5 Essential Reasons Why Your Child Needs To Learn Music Theory

5 Essential Reasons Why Your Child Needs To Learn Music Theory

5 Essential Reasons Why Your Child Needs To Learn Music Theory

See below for a Free Printable Pack to go with the post.

This post contains affiliate links.

If you click a link and purchase something, I may earn a small fee from the said company/manufacturer/seller or individual, from who you make the purchase.

When I was learning music I loved listening to and watching others play piano and always wanted to be able to play like them. So when my aunt first started teaching me to play I was ecstatic and loved it.

Unfortunately that excitement was extremely short lived. This was in part because of many reasons that I will share in future blogs but one major reason was because I just didn’t want to learn music theory.

I found it mind numbingly boring and simply couldn’t understand why I had to learn music theory when all I wanted to do was play piano like my mom, dad and aunt.

I just couldn’t make the connection of how learning music theory would help me when all I wanted was to have fun on the keys and make awesome music.

If you have never learned music theory or are having kids learning music right now, I’m sure you must also be experiencing the same push back.

Music theory often seems so pointless and so boring that most kids don’t see why they have to bother with it, most parents don’t want their kids to learn theory if they don’t want to and many music teachers themselves do not feel competent enough to teach theory in a fun and engaging way.

The end result then is that most kids don’t learn theory and they miss out on the opportunity to improve their playing and gain the many benefits that the study of music theory could provide them.

In my case I was forced to learn theory and I am extremely thankful for that today.

As I grew up and began teaching younger children I also realized how those that were actively learning music theory were able to progress faster than those that were not.

It was only then that it hit me that learning to play piano without the knowledge of music theory is like going to the gym hoping to become a world class weight lifter, working on weight lifting, but ignoring all the other important aspects like strength training, endurance training and nutrition.

I’m sure you get my point, learning music theory is essential if your child is to develop strong musicmanship skills.

Whether your child is learning to play piano, or some other instrument, whether you child is learning to play music online, in the home school or with a traditional piano teacher, or whether you are unschooling your child, either way learning music theory alongside the practical side of learning an instrument is essential.

 

Music Theory Enables You To Play Complex Pieces

Kids who learn music theory when learning to play an instrument are often able to play very complex pieces because they have developed strong note reading and interpretation skills that simply playing an instrument without learning music theory alone cannot provide.

 

Music Theory Helps With Composition

When learning music theory, kids also learn to analyse music pieces and this in turn helps them acquire all the necessary skills to compose and arrange music that is not possible with just learning to play an instrument alone.

 

Music Theory Enables Transfer Of Skills

Research indicates that kids who learn music theory are able to rapidly transfer the skills from one instrument to another and thereby, learn to play more than one instrument.

 

Helps Even Young Kids To Compose

Because you see what you are learning, you are able to interpret it and appreciate it better and therefore learning music theory helps to develop kids’ composition skills.

 

Music Theory Helps With Retention

Last but not least, one of the greatest benefits of learning music theory is that it helps kids to retain what they are learning at a much higher rate than those that do not learn music theory.

They also gain a better understanding of the subject and learning music theory also helps to engage visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners, which is something that learning to play an instrument without the music theory cannot do.

 

As you can see, learning music theory is essential. This is one of the reasons why I have included music theory in all of my online homeschool piano courses. Whether it is a mini six week course or a 1 year homeschool piano curriculum, music theory is an essential component of all my programs because I know how important it is.

Also since I have first hand experience of how boring it can be, I have taken steps to ensure that all music theory activities are fun and engaging for children of all ages and therefore include lots of games, puzzles and interactive worksheets.

Whether your child is learning to play piano or some other instrument, music theory as you can see, can help to fast track the learning process and provide your child with a solid foundation in music.

This is why I have a course that focuses only on Music Theory, my aim is to help kids who are either learning an instrument other than the piano or are attending traditional piano, vocal or music classes with a teacher that does not teach music theory – to have an opportunity to learn music theory and progress faster in their musical journey.

Come check out my Learn Music Theory course and my other courses and let me know what your experiences have been in the past, if you or your child learned music theory.

