 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: janlynn
Date: 2009-11-10 16:59
my nephew is 5 1/2 and has just started kindergarten where he gets music 1 x a week. he enjoys and is interested in singing but we have come to find out that voice teachers will not take him at this age.
what are some fun things I can do with him that is music related (notneccessarily singing). I have a piano and know enough to teach a bit.
anyone know of some fun music type games a 5 yr. old would like? (he also likes arts & crafts). or a website that has materials i could get?
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Author: weberfan
Date: 2009-11-10 17:46
For starters:
Depending on his attention span, you might try letting him compose at the piano. Have him pick out a tune he's made up. Then write the notes on staff paper and give it a title. Voila, he's a composer.
Or have him plunk out a tune he knows, like "Happy Birthday" or something from a cartoon show or a CD he's listened to. Transcribe that, too. Then show him how he can duplicate the music on the piano anytime he wants to, simply by reading what you've written on the staff.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2009-11-10 18:25
I'd encourage him to plonk away to his heart's content on the piano, and just generally have available other instruments. Perhaps some percussion instruments, a recorder, various whistles.
I messed around endlessly on my grandma's organ at that age, just exploring what sounds it made and what I thought sounded good. Twenty-some-odd years later, I'm performing and composing in grad school.
Last night I premiered a friend's piece that, along with playing clarinet, involved stomping my feet on the ground and screaming "WAIT!" at the top of my lungs. It was very well received, and darn fun to play.
Perhaps have more structured options available (lessons, books, games, etc.), but I'd encourage exploration more than anything else. Just litter the place with things that make cool sounds, and see what he takes to.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2009-11-10 19:22
My mom (a former music teacher) did something clever with me, starting when I was a toddler, that caused me to learn some elementary music theory and ear-training without even realizing I was being taught. We sang quite a bit around the house anyway, and one day, she started singing, "C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C," up the scale. Then she sang the notes back down. Monkey hear, monkey do: Naturally, I sang along with her. We sang that "song" quite a lot.
Then we varied it: "C-E-G, G-E-C. C-F-A, A-F-C," up and then down each time. Later, a chromatic scale. Still later, "B-E-A-D-G-C-F! F-C-G-D-A-E-B!" Then it was, "Look what you can do with those same notes on the piano." You get the idea. Make it a game.
Mom also did something that, in restrospect, was positively Village People-ish, decades early: Once we'd been singing these "songs" for awhile, she formed the letters of notes silently, with her body, as a cheerleader would form them, while I sang them. She made faces, too: Devil-face with fingers sticking up from her head for horns, for Devil Minor. Sad donkey-face for Eeyore-minor, etc.. If I'd been a few years older, I suppose I'd have been mortified and wailed, "OH, MOM!" -- but for a pre-schooler, this stuff was a gas.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
Post Edited (2009-11-10 19:25)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-11-10 19:35
Find a piano teacher in your area that specializes in teaching young students. That's a very special gift to keep the interest of students that young. It will pay off his entire life. Someone that's not trying to make a concert pianist out of every student but inspires the young ones to have fun with the piano. ESP
http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: spage
Date: 2009-11-11 09:59
Some thoughts from a (considerably) ex-teacher, who was also lucky enough to grow up with music as an intergral part of life.
I believe the most important thing is to make music a natural and enjoyable part of your nephew's everyday life. Let him see how much you enjoy it and how normal it is for you to do so.
My Mum, like Lelia's, sang round the house. My (considerably) older sister remembers my Dad singing too but, for various reasons he'd mainly stopped although listening to music remained a constant. Growing up thinking that singing is just something you do naturally is a big plus, maybe especially for boys. Certainly when I taught primary (5-11) age children quite a large proportion of the boys already held that singing was not a boys thing. Mind you, they always found it hard to explain why, if singing wasnt a boys thing, it was OK for men to sing in pop/shows etc. :-)
I second the comments about letting him explore instruments and have fun - and I like weberfan's idea. I don't remember not being able to read music and I think this is because my sister 'taught' me in a similar manner using the piano. This had a huge benefit when I started to (formally) learn piano at age 7 as some things - marks on the paper and layout of the keyboard - already made sense to me.
Play CDs/MP3s/technology of choice, in a wide variety of genres (as many as you can, including things that might not seem obvious (with 'classica'l push the edges both ways, back beyond baroque and forward beyond romantic!). Sometimes as a 'let's sit down and listen to this together' and sometimes just with the music on in the background. Again, this is to make music a part of life, and not something that only a few people do or that is 'difficult'. Take him to live music events - chosen/scaled for age and attention obviously, but don't underestimate a child's ability to absorb new things. Be prepared to answer what may sound like off-the-wall questions (iincluding by 'Um - I don't know, let's find out') :-)
Have fun together!
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