Tuesday, January 28, 2014

7 Things You Need To Know Before Starting Music Lessons

To practice a profession that involves direct contact with others, people in most cases must meet high requirements in the form of examinations or licenses. This is however not the case for teaching music.

Anyone who has mastery of an instrument, whether at a professional level or even at a very low level, can give music lessons. In most cases, music instructors lack any kind of pedagogic or didactic know-how. And this has fatal consequences.

Statistics show that among Westerners the number of people who actively play a musical instrument is less than 10% – in most cases between 7% and 9%.

The reason is the perception among most people that they are not musical – as a result of what they have been told by their instructors and their lack of success.

"I am not musical."
"I have no talent."
"I have to practice too much."
"I don't see any progress.

... these are all commonly heard statements.

To have a positive experience, whether for oneself or for one's children, everyone should make an informed decision when choosing a music instructor or a music school.

The information in this book helps people do just that.
Get your own copy here: http://goo.gl/H0hR8B

Friday, January 24, 2014

Modern Music School Dedicated to Unlocking Children’s Musicality

Pasadena Outlook 20/06/2013
By Merin McDonald
The Outlook

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil. It is not for you to choose what he shall know, what he shall do. It is chosen and foreordained and he only holds the key to his own secret.”
The key to unlocking this secret, according to Hans-Peter Becker, is music. In fact, the founder of Modern Music School has dedicated an entire book to the subject.
Available on Kindle, the aptly titled “Unleash The Secret of Education and Learn How to Raise a Happy Child” is part parenting, part music theory, drawing on Becker’s own research as a befuddled first-time father.
“When my daughter was born, I didn’t have a clue about children — how should I?” he says. “You study music, you study economics, and then you have a child — who’s teaching you then?”
Becker is no stranger to music or economics, having studied the latter in his native Germany before dropping out to pursue a drumming career in Hollywood. “I told my parents, ‘I am going to try this and if it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, I’ll go back and be an accountant,’” Becker says.
Luckily, it worked. After completing the drumming program at the Musicians Institute, Becker played enough gigs to earn a living, and, inspired by his training at the Institute, returned to Germany to start a music school of his own.
In 1987, Modern Music School was born. Originally focused on drumming, the school soon  expanded its repertoire to include other instruments and quickly gained popularity through word of mouth. The school now has more than 80 locations throughout Germany and Greece. Its first American branch opened in Pasadena in 2011.
What makes the program so successful is the unique approach it takes to teaching music. Becker says this all stems from understanding how children learn. “There are different learning types — those who are who are more auditive, more kinesthetic, more visual — so a teacher should know how to respond to them.”

All too often, he says, education systems focus on putting knowledge into a child’s brain. His approach, largely inspired by the teachings of Maria Montessori, focuses rather on extracting the knowledge and talent he believes each child possesses innately.
Many of us might recall taking music lessons as children, but few persist into adulthood, perhaps dissuaded by obligatory rehearsals and overbearing parents. When music becomes a chore, as with any homework, children are more inclined to abandon it.
“Children are already experiencing a lot of pressure at school, so why should music be more pressure? It should be fun,” Becker says. “We never tell our students to practice. A good teacher gets a student so excited that he or she eventually will practice.”
Becker’s staff does this by breaking the traditional teacher pupil mold and encouraging students to practice in groups, forming their own small-scale rock bands. Playing with other children stirs up a healthy competitiveness, improving each player’s individual skills and helping to build self-esteem.
The same model is used for Modern Music’s Summer Music Camp, which brings in guest instructors who’ve worked with the likes of Taylor Swift and Katy Perry so students can learn from the peers of their pop idols.
The benefits of this type of education reach well beyond the music studio. Learning an instrument not only fosters creativity, but it can also improve a child’s focus, concentration, and cognitive skills — all of which translate to better performance in the classroom.
“When you play a guitar or drums, you use your right hand and your left hand, you use your feet — you exercise both sides of the brain,” Becker says. This is why music education can be especially helpful to children with learning disorders, though that’s a label Becker prefers to avoid.
“If a child is not doing well in school, parents need to ask themselves, ‘Is it my child, or is it the system?’ More often than not, it’s the system,” he says. “You need to give kids the opportunity to find their element. Once they are doing something they love, the attention and the focus is there.”  
To Becker, the biggest obstacle in music education is the false (and commonly lamented) assertion that some people simply aren’t “musical.”
“Everybody likes music,” he says. “But when you ask if they play it, they say ‘I am not musical.’ Everybody can run. One guy may be faster, the other may take longer, but eventually everybody can do it. It’s the same with music.”
Sure, not everyone entering Modern Music School’s doors will leave a concert pianist, but Becker says each student’s success is relative to his or her own objectives. “We set goals with our students — we ask them what they want, and we help them reach those goals,” he says. “If they come to class, it’s already the first step.”

