To give more of our talented students and participants the opportunity to shine, we are thrilled to announce that the Butterfly Ball - 2025 recital has been extended until February 1, 2025!
I had my software downloaded, keyboard connected and stickers placed on keyboard couple days ago. It gave me the chance to test the games , get familiar with functions, rules and controls.
Then I:
1. read here on forum all the info on getting started and
watched SM videos on youtube .Videos are VERY helpful
here is the link to SM playlist: "Free Piano lessons", it contains the most important videos on how to get started.
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA6DDE34B4DCA5317&feature=plcp
2. print out lesson plan for week 1 and read it through,
Yesterday I introduced my DD to music note alphabet using flashcards and music chant. She loved both.
1st Activity:
I showed the cards one by one for her to get familiar with the names and symbols used. I was giving her cards one by one and she had to tell me the name of the card.
The funny moments: One time she called note Ti - "coffee" and i do not know why but with the mirrow symbol she assotiated " Is it me?" pointing at herself.
2nd Activity:
I placed one set of cards lined up (Do to Ti) and explained that they have to be in this order. Then I was giving out cards from the second set and she had to put the card on top of the same note in the lined- up set: from Do to Ti back and forward. She loved this activity.
So by the end of the evening she was familiar with the solfeggio symbols.
Last night we decided to put the keyboard under the Christmas Tree and slowly start the SM curriculum and activities including keyboard.
This morning my DD found the keyboard under the Christmass Tree and was very excited about it.
Now about excitement and distractions... She is a toddler, so I had to do couples of changes due to her age and ability to concentrate.
I removed the stickers from the keyboard leaving only stickers on Middle Do to Ti. So we have only 7 stickers at the moment we will be adding stickers as we progress.
She loved the Guess Key Name game, and it was easier to play with only 7 marked keys.
Finger excercises also became easier to guide after removal of editional stickers and covering up tempting buttons on keyboard control.
I just got our software today. I am working with a DS child. These videos are so helpful. We use the mat to learn numbers - jumping forward and backward , what a great idea to use it also for solfege! Thanks for posting.
Nadia,
What a smart and creative way to teach the Music Alphabet!
I am very impressed!
Later on, you can flip 1-2 cards and ask your daugher to guess, what is the name of it/them
I also start with asking to pick 'So' or 'Do'
Most importantly, the child is learning the very foundation of music theory - piano keys and music notes order using her speech memory.
I think, this is one of the crucial steps in music education that, unfortunately, overlooked by most teaching approaches.
Looking forward to see the progress of your child!
Nadia you are AWESOME! Karma to you Love, love, love the videos. Please thank your daughter for sharing her learning with us all. I love the jumping up and back learning do re me... I was wondering how I would teach that as I couldnt see myself or my son remembering it from cards in a line. My kids are very very active so we will definitely try that. New use for our hopscotch game Awesome stuff thanks
Great job Nadia. You are doing a wonderful job in introducing the solffegio symbols. I can see that your daughter and you are having a lot of fun which is most important while learning.