Home School Music - Making Music With Our Children

Home School Music: A Family Affair

My family has a rich music background with my mother and aunt performing at Carnegie Hall in their teenage years. My mother and Aunt were self taught for a while at home by their father. Later they took formal lessons with a teacher.

My mother went on to become a music teacher. She's made her mark as an accomplished pianist even while leading her groups of elementary school aged glee club singers. Her specialty is transcribing which is a breeze for her as she has perfect pitch.

Welcome to the August Carnival of Natural Parenting: Creating With Kids

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared how they make messes and masterpieces with children. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

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Home School Music Pedagogy

With such a strong musical background (I went to LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts. If you've seen FAME, you know about my high school!), I had to incorporate music in our home school curriculum. It wasn't such a big jump to teach home school music to our children, though. Growing up around music caused me to develop a love for it. I understand how important it is to any one's education. Music can touch the soul and encourage the heart. I want my children knowing how to appreciate music as well.

I had a piano growing up, but I hated piano lessons. Most times those lessons kept me from playing outside with other children. while I hated those lessons back then, now as I am a mother and hardly have time to practice myself, I know the value of them.

When I moved out of my family's home and on my own it was harder to obtain a piano. For many years my older children didn't have one. Instead of playing on the piano, we just listened to good music. There was always something playing in our home so our children got used to listening to jazz...

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

classical..


Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals

and even Christian rap music...


J. R. Metamorphosis

We'd go to the library and borrow more titles. I tried to stick to the fun pieces like Peter & the Wolf and The Nutcracker Suite. I would point out how fast and slow certain parts were. We'd discuss how the music made us feel and what types of instruments we heard. You could also have children draw pictures while listening to a selection. My children loved to act out scenes they made up according to the music.

Now that we have a piano and some manuscript paper, I'm teaching my children how to read and write musical notes. I taught them their musical alphabet (which stops at G) and the behavior of notes and rhythms.

Once they have that understood we start learning scales and easy piano pieces. From there they move on to harder pieces and creating their own music. I show them how easy it is to sit down at the piano and pick out tunes they already know from T.V. and movies. They're amazed that they can play what they hear! After they re-create enough little ditties and melodies, I start to teach them how to write their own music. We notate a piece of music together and then I leave them to do the rest. At the same time I introduce music notation I also introduce transcription. Just like great artists learn to create masterpieces by copying great works of art, I believe my young musicians can learn a great deal by copying sections of music. I'm hoping it will help their musical literacy as they become familiar with correct notation.

Home School Music - The Fun Of It All!

The best part of teaching home school music is playing around with our children! Whether we're beating drums together (either store bought or home made) or sitting beside each other on the piano stool doing duets, it's always fun to make music together.

While all of our children are musically inclined, one daughter loves to dance. We make quite a sound between the playing, laughing and singing. Just recently our dancer started picking up the music books and singing along with the words to the songs. She just might be on her way to Broadway.

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Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• Family Draw Time Art Show — Kate Wicker shares art (and inspiration!) from her family's cherished tradition of family draw time.
• The Rules of Creativity: Learning to Create with the "Non-Creative" — Zoe at Give an Earthly shares how she learned to accept her "non-creative" child and claims that anyone, child or adult, can be creative given the right handling and environment.
• Creating With Kids: 4 Ways That Work For Us — See how Kristin at Intrepid Murmurings nurtures creativity with her kids through craft projects, outdoor creative play, celebrating the creative process, and setting up "little spaces of beauty."
• Creating memories, not things — Mrs. Green from Little Green Blog reflects on life with a ten year old and how 'creating together' has evolved from 'things' to memories.
• The Gift of Creation — It may be hot, but Kellie at Our Mindful Life is already thinking about winter.
• Hidden Talents — Sylvia at MaMammalia describes how providing the opportunity for creativity sometimes means learning to look for hidden talents in unusual places.
• Creating Joy — CatholicMommy at Working to be Worthy shares how she and her one year-old son create joy for their community.
• How to do Crafts with Kids — Gaby from Tmuffin guest posts at Natural Parents Network and describes how to keep things simple when doing crafts with kids for magical (easy-to-clean, and tantrum-free) results.
• Sugar & Spice & Baking on the Kitchen Floor — Carrie at Love Notes Mama enjoys making a mess in the kitchen with her daughter.
• Young Scientist Makes Purple Potion — Hannah at Wild Parenting loves being a lab assistant for the young scientist in her life.
• Making a butterfly house — Lauren at Hobo Mama demonstrates the proper way to build a wooden butterfly house with a preschooler.
• Nurturing Creativity — Amyables at Toddler In Tow shares the enjoyment she feels in nurturing the creativity of her children.
• Home School Music - Sparking A New Generation Of Musicians — Based on her musical background, Chante at My Natural Motherhood Journey talks about how she creates with and teaches music to her children.
• Creating (im)perfectly Together — Mudpiemama shares some of the highlights of a summer spent building everything from ships to hoops but most of a lesson on letting go of perfection.
• Family Soccer Kick Around — When her children wanted to play soccer, Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children helped organize something that would work for her family.
• Creating Memories Together on Skype — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now tells how you can create memories online with adult children or anyone who lives in another city or country.
• We'll always have Halloween: Creating costumes for kids — Jessica Claire at Crunchy-Chewy Mama is not the craftiest mom on the block, but she does make a mean homemade Halloween costume.
• Let's Make Juice! — Wendylori at High Needs Attachment shares about the benefits of juicing with kids, as well as a quick recipe.
• Everything's Better When It's Homemade — Amanda at Let's Take the Metro praises the art of homemade goods.
• Creating the Opportunity for Art — Jenn at Monkey Butt Junction shares how her family has created an environment conducive to art.
• 10 Easy and Functional Crafts Preschoolers Can Do with Minimal Assistance — Dionna at Code Name: Mama offers ten easy crafts preschoolers can do while sitting near parents — but they don't need a lot of parental help. Added bonus: all of these ten ideas double as something functional (gifts, decor, educational).
• Creating with Kids: Singing Together — Ana at Pandamoly details the important role music takes in her household and provides a quick (and easy!) tutorial for creating fun songs to sing together!
• Create This — jessica at instead of institutions considers different aspects of creativity including those without an end product.
• Make Your Own Pocket Bib — A tutorial from Amy at Anktangle on how to make two simple and quick bibs to keep your little one clean at the table.
• Creating Together in the Kitchen — Despite not feeling "crafty," Momma Jorje finds a way to create and connect with her toddler.
• An Artist-Mama's Perspective — In this post, Shannon at The Artful Mama discusses the differences between her choice of artistic outlet and her son's, and how they embrace those differences together.
• Heart of the Home — Jona at Life, Intertwined shares some highlights of cooking with kids.
• Getting creative with kids — Isil at Smiling like Sunshine shares how much she enjoys watching her daughter getting creative.
• Creating with Children - The Nature/Seasonal Table — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama celebrates the rhythm of the natural world with her toddler through the creation of a seasonal nature table.
• How Involving My Kid Saves My Sanity — The Happy Hippie Homemaker explains how involving her toddler in projects allows her to get more done, while providing valuable opportunities to teach and to bond (added bonus: amazing oatmeal raisin cookie recipe!).
• In the Kitchen with Kids — Cooking with Real and Pretend Food — Terri from Child of the Nature Isle engages her kids in the kitchen with culinary creations of both real and pretend food.

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