Dear ,
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"I wish my parents never gave me music lessons" said nobody, ever.
One of the regrets most often expressed by people later in life is that they either didn't have an opportunity to take music lessons or that they gave up on music lessons too soon. May this not be the experience of your children.
Structured music learning, especially of a complex instrument such as the piano, yields so many benefits - it really puts the "rich" into enrichment. For one thing, it helps children learn to be resilient problem solvers, as they painstakingly master the process of producing sounds that stir up indescribable emotions in the listener, simply by moving their fingers on the piano keys, blowing the trumpet, or beating a pulsating rhythm on the drums.
Music learning teaches children how to focus on a challenging task, and trains them to do so for sustained periods of time, a skill that is terribly underdeveloped these days, thanks to computer games that give instant gratification, 24/7.
When your children grow up and become of working age, employers, business angels, investors and so on, will be looking for resilient people, who have the grit, flexibility of thought and creative thinking skills to solve the problems of the day.
If truth be told, technology is advancing so quickly that your children will have left university before their professors figure out how to teach the latest skills. The skills that matter to the jobs of the future will be those learnt on the job. Therefore, the people who will add the most value are people who know how to learn - and fast. Those with strong analytical skills, who can process lots of information at the same time and spot trends. It's no suprise that many famous scientists were also proficient musicians - Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Brian May to name a few.
Those children who have had years of practice in developing these skill sets will be able to name their price as they come ready to be deployed to wherever those skills are needed the most. Those children who haven't got the desired skills, especially, the skill of knowing how to learn, won't.
Like any strong oak tree, higher order executive function skills can take years to mature and will need regular pruning, feeding and watering. In the meantime, in order not to lose steam, it is prudent to have some measure of progress so as to assure everyone involved that the child's learning is on track. This is where music exams play an important role, as a validation of learning that has already taken place.
Music exams on their own, as is true of any other type of exams, should never be an end in itself. If your child only learnt how to spell the 10 words on the spelling list for the week and didn't know the rest of the alphabet, would you consider that to be a good result? No, right? So it is with music. If your child only learns to play the three pieces required by their music exam board, and is unable to read or play anything else at the same level, then the deep learning which would make them desireable in the workforce of the future is missing, and those highly regarded skills, undeveloped.
It is therefore important to understand the role that music exams can and should play and how they can be used to underpin, support and evidence your children's music learning.
This Sunday, the 24th of October, at 6:00pm WAT, we will be discussing Music Exams offered by the University of West London, with Dr June Fileti, Senior Examiner with the London College of Music and passionate advocate for appropriately used music exams. She will be answering your questions on the range of music exams awarded by the University, ranging from Early Learning exams for 3-6 year olds, through to Music Diplomas for advanced learners.
This is a FREE webinar and you can reserve your spot HERE.
Do send your questions in advance to [email protected]. Questions sent in advance will be prioritised before any other questions. If you are unable to attend, but would like still to ask a question, please email your questions to [email protected] and we will ask your question on your behalf and send you a replay of the webinar.
Please note that the replay will only be sent to those who were unable to attend the live event and who sent us a question in advance. There will be no replay if you didn't attend, and didn't send a question in advance.
Do click on the button below to save your free seat and please share the link with friends and family. We look forward to seeing you on Sunday.
warm regards,
Kunbi Osinoiki
Click HERE to find out more about KMC or to get in touch
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