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For those who may be unaware, we live in the country. (We thought of starting a goat dairy in the city but figured it wouldn't go over well with the homeowners association!) This has given our children many unforeseen educational opportunities. One opportunity that our lifestyle is not conducive to are music lessons. Our children have participated in a homeschool band but this takes a fair amount of time out of our schedule and during the Spring Semester we find it almost impossible to get even the barest of a school schedule tended to, which is why we school through the summer! This is the time of year when we could ourselves to have been successful if everyone is clothed and fed, with sometimes four of five goats having babies and the living room full of newborn goats to tend to at exactly the same time as milk production is skyrocketing and production of market items doubles or triples, sometimes over the space of a few days! During this time of year any schooling that we do needs to be largely self taught and very flexible--so no allowance of time for jaunts to music lessons away from the farm. Lessons here at home wouldn't work well, either, as the room that houses the piano is the same room that is filled with the noises of newborn baby goats wanting to know where their bottles are!
Toss in the fact that with twelve children the cost to provide lessons for each of them would become astronomical and obviously an alternative must be found.
Enter...Kinderbach.
Kinderbach is a music curriculum designed to tap into the imaginations of the 3-7 year old set in order to teach basic keyboard skills. Children are taught by online videos as different animated characters represent different music concepts such as rhythm and quarter notes. The lessons also teach keyboard skills. There are downloadable activity sheets which reinforce the concepts as well as audio CD to enable children to practice what they are learning. There is even a "radio show" featuring Bach himself! There are six levels designed to be taught in 60 weeks comprised of over 240 individual lessons. Each level includes an Activity DVD, a Music Audio CD, an Activity Book and a Parent Guide in PDF format on CD.
One of the biggest benefits (in my opinion) to any quality music lesson is the foundation that it provides for future study. We had noticed when we were able to work band lessons into our schedule that there was always a greater interest in music in general. Quality music was more likely to be played by the children as they were introduced to composers both classical and contemporary. Our children sought out sheet music for the piano as their confidence in music reading skills increased. A big benefit to Kinderbach is that you could see your children's confidence level being established much earlier, at an age when theoretically they can acquire the skills more naturally.
As stated on the Kinderbach website...
At the end of the KinderBach program your child will have a strong musical foundation that he/she will be able to use as a springboard to any music instrument. Your child will:
- Know all the notes on the piano by location and letter name
- Be familiar with the grand staff,
- Read some individual notes on staff and all notes by pattern on staff,
- Understand and read rhythms from eighth to whole notes,
- Have improved listening skills so that he/she can interpret rhythms, intervals and patterns heard.
- Play familiar melodies,
- Play hands together or separately,
- Have a working music vocabulary,
- Understand basic composition methods
I will be honest and admit that we did not get to invest nearly the amount of time in Kinderbach as I had hoped. I am very impressed with what I see, though, and have committed to purchasing the curriculum for our family once we are out of the chaotic whirlwind that this season always is on the farm.
Kinderbach can be purchased in several different formats. All of the lessons can be accessed online for a monthly membership price of $19.99 or you may purchase twelve months at one time for $95.88 which works out to a monthly price of $7.99; obviously a significant savings. The program can also be purchased in DVD and CD format beginning at the current price of $55.95 for the first level or in packages combining three levels for $112.75 or bonus packages which include extra songs and features for $142.45. The entire basic package, levels one through six can be purchased together for $202.88.
We received our membership subscription to Kinderbach free in exchange for this review as a part of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew.
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