|
Questions / Answers
Who
are we?
The faculty at the Music Stream Center are
certified piano teachers with specialized training to help students
direct and focus listening, singing, playing, and creative skills.
Some of the teachers have taught students of all age levels with
more than 25 years of experience. The study of music offers a vehicle
for self-expression, heightened responsiveness to beauty, and great
personal achievement. Music is a shared art that will bring students,
parents, and communities closer together. It is our goal to provide
the understanding and skills needed for each student to enjoy and
appreciate music for a lifetime.
Research
has shown that very young children can develop an awareness of pitch
and musical concepts. If left untapped—this natural feeling
for music may never be developed. We are offering Harmony Road Music
Courses—an international successful music program—in Davis.
This exciting, comprehensive American music program is designed
to help children discover the world of music through motivating
materials and activities, which develop the whole child. We teach
total musicianship through singing, moving, rhythmic activities,
keyboard playing, ear training, note reading and composing. The
Harmony Road classes are for tots to teens. We will also offer adult
classes soon.
Back
to Top
Aren't
private lessons better than group lessons?
Typically, private lessons for beginners are Conservatory
based programs and concentrate on working through the primers and
learning to read notation. Technique and repertoire are the main
ingredients. Examinations quickly become the main focus of the lessons.
89% of the teachers surveyed entered students for exams as quickly
as possible and their lessons consequently became centered on scales,
theory, studies, exam pieces and bits of sight reading (Gibb, 1993).
Emphasis
on technical work and notation during instrumental lessons inhibits
the growth of a student's musicianship and creativity. In terms
of brain usage, technical skills and note reading are based largely
in the left hemisphere. Students who are taught this way never learn
to listen properly to themselves and are unable to play with feeling.
Once these students learn to rely on notation for their music, it
becomes increasingly difficult to explore musical avenues that do
not have a notational basis. (Evans, 1985, Priest, 1989.) Most teachers
surveyed rated the following components as low priority: only 63%
covered playing-by-ear; only 54% included improvisation; only 49%
taught composition. (Odam, 1195, Gibbs, 1993, Thompson, 1984 and
Jorgenson, 1986)
Before
1850 pianists routinely learned not only to interpret but also to
improvise and compose on the piano. After this date piano performance
was gradually transformed into a reproductive art. The accomplishments
of all round musicians were lost as interpretation and technical
prowess took priority. (Gellrich and Parncutt, 1998)
The
dominance of notation in verbally oriented and teacher-led lessons
leads to hours of fruitless practicing where the body is fully occupied
but the brain is not engaged at all. Traditional tutor books encourage
students to listen "a note at a time"; their physical movements
and coordination are shaped for life by that kind of listening.
Most traditional instrument lessons are teacher-centered rather
than student-centered. Telling children to do their best to please
their teacher causes nervousness and anxiety which leads to muscular
and emotional tension. The focus on technique has also been shown
to be responsible for unnecessary physical tension leading to injuries.
Tension also results when children have no clear mental perception
of the music in and of itself. (Chappell, 2001)
Back
to Top
How
is Harmony Road Music Course different?
Kinder programs are European music and movement programs
based on the belief that every child is musical. From birth to age
seven children can participate without pressure to perform, as they
are encouraged to explore, express and discover. The curriculum
is based on child development and age appropriate learning through
music. 90% of the program is based on folk music and dance.
In
an attempt to teach music to children from a developmental perspective,
many group music appreciation programs have proliferated. Some provide
music interpretation, dancing and singing to folk tunes, or playing
simple percussion instruments in kindergarten style rhythm bands.
This is based on the teaching methods of Orff, Kodaly, and Dalcroze.
All group music lessons are not created equally:
- Pre-school
music play programs do not teach your child to play a musical
instrument.
- They
do not include parents as key teaching resources after the age
of three or four.
- They
do not continue beyond the ages of six or seven.
- They
do not focus on teaching solfege singing (naming notes using do-re-mi)
as the musical foundation for developing inner hearing, listening,
feeling and music reading.
- Some
of them are activities to pass time, and not investments in the
child's academic or musical future.
The
Harmony Road Music Courses seems to have gotten it completely right.
Harmony Road students learn to play piano, compose and improvise.
They have their own books, CD's and midi disks to reinforce their
studies at home each week. As in the Suzuki programs Harmony Road
parents participate fully in each lesson and coach their children
at home throughout the week. Harmony Road incorporates the rhythm
and movement of Orff and Dalcroze, the solfege singing of Kodaly
and the child centered learning approach of Montessori. Its founder,
Jan Keyser, has taken a layered, age-specific approach to programming,
developed over many years with Yamaha as a teaching specialist.
