When a child learns to read there are many important components to becoming a fluent reader. A child must be able to identify letters and letter sounds, but if he is going to read fluently, he has to move past thinking of each individual letter and letter sound.
The same goes for becoming a fluent note-reader and music player. A proficient pianist isn’t thinking of all the individual notes when she plays a complicated piece of music (can you imagine having all those individual note names flying through your head as you played?!).
My goal as a teacher is to take students past note-only reading, which is one of the reasons why I introduce intervals, bridges, and then chords as part of my program in the very early levels. Intervals are the first building block I introduce after note names, because if a student can identify an interval upon sight, rather than having to identify the notes making up an interval, she can become a more capable sight-reader and fluent musician.
If you’re a student inside my Busy Kids program, you know that the games inside the member dashboard and many of the theory exercises involve labeling intervals — and this is why!
You as a parent can also help identify intervals with your student. Ask your child to name intervals in the first few measures of a piece so that she begins thinking of music in terms of intervals and not just individual notes.
I’ve also put together some fun spring-inspired worksheets you can use to help your student review 2nds, 3rds, 4ths and 5ths. Check them out by clicking the image below:
Be sure to include plenty of interval review in yours AND your child’s practicing!
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