Tuesday, July 9, 2013

"Instrumen Musik Bagi Balita Anda" - Staccato Juli 2013

“INSTRUMEN MUSIK BAGI BALITA ANDA”
Oleh: Jelia Megawati Heru
Artikel STACCATO, Juli 2013

 

Sudah bukan merupakan hal yang asing lagi, bahwa musik mempunyai segudang manfaat yang positif bagi tumbuh kembang sang buah hati, terutama pada masa golden age. Banyak cara kreatif dan menyenangkan yang dapat dilakukan dalam mengajarkan musik bagi balita. Salah satunya adalah dengan memperkenalkan instrumen musik. Hal apa saja yang harus diperhatikan dalam pemilihan instrumen bagi balita? Instrumen musik apa saja yang sesuai bagi balita untuk merangsang minat, bakat, imajinasi, dan kreativitasnya? Check this out!


CHOOSE THE MUSIC INSTRUMENTS WISELY!
Instrumen musik yang mahal bukanlah indikasi mutlak sebuah instrumen yang baik. Beberapa hal harus dipertimbangkan sehubungan dengan pemilihan instrumen, terutama dalam hal keamanan bagi si kecil. Selain itu pemilihan instrumen juga diprioritaskan pada aktivitas dalam menghasilkan musik (making music). Jadi disini ada korelasi antara tindakan menghasilkan musik (action) dan produksi bunyi (sound) maupun nada tertentu (pitch) merupakan hal yang sangat penting untuk melatih otot motorik besar anak (gross motoric), seperti: memetik senar, memukul drum/xylophone. Anak bukan hanya sekedar menekan tombol pada instrumen yang menggunakan baterai, banyak lampu, dan berbunyi, seperti gitar plastik dengan baterai dan tanpa senar (strings).  Instrument yang termasuk dalam kategori ini merupakan musical toys, dan bukan termasuk music instruments. Berikut hal-hal lain yang patut dipertimbangkan sehubungan dengan pemilihan instrumen musik bagi balita.

 

TIPS MEMILIH INSTRUMEN MUSIK YANG COCOK BAGI BALITA:

1. Eco-friendly & non toxic (recycled/daur ulang yang tidak beracun)
Balita suka memasukkan segala sesuatu ke dalam mulutnya, oleh karena itu faktor keamanan seperti bahan ramah lingkungan dan tidak mengandung bahan kimia yang beracun merupakan hal yang tidak bisa ditawar.

Monday, July 1, 2013

A GREAT TEACHER - What might a great teacher looks like?

 A GREAT TEACHER
What might a great teacher looks like?

 
A great teacher turns the light bulb of insight on.
A great teacher inspires you to be who you actually are. 

The shame is that teacher and his students are falsely measured by those standardized tests, not by what he has inspired them to do and become.  

A great teacher imparts his or her subject matter in a way that makes you want to learn more, helps you understand what’s important and why, and helps you see connections between all subjects.

A great teacher helps you when you need help, but also knows when to leave you alone. 

A great teacher knows when you need a shoulder to cry on and when you need a kick in the pants. Often you think a great teacher hates you — only to realize, later, that he or she was pushing you to be and do your best. 

The lessons a great teacher gives you stay with you your whole life. 


"The Tiger Mom" - 16 Signs of a Harsh Parenting

"THE TIGER MOM"
16 Signs of a Harsh Parenting


Too Strict For Your Own Rules?
Ever heard the name Amy Chua? She is the author of a book titled "The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother". The book is quite astonishing the world of parenting. In this book, she tells how to discipline her own daughters in a very extreme way. Yelled at them with the word "garbage" because they weren't polite in front of the guests, threw birthday greeting cards handmade by her own daughters because it wasn't good enough for her, forbade her children to stay at a friend's house, and couldn't accept if their score wasn't an "A". She applies very strict rules and regulates all things in children's lives. Other stories what she did with his two daughters were pretty scary and made her earn the title as "tiger mom".

"The kids really want to make their parents proud of them.
They always worried about the parental approval.

So, when the regulations against child are getting too hard,
the result is going to make the children so frightened
and make them difficult to decide on something.

They realize that they will never be able to meet the wishes of the mother,
so they never even want to try. "

Elizabeth J. Short, PhD,
professor of psychology at Case Western Reserve University


Here are 16 signs of a harsh parenting on children:

1. There are so many rules, even too many!
How many rules that you applied to a child?  

Friday, June 28, 2013

Are You Good Enough to Teach Music?

"ARE YOU GOOD ENOUGH TO TEACH MUSIC?"


There are many, many different ways to teach.
Doing something doesn’t mean you can teach it, and vice versa.
Playing flawlessly doesn’t mean you’re an amazing teacher.



TEACHING: SCIENCE OR ART?
Teaching is science — just like medicine. A good teacher possess a body of expert knowledge about how the mind works, how motivation works, how to design effective work and how to adjust learning. Also knows professional “best practice” and how to use it fluently and flexibly.

But teaching is an art itself – it takes practice. A PhD Math Professor must be really good in math. But it doesn't mean that he's a good at teaching. He could speak alien and makes everything complicated that it needed to be. It's not about what he said, but how he explain things. Kids aren’t widgets, teachers aren’t robots and everybody loses when we treat them that way.

Not every college graduate is cut out to teach, regardless of his or her innate intelligence, G.P.A. or previous career success. Only those with specific talents and training become gifted teachers who, working with a talented mentor teacher and a variety of tools and learned techniques, can motivate students to want to learn. 

