Children's songs to learn how to play an instrument
Stars, The chicks say or Martinillo aren't just cradle songs: well-chosen, they teach pulse, reading and technique at first instrument.
The traditional children's songs are best first repertoire because the child already knows how they should sound: if a note goes bad, you notice it alone. Stars, The chicks say, Martinillo, Rice with milk or Happy Birthday have short, repetitive and easy to recognize melodies and each train something different.
Here's what's best to learn from every instrument, how to teach every song and how to get the best out of a tune.
To sum up
- A known song works as an internal tuner: the child fixes itself because he knows how to sound.
- Stellita is the first song par excellence: the Suzuki violin method starts with variations about it, and Mozart wrote twelve piano variations about his melody.
- In sweet flute, tone matters: playing at the bigger Sun prevents serious Do, one of the most difficult notes at first.
- Martinillo goes with a single chord and sings in canon: perfect to play with family.
- The same song can be sung, pampered, played, read and varied and repeated in different ways as well as advanced.
Why start with songs that the child already knows
When a child plays a melody that she doesn't know, it depends on his score or his teacher to figure out if it's okay. With a song that's been singing a thousand times his ear's been a teacher: she knows how soon a note doesn't fit and she's trying to get it right. That's how much she's been learning and giving him something that's worth gold at first: the feeling of "I get out."
Also, these songs have short phrases, a lot of repetition and few notes. They are just the conditions that a person who's still learning where his fingers are going.
Songs and what each teaches
| Song | Ideal instrument | What does she teach |
|---|---|---|
| Estrellita | Violin, piano, sweet flute | Retiring notes, a fifth leap at first and a clear form in three parts (A-B-A). |
| The chicks say | Sweet flute, piano, voice | Shorts that are repeated on a very regular pulse. |
| Martinillo (Fray Santiago) | Piano, guitar, voice | The canon: The same melody goes into bad time and with a single chord. |
| Rice with milk | Guitar, piano, voice | To join with very few chords and change them in time. |
| Happy birthday | Piano, sweet flute, violin | Compas de 3, anacrusa (the melody begins before the first time) and an octave leap. |
| Mambru's gone to war | Sweet flute, piano | The 6 / 8 bar's balancing. |
| Elephants | Voice, percussion, musical initiation | To count and repeat with variations: the song grows at every turn. |
| Oda to joy (Beethoven) | Piano, sweet flute | Neighbor notes and a fixed position of his hand. It's not childish but it's a first year classic. |
The order matters less than the child's level timings: the teacher chooses the song as his or her grades and rhythms and uses it again as his or her best practice to teach something new.
At the sweet flute
The sweet flute is usually the first melodic instrument of the school and children's songs are its natural repertoire.
- He chooses his tone from his fingulations. Do Mayor's stars have been forced to play the serious Do, which requires cover up all the leaking holes. At Sun Mayor the melody remains far more kindly noted to start with.
- It starts with few-note songs. Many teachers start with the first notes of their left and seek melodies that fit there before they add their right.
- Soft breath and tongue on every note. The repeated notes of Strella or The chicks say are a great joint exercise: each starts with a soft "your."
If you have no flute or dubious between Baroque and German, check how to choose a sweet fluteAnd if your child wants to go beyond school, these are [sweet flute classes]](/clases/flauta-dulce).
On the piano or keyboard
The piano has an advantage: the child sees the tidy notes from grave to acute. The children's songs allow him to move from his finger to his full hand, in this order:
- One hand, five fingers. Oda to joy lies almost complete at Do's place, a finger by Do to Sun key, and teaches how to play without looking at his hands.
- Small extensions. Stars get out of that position as they get to La: it's the first exercise to move their hands without losing their pulse.
- Family canon. Martinillo's play with an old man and an adult goes into his place with his and her best and best.
- His left hand. With Rice with milk or happy birthday, the left can play a single note per chord at the first time of each bar.
At [piano classes]](/clases/piano) For children, these songs tend to live with reading exercises at an early age: what the child already knows how to play with his ear helps him or her to understand what he sees at his or her score.
The violin, guitar and voice
Violin
Stars is the entrance door of many violinists: the Suzuki method begins with rhythmic variations about this melody, touched at La and Mi's strings. Each variation changes the rhythm of the arch about the same notes, so the child concentrates on sound and not on remembering the melody.
Guitar
At the guitar, children usually start with more than playing melodies. Martinillo is perfect because it holds with a single chord: the child scatters while the family sings, and as voices come into canon, the chord continues to work. Then come songs of two or three chords, such as Rice with milk, to practice first changes.
Voice and Music Initiation
Before the instrument there's the voice. Music initiation, rounds such as Rice with milk or The yard of my house are sung, danced and pampered. Singing tuned a melody is the first step to play it.
A song, many ways to learn it
A teacher rarely "passes" a song and goes with another. The same melody serves for weeks if you change how to work it:
- Sing it with the name of the notes.
- Fold up the rhythm No melody, or with body percussion.
- Touch her by phrases, first slow.
- Read it at the score, as the child begins to read, to connect what sounds with what she sees.
- To vary: To change his rhythm, to touch his face more strongly or more softly, or to put his face to another tone.
- Touch her with others, with an adult with an accompanying person.
The idea of difference isn't new: Mozart wrote twelve piano variations about the French melody we know as Stellita. If your child's already playing the simple version, listening to those variations together is a beautiful way to show him how far a simple song can get. To play with the rhythm of these songs at home, you have more ideas at [children's music games]](/blog/juegos-musicales-para-ninos-en-casa).
Common mistakes when choosing and practising songs
- To get to the next song before the first one gets smooth.
- To put up with "baby's" songs with a 9 or 10 year old that no longer identifies with them and at that age they should be mixed with music as they please.
- Keep the tone of the song maker even if it doesn't suit the instrument or the voice.
- Retiring every note while the child plays, instead of letting him finish his sentence and comment later.
- Always learn from an ear without ever looking at the score, or the other way around: the two ways are strengthening.
Frequently asked questions
What's the first song you learn about with sweet flute?
It depends on the method and the teacher, but they are usually three to five note melodies that are touched with their left hand. Stars and chicks say they appear soon because their child already knows them.
Why do violin's teachers start with Stellita?
Because his notes fall comfortable with his first strings and his melody is so well known that his child can concentrate on his bow and sound. Suzuki method and his or her best and best works with rhythmic variations that prepare his or her arch technique.
Is it better to learn children's songs or what my child likes?
The two. The children serve in the first few weeks because they are simple and as soon as the child advances, add a song that he likes keeps his motivation. A good teacher mixes both and adapts what his child wants at his level.
How old can a child play songs at an instrument?
With a voice and percussion, from a very small age. To play melodies with sweet or piano flute is usually possible between the ages of 5 and 7, depending on the motor and care of each child.