Karen Cadera

Karen Cadera

Founder/Creator

Mom, Teacher, Minimalist, Zero Waste Enthusiast, Multi Pod.

My daughter loved the games, but there were also worksheets and videos. The weekly lesson plans were complete, and I never questioned what I should be doing next.

Lisa Tanner

Homeschool Mom

Play Piano Today!

Teach your child to play piano, today.

Yes, in as little as 30 minutes I can show you how to teach your child to play the piano, for FREE.

What are you waiting for?

This program reminded me (and allowed me to teach my son) how to read music. To me, that was the most important thing that we learned together. Of course, it was very rewarding for me to watch my son play the piano with both hands at the same time, while reading sheet music. His favorite parts of the course were actually playing the songs and doing the worksheets provided.

Carrie M.

Stay At Home Mom

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5 Essential Reasons Why Your Child Needs To Learn Music Theory

5 Essential Reasons Why Your Child Needs To Learn Music Theory

facebooktwitterpinterestinstagramyoutubeSee below for a Free Printable Pack to go with the post.This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and purchase something, I may earn a small fee from the said company/manufacturer/seller or individual, from who you...

5 ‘Easy Peasy’ Steps To Teach Your Child To Read Piano Music

5 ‘Easy Peasy’ Steps To Teach Your Child To Read Piano Music

facebooktwitterpinterestinstagramyoutubeIn this post I thought I should give you the steps to teach your kids to read music notes in 5 easy steps.  You have to have some knowledge of music to be able to understand this and be able to teach.  This post is for the many...

5 ‘Easy Peasy’ Steps To Teach Your Child To Read Piano Music

5 ‘Easy Peasy’ Steps To Teach Your Child To Read Piano Music

5 ‘Easy Peasy’ Steps To Teach Your Child To Read Piano Music

In this post I thought I should give you the steps to teach your kids to read music notes in 5 easy steps. 

You have to have some knowledge of music to be able to understand this and be able to teach. 

This post is for the many parents who have leaned music but simply don’t know how to teach their kids or to break things down in easy steps. 

But if you have never learned piano or don’t know the first thing about music, don’t worry, I have you covered. Come join my FREE 5 piano lessons and I will give you all the tools and guidance you need to teach your kids to Read Music Notes and Play the Piano in just 5 Days. 

What are you waiting for sign up right here and get started. 

Those of you who already know music, please read on. 

 

Name The Key

First take your child to the keyboard and name the keys starting from Middle C. 

You can go C, D, E, F, G, A, B 

Or you can also teach them C4 (middle C), D4, E4 and so and when you come to the next C call it C5. 

With this method remember to teach them that the B before C4 is B3 and so on. 

This actually is my favourite method (C4, D4 and so on) as in the long run it helps when teaching ledger line notes and up. 

 

Line And Space Notes

Next take a music sheet and teach them to identify line notes and space notes. 

I have included worksheets with this post, that you can use to have them practice what they learn.

Remember to grab them. 

 

Treble And Bass Clef

Now teach them to identify Treble Clef and Bass Clef. 

Teach them to write it and also tell them what Treble Clef signifies and what Bass Clef signifies. 

Treble Clef notes are played with the right hand and Bass Clef notes are played with the left hand. 

 

Treble Clef Notes

Now teach them the treble clef line notes and then the space notes. 

 

Bass Clef Notes

Yes, you guessed it. simply teach them the bass clef line notes and space notes. 

 

You are done. 

How frequently or how fast should you teach these to your kids? 

Well that would depend on the age and learning capability of each of your kids. 

Don’t forget to grab the printable pack I have for you. 

 

If you are still unsure, but want to teach your kids to read music, then please join my Read Music Notes and Play the Piano in 5 days for FREE. 

Karen Cadera

Karen Cadera

Founder/Creator

Mom, Teacher, Minimalist, Zero Waste Enthusiast, Multi Pod.

Play Piano Today!

Teach your child to play piano, today.

Yes, in as little as 30 minutes I can show you how to teach your child to play the piano, for FREE.

What are you waiting for?

This program reminded me (and allowed me to teach my son) how to read music. To me, that was the most important thing that we learned together. Of course, it was very rewarding for me to watch my son play the piano with both hands at the same time, while reading sheet music. His favorite parts of the course were actually playing the songs and doing the worksheets provided.

