Have you experienced holding a guitar or any musical instruments? Do you know something about it aside from its being a musical instrument? Do you know how to play it? Or have you asked a friend to tutor you and yet you see yourself so upset because you can’t still figure out how it goes?
For those who have just acquired the interest in music as well as for those who have been music enthusiasts for quite a long time, you should not worry anymore! There are abundant resources available in the present that can be used to learn music easily.
Afar from the traditional way of teaching music which is purely theoretical, it evolves from a complex approach to a more practical type. Such happens with the help of the advanced technology.
Consequently, there are new trends of teaching and learning music as well as those musical instruments. One is by utilizing advanced music teaching gadgets, which are considered as some of the most useful music teaching resources nowadays.
For an instance, there is this digital piano that lights its teeth up while playing a recorded music piece. The user will just have to press the keys that light and in an instant – he can now play a music piece with his high-tech keyboard. It is no wonder how these gadgets brought an enormous impact to the music industry!
It is also true that the Internet can also be one of the helpful music teaching resources at the present. One can simply know more about the latest gadgets, updated inputs and much innovation by just browsing the net with some few clicks. That surely makes such easy access to music teaching resources. Now, isn’t it really amazing?
The web or the Internet is highly regarded as an effective medium to provide a wide scope of information in almost any subjects. It is renowned globally for it caters to the need of everyone especially in terms of communication and research. Undoubtedly, it is another functional music teaching resource; certainly, something that music educators can exploit with when it comes to obtaining music teaching strategies.
Most music teaching resources in the recent past such as books and fellow music teachers seem to be just references while these new advanced ones are combined ‘references’ with great ‘advantages’ and accessibility.
With this channel, burden in teaching is almost eliminated or lessened by web and online venture on the part of music educators. As a result, they can easily download activities, quizzes, and games to be used as their teaching instruments and techniques – unlike before when they needed to improvise on their own.
On the other light, students can learn music and other related matters on their own. They can surely enjoy music more while learning it with interactive activities online. As they put in their full attention into it and be able to give in time and effort, these kinds of innovative activities truly promote both rational and creative thinking.
The new technology of music – teaching and learning – is definitely more effective than those conventional ones.
The number of Scholarship For Music Education available is great and you should apply for all of them. Take advantage of these Scholarship For Music Education today so you can have an easier time paying your educational costs. After you apply for these scholarships, make sure to do your own research for even more chances of getting scholarships.
The first scholarship is a $10K scholarship drawing hosted at freecollegescholarships.net. Qualifying for this scholarship is easy, you simply need to be at least 18 years old and live in the United States. The website has the form where you can register for the drawing. Remember to register soon as the drawing occurs each month.
Check out the Walton Family Foundation Scholarship. The award value of this scholarship program is $3000. Submit a portfolio of your best essays, non-fiction and poetry to apply.
The Alliance for Young Writers and Artists rewards creative writers as well. Only those students who’ve completed at least 2 years of college can apply. Send in pieces of writing such as poems or short stories to apply.
When you begin applyiing for scholarships, remember that the more you apply for the more you can win. Don’t wait until your senior year to start doing your scholarship search because many of the big scholarships you could apply for have an early deadline in the senior schedule.
Sell yourself to the scholarship committee through the scholarship. Be sure to describe what your strengths are, and also your weaknesses but in a way that shows how you’ve managed to get through struggling times and how you’ve changed as a person due to those experiences.
Parents Play the Most Central, Yet Vulnerable Roles in Childrenâs Music Education
The three basic parties who take part in childrenâs music education are the child, the teacher (or teachers) and the parents.
To best understand how the young musician will regard music lessons, we must ask: âHow should parents plan for the musical education of their children and what they know about it?â
As a rule, there are two main things to consider: the choice and cost of the instrument, auxiliary materials and lessons; and the search for a good teacher. After that, the preparation for the childâs musical training is largely complete. However, buying the instrument and paying for lessons are not the most complex part of music education, although many parents think so and believe that the rest is up to the teacher and the child, who is obliged to frequent music lessons on a regular basis and do the homework. In fact, to parents, it all seems very easy! âDid you do your homework today? Have you practiced that piece enough? Have you learned the fingers in an etude? Come on, play the piece you had to memorize!â
Hereâs the simple truth: The reasons behind oneâs success in music education as well as the loss of interest creep in absolutely imperceptibly, and often during quite a long period of time.
First, then, letâs discuss what happens when a child loses interest.
Again, parents are the most integral and important parts of the equation when it comes to their childrenâs success or loss of interest in musical education. When a child gets bored with his or her lessons, the parents, who by that point are exhausted by battles with the child to practice and often feel financially pinched from the costs of the instrument and the lessons, must then face the difficult decision of whether to terminate the lessons.
While preparing the materials for my book, Voices of our Children, I talked to parents and teachers and asked them what they considered to be the prime reason behind the childâs loss of interest. Can you guess who a whopping 80 percent considered to be at fault? The child! It was he/she who did not want to continue the education!
Whatâs more important is that after terminating the lessons, very few parents asked themselves why their child lost interest. Letâs look the perspective of each participant in this scenario:
The child. He is happy! His âtorturesâ have finally ended. He no longer has to hear unpleasant things about his careless attitude toward music lessons. No one will ever force him to learn music against his will! Now he is free from tiresome lessons and can spend time doing things he likes!
The teacher. Not every teacher, especially not those who often lose students, will search for the real reasons behind a childâs loss of interest in music lessons. It is easier for some teachers to accuse or blame the student than to admit to their own mistakes.
In this case, what does the teacher do? He quickly forgets about former students and places an ad to get new ones â he has to earn a living. Itâs just a job. Â
Parents. Believe it or not, but I think that when the child quits musical training, the parents suffer the most â not only because they have invested in this venture materially, but because along with the termination of music education they must part with their own dreams, hopes, and an opportunity to discover and develop their childâs true talent that might not have been obvious.
