Frequently Asked Questions
Aren't
private lessons better than group lessons?
What
is the Harmony Road Music Course?
How
is Harmony Road Music Course different?
Do
I need to buy a piano to start Harmony Road Music Program?
How
does tuition work?
Want
to Enroll...Now What?
Aren't
private lessons better than group lessons?
We believe that taking private lessons
is the most ideal form of learning for intermediate to advanced
level students and most adult students of every level. However,
we have found through our years of experience in teaching piano,
that private lessons are not necessarily appropriate for young
children at an elementary level of piano playing.
Typically, private lessons for beginners concentrate on working
through the primers and learning to read notation. Technique
and repertoire are the main ingredients. (Gibb, 1993).
Although
the emphasis on technical work and notation during instrumental
lessons are necessary for intermediate to advanced piano students.
If too much of it is introduced to a beginning young piano student
from an onset, it can often stifle his/her creativity and musicianship.
In terms of brain usage, technical skills and note reading are
based largely in the left hemisphere. Students who are taught
this way from an early age never learn to listen properly to
themselves and are unable to play with feeling. Once these students
learn to rely on notation for their music, it becomes increasingly
difficult to explore musical avenues that do not have a notational
basis. (Evans, 1985, Priest, 1989.) Most teachers surveyed rated
the following components as low priority: only 63% covered playing-by-ear;
only 54% included improvisation; only 49% taught composition.
(Odam, 1195, Gibbs, 1993, Thompson, 1984 and Jorgenson, 1986)
Before
1850 pianists routinely learned not only to interpret but also
to improvise and compose on the piano. After this date, piano
performance was gradually transformed into a reproductive art.
The accomplishments of all round musicians were lost as interpretation
and technical prowess took priority. (Gellrich and Parncutt,1998).
The
dominance of notation in verbally oriented and teacher-led lessons
leads to hours of practicing where the body is fully occupied
but the brain is not engaged at all. Traditional method books
encourage students to listen "a note at a time"; their
physical movements and coordination are shaped for life by that
kind of listening. Most traditional instrument lessons are teacher-centered
rather than student-centred. Telling children to do their best
to please their teacher causes nervousness and anxiety which
leads to muscular and emotional tension. The focus on technique
has also been shown to be responsible for unnecessary physical
tension leading to injuries. Tension also results when children
have no clear mental perception of the music in and of itself.
(Chappell, 2001)
What
is the Harmony Road Music Course?
Harmony Road founder and composer Jan Keyser developed the first
course in 1981. Over the last twenty five years, the curriculum
has grown and been continually refined to ensure student success.
Harmony Road classes provide ideal groundwork for more advanced
musical training as well as a lifetime of music enjoyment.
Lessons
include:
Keyboard
discovery and playing
Solfege
singing and ear training
Rhythm
acitivities and movement
Creative
activities and composing.
In the Harmony Road Course, the focus is in helping young musicians
to become complete and creative musicians by introducing them
to the lost art of improvising and composing as an important
component in addition to notation and techinical excercies.
Students who aspire to be concert artists will learn the necessary
skills to succeed with their chosen instrument. All students
develop insights and skills to have music and music-making be
an important part of their lives. In fact, many take up a second
instrument while studying piano and musicianship in the Harmony
Road Music Course.
Currently
there are 120 Harmony Road locations in the United States as
well as Britain, New Zealand, Holland and Canada. This summer,
Jan will be training teachers in Taiwan and China for the opening
of 50 Harmony Road Music Schools there.
How
is Harmony Road Music Course different?
Kinder programs are European
music and movement programs based on the belief that every child
is musical. From birth to age seven children can participate
without pressure to perform, as they are encouraged to explore,
express and discover. The curriculum is based on child development
and age appropriate learning through music. 90% of the program
is based on folk music and dance.
In an attempt to teach music
to children from a developmental perspective, many group music
appreciation programs have proliferated. Some provide music
interpretation, dancing and singing to folk tunes, or playing
simple percussion instruments in kindergarten style rhythm bands.
This is based on the teaching methods of Orff, Kodaly, and Dalcroze.
All group music lessons are not created equally:
- Pre-school music play programs
do not teach your child to play a musical instrument.
- They do not include parents
as key teaching resources after the age of three or four.
- They do not continue beyond
the ages of six or seven.
- They do not focus on teaching
solfege singing (naming notes using do-re-mi) as the musical
foundation for developing inner hearing, listening, feeling
and music reading.
- Some of them are activities
to pass time, and not investments in the child's academic or
musical future.
Harmony Road students learn
to play piano, compose and improvise. They have their own books,
CD's and midi disks to reinforce their studies at home each
week. In Harmony Road classes, parents participate fully in
each lesson and coach their children at home throughout the
week. Harmony Road incorporates the rhythm and movement of Orff
and Dalcroze, the solfege singing of Kodaly and the child centered
learning approach of Montessori. Its founder, Jan Keyser, has
taken a layered, age-specific approach to programming, developed
over many years with Yamaha as a teaching specialist. In 1980
she created and began teaching the Harmony Road program in Portland,
Oregon where 600 students enjoy her musical guidance today.
Lessons are based on the time tested Harmony Road triangle—parent/caregiver,
child and trained Harmony Road teacher.
The incredible musicianship
and technical skill that results from this combination results
in young musicians who are truly gifted repertory performers
and creative composers. Harmony Road is rooted in the old European
teaching model of comprehensive musicianship, which produced
Mozart, Beethoven and Bach. Remember the great composers did
not only play the classics, they wrote them!
Do
I need to buy a piano to start Harmony Road Music Program?
Although digital or acoutic piano with weighted keys is our
first choice, an electronic keyboard can be purchased for teaching
the very young and fortunately can be purchased quite affordably($100-$200).
As the child learns to understand the geography of the keyboard
and develops a sense of musicianship and timing (in the second
year normally), we recommend that you purchase a digital piano
with hammer action or an acoustic piano.
How
does tuition work?
You pay by semester or quarter(between 9 to 20 weeks depending
on the age group) Installment payment is available. Please feel
free to inquire.
Want
to Enroll...Now What?
1. To register online, complete an enrollment
form online. You can pay online using your credit
card. After you have completed your online registration and
payment, please download the Harmony
Policy form and mail us a signed copy.
2.
To mail in your registration form, You can
download the registration
& Policy form and mail to our postal address at:
P.O. Box 478 Palo Alto, Ca 94301. Mail the full tuition check
along with your registration form.
3.
To register onsite, You can come into our office
during our office hours. You can pay by check at the school.
We accept credit cards only through PayPal at this time.
Our
office is located at the First Baptist Church, 305 N. California
Avenue Palo Alto, Ca 94301
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