Carrie M.

Stay At Home Mom

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2 Powerful Reasons Why Your Child Should Create Her Own Music When Learning To Play The Piano

2 Powerful Reasons Why Your Child Should Create Her Own Music When Learning To Play The Piano

2 Powerful Reasons Why Your Child Should Create Her Own Music When Learning To Play The Piano

When parents think of having their kids learn to play the piano or any other instrument, creating music is not the first thing that comes to mind. 

This is because we are all taught that we have to become a master at technique before we can learn to create something. 

While this is true in most cases, it doesn’t have to be always the case. 

So in this blog post, I will be talking about why it is important for your child to learn to create his own music, while she is still learning. 

 

Develop A Musical Ear

The first reason that this is so important is that when kids try to compose their own music, they automatically train their musical ear, to understand what works and what doesn’t. 

Thus, increasing the speed at which, they learn and helping them in all the other areas of learning, such as sight reading and rhythm etc. 

Also it helps them to hear what they read, play what they hear, and read what they play. 

Thus making use of all the different sense such as visual, auditory and kinesthetic. 

 

Focuses On Musical Arrangements

By learning to compose and create their own music, kids also learn to focus on musical arrangements in the works of other composers.

This in turn helps them to learn what works in music and what doesn’t. 

Granted they will be learning these things when learning theory. 

However, when they do this from a very young age, with little knowledge of theory, they are doing it by ear and tend to know it almost instinctively thus, making learning, more hands on. 

 

As you can see there are a variety of different reasons why your child needs to learn to create his or her own music, but the two reasons stated here are the most important and incidentally are also the major reasons why I include music composition in my Homeschool Music Curriculum programs. 

 

Want to learn more about these programs, then sign up here right now. 

Karen Cadera

Karen Cadera

Founder/Creator

Mom, Teacher, Minimalist, Zero Waste Enthusiast, Multi Pod.

Play Piano Today!

Teach your child to play piano, today.

Yes, in as little as 30 minutes I can show you how to teach your child to play the piano, for FREE.

What are you waiting for?

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11 ‘Terribly’ Expensive Mistakes Families Make When Paying For Private Piano Lessons

11 ‘Terribly’ Expensive Mistakes Families Make When Paying For Private Piano Lessons

11 ‘Terribly’ Expensive Mistakes Families Make When Paying For Private Piano Lessons

Private piano lessons can be very expensive even under normal circumstance, however, over the years, while consulting and helping parents I have seen tons of really terrible mistakes that they make, which in turn end up costing them dearly. 

 

That is why I thought that it is high time I addressed these issues and discussed some of the most common yet terrible mistakes I’ve seen, in the hopes of helping piano parents reduce the cost of private piano lessons for their kids. 

 

Starting At The Very Beginning

This is a really big one. Most aspiring piano parents think that kids have to learn from a face to face teacher from the get go. 

And I’m here to tell you that nothing can be further from the truth. 

On the contrary, it makes sense to learn the basics from an online program and then proceed to a face to face teacher for the more advanced stages. 

For instance learning to sight read accurately can take many months and simply using a FREE course like Read Music Notes & Play The Piano In 5 Days, can shave off months of private piano lesson costs. 

 

Not Grouping Kids

Another common myth in piano parent circles and one that I’m ashamed to say many piano teachers (not all) advocate, is that the best and only way to learn piano is through one on one lessons. 

That is simply not true. 

While in some cases one on one does work, often group classes work even better. 

Therefore, when parents are dead set again group piano classes, they are setting themselves up for really exorbitant piano lesson costs. 

 

Buying An Expensive Instrument

This is another way that piano parents end up spending simply too much on piano lessons for kids.

As you know, the costs of a piano can be very expensive, therefore, this is not a decision that should be taken lightly. 

Nor am I saying that you should look for a cheap instrument, rather, don’t invest in a piano at once, wait and see. Use some of the strategies that I have explained in this post (Desperate To Learn To Play The Piano, But No Piano/Keyboard At Home?) for a few months before you decide and do your research and then go out and purchase a piano for your child. 

