Online Piano & Music Lessons for Preschool Kids (3-7 years. old)
Music is a very important part of our family life. Michael and I love to sing and play the piano and we want to impart this to our kids. Mishca started humming songs before she started to speak. She started toying with the piano at around 6 months old and attended her first Kindermusik class at 23 months. She, however, is not yet ready to take formal piano lessons at 4. So, it was a blessing to find Kinderbach. (www.kinderbach.com)
It is a challenge to teach kids ages 3-5 music theory and piano playing. In fact, piano teachers do not like teaching very young kids. Most kids cannot sit still on the piano bench. We all know that learning about solfege and music notation can be boring. A lot of us who had to take piano lessons early learned to abhor the lessons and sometimes even the strict teacher. God forbid we train our kids to hate music or piano because we forced formal piano lessons on them.
Kinderbach creator Karri Gregor specializes in teaching piano to very young kids. She taught them in groups. There would be times some kids would be absent so she decided to videotape some lessons for the absentees. This eventually gave her and her family the idea of producing an interactive piano course for children.
KinderBach Features a solid piano curriculum, fun characters and engaging videos. It suits children of all learning styles (visual, audio, kinesthetic). Kinderbach’s curriculum is aligned with the MENC teaching method and can translate to any instrument. Children are taught music vocabulary, note reading, rhythm, physical technique, solfege singing, listening skills and music composition. There is also a Kinderbach curriculum for schools.
The Kinderbach program is available through online streaming or DVDs. It has 6 levels of music and piano training. Included with the video training are 6 levels of activity ebooks, meant to be done by the child for every lesson. There are games, crafts and puzzles in the colorful activity ebooks which be printed before the lesson. It will take around 1 to one and a half years to finish 6 levels.
Mishca is almost done with Kinderbach Level 1 after 3 months of lessons
You can play one bite size lesson (about 1 to 3 minutes) for your child or you can show a whole week’s lesson (4 lessons plus 1 introduction in all) in one seating, which is what we are doing. It all depends on your child’s interest and attention span. For Mishca, one bite size lesson is just too short so we go through 4 lessons in one seating.
Lessons are interactive and very engaging even for a grown-up (Ahem,that’s me!). It teaches the child about the piano, note reading, and rhythm through characters such as Dodi, Frisco and the Beat Bugs. To reinforce learning, there is coloring or craft work to do. There is also a lot of wiggling and jiggling around with musical instruments that can be found around the kitchen. Each lesson is creatively presented. I wish I had something like this when I was young.
Mishca doing a coloring activity that teaches high and low sounds
Even if we are not yet done with Level 1, Mishca has already started playing simple tunes. This is her playing the song Dodi’s House.
Mishca putting card markers to identify the 2 black keys and 3 black keys on the piano.
As a New Year’s gift, Kinderbach is offering a 40% discount on both their DVD and online streaming lessons until February 4. To see if this program fits your child, you can sign up for the free web lessons. But do not wait too long because the discount is only good until February 4. The price of the whole DVD set is equivalent to about 6 months of formal piano lessons. I believe it is worth the investment. Try it and see for yourself. All purchases are backed by a 30-day money back guarantee and all DVDs have a life-time guarantee (meaning they will send you a new one if ever you lose or damage it).
Mishca beams every time I announce that it is Kinderbach time. The only con I see here is that she might miss all the Kinderbach characters and fun activities once she starts formal piano lessons.
START your FREE KINDERBACH lesson here: http://www.kinderbach.com/Learn/signin.html
This is NOT a paid review.