"Teaching is both an art and a science"

Thursday, June 20, 2013

"MUSIC SAVED MY LIFE!" - Alice Herz Sommer

"MUSIC SAVED MY LIFE"

The inspirational story.... 
Alice Herz Sommer is a 109-yr old pianist (oldest living pianist) 
and oldest living Holocaust survivor! 
Music saved her life!


Alice Herz-Sommer also known as Alice Sommer, (born 26 November 1903) is a Jewish pianist and music teacher from Bohemia, and a survivor of the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Herz-Sommer has lived in North London, United Kingdom since 1986, and is the world’s oldest known Holocaust survivor. 

 
At age 108, Holocaust survivor Alice Herz Sommer still practices piano for three hours every day. At age 104, she had a book written about her life: "A Garden Of Eden In Hell." 

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

ARE CONCERTS PIANISTS GOOD PIANO TEACHER?

ARE CONCERTS PIANISTS 
GOOD PIANO TEACHER?


I want you to take a second and think about something you are really good at 
- a skill you've practiced and perfected since you were 4. 
Actually, how many of us even remember what we did when we were 4? 

I can't remember a thing about how I was taught when I first started lessons, including who my teacher was; I only remember the rewards I got from my mom AFTER piano performances. That's why parent's support and involvement are really important to child's development in piano lessons.

While there certainly are concert pianists who are excellent teachers, they are usually not a good fit for most students. Here I've gathered some reasons from my own experience studying under teachers with an active performance schedule, and parents of students who have studied with concert pianists before transferring to me.

1. A great performer doesn't equal a great teacher. 
 The ability to play piano doesn't equal the ability to teach. These are some of the most important realizations I made during my graduate studies. I used to think my performance degree from a music conservatory and ability to relate to kids and be personable made me a good piano teacher. While these characteristics did give me an advantage, they are poor substitutes for actual knowledge in how to properly teach piano. This realization I made about myself now makes me flinch a little whenever I hear of non-pianist colleagues teaching piano "on the side".

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Music as a Language by Victor Wooten

"MUSIC AS A LANGUAGE"
Why Music Should Be Taught Less Like Algebra and More Like a Language?
by Victor Wooten


"Music is a powerful communication tool.
It causes us to laugh, cry, think and question."


For bassist and five-time Grammy winner, Victor Wooten, music is a language, just like English. Music should be taught the same way as any other language, and performing it should feel as natural as speaking, he said. Victor Wooten, asks us to approach music the same way we learn verbal language--by embracing mistakes and playing as often as possible.


Friday, June 14, 2013

LEARNING GUITAR vs PIANO: "Which one is easier to play?"

LEARNING GUITAR Vs PIANO:
"Which one is easier to play?"


There is an entirely different mental concept behind the guitar as compared to the piano. If you're a trained classical pianist and want to learn how to play guitar, here's some comparisons and some thoughts about it.


PIANIST'S POINT OF VIEW
The piano is simultaneously easier AND harder to play than the guitar. 

HARDER on PIANO:
 1) Playing two things at the same time
You play one chord or melody with the left hand, while doing another with the right hand. Play 10 notes at a time instead of 6. That is hard! 

2) High-fidelity instrument which covers so much musical spectrum 
Pianist is responsible for providing much more of the overall sound, most of the time.

3) Complex arrangements
A lot of black notes on paper to read. A pianist is expected to play it all, even though it might involve different melodies and different rhythms on each hand at the same time.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Fantastic Suite "WETLAND" for Guitar and Piano

FANTASTIC SUITE "WETLAND"
for Guitar and Piano
Composed by: Jun-ichi Nihashi


A good repertoire for guitar and piano is rare to find. 
This could be an alternative for a great repertoire, for an advanced guitarist and pianist. 
I made the mp3 on the soundcloud myself. Hope you enjoy it!


About the Fantastic Suite "WETLAND" for Guitar and Piano
This unique ensemble of the piano and guitar aspires to discover new possibilities for its medium. The theme is about fantasy and dream, that reflects the nature of wetland from the dawn until the evening with the stars. 

"S.O.S! Anak Saya Mogok Latihan!" - Artikel Staccato Juni 2013

“S.O.S! 
ANAK SAYA MOGOK LATIHAN!”
Oleh: Jelia Megawati Heru
Artikel Staccato Juni 2013


Belajar memainkan alat musik tidaklah mudah. Tujuh (7) dari setiap delapan (8) anak yang duduk di kelas satu menyerah ketika dihadapkan pada ujian piano ABRSM dan memutuskan untuk berhenti sebelum kelas tujuh. Alasan utama para siswa ini menyerah adalah mereka tidak suka berlatih dan mereka belajar bermain piano hanya karena paksaan dari orang tua nya saja.


BEING “A TIGER MOM”
Umumnya di Asia, beberapa orang tua menyikapi sikap malas latihan anaknya dengan agresif, seperti: memaksa, omelan, kritik destruktif, membandingkan, ancaman, bahkan kekerasan fisik – yang cenderung berakhir dengan uraian air mata. Akibatnya beberapa anak menjadi mogok latihan, bahkan tidak jarang mogok makan, dan mogok sekolah. Terkadang kita hanya mengambil jalan pintas, tanpa mempertimbangkan efek sampingnya di kemudian hari. Sikap yang negatif terhadap anak akan menumbuhkan kebencian terhadap musik, tidak menghargai orang tuanya sendiri, hingga tidak adanya kepercayaan diri lagi. Karena anak tidak diperlakukan sebagaimana mestinya sebagai seorang individu. 


ABOUT REWARD, INSENTIVE & BRIBE