In 1980 she created and began teaching the Harmony Road program
in Portland, Oregon where 600 students enjoy her musical guidance
today. Currently there are 120 Harmony Road locations in the United
States as well as Britain, New Zealand, Holland and Canada. The
program boasts 98% retention over four years in nearly all locations.
Lessons are based on the time tested Harmony Road triangle—parent/caregiver,
child and trained Harmony Road teacher.
The
incredible musicianship and technical skill that results from this
combination results in young musicians who are truly gifted repertory
performers and creative composers. Harmony Road is rooted in the
old European teaching models, which produced Mozart, Beethoven and
Bach. Remember the great composers did not play the classics, they
wrote them!
Back
to Top
How
can the Harmony Road program help to develop the young student's
brain?
In order to allow pianists to be more creative, imaginative
and musical young beginners at Harmony Road are given the opportunity
to enhance the neurophysiology of their brains using a whole brain
approach to learning. Harmony Road helps students develop a greater
understanding of music; obtain a greater sense of physical ease
and depth of expression while playing; increase enjoyment and motivational
levels; experience less anxiety and physical tension while performing;
and demonstrate improved sight reading ability effectively through
the use of solfege singing.
When
whole brain teaching and listening skills are at the center of a
music program, students experience greater unification between the
brain, the body and their emotions. The right hemisphere of the
brain is able to develop more intuitive and special skills in partnership
with the more logical and analytical left hemisphere. This allows
students to develop a deep, unconscious well of musical experience
from which they can draw, thereby increasing their sensitivity and
understanding of music in general.
When
children are shown how and encouraged to internalize music from
the first lesson, they will be less prone to physical problems due
to muscular tensions in their arms and legs. By taking a pupil-centered
approach, students have more partnership with the teacher and are
more involved in making decisions. Their enjoyment levels rise and
their fears of external censure are diminished. Many a promising
careers in music has been ended due to stress and physical injury
from tension beginning in the early years.
Early
childhood music lessons actually enlarge the brain areas used to
analyze pitch by 25%. The younger the music training begins, the
larger the area. It is postulated that children are born with perfect
pitch but are unable to discern it if these areas are not continuously
stimulated and neurological connections formed. It is a use it or
lose it situation. (Nature, 1998)
College
bound seniors who had taken music lessons at some point in their
lives scored 52 points higher on the verbal portion of their SAT's
and 37 points higher in math than those without: a total of 88 points
higher than the national average. Subsequently a study of 7500 music
majors showed they had the highest levels of reading scores of any
students on campus including those in Math, English, Chemistry and
Biology. (Profiles of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, the College
Board, 1998)
The
University of California at Irvine found that after six months of
pre-school piano lessons, students performed 34% better on spacio-temporal
testing that those who received no training and those who had played
computer games. After learning eighth, quarter, half and whole notes,
second and third graders scored 100% higher than their peers who
were taught fractions by traditional methods. (Neurological Research,
Feb. 1997)
Back
to Top
How
old should a child be to begin music lessons?
The peak age for the development of the brain is
around three years. Our programs begin at 18 months but students
can begin at any age up to 12 years. Our graduated age specific
programs allow each child to move at his or her own pace while being
supported by parents and the group itself.
Back
to Top
Do
I need to buy a piano to start Harmony Road Music Lessons?
A piano is primarily a percussion instrument. An
electronic keyboard can be purchased for teaching the very young
and fortunately can be purchased for under $150. As the child learns
to understand the geography of the keyboard and develops a sense
of musicianship and timing, a digital piano with hammer action and
pedals or an acoustic piano can be purchased. Your Harmony Road
teachers can help you make this decision and direct you to appropriate
suppliers. There are some very good rent-to-own programs available
to qualified purchasers as well. Keyboards should have at least
60 full-sized keys.
Back
to Top
I
Want to Enroll...Now What?
To enroll, simply fill out online
Enrollment and print out the confirmation page,
enclose a $30. non-refundable Enrollment Fee plus Tuition payable
to “Music Stream Center” and mail to:
Music Stream Center
903 Oak Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
Back
to Top
How
to contact you if I have questions?
Please email — info@musicstreamcenter.com
all your questions. The teachers will email answers to you as soon
as possible or contact you by phone.
|
