Monkey Learns to Play the Piano

"And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy." 

1 Chronicles 15:16

Hunter is 5 years, 9 months old

Periodic Table in Song, part one

We tend to make up a lot of songs to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".

I know. It's not all that original. But it's the memory part that counts, right?

This particular little jingle (starring the names and numbers of the periodic table of the elements) is one we made up a learned a long time ago (I'm guessing a year and a half or more) but have recently been revisiting.

We're singing along to the next ten elements now (sodium through calcium) and hoping to work our way through all 114 or so, ten at a time.

This has recently provoked an interest in what elements are and a fascination of the idea that "everything in the world is made out of these element" and, also, having the names come up other random places (such as oxygen and sodium) which provoke more learning.

It is nice how that works, isn't it? You learn something "by rote" but then, of course, you have that information in your brain. Which tends to pop up everywhere, like finding Van Gogh in bathroom art or seeing Texas in clouds. Or realizing that neon is the element that makes up those neat lights and helium is what makes those balloons float.

Connections. It's all about making connections. But you have to have the facts there in order to connect them.

And singing those facts? Well, that just makes it all the more fun. And I think that, perhaps, kindergartners really don't have a preference for one, two, buckle my shoe over hydrogen, helium, lithium.


Just sayin.

"...in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat..." 

2 Peter 3:10

Hunter, in video, is 5 years, 3 months old 

The Power of Music

"Music helps you think by activating and synchronizing neural firing patterns that connect multiple brain sites... The neural synchrony ensembles increase both the brain's efficiency and effectiveness."

From Arts with the Brain in Mind by Eric Jensen 

I have heard time and time again that studies continue to show that music - both the act of actively listening to it and the act of creating it - has been shown to stimulate more areas of the brain than any other single activity. And as such, music physically grows, organizes, and wires the brain in a phenomenal and powerful way.

The brain grows by use. And music grows the brain such a profound way as to have an enormous impact on mathematical ability, reading, critical thinking and reasoning, and so much more.

As Glenn Doman has long proposed, all brain function is interrelated. You cannot suppress one function without likewise suppressing the others. On the same note, you cannot raise one function without in turn raising the others. When you grow and improve the brain by any given activity, you are also growing it and improving it for all other activity.

Music is a beautiful way to grow your child's brain and improve their ability to learn about and appreciate their world.

"Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works."

1 Chronicles 16:9

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christ-mas everyone!

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." 

Isaiah 9:6

Hunter is 4 years, 9 months old

The Lollipop Song

One of the long-awaited projects we've taken on recently is that of finally converting the many VHS tapes, cassette tapes, and vinyl albums to CDs and DVDs to take with us when we move. Today we dug up a bunch of kid's vinyl albums from the 60s and have been listening to them while they burn to CD. The boys have loved listening to all the fun music. They all loved the lollipop song (especially Jordan). It was pretty funny to see them all dancing around, and Hunter with his cape that he made today. They sure have a big imagination.

"They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ."

Job 21:11-12

Hunter is 4 years, 4 months old  

Singing patriotic songs in the car (mobile blogging)

Singing patriotic songs in the car (mobile blogging)

Hunter is 4 years, 3 months old

Look mom! It's Mozart! (Mobile Blogging)

Look mom! It's Mozart! (Mobile Blogging)

While we were at Barnes and Noble today I found Hunter with his chin resting on the edge of the shelf, carefully looking at the front of this CD case. When I walked over to see what he was doing, he said, "Look Mom. Mozart!"

It's always fun when he recognizes encyclopedic knowledge that I have taught him in random places like this.

Hunter is 4 years, 2 months old

Early Music Play

This video was taken in June of 2007, Hunter age 2, just a few months before we started doing the Doman programs.

"Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name."

2 Samuel 22:50

Reading Notes on the Piano

I was working at my desk today when Hunter sat down at the piano and starting reading off all of his music note flashcards. I have been teaching him these for months but since I generally never test him, I didn't really know how much he knew. He knew every one of them, and knew most of their locations on the piano.

