Allegro School of Music News – January 2021

10 Tips for ROCKING your remote music lessons

1. Stable Internet Connection.  If possible sit close to your router and reduce the number of other devices in use during your lesson

2. Set up early. This will give you a chance to get your device positioned, your music out, etc so you’re ready to play!

3. Quiet Space.  If possible, setup for lessons in a quiet space without too many distractions.

4. Microphone.  An external bluetooth microphone will greatly improve the quality of sound which will help your teacher help you.

5. Headphones.  Wearing headphones will improve the sound you hear from your teacher as well as keep you focused on your lessons.

6. View of hands.  If possible, position your device so that your teacher has a good view of your instrument and hands, etc.

7. Tune up.  Make sure you are tuned up before your lesson.  If you’re not clear on how to tune, ask your teacher for help.

8. Parent nearby.  It’s helpful to have a parent nearby to help if there are tech issues and to get involved and be aware of what your student is working on for the week.

9. Pencil and Music.  Make sure to have your music and a pencil or pen and notebook.

10. HAVE FUN, FUN, FUN!  This is the most important part!  We are here to bring joy to your life.  If you know a few chords on your guitar, have fun jamming.  If you know how to sing a song, sing it everyday!  Know a beat on the drums?  Get in the groove with it!  The LAST thing anybody needs right now is more stress and pressures.  Remember, ENJOY THE PROCESS OF LEARNING!  We love to teach you to love music and reach your goals.

Congratulations to the students who earned Musical Ladder awards this Month!

Addie

Adrian

Aiden

Alexandria

Alisa

Andrew

Aniza

Anna

Aura

Avery

Bella

Brandt

Brayden

Brayden

Camila

Capri

Chappell

Charlotte

Christina

CJ

Clara

Cristina

Devin

Dominic

Emma

Ezra

Gabriel

Graham

Gwen

Harrison

Haylin

Holly

Ian

Isabel

Isabella

Ivan

Jackson

Jaelyn

Jaya

Jewels

Joshua

Josie

Kate

Kenzo (Kenny)

Kieran

Leah

Leeloo

Lexi

Lidia

Lilia

Logan

Louisa

Lucas

Lucia

Luke

Mateo

Miles

Noah

Norah

Ocie

Quinn

Randy

Rebecka

Riley

Ryan

Sarah

Savannah

Shyla

Tristan

Vivian

Wolf

Yasemin

Abigail

Abilene

Adam

Alexa

Anderson

Andrea

Andres

Annabelle 

Ariana

Arjun 

Atlas

Audrey 

Aurhen

Basi

Beckett

Cambria

Cassie

Charlie

Charlotte

Chloe 

Corbin

Corbyn 

Drake

Eleanor

Elizabeth

Georgia 

Gianna

Gracie

Haley 

Henry 

Isabella

Jackson

Jacob

Jamia

Jayceona

Jayden

Jesus

John 

John Henry

Joshua

Julian 

Kadin

Katie

Kaylani

Kellen

Koyuki 

Louis

Mason

Mathias

Maura

Naomi

Natalia

Nathan

Noah

Noah 

Olivia

Patrick

Ryder

Ryder

Samantha 

Samuel

Sebastian

Sofia

Sonja

Sophia 

Ty

Tzippora 

Will

William 

Zachar

Thank you for the Google reviews!

Leave us a Google Review and we’ll give you a free lesson!

Harry Mason ★★★★★

My daughters first piano lesson was a huge success. Her teacher made her comfortable and listened to her desires to play. She learned some finger placements and was challenged to learn more for the next lesson. Wonderful experience.

Mack Canady ★★★★★

Nico Rocks!

C Conners ★★★★★

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how professionally run this school has been! We were referred to the school by another in town when they were no longer offering lessons because of the pandemic. I was happy to find a place that could give my son drum lessons online. He expressed an interest for a number of years, but having the lessons online has really made it super easy to do. The communication is exceptional and they have a great system in place for make up lessons. I do automatic payments and I honestly don’t have to worry about any of it. My son has really been enjoying his lessons so I never have to remind him!

Can music lessons help your kids excel academically?

Many parents believe that music and learning musical instruments can enhance children’s intelligence and academic performance. Some pregnant women even play Mozart for their unborn babies in hopes that classical music will give their children an academic edge. It turns out that learning a musical instrument indeed benefits the development of a child’s brain. Ample evidence suggests that taking music lessons at a young age can improve intelligence, cognitive and social development, and verbal communication skills.

Although it is commonly believed that learning classical music is the only way to reap these benefits, any genre of music will work as long as the child actively participates in music making.  

Let’s go through some studies that have been done and methods you can employ to reap the benefits of music for your child’s development.

Studies on Music and Intelligence

In a 2004 study led by E. Glenn Schellenberg, PhD, 144 six-year-old children were given a standardized IQ test before entering the first grade, and they were given the same test again at age seven before entering the second grade. During the time between those two tests, they were randomly split into four groups. Two were control groups; one group was given no lessons, and the other group was given drama classes. The two experimental groups were given 36 weeks of vocal or keyboard music lessons. All four groups had reliable increases in IQ as a consequence of entering school; however, the two groups that received music lessons had a far greater increase in IQ, indicating that music lessons can improve intellectual ability over a short duration like 36 weeks.

Schellenberg then asked himself, “Would the effect get bigger with more than a year of lessons?”

In 2006, Schellenberg performed a follow-up study to find out if longer periods of music lessons would generate a higher increase in IQ. The follow-up study found a dose-response association whereby the longer a child takes music lessons, the higher the increase of IQ and academic performance. On average, every month of music lessons was accompanied by one-sixth of a point of increase in IQ. According to the study, the average increase of IQ would be 7.5 points over a period of six years. Besides studying children, the follow-up study also looked at college freshmen and found that taking music lessons as a child is a significant predictor of a higher IQ in young adulthood and a history of better grades in school.

Jamming instead of reading

It is widely known that reading to or with children benefits the developing brain. However, wouldn’t it be fun if the same benefits can be produced from playing music with your children? A 2015 study by the University of Queensland has shown that informal music education at home can produce the same benefits associated with shared book-reading, but at a higher rate of efficacy.

This conclusion was drawn from data analysis generated from studying more than 3,000 children. Parents of these children were asked to replace all shared-reading activities with music activities when the children were between two and three years old. The children were then given a range of tests that measured social, emotional, and cognitive improvements two years later. The results showed that music activities were particularly linked with prosocial skills, numeracy, and attentional regulation.

Music and Speech

It is often said that music is a form of communication that transcends languages, but it is now believed that music can help children learn spoken languages. In 2008, a study titled “Musical Training Influences Linguistic Abilities in 8-Year-Old Children: More Evidence for Brain Plasticity” was conducted to determine whether musical training can improve non-musical abilities such as reading and speech.

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Important Dates

March 8-14 Spring Break

May 31-June 1 Memorial Day

July 4th Independence Day

Bobby Todd
Frank Martin
Sarah Berkeley
Joaquin Villalobos
Beth Britten
James Walton
Johnny Brouwer
Augustin Rodrigo
Maria Torroba