Ear Training, Performing and Excelling in MYC

I just read an article about a 12-year-old pianist who can (1) play by ear and (2) loves to perform.  According to his teacher, he (3) “excels beyond his years and beyond the skill levels of most other students who are regarded as progenies” [sic] and “he gets it on the intuitive level.”

 And guess what!?  This student began his study at age 5 with four years in the Music for Young Children™ program.  Why am I not surprised?  Because children in Music for Young Children classes

1.  Receive weekly ear training by

• clapping back rhythm “stories” each week, then writing what they hear with manipulatives like popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners.
• singing short tunes in solfege (i.e., “do, re, mi” etc.), with hand signs, eventually taking these tunes to the keyboard to play by ear and then transpose into different keys.
• harmonizing each scale with three primary chords and then adding harmonies to songs already learned.
• singing songs to reinforce music concepts or simply for the joy of singing.  (If you can sing it, you can play it.  And, of course, to sing it, you have to hear it first.)

2. Perform

• with others in class (harmonized scales, sight reading passages, short exercises).
• in front of others (during solo time in class, in recitals and at home for family and friends).  At home, students are encouraged to perform for friends and to ask them to sign and add comments to their “I am a Star pages”.

3. Excel

MYC students become good listeners as a result of the ear training they have received and by listening to the performances of their peers in class.  Through consistent, mindful (i.e., listening) practice, they develop the necessary technique to move forward. They hear and express music intuitively and can develop their skill levels beyond those labelled as  “prodigies”.  Of course, another set of ears – the parents’ – both in class and during home practice sessions, helps too!

Marc Widner, Chief Examiner Emeritus, of the Royal Conservatory of Music, says it best:

“The Music for Young Children program has to be counted as the dominant force in the musical training of young children in Canada today.  Many of the new students arriving each year in my studio are graduates of Music for Young Children.  They arrive superbly prepared and well motivated for further study.  MYC teachers have found the right balance.  They successfully blend the pleasure and joy of music making with the rigour of a well-crafted pedagogical progression.”