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Chick Lit > Chick Lit Kids :: Help Your Child become a Mini Chopin!
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Help Your Child become a Mini Chopin!



We’ve all read or heard about studies that show that learning to play an instrument from an early age has a tremendously positive effect on a child’s development, and in particular, reading and maths. It is also boosts memory and relaxation and teaches concentration, co-ordination, patience and perseverance.

But parents eager to teach their child themselves have few resources to choose from, and it’s a rare teacher that is happy to take on a child under six or seven. Children often cannot distinguish notes on the keyboard and, of course, find it hard to read music. For the youngest, who perhaps don’t know their alphabet yet, this is especially difficult.

Dogs and Birds, ( www.dogsandbirds.co.uk ) is a new approach to teaching keyboard skills to children between 4 and 7. Each note on the piano is given an animal name, for example Dog for D, Bird for B and Cat for C. The animals are printed inside the notes to help the children read the music. This use of animals makes learning music fun for the children and associating the notes with animal names helps them to remember, especially if they are very young and haven’t yet learned to read and write, or have learning difficulties.


I find Elza Lusher's invention extraordinary – unique in the world. I am proud that I can support such a creation."Cecilia Vajda, Director of the Kodály Institute of Britain.






Currently Dogs and Birds consist of two beautifully illustrated books which can be used by both teachers and parents. Also available are a guide for teachers and parents, a set of wooden animals and a large set of staves, and music manuscript books.

The method has been adapted by Elza Lusher from the Kodály approach (on which all Hungarian music teaching is based, and which is sometimes used to teach music to young children in England). The emphasis is on seamlessly helping children move through the early stages of playing the piano and learning to read music. There’s a lot of singing involved – always great fun – which immediately helps the child hone their ear for the different notes.

Elza Lusher teaches the piano both privately and at the American Community School (ACS) in Egham. She was trained as a piano teacher at the Liszt Academy in Hungary, and has been teaching the piano for over twenty years now, initially in Hungary and since 1993 in England.

Together with her husband Chris Lusher, a Senior Lecturer in Physics at Royal Holloway University of London, and illustrator Liz Patton, Elza has created this system of teaching and books which really does capture the child's imagination and enhance the learning experience.
Linda Pegrum, Tring.
 

For more information please visit www.dogsandbirds.co.uk 


"I have been teaching Dogs and Birds to two five year olds and both children have developed their knowledge quickly and are enthusiastic about their lessons. A new concept - and great fun to teach with!" 

The children can sing the monosyllabic animal names as they play the notes, thus developing musicality and the inner-ear – and having lots of fun at the same time. They can practise their singing in parallel with the piano and gradually learn to play without the animal symbols.
Posted: 11/04/2007 10:31:48   Last Updated: 11/04/2007 10:39:19
Chick Lit > Chick Lit Kids :: Help Your Child become a Mini Chopin!