I love advocating for arts programs for children and this month I had a great opportunity to do just that. The previous month I was interviewed by a writer from Colorado Parent Magazine for a story focussing on the importance of music classes for young children: my favorite subject!! So I spent a good half hour discussing all of the finer points of selecting the right class for your little one, finding the best teacher for a budding piano student, all the way down to keeping a child motivated when they grow discouraged and want to throw in the towel on their musical pursuits. It is impossible to know which, if any, of my comments from such a lengthy conversation would actually make it into the article.
To my delight, as I anxiously opened this November's issue, I found a wonderful story recapping many of my thoughts and philosophies about music education for kids, along with more advice from some esteemed music educators in the Denver area. This article, The Harmony of Kids and Music by Julie Christensen, is jam packed with information regarding the "why is it important" side of arts education, along with suggestions for which types of classes are available and recommended for different aged children.
Follow this link to read the entire article: http://flashedition.com/publication/?i&l=1&m=2663&p&id=2159 Go to pages 24-26.
I have written many blogs relating to musical classes and training for young children. But, I was especially reminded of one story I wrote in my blog, Choosing the Right Music Teacher For Your Child, which I published back in September 2009. One of the topics featured in that blog was finding the best teacher for your child's age group. After discussing such issues as a teacher's training, personal preferences, and experience with a particular age group, I recalled a memory of working with a kindergartener who was an amazingly enthusiastic piano student:
I was giving a private piano lesson to a 6 yr old and we were discussing how line notes skip the notes in between (thumb, middleman, pinkie) and the same for space notes (pointer, ringman, etc). My student stopped me and said, "I like skipping, but I really like galloping. But my very, very favorite part of PE is the chicken dance!"
Now as frustrating as this may be for a teacher, I know that this is actually a perfectly normal train of thought for a kindergartener. And I had the experience and capabilities of getting my student back from "skipping, galloping, chicken dance" to "thumbkin, middleman, pinkie" once again.
Another teacher may have been thrown by this experience, but it brought a smile to my face and great joy to my day! My student's shortcomings in her attention span were more than made up by her enthusiasm and perseverance.
To read this entire blog, go to: http://jumpinwithcindy.blogspot.com/2009/09/choosing-right-music-teacher-for-your.html
And, it is because of experiences like this, that I so love being a music educator. What a gift to be able to equip and empower our next generation of budding musicians!!
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