Much of what piano parents and students focus on at home, is the physical practicing of the piano. There is no doubt that exercising and reviewing finger movements is beneficial to improving at creating music. However, something that is often put on the back burner, is listening to recordings and other music.
What Kind of Recordings?
As a budding musicians, piano students should be exposed to a large variety of music in their personal lives. Here are some examples of what they can be listening to:
- Solo piano recordings
- Children’s edits of classical and jazz music
- Piano versions of popular kids’ music
- Recordings of their own playing
- Music that you (the adult!) likes listening to
Why?
Music comprehension is multi-faceted. If we use the analogy of music being a language, our piano students must learn through speaking, listening, writing, and reading. Listening to music provides children the opportunity to hone their ability to hear musical details. We call the intentional programming to improve auditory skills in music ear training.
As they continue lessons, they are able to hear their music vocabulary we talk about in the music they listen to. At first, they may identify very basic concepts such as “happy” and “sad” moods. Later on, they start to identify melodic and rhythmic features such as intervals and different rhythms. Even later on, advanced students begin to identify musical structure such as key, time signature, mode, and form. This ultimately helps them in creating their own music. In having the ability to decipher musical knowledge with their ears, piano students have an enhanced ability to use those musical concepts in their playing. Listening to music for fun, is the first step in training our ears to become stronger.
Using the language analogy, once you’ve learned to recognize by ear the sentence structure of “subject-verb-subject”, you are able to understand with higher confidence and ability what someone is trying to tell you. You are also able to use that sentence structure to express what you want.
How do I fit Listening In?
This is a common question! Most families have hectic and busy schedules, and piano practice is already an extra task on top of it all. Here are some tips:
- Listen in the car– most families have car rides to school or other events. Use this time to listen and enjoy music together.
- Listen in lieu of physically practicing the piano– when playing the piano comes to a creative block, spend that time listening to music and getting new inspiration
- Make singing and dancing a family activity– This is usually very enjoyable for kids, and sneaks listening in!
- Get a bluetooth speaker– make listening to music a convenient and awesome habit in your life. Add music to cooking time, playing time, and even bedtime routines.
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