Category Archives: Kinderbach columns

Kinderbach columns, music

And the Music Plays On

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I hope this holiday season is finding all of you well. Between Hanukkah, Christmas, and all the holiday illnesses life is a bit nutty over here. But in the midst of it all we have music! But not just music lessons but music that works around our schedule!

My kiddos learned even more about the actual piano this month. What do you know about the term piano forte? My kids now know (and no I am not going to tell you, just watch the lessons;)! The kids love the cards that they got to decorate to place on the keyboard. The keyboard is big enough that everyone gets to make Dodi’s house and the train station to place all at the same time. The kids are continuing to work on their timing and rhythm with the songs that are in the lessons. We have been working on Twinkle Twinkle a lot along with Dodi’s Song.

One of the funnest things of having 4 kids that are all doing this together is watching them work together. The older 2(6 and 8) love playing the finger matching games with the little ones (4 and 2)and also doing the songs with them. The older 2 start singing and clapping, then the 2 little ones join in. You can hear them encourage each other to try a spot in the song again or to try it another way. It is adorable and joyful in and of itself.

Well I hope you all have a Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas! I will see you on the next step of our journey next month!

(KinderBach provided me with a subscription in order to write these columns but I received no other compensation. All thoughts and opinions are all mine: good, bad and ugly!)

Kinderbach columns, music

Kinderbach: The Adventure Continues

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Ok, I admit it. I am enjoying our Kinderbach journey even more this month than last month. One of the things I like about it is its flexibility. I had to go have surgery this month so it really cut down on how much school (and Kinderbach) we did but that isn’t a problem and I love that. But back to the music!

I am loving watching my kids learning with Kinderbach. They sing, clap, dance and do art! It is great that it uses so many forms to teach the musical concepts. We are learning about real musical concepts as the kids are learning about ”walks” being quarter notes and beats.

We also have become familiar with the train stations on the piano keyboard. The kids are really stoked because there are also songs to go with both Dodi’s houses and the train stations that they can play. In addition to giving them an awesome sense of achievement they are also working on fingering!

I can’t wait to see what this next month’s musical learning has for us! If you haven’t checked out Kinderbach for yourself go over to the Kinderbach site and look at the first couple lessons that are for free! But be warned, you might fall in love to and have to subscribe;).

(KinderBach has graciously given us access in order to write these columns)

Kinderbach columns

Kinderbach: And We Begin!

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I love music! I love the way that they notes interplay to compose the melody. I love how the rhythm can stir your soul and how singing a song can transport you into an awesome mood. But I have a problem that has given birth to another. I have no musical talent. So now you are wondering what my next problem is. Well, I homeschool my kids and can’t teach them music. And for those of you who don’t know, music lessons are expensive ($50 a month or more) and they don’t like to start lessons until 6 years old. Well, I found that frustrating! At the preschool age my kids seem to be little sponges about everything so it seemed to be a waste not to capitalize on it. Then Kinderbach came along.
Aimed at the ages 3-7, I am currently using the Kinderbach program with all 4 of my kids (8, 6, 4, 2). We are about 3 weeks into the program and we are all having a ball! My kids have been learning all about Dodi and don’t realize all the musical knowledge they are already acquiring.
In 3 short weeks my kids have sung, danced, waved their hands and played with the piano. In 3 short weeks they have learned about the piano keys, high/low pitches, rhythm, finger numbering, ¼ notes and even how to play a little song. Not bad for 15 minutes, 4 times a week. Now to be fair, the 2 year old isn’t quite learning it but cut her some slack she is 2;).
Seriously, I have been impressed that my 3 older kids are really learning this. I never had much doubt that the 8 year old could handle it but I see him taking the knowledge out side of just the Kinderbach lessons. I was also confident in the 6 year old but I wasn’t expecting it to help her so quickly in other musical areas. She has been in a choir for over a year but we still struggle with rhythm issues. But after just one lesson that used both walking and clapping to keep time, I am seeing great improvement everywhere! The 4 year old has also done better than I expected. One of the coloring pages was a worksheet on finger number. They had to match the number with the hand that had the correct nail black. I admit, I didn’t think he would be able to analyze it enough to do it but I was wrong. He matched them all.
I can’t wait to see what this next month will hold for us and our musical knowledge! Back to the music! Dodi, Dodi, where do you sleep? Dodi, Dodi, and rest your feet?,..

(KinderBach has graciously given us access in order to write these columns)

first grade, Kinderbach columns, music, preschool, TOS Crew

KinderBach Review

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I got the opportunity to try out the KinderBach program with my kids and I LOVE it! For $86 you get a year’s access to over 300 lesson aimed at teaching music to kids 2-7! For us this came at a perfect time because we had just gotten a piano. I was contemplating getting the 7 year old into piano lessons and then planned on trying to use that information with the rest of the kids. So when I priced out lessons I was looking at $40-$50 a month and everyone said the other kids were to young to learn yet. Well, this program is so entertaining and engaging that all the kids really plugged in. KinderBach uses games, songs and even coloring sheets to really draw kids into music and what composes it. This maybe the group birthday present for the NerdFamily kids this year, I loved it that much!

Cute story: After just the first set of lessons we took the 3 year old into the church service that Sunday. A friend of the family was playing the piano during the offeratory and Nerdling started getting so excited. I wispered in his ear asking him if he was excited to see Aaron the stage. He said, “No mom, Aaron is playing notes on that piano to make up the song”. That is when I knew he was getting it!