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 older children and
adult students. 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 18 week semester. 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.
2.
To mail in your registration form, You
can download the online registration form and mail
it back to our office address at: 305 N. California Avenue
Palo Alto, Ca 94301. Mail the full tuition check along with
your registration form.
3.
To register by phone or onsite, You can
give us a call or come into our office during our office
hours. You can pay by check or credit card. Our
office is located at the First Baptist Church, 305 N. California
Avenue Palo Alto, Ca 94301