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Schools have to adapt to the needs of the children

This inspiring speech of Cameron Herold is another proof that our formal education system isn't delivering what a lot of kids need to learn and understand. Unfortunately "school teachers" can't deliver content about entrepreneurship, and therefore real entrepreneurs need to be invited into schools to explain, that there is hope and a place for those who don't comply with the education system.

Show this to all parents who think their kids have a problem in school! 
Schools have to adapt to the needs of the children.



For 20 years, Cameron Herold has been coaching entrepreneurs on five continents, helping them build their companies. He started BackPocket COO to coach and mentor young, fun companies -- and help them make their dreams happen.

Herold was a leading force behind one of the most successful new business ventures of the last decade. He was Chief Operating Officer for nearly seven years. Prior to that, he was VP of Corporate Development at Ubarter.com.
"Start building a network of fellow entrepreneurs that understand your passion and don’t make you feel guilty about always chasing it." -Cameron Herold

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Brain-friendly Learning is Fun

Vera F. Birkenbihl is a German pioneer in holistic and brain-friendly learning. She has researched this topic thoroughly and illustrated it in numerous publications. In her best-selling book “Stroh im Kopf” She distinguishes between two types of people: “Everyone is a brain owner, but not everyone is a brain-user!” (Vera F. Birkenbihl) Someone who (efficiently) uses their brain has a life-long desire to learn. For this person learning equals fascination and pleasure. Just like it does for small children. Learning = Fun? For the majority of us this statement doesn’t really apply anymore . Can you remember the last time you enjoyed studying? We experience joy and a sense of elation when we use the brain to a maximum. The research shows that through theoretical explanation (for the left side of the brain) and corresponding images or stories (for the right side) we can stimulate both hemispheres of the brain. Neuroscientists speak of a ‘drive or appetite for understanding’, which signifies achieving an optimal pleasure for the brain through successful learning.



In addition , the more freedom and room to experiment provided in the learning processes, the higher the fun-factor. Being able to explore and examine the world, provides children with positive experiences and feelings. However, many people were taught by boring teachers (professors, parents) and lost interest in learning. School takes the fun out of learning through statements like: “Don’t draw in the book! Keep still! Don’t do that!” this is counter-productive for natural (brain-friendly) learning. In order to spark interest in others we have to provide brain-friendly information which stimulates both sides of the brain. School and orthodox education has created many lazy minds.

Symptoms of a lazy mind:
• Believing that you have bad memory
• Not being able to read efficiently
• Concentration deficit and aversion to studying , make learning difficult
• Information retention is exhausting and trying, due to inefficient use of the brain
• The lazy mind feels weary and believes others are more intellectual when actually they just use their minds more efficiently.

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
(Mark Twain)

Read more at the book "Unleash the Secret of Education and learn how to raise a happy child" by Hans-Peter Becker.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Learning in Everyday Life

My daughter had learned to tie her shoe laces in kindergarten when she was four years old. Naturally, she wanted to practice this new skill at home. Since this activity demanded some time, the patience of my wife soon deteriorated. Thus, she decided to take things into her own hands. My daughter complained, she wanted to do it herself! “We don’t have time now, Emma” and quickly the shoelaces were tied. This might save time in the short-term, but the learning experience of the child was stalled. This is part of everyday life in many families.


