I’ve been thinking about downloading the demo version of SM for awhile now so I can compare it to PW that I bought about a year ago (which my kids still don’t play.) I still have to get a keyboard: does this one look like it would work? Where would I get stickers? Does this keyboard look like it would work? Thank you.
Wow! I LOVE the price!
All pianos are good enough, and I think, this will be good,too.
Try to enlarge the photo of stickers for now and print it out. Unfortunately, we don’t offer it for free for several reasons. But I don’t want it to be an obsticle
They also have a 3 year warrenty that covers accidental damage for only $20; they said it would cover toddler accidents too!
Wow! I LOVE the price!
All pianos are good enough, and I think, this will be good,too.
Try to enlarge the photo of stickers for now and print it out. Unfortunately, we don’t offer it for free for several reasons. But I don’t want it to be an obsticle
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They also have a 3 year warrenty that covers accidental damage for only $20; they said it would cover toddler accidents too!
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Oh, boy lol
You know, in my studio I have keyboards that is 14 years old. You have no idea how many toddlers they had been survived, I don’t think these things are breakable 
New video about HOW TO DEVELOP PIANO TECHNIQUE AND SIGHT-READING SKILLS WITH SOFT MOZART was just published.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDpL0V3Y6jM
my 2.5 year old daughter has been playing the guess key game and gentle piano since i started the program with her last month. i have some questions and a suggestion: when do i start teaching her the proper fingers to use when playing? so far, i have let her use whatever finger she likes and she usually uses her right index finger and thumb. also, i started teaching her using only solfegge, when do i start introducing the letter names of the notes? i understand that the purpose of using pictures for solfegge is to enable young children who cannot yet read to play, but my daughter is already reading very well. may i suggest adding a third option for displaying the notes: 1) letter names, 2) pictures for solfegge, and 3) the actual solfegge names i.e. DO, RE, MI, etc. for children who can already read? would it be feasible to add this third option in the next upgrade for the software?
thanks!
Wow! What songs are you playing now?
Do you keep track of Guess key game?
i have some questions and a suggestion: when do i start teaching her the proper fingers to use when playing? so far, i have let her use whatever finger she likes and she usually uses her right index finger and thumb.
As a classically trained musician I was also concerned about using right fingers at the beginning of working with Soft Mozart, But the more I was working with the software, the more relaxed I was feeling, because when the time on right part of monitor was showing less points, my little students were more perceptive to any of suggestions. Most of the time they Even figured the correct fingering all by themselves!
Numbers on the monitor could be very helpful for you to understand a lot of things about your daughter’s development.
There are some stages that I had noticed during my experience with program:
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Stage of ‘looking for’ : amount of correct notes very low - time extremely high
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Stage of building coordination: amount of correct notes is increasing and the time is getting closer to… amount of correct notes that had been produced
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Stage of hearing the song (believe it or not, but on stage 1 and 2 a beginner even is not realizing, whet exactly is she playing!) On this stage she is becoming more perceptive to your comments
It is very important on this stage not just to play a song, but also sing it naming the notes with Solfeggio. I amways ‘bribing’ my students with extra points (‘music money’ in my class) to sing and play at the same time. It is very helpful for their eat/voice training and… memorization
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You see, kids learn how to speak by using their almost inborned skill - speach memory. When they are singing solfeggio while playing, they memorize the solfa faster then their fingers memorize all the moves! It helps a lot, when they are trying to recall the song.
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When they make almost equal amount of points/time, they are ready for the rhythmical suggestions. Singing the song alone is also very helpful on this stage
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When the amount of correct notes is close to perfect and time is close to 0, the students are ready to memorize the music piece.
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When they are making almost or perfect score on hiding the notes stage or memorization, they are ready to play the piece with metronome. I usually use rhythm section of my digital piano/keyboard.
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When they are not struggling with ‘metronome’, we add some ‘icing on the cake’ - all the beautiful staff that makes piano playing delisious (staccato, legato, crescendo, diminuendo etc)
also, i started teaching her using only solfegge, when do i start introducing the letter names of the notes?
It is up to you! I was introduced to the letter names in 5th grade of music school (when I was 11-12 and, honestly, I didn’t miss anything!) When you connect abstract sound to abstract letter, it doesn’t make a ‘spark’. We need Alphabet names for theory sake and when learning harmony, but who cares how your child is calling the music notes when playing piano and reading music?
i understand that the purpose of using pictures for solfegge is to enable young children who cannot yet read to play, but my daughter is already reading very well.
We use the pictures for kids and adults to let them grasp the notation quickly as a whole. It is like pictogram, hieroglyphs in Mandarin languages. The last things we want to do is to overload our students with necessity to read letters while developing the motor skills. Usually beginners memorize the pictures pretty quickly and even kids from different countries learn the English names of the pictures, because we almost don’t have other languages yet.
may i suggest adding a third option for displaying the notes: 1) letter names, 2) pictures for solfegge, and 3) [b]the actual solfegge names i.e. DO, RE, MI, etc.[/b] for children who can already read? would it be feasible to add this third option in the next upgrade for the software? thanks!
I am so happy that you are using the method already and willing to improve it! I am always opened to suggestions.
Also, please, watch some videos in this threat that I had recently placed for you. Picture worth 1000 wards!
Radiocat,
Thank you very much for that detailed reply! So far, we have only played “Hot Cross Buns” and the Guess Key game for about 5 minutes each time (I am trying to follow the curriculum but modifying it a little bit to adapt to Ella’s atttention span and interest.) Thanks for reminding me to keep track of her scores on the Guess Key game - I had read about that somewhere but forgot to do it!
Aside from the activities in the curriculum, I also printed out a 2-octave piano keyboard on cardstock and laminated it so that she can bring her “piano” with her anywhere and practice “playing” while in the car, in daycare, etc. She loves it and will sing out the notes while pretend playing. I also notice that she tends to use the proper fingers when playing on her pretend piano. She loves matching games so I made two sets of small flashcards (one set with the notes and another set with solfegge names only) that she matches to the keys on her paper piano. She loves this activity as well. I think currently she is between stage 1 and stage 2. I will not stress about the letter names for now. :biggrin: Thanks!
Helene,
May I ask if your programme has been successfully used with young students with special needs, such as language delay, autism, etc.? Thank you in advance.
I often froget that not all toddlers are as forceful as my boy. He has already broken 2 keyboards from the toy department (in addition to one TV and countless other toys), but then again the larger keyboard isn’t so easy to pick up and throw.