 

Buying A Cheap Instrument

Ok, first I told you not to purchase an expensive instrument and now I am telling you not to purchase a cheap instrument. 

What is wrong with me? 

Am I crazy?

No. 

All I’m saying is that purchasing a cheap instrument is not the answer. Rather, read the post, I pointed to in the previous strategy, give it a bit of time and then do your research, save up the money and finally buy a decent instrument. 

Still not convinced? 

Then read this post before you finally make up your mind The Number One Reason Why You Should Not Buy Musical Instruments.

 

Not Practicing

It is often impossible for me not to emphasize how much money you are wasting on private piano lessons for your kids, if your children are not practicing daily. 

I get it. I hated piano practice too. 

As a piano parent I have a hard time getting my kids to practice too. 

However, practice is essential and without practice, kids will not progress in their musical education. 

Not practicing will only slow down their learning speed and in the end, they will drop out of piano lessons in frustration without complete mastery of the instrument. 

Thus, if you don’t correct any of the mistakes you’ve made, you have to correct this one. 

Here are some posts I have written in the past, which will help you to encourage more piano practice at home. 

9 ‘No Fail’ Tricks For Happy Practice With Multiple Ages, 

3 ‘Absolute Must Know’ Tricks To Have Your Kids Begging For More Piano Practice, 

5 ‘No Fail’ Ways To Make Piano Practice Fun.

3 ‘Surefire’ Ways To Make Your Child Want To Practice The Piano

 

Not Being Creative/Involved Piano Parents

Parents who are involved in their kids education are able to identify and understand the challenges that are faced by their kids and thereby support their kids to succeed. 

This in turn will increase their level of success, and speed up their learning. 

Therefore, if you are a ‘hands off’ parent when it comes to piano, then you are doing your kids and yourself a huge disservice. 

For more information, please read my post, 3 Reasons Why You Should Be Involved In Your Child’s Music Education, to get a better understanding of why this is so important. 

 

Not Asking For A Family Discount

You would think that this is a ‘no brainer’, but I have been surprised at how many families never ask their private piano teacher for a family discount. 

If you are one of those piano parents, then please do it right now. 

 

Taking Studio Classes

While there is nothing inherently wrong in attending piano lessons in a private studio, it is important to know that lessons at a studio can be a lot more expensive than if a teacher visited your kids at home. 

This is because of all the overhead costs that are related to the studio have to be added to the tuition cost. 

Thus increasing the cost of private piano lessons. 

Also costs of many of the instruments and equipment that your children don’t benefit from, could also be included in the tuition. 

Even if the piano teacher does teach at his/her house, there could be overhead costs like a part of the mortgage, insurance and depreciation of the instrument etc, that you are paying for as part of the children’s tuition. 

 

Totally Ignoring Online Classes

This is a big one. For some reason, certain aspiring piano parents are dead-set against online piano lessons for their kids. 

While I do understand that there are many reasons why this may be the case, there are also many benefits to online piano classes that you may not have realized. 

So, before you make a decision either way, why not read the following posts that I wrote, for and against, online piano lessons? 

6 ‘Must Know’ Reasons Why Online Piano Lessons Are Not For Your Child

4 Benefits You May Not Have Known About Learning Piano Online

 

Not Looking For Cost Efficiencies

There are many cost efficiencies that you can look for and I have named two in this post alone, such as asking for a family discount if you have multiple kids learning from the same teacher or studio. 

Another cost effective strategy would be to reduce the frequency of the classes by half but increase the length of each class by 1.5 times, thus overall reducing the price of lessons. 

A third way, cost efficiency can be gained is by opting for group classes instead of one on one classes. 

Don’t be afraid to be creative, be continuously on the look out for ways in which, you can reduce the cost of piano lessons for your kids. 

 

Not Planning Ahead

I saved this for the last because this is a huge one and one where almost all piano parents I know have been terribly mistaken. 

When parents evaluate piano lessons and schools, they often only focus on the monthly cost of lessons and not all the many hidden and not so hidden costs. 

Some of the hidden costs include, annual registration costs (if going to a big piano studio), material and resource costs, costs of a new instrument (or upgrades to the current instrument), examination costs, competitions costs, concert and recital costs, mandatory lesson costs during the summer and much more. 

