The Amazing Pop-Up Music Book (Amazing Pop-Ups)
The Amazing Pop-Up Music Book (Amazing Pop-Ups)
Customer Review: Teaching kids to read music!
I am a music teacher and always on the look out for ways to teach children how to read music, especially younger children who struggle with the idea of ‘why’, as opposed to ‘how’! I picked up a copy of this by chance and am very impressed indeed; although the format is a little busy, the illustrations and layout make it ideal for teaching younger children about the basic musical elements, even if as a teacher you feel you understand little yourself. The back page contains a tiny electronic keyboard and the pop up aspects are fantastic - move the tab and watch the notes move as you play them to see how pitch works, use the ideas in the first section to create little rhythm patterns and dip in and out of it to demonstrate or to simply learn yourself! This book basically presents the idea of reading music as something fun, rather than something dry that you need to be able to do (rather than actually want to understand) before the actual fun starts. I would recommend this book for teachers, children and parents alike, and possibly even for the nervous adult beginner too mystified by the archaic language of music to have a go! It only covers the basics, but it is set out in such a way that more complicated musical theory seems understandible and achievable if your interest is caught. The problem with some ‘learn how to do music’ books is that they are too heavy going - this is fun, informative and really nicely presented. With this book both children and adults could achieve a feeling that the ‘how’ can be as natural as the ‘why’!
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