Seven colors that can really make a difference....

Music is a language and everyone learns languages differently. I personally needed all the help I could get, and then some to learn Spanish. Even with lots of help I have to admit I still didn't quite get it. I decided years ago that I was not going to have my young students, who learned the language of music about as slow as I learned Spanish, get frustrated and quit before they had a chance to really play. My solution? Seven simple colors.

My seven color solution can hasten note reading and greatly speed up the reward of actually playing a song proficiently. First of all, they are sponges, secondly, they love to color and third....it's just fun.

Here's how I do it. Assign a different color to each music note. As the students are learning the notes one at a time, color the note in or better yet, have them color it in. Eventually they will be able to find each note and color it without your help. My students love this and picked up on it quickly. They are still learning the notes but now I am making it easier for them to differentiate between the notes as they are practicing. NO MORE FRUSTRATION! The reward to the child is great, making them eager to learn another song.

Here are the colors that I use:

C red

D yellow

E green

F orange

G blue

A gray

B Brown

I do not put colors on the piano keys. The colors go on their music and then one by one I take away the training wheels (a.k.a. colors) and wah-lah.....they are reading on their own.

This is just another reason kids are enjoying their lessons.