It was really neat to see all the teaching I've put into him is paying off and he really is learning.

"Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright... Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise."

Psalm 33:1,3

Hunter is 3 years, 8 months old

Nature or Nuture? Developing a Musical Genius

Link:

The other night I saw this show on the science channel called SuperHuman. This episode focused on "geniuses". There were several people featured on the show from an art prodigy to a man with an amazing memory. Of the five people one of the was a little ten-year-old boy named Ariel Lanyi from Israel who is a pianist and composer. I have seen many piano prodigies, especially on the Internet, so seeing a child play the piano like this was amazing but nothing incredibly new. However it was what his parents said about how he developed his talent that stuck out to me the most. Right in the beginning of the show Ariel's mother says:

"There is a theory that very young children can be taught anything. They don't have to be born that way. But, the earlier you start the education, the more you'll be able to achieve."

When she first said "There is a theory that very young children can be taught anything" I thought to myself, "That has Doman written all over it!" Of course I can't be totally sure, but when they continued on to tell of an incident with two-year-old Ariel in the car, it sounded even more like Doman. He told the story of when Ariel was two-and-a-half and they were driving in the car, and his dad recognized Beethoven's 2nd piano concerto on the radio and labeled the song for Ariel. To which Ariel said, "In...?", expecting his dad to label the key the song was played in as well. His dad didn't know it off hand but Ariel finished his sentence and said, "In B flat major!"

This is exactly how Doman teaches parents to train their children in music, simply to play pieces for them and name them ("This is Beethoven's second concerto in the key of B flat major"). His parents don't say they exposed him to rigorous music training from the time he was born, just exposed him to music and named songs for him, and had music playing in their home "almost 24 hours a day". We don't find out all the details of what they did but we do know that they believe that Ariel was taught to be a great musician because of his environment, it wasn't some gift he was just born with that developed magically on its own.

I was also impressed with his parents' and his attitude towards his "genius": they were humble, and certainly weren't pushy. Most people think that in order to "make a genius" you have to push the child but that's simply not true. Ariel was such a little charmer and I love how he said

"I don't like the meaning of child prodigy cause, child prodigy is basically someone who can play fast, and, not more than that. Not understanding music, just fast."

"And how are you different?" the interviewer asked.

"Because I understand the music, I analyze."

"Are you a pianist or a musician?"

"A musician."

"Are you a genius?"

"[Chuckles]. Not yet. I will be one day, but not yet."

"Not yet", I love that.

I also love his parents' view on his future when his dad said, "When a child prodigy stops being a child then, the question is does he have [what it takes] to be a bona fide artist, or not. And if he doesn't, then, he can be a very happy amateur. If he doesn't follow a career in music then he will have to follow a career in something else. And it has to be his decision obviously, it will not be ours."

I also recently watched a similar story about Marc Yu, seven years old, whose mother was committed to teaching her son to play the piano since she missed out as a child, and played lots of classical music since he was in the womb.

I loved the documentary, except it was funny how, even though the entire video they was pointing to the opposite, at the end of it they concluded that, somehow, these prodigies were born with "different brains" - "music brains" that is.

I just thought this was another interesting piece in the "nature versus nurture" debate. One person could take this exact same story and just call him "a prodigy", saying that he just really liked music as a little child and showed a keen interest and then randomly taught himself to play the piano. It's what Glenn Doman calls a "happy accident", and it actually happens all the time. There are many prodigies whose parents didn't even try to provide an ideal environment, they just nurtured a genius on accident (there happened to be music in the house when he was an infant, there happened to be a piano around for him to play with). But then when we look at it from a different light, where the parents actually developed a love and understanding of music on purpose.

I was really inspired by this story because I have always known that it was good for a child's developing brain to play classical music for them as infants and children, but wasn't ever sure of how much effect it was actually having. It was almost like taking a step of faith when you pop the CD in and just hoping that it's doing something good. Now I'm more inspired than ever and am ready to fill our home with great music, knowing how powerful it truly can be.

"I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well."

