Music for Babies/Preschoolers

Signs of Genetic Talent in an Infant, Toddler

What to look for:

The most common sign of musical talent in a young child is continual singing or humming. A child who sings while alone in their room, or throughout the day while they are playing, is a child that is musically gifted, period.

Other signs include:

1. Making up their own songs
2. Creating "sound effects" while playing
3. Asking to hear the same song over and over
4. Dancing and moving to every song they hear
5. For rhythmic talent: tapping fingers on surfaces, sticks on pots/pans, finding all kinds of things to make into rhythm "instruments"
6. Putting on little "performances" for the family
7. Having close relatives, ie: parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins who sing or play an instrument, especially "by ear" (without reading music)

If your child has 3 or more of the signs above, your child is musically gifted and should start lessons as young as possible. If your child is under the age of 2, you can already start the musical learning process by making sure you listen to a wide variety of classical, baroque, romantic, and contemporary music. Take your child, from a very young age, to symphony rehearsals. Most local symphonies and youth symphonies have afternoon rehearsals that are flexible enough to walk in and out of, and are free.

At age 2 1/2, your child is ready to start learning more specifically about music. We have an "Introduction to Music" class that is taught by a teVelde Certified Teacher who is a trained musician and specialist in Early Childhood Education. This class has a maximum of 6 students, and focuses primarily on helping children develop the ability of Perfect Absolute Pitch (PAP). You can read more about this amazing ability here. Children who have this genetic propensity WILL lose it by age 6 unless they have been in lessons with someone trained to focus this ability. Children in this class need to have at least a keyboard at home, and a real piano is even better. Make sure your piano is tuned to pitch, because this will be the foundation of your child's pitch for life.

After they have completed session I of the pre-school class, which is 8 weeks long, the children are ready to begin private music lessons. They need to have an absolute pitch instrument at home. The most common absolute pitch instrument is a piano. A keyboard will suffice while the child is in the class, but if they do well in the class, and they show the signs of musical talent listed above, they will need to have a real piano or a keyboard with "weighted action" and 88 keys at home. Many parents are justifiably reticent to make such a large commitment, and this hesitation is compounded by the spontaneous, "try everything but don't stick to anything" nature of most very musical and gifted children. If your child has 3 or more of the abilities listed above, and the nature I just described, rest assured... your child is going to need a piano, period. It will be there for them all through their childhood years, and into their teens. If you need help choosing a piano or keyboard, check our page on Buying a Piano or Keyboard.

Important things parents can provide include:

1. Give your child a musical environment at home.  Invite relatives, and/or close friends that are musical, over to your house as often as you can. (most gifted musicians come from musical families…)   
2. Find them fun, musical concerts to attend. Attend youth symphony rehearsals (usually free) in your area.
3. Enroll them in our pre-school classes. They can meet other musical children and engage in fun musical activities that stimulate brain development.
4. Put them in private lessons, with one of our specially trained teachers, who will introduce them to types of sounds, and individual notes.

The Most Important Skill of All

The ONLY reason for a child to be in structured lessons before age 6, is to develop the ability to recognize and name pitches. This ability is called "Perfect Absolute Pitch" (PAP), and it isn't a memorized thing. The optimal time for children to learn this labeling system is when they are learning their colors. Please read our page on PAP. The part of the brain that is larger in musical children only remains that way up to the age of 6. After that, it returns to the usual size, and the ability to hear "in color" is lost for life. The optimal age to develop PAP is age 3, but 4-6 year olds can be incredibly successful as well.

Lessons for Ages 2 & Under

We are creating a revolutionary new program that will focus on teaching babies, from age 6 months to 2 years, to recognize pitches, setting them up for PAP. If you would be interested in getting your child enrolled in our pilot program, please contact us. We will be in touch with you to provide you will the specific details of the program, and let you know what the requirements would be to have your child participate in our study.

This program will be free while we are studying the effectiveness of our new system, and we will need a lot of feedback from our parents to let us know how their children progress. Our goal is to have a very high percentage of these children develop PAP. If they end up with PAP, they will have the gift for life, and will always have a huge musical edge over other musicians. If they don't end up with PAP, they will, at the very least, be set up for a much higher degree of musical awareness, for life.

