Chaplin kids age 1,3,6,8,15

Welcome, Airforcewife!

I just got our software yesterday and already my kids are begging to start! My 3 year old was so excited to catch the fruit in guess the note game.

Awesome! Please, keep in mind that we call the modules 'games', but in fact they are very intense training tools for child's attention span, concentration skill, eye-hand coordination, ear training, fine motor skills training and more. Treat the module as a 'vitamin' and use it in moderation.
I would suggest to read this material to learn more about the modules of Soft Mozart and how to use them for the most effective benefits:

www.softmozart.com/forum/20-hellene-hine...rite-a-new-book.html

I would also recommend you to get familiar with the webinar: How to get attention of any toddler and teach them new skills.
pianolearningsoftware.com/pages/webinar_1

We have 5 kids (one more on the way) and homeschool so this program will allow us to be able to teach them all music where we could never afford individual lesson for each one. I plan to start my 3 middle kids (age 3,6,and 8 ) with the prep level c tomorrow with our school day.

I developed the lesson plan for 3 year old which is Prep A or B. The A B and C has little difference. If your 3-year-old will have difficulties doing some tasks, it is better to step down to easier level. The key of our learning is the positive experience.

I have a question though about my teenager. He has already had 2 years of piano lessons and can play out of simple piano books. Where should I start him in the program?

If to consider ear training, theory, music appreciation and site reading, I would recommend him to start from scratch in order to properly develop skills that unfortunately are not offered by our current music education.

But his piano development supposed to be customized. Please, record him playing his piano pieces and upload them on You Tube. Let me see the videos. I have to see his hands. It is also important for me to see, how he sight-read. You don't have to make the videos public. By watching the video(s) I will be able to see, which rout will better fit your son.

Happy learning and again welcome to our community!

Hello! I am very happy to hear that you started! How exciting!

We started today and it is going well. I think I will move Leah the 3 year old down to level B prep so it goes slower for her.

Yes! Solid and effective education (especially quality music education) doesn't need any rush. We have to go through all the levels thoroughly to make sure that your children will benefit from the curriculum in future and will be able to receive appropriate credits in universities. With this in mind as gradual and thorough development - the better.

I started Noah (15) in level 1 and had him try some easy songs to get used to the style of the program. He prefers to have the notes like he is used to seeing them and so I let him.

It is perfectly natural, because we all have tendency to look for the point of support in our previous experience. If Noah feels more comfortable with regular music notation, it means, that this where he supposed to START. In my teachers' training I also always start with 6th presentation.

He is having a hard time with his timing though. I know he can play these songs and he never looks at the keyboard since he can read the notes.

Airforcewife, Noah is having excellent music ear and memory. He relied on these inborn - early developed talent. I was watching the video very closely - his eyes ARE indeed on the music score, but hands are guessing and ears are registering.

In my opinion our immediate goal is to involve Noah's vision into the process of sight reading.

Please, ask him to play only Right Hand (R) - or only Left (L) twice.
Set the goal for him to make 'no more then 5 - 3 - 1 mistakes. Ask hi to start a notebook and to write the results down.

Please, follow this link to find out, how to keep the records:
www.softmozart.com/curriculum/practice-tips.html
4. What is the best way to keep my records?

He is really struggling though with not having the timing right.

The program is very strict when it comes to the sight-reading: all the duration of music notes should be considered and any premature piano key release counts as a mistake.

Therefore, it is nothing wrong to step down a little and have the piano piece on 5th presentation.

This is what I think we should do to improve sight part of sight reading.


Piano technique development, on the other hand, could be approached differently. We can start practicing Favorite Classic 2. I would recommend 'In the Hall of the Mountain king'. It is very beautiful, popular and useful for piano technique development piano piece.

If Noah will feel comfortable, he can start learning the piece on 3rd presentation with colors and pictures. Why? Because the visual hints will ease his muscle strain. For our muscle system it is very important to SEE where we should move. For the technical challenges we have to have completely relaxed hands and fingers.

Let me know, what Noah think about this plan.