Psalm 139:14

Gone crazy with his music!

Hunter was crazily excited today when he watched his new bit time video which had some new notes on it for him to learn - those of the fifth octave of the piano.

I'm not quite sure why this particular batch of notes brought about such excitement, but he sure was excited! He carefully watched each written note (which was accompanied by the corresponding sound of that note being played on the piano) and then when that section was over he jumped off my lap and went over to play the piano - he didn't even want to see the rest of his video!

He played, one by one, notes on the piano quizzing me - "Which note is this Mommy?" I was so excited that he was playing this way because for a long time he would just turn on the sound effects rather than actually playing.

After about three minutes on the piano he got out his guitar and carefully strummed each string, and played that for about five minutes.

I guess that the music is paying off! I'm so excited to be seeing results from him learning perfect pitch, note-reading, and classical music and rhythm.

Speaking of rhythm, earlier today while I was folding laundry I was singing a little tune, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be..." which has a very simple beat. He was sitting on the floor close by and started tapping a stick on the floor and said, "Look Mommy I'm making the song!" He indeed was tapping in perfect rhythm to the song. That was the first time he had done that, and I was thrilled! For a while it seemed like he was "rhythm deficient" because he just didn't quite "get it", but listening to his classical music and doing "rhythm time" (marching around with drums, tambourines, sticks, etc. to upbeat classical music) has paid off.

To say the least, I am very glad that he is becoming so excited about his music. I just can't wait to see what lies ahead.

"I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee."

Psalm 144:9

Hunter is 3 years, 6 months old 

Me and My Guitar

Hunter really enjoys playing with his new guitar. Usually once or twice a day he begs to play it.

His dexterity isn't all that great yet, so he's a little shaky on the chords. But he is simply fascinated with ever so carefully plucking the strings with his jumbo guitar pick (from First Act). It took him a while to figure out how to play the strings gently, but he's finally gotten the hang of it and is intrigued with the workings of the instrument.

He's gained a lot of respect for it. Whenever he gets it out, he carefully takes the bag off of it and brings it to me. It's amazing to see how thoughtfully and cautiously he slowly makes his way across the room, eyes pinned on his guitar, so that he doesn't bump it into anything. I make him let me tune it each time before he plays so that his ears will grow accustomed to the sound of a tuned guitar. And at this point, he always sits down while he plays, so that, once again, he doesn't bump into anything.

He usually only stays occupied with it for about five to seven minutes. And at this point, that is just fine. It's an exciting thing that he is learning how to play this wonderful instrument at such an early age. It will certainly be a benefit and a joy to him throughout his life.

"Praise him with stringed instruments...Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD."

Psalm 150:4, 6

Hunter is 2 years, 10 months old

Teaching Toddlers Piano

Hunter loves playing with the piano, and now he gets to really learn how.

I've been teaching him "perfect pitch": playing a note and saying, "This is C!" etc. We've only gotten about five notes so far, but he loves it.

And now I've labeled all the keys with colors (red for C's, purple for A's, etc.) so that he can find the notes when I ask him to play a particular one, and can learn to play simple pieces, and learn about octaves.

We've only begun, and his hand control isn't that good yet. But he's getting there, and with practice, very soon he will know the joy of making music.

"And with them Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those that should make a sound, and with musical instruments of God..."

1 Chronicles 16:42

Hunter is 2 years, 10 months old

Anthony is 1 years, 2 months old

Perceptive Mind

Today while we were driving in the car, the radio was on with some guy talking, with background music. Suddenly Hunter shouts in delight, "Mommy! He's playing the guitar!" I didn't realize what he was talking about at first, trying to figure out where he was seeing a guitar.

But, I soon realized that the background music on this program was an acoustic guitar. I was so amazed at how perceptive he was in recognizing the music as the sound of a guitar, even when I thought he wasn't paying attention.

"According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it."

Exodus 25:9

Hunter is 2 years, 10 months old

Alphabet Song

"Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel."

Deuteronomy 31:19

Hunter is 2 years, 4 months old