So what can you do?

Well, if you’ve been hit with these costs then you know what to expect, but don’t sit back and take it, ask your piano teacher how you can reduce these costs in the coming year.

If you just started and hadn’t thought about it, it is not too late, find out right now, ask for discounts and reductions and plan and budget ahead. 

On the other hand, if you are shopping around for private piano classes, then remember to ask about all these additional costs, and make a note of all of them, ask for discounts and reductions and make sure you get the best value possible. 

 

Are you making any of these mistakes currently? If so, I would love to know which one and what you hope to do about it. 

Karen Cadera

Karen Cadera

Founder/Creator

Mom, Teacher, Minimalist, Zero Waste Enthusiast, Multi Pod.

My daughter loved the games, but there were also worksheets and videos. The weekly lesson plans were complete, and I never questioned what I should be doing next.

Lisa Tanner

Homeschool Mom

Play Piano Today!

Teach your child to play piano, today.

Yes, in as little as 30 minutes I can show you how to teach your child to play the piano, for FREE.

What are you waiting for?

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4 Absolute ‘Must Know’ Ways To Help Your Budding Composer Excel In The Homeschool

4 Absolute ‘Must Know’ Ways To Help Your Budding Composer Excel In The Homeschool

4 Absolute ‘Must Know’ Ways To Help Your Budding Composer Excel In The Homeschool

Do you have a child that is great at creating his or her own music? 

Even if you don’t think that they he/she is great at it, know that all great composers started somewhere and your child may have the potential to be one as well, even if he may just seem to be puttering around with musical instruments at this time. 

If he or she does have potential, then what should you do about it? 

And how should you go about helping him/her?

In this blog post, I will give you four easy strategies that you can incorporate to your homeschool routine right now and help your budding composer. Now remember, you don’t have to use all these strategies, just one or two will be sufficient. 

So let’s get started. 

 

Through The Study Of Music Theory

Learning music theory will help your child to analyse music written by the great composers of all time, and this in turn will help your child to learn about what works and what doesn’t work in music. 

Also learning music theory will help your child to put his or her compositions on paper, thus further enabling him or her to share the creations with the world. 

 

Learning Rhythm And Beat

Simply learning rhythm and beat alone can help your budding composer and here’s how. 

Creating new beats are an important component of composing and therefore learning about variations in beat, by listening to different beats in our own environment is a great starting point. 

Want to know more about how you can teach your child rhythm and beat in the homeschool? Then read my post 4 ‘Super Easy’ Ways To Teach Rhythm & Beat In The Homeschool. 

 

Listening And Appreciating Music

Simply listening to different genres of music and reading about composers, and learning about the eras in music and instruments of the orchestra, are other great ways in which kids learn about everything related to music. 

This in turn will help them to focus on different styles and techniques, which will then no doubt not only influence their creations but also help to ‘fine tune’ and ‘polish’ their compositions, further. 

Don’t know how to incorporate music appreciation and history of music lessons into your homeschool routine? Then maybe these posts that I have written in the past can help you 4 ‘Unimaginably’ Easy Ways To Incorporate Composer Studies In The Homeschool and 6 Ways To Incorporate Instrument Studies In Your Homeschool. 

 

Singing

This is another great way to help your budding composer in the homeschool. 

Singing helps kids to focus on so many different aspects of music like tone, intonation, emphasis, dynamics, tempo, pitch and so much more, thus unknowingly training their musical ear and thus further fine tuning their ability to create. 

Even if you have no formal training in music, you will still be able to help to child become a better composer, by simply helping him or her sing. 

 

Now, that you’ve been introduced to some of the easiest strategies possible to help your child continue to create music, which one will you implement first in your homeschool?

Karen Cadera

Karen Cadera

Founder/Creator

Mom, Teacher, Minimalist, Zero Waste Enthusiast, Multi Pod.

My daughter loved the games, but there were also worksheets and videos. The weekly lesson plans were complete, and I never questioned what I should be doing next.

Lisa Tanner

Homeschool Mom

Play Piano Today!

Teach your child to play piano, today.

Yes, in as little as 30 minutes I can show you how to teach your child to play the piano, for FREE.

What are you waiting for?

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