"Learn as much as you can while you are young, since life becomes too busy later.” ~Dana Stewart Scott
It’s well known that exposure to all sorts of experiences for children at young ages is very critical in their early development. Learning languages are a great example of this: the art of learning a whole new language happens best when children are young.
Literacy experts tell us that if want our children to love reading, then start young. So why should learning music or music theory be any different?
I believe that the real and common sense answer is that it shouldn’t be. If we want our children to love reading, what do we do? We sit them up in a warm cozy bed with us, cuddle them and quietly read together with the most fun, zaniest, craziest voices and actions we can! Is it boring to your child?….No way! They love it! Do you make it feel tedious and hard?…No way-it’s something we love to do with them and it’s easy! Do we start doing this when they’re ready to go to high school?…No way! We do this when they’re babes in arms… when they’re toddlers and primary age... when they love the sound of our voices… when they love being with us all the time! And here’ the big one…..If we read to our children in this nurturing, loving , fun environment when they’re young, do we set them up for failure?… No way! Our kids are going to grow up being highly successful readers!
So why do we often leave learning music theory knowledge until when our kids are learning it as late as high school age? Is it possible to learn music theory at a young age, even before our children learn to write? Is it possible to make it fun, zany, crazy and exciting? You bet!"
It’s well known that exposure to all sorts of experiences for children at young ages is very critical in their early development. Learning languages are a great example of this: the art of learning a whole new language happens best when children are young.
Literacy experts tell us that if want our children to love reading, then start young. So why should learning music or music theory be any different?
I believe that the real and common sense answer is that it shouldn’t be. If we want our children to love reading, what do we do? We sit them up in a warm cozy bed with us, cuddle them and quietly read together with the most fun, zaniest, craziest voices and actions we can! Is it boring to your child?….No way! They love it! Do you make it feel tedious and hard?…No way-it’s something we love to do with them and it’s easy! Do we start doing this when they’re ready to go to high school?…No way! We do this when they’re babes in arms… when they’re toddlers and primary age... when they love the sound of our voices… when they love being with us all the time! And here’ the big one…..If we read to our children in this nurturing, loving , fun environment when they’re young, do we set them up for failure?… No way! Our kids are going to grow up being highly successful readers!
So why do we often leave learning music theory knowledge until when our kids are learning it as late as high school age? Is it possible to learn music theory at a young age, even before our children learn to write? Is it possible to make it fun, zany, crazy and exciting? You bet!"
*taken from Teaching Resources for Music Education-The Music Teacher's Blog, Oct. 2010
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