Parents should observe the daily activities of their children. We need to question if we unintentionally and unconsciously inhibit learning process in certain situations. Often parents interfere to save time or to prevent the children from making mistakes. However we should allow the child to try the task no matter how banal they seem e.g. opening a zipper or buttering a slice of bread.

Maria Montessori recalls the following:  
“The first thing I particularly noticed was a little girl of about three busy slipping cylinders in and out of their containers. These cylinders are of different sizes and have corresponding holes into which they fit like a cork in a bottle. I was surprised to see so small a child performing this exercise over and over again with such intense interest. She showed no apparent increase in speed or facility in executing the task: it was a kind of perpetual motion.


From force of habit I began to count the number of times she repeated the exercise. I then decided to see how concentrated she was in her strange employment. I told the teacher to make the other children sing and move about. But this did not disturb the child at all in her labors. I then gently picked up the chair in which she was sitting and set it on top of a small table. As I lifted the chair she clutched the objects with which she was working and placed them on her knees, but then continued with the same task. From the time I began to count, she repeated the exercise forty-two times. Then she stopped as if coming out of a dream and smiled happily. Her eyes shone brightly and she looked about.”

Read more at the book "Unleash the Secret of Education and learn how to raise a happy child" by Hans-Peter Becker.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Children need Time  

Lets take a look at the time at Kindergarten and the hopes and fears of parents. In order to provide children with an advantage in school, there is a tendency to expect they will be taught the first steps in reading and writing at Kindergarten. This expectation, however, contradicts the natural principles of development.

Life consists of different stages of development and growth. A toddler independently learns to move. They turn from their back on their front, then learn to sit, to crawl and eventually to walk and run. Each of these steps is important and requires time. None of these steps can be skipped, and this applies to all stages of life.



Maria Montessori describes these as the ‘sensitive periods’ of infancy:  
“A sensitive period refers to a special sensibility which a creature aquires in its infantile state, while it is still in a process of evolution. It is a transient disposition and limitied to the aquisition of a particular trait. Once this trait or characteristic has been acquired, the special sensibility disappears.” (M. Montessori, "The secret of Childhood")  


A child learns according to a predetermined plan. From time to time various “learning windows” open up and the child has to be given time to experience this period. Parents have to support the child in these phases by providing adequate learning offers:  

“A child is naturally much weaker than an adult. If he is to develop his personality, it is necessary that the adult should hold himself in check and follow the lead given by the child. And he should regard it as a privilege that he is able to understand and follow him.”



Read more at the book "Unleash the Secret of Education and learn how to raise a happy child" by Hans-Peter Becker.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Get outside of the Comfort Zone

Many people like to remain in control of every aspect of their life. However, in order to grow and develop as a person we have to leave our comfort zone from time to time. This helps us expand our individual network of habits, paradigms and worldviews i.e. everything that feels comfortable. Consequently, our paradigms increase the boundaries of our personal comfort zones.




It is natural to step outside of the comfort zone regularly, to be curious to discover new things and expand your personal area of control. This is the basis for constant growth. It is the reason why it is vital that children are able to explore the unfamiliar. Rather than degenerate in front of the television, they can confront new situations and handle these on their own. On the other hand, parents have to measure the right amount of freedom each child should have. This, in turn, requires the acquisition of a new ‘habit’ (which presupposes a great awareness of the child and his or her development), and the corresponding ‘skills’. Without a doubt, the desire to provide the best education for the child already exists.    

“Sometimes it is more venturesome to doubt the familiar, than to explore the unfamiliar” (Alexander von Humboldt)

Problems are aiding development because problems create opportunities to expand our area of control. A problem is a problem because it exists within our personal universe, but outside our comfort zones. Consequently, every new problem provides us with a chance to grow. The situations that we can directly influence and control lie within our comfort zones. Those that interest us – but have no influence – exist in our personal universe.  

 “Even the stones that block our way, can be used to build something beautiful” (Johann Wolfgang v. Goethe)

Abstract of the book "Unleash the Secret of Education and learn how to raise a happy child" by Hans-Peter Becker.