Teach Music Theory to Children

Children can be some of the most receptive and skilled learners, as any children’s teacher will tell you. It’s much easier for a child to learn something than it is for an adult, and if you want to teach music theory to your child, the best time to do it is when he is young. If you can make your music lessons fun and exciting for a child, then he will learn quickly and eagerly and make a great music student. Follow these simple tips to learn to teach music theory effectively.

Start by choosing a single well known song to use to teach music theory to your child. A song like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” can be a great choice, as can “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Once you have chosen one of these songs, you will want to use it to demonstrate and teach music theory and its various parts to your child. For instance, make your child clap along to teach it the concept of rhythm. Speed up or slow down the song to illustrate tempo. Have your child identify high and low notes in the song, and try changing the key of the song to demonstrate pitch and tone. Then go on to teach music theory in the form of the notes by giving each note in the song a different number. For instance, C would equal 1, D would be 2, etc.

Once a few basics are covered, you can go on to more complicated ways to teach music theory, demonstrating flat and sharp notes and so on. Take it slowly, and most of all make it fun for the child. The child will respond much better if you put a lot into the classes and make them as interactive as possible. It’s important to focus less on making progress than on getting the child to enjoy the learning.

Photo Credit:Tim Pierce