Progress of Lily, Owen, & TmT

TeachingMyToddlers wrote: Probably not as much as I should have, I used then shortly before recording that video.

TeachingMyToddlers wrote: Just an update on how we are doing with SM.

We have not been using it as much with Lily because now her piano teacher is sending home extra work which replaces the time we used to spend on SM. I am so eager to know if a custom song option is available for the upgrade. If so, she will be able to use it again more often.

Lily still continues to blossom musically. When she first developed the ability to sing back a song in solfege, she was able to do it with songs she was very familiar with. Now, she can sing "off the cuff," repeating the tune in solfege as long as it's not VERY fast. I still insist that she sing during practice.

The only time she does not is if she is struggling to learn a new piece and it is too much to concentrate on both simultaneously. Then, once she has a better grip on it she will sing along. I think this has been vital to internalizing and expressing pitch, and Owen sings along during his practice as well.

When reading a new piece for the first time, Lily is able to sing the lyrics on pitch at first glance. So cool, I definitely cannot do that! But I will say since teaching both of the kids and learning along side them, my ability to sing solfege on pitch has improved significantly although my ears are no where near as good as theirs!

Overall, my kids sing solfege around the house constantly....it's borderline annoying at times! When my hubby hears one of them singing yet again, he jokes that I "created a monster!" Lily first started out "babbling" like a baby in solfege and we encouraged it very much even though it was musical nonsense. Now she sings accurately all the time. With Owen, I would guess his (very joyful!) solfege babbling is about 50% accurate right now? Which is the same stage Lily went through , and we do our best to praise and encourage every single effort, making no mind to the accuracy. We also had to talk to Lily about correcting him and saying he is "singing it wrong," since obviously she knows the difference (where as I do not unless it's a song I know by heart.)

With Owen, SM is all we use 99% of the time, although he sings along with in Solfege with Lily's Yamaha Cd in the car all the time which is bonus practice. I am pleased with how piano is helping his coordination progress, he is focusing on learning to play with two hands. It's starting to sound more fluid like actual music. He now gets the concept of holding the chord while the melody continues on the right hand, rather than "replaying" the chord for every single note like he did initially.

I still have him focusing on proficiently playing Hot Cross Buns, Ode to Joy, and Jingle Bells with two hands. When those three pieces are just right, we'll move on. So, in that respect we have been slow to progress but I am looking for mastery. He is now playing HCB with two hands freely without any software and Jingle Bells and Ode to Joy with Right hand with no software. He is starting to play JB with two hands/no software on his own accord but it's not exactly sounding fabulous yet.

With the software, he practices all of those with two hands which is a good challenge for him at the moment. I have been meaning to capture recent video, and this post is as good a reason as any. I will try to get some tomorrow.

I am lousy at keeping a notebook, but Owen observes his score and is pleased pretty much regardless of what it says. We'll move on when he's ready, I see him getting better everyday, so yes it would be nice to do but I'm not too concerned about getting caught up with the numbers at the moment.

I am pleased with the software, it's very age appropriate and formal lessons would most likely not work at his current age (3 years, 3 months) and attention span. For my daughter, I am looking forward to the day I can load her Yamaha songs in the software and have her practice it that way.

With practice, Owen continues to become more and more confident at the piano as he goes. He loves to perform for his Dad (and me too) and take a bow at the end. He will randomly go to the piano and play his three songs for fun. He knows what songs to practice and he operates the software himself for the most part when it's time to play.

It's been a very good experience with him overall and I'm happy we are using the program. Plus, he is left handed and I love than he has to use both hands to play. Knowing that we live in a right hand world, I think piano will be especially beneficial for him as a south paw.

I have learned to play some songs on SM too, but I find it easier to motivate my kids than myself, so I have been on hiatus with a few other projects on my plate at the moment. With our upcoming move, we are staying with family back home for a few months before heading overseas. I am *grateful* that even if we cannot find a teacher for Lily during our temporary stay in the midwest, she will have something to play and Owen will not miss a beat.