Looking for opinion on new color-coded music books

rikki 1

Fri, Jan 30 2015, 10:02 am

Looking for feedback about the new music color coded books that are designed for children (or anyone) to learn to play keyboard by themselves. My children are 8 and 10 and are musical but I can't run around taking them to lessons. TIA

Hashem_Yaazor

Sun, Feb 01 2015, 9:57 pm

The program by Mrs. Neuman? I got the set for my family as I come from a musical one and never took official lessons, and after over 10 years of not having a keyboarded instrument, when I got one, I wanted to help jumpstart my way back in, and B"H I am playing by ear better. I mainly got it for my kids though. Music lessons are not in the budget, I don't think they have the right motivation and determination right now, and time is also limited. My 2 oldest (now 9.5 and 8) did learn several songs from the first book and enjoy playing them (not with chords at this point, though they have practiced it separately). Occasionally, they ask me for help, but for the most part they choose on their own what they want to learn and really spend time getting it right. It's an amazing outlet for them, and beyond what they could have ever hoped to achieve on the keyboard without it (as much as I can show them some songs, I am not always available when they want to play and need to read the notes!) For us, it was a good investment. I am not sure I would have gone for all 3 books though, number 1, and perhaps number 2 was really sufficient for our family.

I also have issues with the binding. My first book (only a year old) has completely fallen apart, with the pages everywhere...

nyer1

Mon, Feb 02 2015, 6:58 am

It's not a new concept. Playing by color is great for very young children first starting out because they feel a sense of accomplishment right away. But it will only take them so far. Eventually when they want to learn more difficult songs they will still have to learn to read notes, and by that time they have to learn a whole new system of notation. From a musicians standpoint, better to just learn real notes from early on. Hard to switch

imasinger

Mon, Feb 02 2015, 7:12 am

ITA with my colleague nyer1.

For the same price, you could get them a book (or find things online) that teach them how to read the notes themselves.

Compare it to someone who doesn't know how to read Hebrew asking whether they should give their kids transliterations to follow along during davening. Yes, it's easier at first, but it never really shows you what to do or how to grow.

Hashem_Yaazor

Mon, Feb 02 2015, 9:22 am

Oh wait, this is color coding the notes? Not the same series I was talking about then. I thought the books were what was referred to as color coded (I honestly don't remember -- for different levels)....if so, ignore what I said. The books I was talking about don't teach someone how to read notes as much as how to learn to play by ear but they write out the notes and expect you to know where they are on the keyboard, no color coding of them.