music boy

[celticdragonfly]

Okay, it was spooky enough when Brendan apparently taught himself music from the book lying there and started playing super simple things on the piano.

But now he's picking out the melody to "The Little White Duck" on MY HARP. [1]

Whoaaa. Clearly he has NOT just memorized the hand placement on the piano.

Okay, we have more music books, but it's mostly cute exercises for teachers to do with a kid. What I think will actually WORK with this kid is leaving simple easy sheet music, ideally of songs he might recognize, with words, lying around on the piano. Anybody have some?

[1] listening... yeek, if I'm going to let him play the harp, I gotta sit down this afternoon and retune the girl. Then again, given the weather we've had lately, it'd be astonishing if she was completely in tune. Sigh, maybe if I keep retuning her I'll figure out her name.

Comments

[ciorstan.livejournal.com]

This is the same reason my parents found a piano for me-- when I was about five we all went to see "The Sound of Music" and the next time we were over at my grandmother's house, I was found picking out 'Do Re Mi' on the keyboard. Mom said I didn't make any mistakes.

Some people can instinctively make the connection between the mathmatical gaps between tones (aurally) and visually (the keyboard). It's a skill called relative pitch, which is not the same as perfect or absolute pitch. I have relative and perfect, but not absolute pitch, as I cannot identify the frequency of a tone by letter name by hearing it, nor can I reproduce, for example, a middle C without having some sort of tool (instrument) or reference (related chord or third or fifth and an identification thereof) beforehand.

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're not tying him down w/ formal lessons--the best way to kill a kid's natural interest in music is to leap up at the first hint of talent, hire a teacher, and insist on practice every night after dinner. Make the music available, and sooner or later _he'll_ ask _you_ for lessons.

[ciorstan.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah.

Theory = math
Practice = homework

*shudder*

I was so happy when I stopped taking lessons and just played (and learned) what I wanted. But I had to have the basics drilled into me and the desire to play (practice? hee!), too.