Frequently Asked Questions: This page contains answers to common questions of students and parents.
- How do I know if my child is gifted musically?
- What sorts of skills are included in "musical ability"?
- I am not a musician myself--how can I help my child at home?
- How will I know if my child is ready for private music lessons?
- How are the grades for music class calculated?
- Should my child be practicing at home?
How do I know if my child is gifted musically?
All children are musicians naturally. Music is a universal human trait. A more specific question would
be: which musical skills are the ones my child has developed the most? And which musical skills need
support so they can become stronger?
What sorts of skills are included in "musical ability"?
Active listening--the ability to hear and recognize what you hear--is the single most important skill
in musical ability. All of us have developed this ability to a high degree, because we have learned to
recognize familiar voices; melodies we have heard before; rhythms that make us want to move.
Additional musical training can allow a student to sing with more accurate pitch or play back a
melody on an instrument (playing by ear).
Singing is the next most basic skill--that is, the ability to change the pitch of your voice and match
the pitch of others' voices (or of a piano). Very few people are actually "tone deaf," and tone deafness
is always a symptom of measurable hearing loss. Other people who cannot sing on pitch actually
have not learned to hear their own voice while other sounds are heard, so they do not know if they
are singing on pitch. With musical training, people with normal hearing ability can learn to sing on
pitch.
Instrumental musicians tend to be people who not only have accurate hearing and pitch, but also
enjoy hearing sounds more varied than their own voice. It is my experience that all children enjoy
playing instruments, but some instruments have more appeal to individual children. There is a wide
selection of instruments taught at our school--encourage your child to think of which instrument he
or she enjoys hearing or playing. Instrumental music instruction often has the added benefit of
improving your child's sense of absolute pitch (ability to recognize an "a" rather than just high or low
notes).
Reading music accurately is a more visual skill than the previous skills, and is a later skill to develop
than accurate hearing. At St. Joseph Grade School, we do not emphasize music literacy until third
grade--although we do activities to prepare children for reading music in the future.
Finally, a word about rhythm. Many children who have an accurate sense of beat and rhythm do not
have a developed sense of pitch--and vice versa. Rhythm and beat are skills based on a sense of
time, and involve different areas of the brain from pitch. It is a very difficult task to simultaneously
consider pitch and rhythm to make music. While this training is excellent for students who have
trouble focusing, it is also VERY difficult for them. If your child is frustrated by music, work with
them (and their teacher) to find ways to build up to the end result by smaller steps. This allows them
to experience success while gradually increasing their brain's ability to manage these simultaneous
processes.
I am not a musician myself--how can I help my child at home?
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How will I know if my child is ready for private music lessons?
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How are the grades for music class calculated?
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Should my child be practicing at home?
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