Hi Busymom,


Thanks for your sharing!
Agree with you, the songs are well-written and the sound quality of the CD is good (to me it's important, because a cheap quality recording sounds really awful).

Personally, I think the life of any music class begins with the teacher. If the teacher is engaging, interesting, enthusiastic and, quite important on my list, able to manage a class of young 3-4 year olds, then, the learning is enjoyable. My boy's ex-teacher was a nice lady, however, I found that she is a bit too gentle to handle the boisterous-ness of some of the students.

gigue
http://all-things-piano.blogspot.com

Yes, I may consider Music Wonderland when my kid is older - see how he develops through MYC now.


His older brother went through the Music Wonderland course, and I can see that the curriculum is well-organised and interesting.

However, my older kid's short attention span was not sustained during the lesson, and thus, he was fidgeting a lot on the electone bench, and not following teacher's instructions. So I decided to stop for a while. Every child is different - my older kid is more interested in art and craft. But I still would like him to take up music study, just haven't decided if I should be teaching him!! Any advice on this one??

gigue
http://all-things-piano.blogspot.com

Hi Busymom,


Thanks for your question.

My boy's at MYC because he's still a little too young for Yamaha's Junior Music Course, which takes in students at around 4 yrs old. He is currently 2.5yrs. So, I was personally comparing between Kindermusik and MYC. Frankly, I am intrigued by how MYC's curriculum incorporates composition, which is more similar to Yamaha than Kindermusik is. So, I decided to give MYC a try and see how they approach teaching young children in composition.

At this point, what I am seeing is my child learning many songs, and some basic concepts through songs. Personally, I would like to see more solfege singing. But, since my boy's just joined MYC, I'll see how he develops with the curriculum.

hope this helps!
gigue
http://all-things-piano.blogspot.com

Hi Serendipity,

You're welcome.


gigue
http://all-things-piano.blogspot.com

Hi Serendipity,


You're welcome.

If your child likes songs, then, this is good because each set of materials for each term comes with around 20+ songs. They come with an accompanying CD for the child and parents to listen to during the week, to reinforce his/her learning.

Music and Movt - there is some, but I would say that it is not the only strategy used. The other strategies include simple percussion instrument playing (claves, bells) and use of props (such as stars glued on sticks, etc.)

Teacher is professional, and has interesting teaching aids to engage the students.

gigue
http://all-things-piano.blogspot.com

Hi acforfamily,

Thanks much for sharing about the JSAC concert!

Informative to learn about JSAC, and I think the curriculum and timing have not changed much since I took the course, like about, more than 20 years ago!! What fawnfawn described doing during lessons were exactly what I went through too! I remembered having to improvise music to a tune as HW, and we were not allowed to pen anything down, so we've got to play our own improvisations by memory. I learnt a great deal.

If a student has been selected for JSAC, what he/she learns will certainly strengthen his/her musical abilities.
[quote] acforfamily:
I know nothing about music but personally I have many friends who have gone through grade 8 ABRSM but know nothing about the things which my child is now learning[/quote].

I agree: that those who go through JSAC, like your son, will be learning a richer music curriculum than those who just focused on ABRSM exams.

gigue
http://all-things-piano.blogspot.com

Hi Serendipity,

Welcome to the forum!

My kid is taking the Sunrise Class, first term, at JE at the moment. I would say that the curriculum currently focuses mainly on music appreciation, and experiencing basic music concepts like fast/slow, loud/soft and introduction to pitch and note values. It's largely song-based, and so, the kids go through quite a number of songs each lesson. New songs will be introduced, and older songs re-learnt. The pace of the lessons is quite brisk.

Usually at the end of each class, there is homework to be done - usually craft work, where students make little teddy bear to reinforce the concept they learn, and to use it as props for songs. I find that quite a good idea, as my boy enjoys singing the songs relating to the teddy bear.


Hope this is helpful!

gigue
http://all-things-piano.blogspot.com

Dear icyclaw, you have my total sympathy...lack of sleep gives me a short temper!!


I hope that the many useful suggestions by sashimi and schellen are effective for you.

I've a 8 mth old who also rejected the bottle when he was younger. But now he's ok. The key is to persist. Some things we did were:

- We changed the teat - because some babies are sensitive to the texture / feel / shape of the teat. We changed from silicon to rubber. It helped.
- We changed the milk feeder. My boy used to look at me (at 2 months!!) with wide-eyed and a traumatised look when I tried to bottle feed him! He associated me with BM, so bottle feeding (even with EBM) was rejected. I asked my hubby / MIL to help feed with bottle. And during that time, I leave the room so that my baby could not smell / see / hear me. That also helped.
- We started bottle feeding for one feed a day. Everyday, consistently, for the feed around lunchtime, he will receive a bottle feed. And when hes ok with one feed, increased to 2 and so on. Soon, he was able to adjust to being bottle fed, and after 2 months I think, he was able to let me bottle feed him too!

This baby also sleeps light. Until recently, he used to wake up as many as every 30 mins at night, and slept max 2 hrs in a stretch before waking up crying, asking to be carried to sleep again. Like you, I couldn't let him cry until he sleeps - part of the reason is that his crying wakes up his two brothers and I do not want to deal with 3 kids being awake in the middle of the night!!

I absolutely agree with sashimi and schellen that routines are important for babies - not just at bedtime, but throughout the day. I'm still trying to work it out for this one (who's diff from his two older brothers), but here are some things I tried:

- at first, just try to reduce the no. of times I bf my baby to sleep. In my sleepy daze, I did that very often when he was younger. But now that he's older, and taking the bottle, I give him water, or sometimes just carry him a little to put him back to sleep. Mixing gripe water in the water helps - he likes it too.
- adjust his daytime routine to have regular sleep - meal - wake times. Feeding takes place every 4 - 5 hours. No food in between that. After food, it's wake / play time and then it's nap time. He takes 1 catnap (30 - 45 mins) in the morning, 1 longer nap (1 - 2 hrs) in the early afternoon, and sometimes a very short one late afternoon (30 mins). I try not to feed him to sleep.
- his daily routine is based on this sleep-meal-wake cycle. 6am - wake up, milk, play. 7am - bathe and self play time in playpen. 8.30am - catnap. 9.15am - read. 10am - breakfast, playtime with me. 12.30pm - afternoon nap. 2pm - wake up, lunch, play. 5pm - catnap. 6pm - dinner. 7pm - bathe, 8pm - sleep, 11pm ++ - milk. 2-3am - if he wakes up, to give water / carry. but sometimes, when that doesn't work, and I am dead tired, I give in, and give him milk.... :oops: I try not to do that too often.

Hopefully this helps you in creating your own schedule for your little one. My boy is now sleeping better, and sashimi is right - the more a child sleeps, the more the child sleeps!

Also, found this website on helping baby sleep useful too: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070300.asp

Thanks pianojazzy - that's very helpful.

Hi pianojazzy, thanks for the info on ANZCA. I’ve also enjoyed reading your website where you shared on piano teaching. Would you mind sharing how you prepare your students in sight reading? Usually, this is one of the poorer performed sections in the examination. Thanks!!