Tanya Irwin Piano Studio

Music transforms one’s mind, body and spirit.
Music can transform one in many different ways: positive and negative. As responsible teachers to our children, we must be aware of what music we introduce to them, given their stage of development, and make the conscientious choice for them.

• PIANO LESSONS FOR CHILDREN

• EARLY CHILDHOOD MUSIC
EDUCATION

• MUSIC EDUCATION AS A WHOLE, MUSICAL ERUDITION

• RATES

• WHAT MUSIC SHOULD NOT
BE INTRODUCED TO CHILDREN

•THE MIND-BODY-SOUL
IMPACT OF MUSIC

•THE ART OF MUSIC

• PIANO RECITALS

• WHAT MUSIC SHOULD BE
INTRODUCED TO CHILDREN

Play

The classical music is differentiated into several periods and styles.
Studies have shown that polyphonic music has a significant impact on developing children’s intellect, if introduced in very early years, especially during the prenatal period. What is polyphonic music?

Children are natural performers. They love to show other children, their parents and relatives what they have learned. Periodic recitals and impromptu playing for others allow them the chance to take pride in their accomplishments and have a lot of fun!

All children are gifted.

Born in the image of God, they are natural inheritors of divine wisdom and universal intelligence.

What is the best way to utilize this gift? One way is to develop a life-long enjoyment of the beauty of music.

Listening to classical music is important to infants even prior to birth. Studies show that it significantly contributes to the development of a child’s brain.

An effective approach to appreciating music throughout life is to instill love for classical music at an early age. Listening leads to the desire to play a musical instrument. As an adult, the ability to enjoy and perform classical music is a means of fulfilling life’s purpose: happiness.

There are three main languages to convey musical thought:
Monophony/Monody (“mono” = one, “phone” = voice/pitch) One-voice melody as in Gregorian chants, folklore music, etc. Historically, it was the earliest form.
Polyphony (“poly” = many, “phone” = voice/pitch) Multiple voices. Polyphonic music arose in the ninth century. It was based on Gregorian chants and became the prevailing musical style throughout the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and reached its peak in the baroque era (XVII-XVIII century). Counterpoint (punctus contra punctum = note against the note) is a technique used in fugues and other polyphonic forms. Rounds and canons are the most simple forms of polyphonic style. Famous masters of polyphonic style are: Lasso, Palestrina, Handel, Pachelbel, Purcell, Vivaldi, Bach, and many others.
Polyphonic language is known for its contrast of melodies. In other words, polyphony is an ensemble of melodies. The form is seamless, creating an impression of perpetual motion. It’s also multifaceted. It’s known for an innermost thought and intellectual, spiritual and philosophic content. Sorrow and contemplation are well conveyed using this style while spontaneity is not. Polyphonic musical speech is always a well-thought out expression. These are noble qualities—the fruit of high-cultured musical speech.
Heterophony – a combination of monodic and polyphonic languages.
Harmony = melody with accompaniment. As opposed to polyphonic language, harmony emphasizes the supremacy of the chord--the melody becomes secondary. The composers who wrote in harmonic style were Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, Debussy, Ravel, Satie, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Schoenberg, and many others. INTELLECTUAL, PHILOSOPHIC, SPIRITUAL, AND MEDITATIVE POLYPHONIC (BAROQUE) MUSIC, IF INTRODUCED TO CHILDREN IN EARLY AGES, HAS A POWERFUL IMPACT ON THEM – IT DEVELOPS INTELLECT, TALENT AND LOVE OF MUSIC.

Conscientious Choice.
Consonance, Dissonance and more....
Consonance – pleasant, harmonious sound; it represents an agreement.
Dissonance – tense, unharmonious sound; it represents a conflict and disagreement.
Young children should be exposed to consonant music rather than dissonant music, which helps them to form a harmonious perception of the world.
In today’s technology oriented society, raising children has become a challenge. In a perfect world, pop and rock music wouldn’t be introduced until the age of 12 because it contains a strong beat and is dissonant. Moreover, the strong beat in rock or pop music is addictive and is over-stimulating. When this music is introduced to children, they develop mental blocks in the form of a strong resistance toward classical music. The result is often a life-long loss of the appreciation of joyful music. It is very difficult to break this resistance, but not impossible. One antidote is to turn on classical music when they are at their highest level of receptivity (alpha level) during the first few minutes of sleeping.

In Russia, and generally in Europe, music education is known for its academic approach. It is divided into several subjects. Each class is usually taught by a different teacher. The following subjects are part of curriculum:
Music instrument(s). Piano is required because concepts of music theory are taught on the piano. Children learn their second instrument much faster once they acquire some piano skills.
Solfeggio (ear training). Singing notes is called solfeggio (do re mi fa sol la si). Singing, as well as listening, is a very important element of music education. Performing becomes much easier when students “hear” what they are playing.
Elementary Music Theory. Just as in mastering writing it is necessary to know the rules of language, in order to perform or compose music, it is necessary to know music theory. Because music consists of so many elements, music theory is divided into several subjects: elementary theory or musical grammar, harmony, counterpoint (polyphony), music literature, music form and analysis, etc.
Music Literature. Students listen to the classics learning the pieces and composers. They participate in musical quizzes where they are asked to identify specific music.
Music literature teaches us how to read music like books. It teaches how to perform a piece beautifully and expressively. The language of music is the language of notes and pitch. Some music makes us laugh or cry, some tells a story. Not understanding the language of music is like listening to poetry in a foreign language. While we can intuitively sense the beauty of the poetry in French for example, without understanding the words we cannot know the meaning. Similarly, music literature teaches us to understand the meaning of the music.