Now, when the child quits music lessons, he can quickly redirect his attention to new interests. The teacher, who has lost the student, can compensate for his loss by finding a replacement. But the parents do suffer the most â they cannot âmove onâ â they cannot replace own child with another!
Therefore, to avoid this problem before it hits home, I strongly believe parents should prepare for their childrenâs music education ahead of time. They should know beforehand what awaits them in the future, and should be ready for possible hardships.
www.quintecco.com
Tatiana Bandurina is an inventor, a professional writer and a member of Canadian Authors Association. For more than twenty years she worked in several children’s musical academies and schools as a teacher and a principal. Tatiana is now a chief of Quintecco Educational Products, Inc., the website is www.quintecco.com, a company that develops and markets new media education products to the consumer and business education markets.
Three Powerful Reasons why children benefit from music education as part of their Curriculum, especially at a young age. There has been plenty of research done about the benefits of music education for young children.
1. Playing music improves concentration, memory and self-expression
One two-year study in Switzerland run with 1200 children in more than 50 classes scientifically showed how playing music improved children’s reading and verbal skills through improving concentration, memory and self-expression.(1) Younger children who had three more music classes per week and three fewer main curriculums made rapid developments in speech and learned to read with greater ease.
Other effects revealed by the study showed that children learned to like each other more, enjoyed school more (as did their teachers) and were less stressed during the various tests, indicating they were better able to handle performance pressure.
2. Playing music improves the ability to think
Ongoing research at the University of California-Irvine and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (2) demonstrate that learning and playing music builds or modifies Neural pathways related to spatial reasoning tasks, which are crucial for higher brain functions like complex maths, chess and science.
The first studies showed that listening to a Mozart sonata temporarily improved a child’s spatial abilities. Further studies compared children who had computer lessons, children who had singing lessons, children who learned music using a Keyboard and children who did nothing additional. The children who had had the Music classes scored significantly higher – up to 35% higher – than the children did Who had computer classes or did nothing additional.(3)
3. Learning music helps under-performing students to improve
Researchers at Brown University in the US (4) discovered that children aged 5-7 years who had been lagging behind in their school performance had caught up with their peers in reading and were ahead of them in math’s after seven months of music lessons. The children’s classroom attitudes and behavior ratings had also Significantly improved, and after a year of music classes were rated as better than the children who had had no additional classes.
1. E W Weber, M Spychiger and J-L Patry, Musik macht Schule. Biografie und Ergebnisse eines Schulversuchs mit erweitertemMusikuntericcht. Padagogik in der Blauen Eule, Bd17. 1993.
2. Various studies by Dr. Gordon Shaw (University of California-Irvine) and Dr. Fran Rauscher (University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh), with others.Including those published in Nature 365:611 and Neuroscience Letters 185:44-47
3. E L Wright, W R Dennis & R L Newcomb. Neurological Res.19:2-8. 1997
4. M F Gardiner, A Fox, F Knowles & D Jeffrey. Learning improved by arts training. Nature 381:284. 1996.
Kevin and Janice Tuck jointly own the Fun Music Company, an organization dedicated to providing fun, educational music resources for children and teachers. They also have a free music teachers resource collection at their music teachers blog
Music education classes can enrich the life of an adult or child in many ways. Children who learn a musical instrument or sing usually perform better on test scores at school.
Here are a few reasons why music education is beneficial to both adults and children
1) Build self-confidence while having fun.
For those who have music education classes in school, learning an instrument and playing in a band can be lots of fun. Children as young as eight or nine can be taught how to play a variety of instruments. Bands usually have concerts on a regular basis where the children can play for their parents and others in the school. Adults with music background can form their own bands and perform in public places. Performing to a public audience is a great way to build self-confidence for both adults and children alike.
2) Team work and friendship
Learning about the value of notes, time signatures, and exits and entrances will help them to be a member of a team. Each member of a band or ensemble must work together to produce a well-coordinated piece of music. Besides teamwork, they can make friends very easily. This is especially beneficial for children and other adults who want to be more sociable. Together, they can explore many different types of music and learn to play different musical instruments.
3) Better analytical skill
A good music education can help improve the analytical skills of adults and children. For children and students, music plays a significant role in improving their math and thinking skills in many cases. For most people, they use only the left side of the brain to analyze and solve problems. However, a music education can help develop the right side of the brain. The effect is that children or adult are able to solve problems in a shorter time and using better solution.
4) Stress Reduction
Music has widely been regarded as an effective mean to reduce stress. In fact, this is one of the reasons that make music education so popular. Many people actually feel calmer and cheerful when playing music, including children. However, heavy metal or rock music tends to have a reverse effect on many people and it is generally not suitable as a mean for stress reduction.
5) Turn music into a career
For those who have an immense love of music, they can turn it into a full time career. There are many types of jobs that are related to music. They include music teachers, professional singers or bands, conductors and many others.
Today, more and more parents are also encouraging their young children to take up music lessons. If there is no music education program offered at school, they will send their children for private lessons. This can be beneficial but in a different way. Instead of being part of a band, music students will have to learn to rely on themselves when playing their instruments. Many children tend to take piano lessons or guitar lessons because these are instruments that can be played alone or with a group. In fact, these instruments are also very popular with adults. Regardless of the instruments, a good music education will leave a positive effect on both children and adults for many years to come.
Stephen Chua is the webmaster of EducationForLifeNow.com, a popular website that provides tips and resources to music education, online education and education grants. Visit http://EducationForLifeNow.com today and receive a free report ‘Your Guide To Grants and Student Loans’
