/forum/48-summer-curriculum/4459-summer-fun-solfeggio-chords-and-ear-training.html
I was just at Toys R Us buying something else but I was looking at toys with my son and saw they now sell buckets of cars in all LMs colors, 24 for $12.99. They look like these and are this brand but the colors are vibrant rainbow colors. http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4483106 Also, They will price match their website, I see now that it’s a bit lower since looking up that link for you. They did it for me yesterday when I bought my handy-dandy iphone stroller holder. lol
You know, she has tons of toy cars already, but when I checked them, most are multicolored and not really useful for LMs. So I think my husband will be ecstatic to “get permission” to buy an entirely new set. Hahahaha!