Note from Bonnie teVelde :

"I have PAP. I believe that I have it because my mother put headphones playing classical music on her stomach when she was pregnant with me. I was exposed to large volumes of classical music, and a huge variety of other music as well... throughout my childhood, but especially when I was very young. I started formal organ lessons when I was 3 1/2. I absolutely know that if I hadn't started lessons young, I would not have PAP now. It has been the single greatest gift my parents ever gave me, and I am so grateful to them for it.

PAP allows me to hear music in a way that not many people on earth do. The pitches and keys that every single song is written in speak to me. They make, what is for most people black and white music, into full color for me. I cannot imagine not being able to hear in color, just as most people cannot even imagine what I hear. It gives every song a deeper meaning, every symphony a greater depth, and every instrument a color of it's own to add to the mix. To give your child this gift is priceless. I would not give it up for any amount of money.

It makes me incredibly sad that 1 in 20,000 people would have had the ability that I have, and yet less than 1 in 2,000,000 have had lessons young enough to actually develop it fully. I believe my calling in life is to bring awareness of this gift to parents, because I believe that if they truly knew that their children would lose the ability without training, they would do everything humanly within their power to make sure their child got the training needed to develop it. If you do nothing else for your musical child, just make sure they don't lose the unique gift they have been given! There is a way to keep it. Get them PAP training for a year between the ages of 3-6."

Information Gathering Process

We need to know as much about your little one as possible, before we start working with them. Part of this preparation process is to find out your child's personality & temperament.

An Incredible On-Line Resource for Parents

There is a new web site called Kidzmet.com. They have a quick assessment, with questions you can answer on-line. Their site explains why certain classes are better for certain temperaments.

The Information We Need

When you email us for information on classes, please include the results of the test on Kidzmet. (it should be in a 3 Letter form, ie: EFJ or ITP). There is also a book that will help you identify which type your child is. Although the test is very quick and easy on kidzmet, it is no substitute for a professional evaluation.

A Book for Parents of Gifted Children

The book I recommend, not only for identification of personality types, but for advice on working with a child is titled Nurture by Nature by Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger. If you click on the underlined title of the book, above, it will take you to Amazon. There are suggestions for bringing out the best in your child, based on their personality.

This book gives parents the tools to stand for their children, when they are not old enough to know how to stand up for themselves.

More About Infants and Toddlers

Several studies have proven that children, who's parents have listened to various types of music before they were born, respond to the songs their parents listened to differently from random music they are exposed to.

The music you listen to when you are pregnant, and during the first two (2) years of life, sets up your child's foundational musical language for life! Classical music seems to stand out in thousands of studies involving the development of a child's brain, by causing: an increase in Intelligence, spatial reasoning, reading comprehension and speed, and math scores. In short, the best single thing you can do for your baby, before and after birth, is to listen to as much classical music as you can. Not only do the children get smarter, but as they get older, the music helps regulate the brain wave patterns promoting a more calm, relaxed state of mind.

Why Do I Want My Child To Have Perfect Absolute Pitch (PAP)?

Almost all of the truly great composers in history had PAP. These include Bach, Beethoven, Bartok, Chopin, Handel, Mozart, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Saint-Saens, and more. Some Famous Performers today that have PAP are: Julie Andrews, Leonard Bernstein, Mariah Carey, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Miles Davis, Celine Dion, Ella Fitzgerald, Marvin Hamlisch, Jimi Hendrix, Vladimir Horowitz, Michael Jackson, Yo-Yo Ma, Yngwie Malmstein, Andre Previn, Artur Rubinstein, Paul Shaffer, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Arturo Toscanini, Steve Vai, Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Yanni, and more. 69% of popular musicians have PAP, compared to the general population percentages which are 1/10,000 with the genetic ability, and much less than that who actually have training early enough to develop it fully.

Not every child who has PAP will become a great musician, because it takes a lot of work, too. But, a child with PAP will always be just naturally good at any instrument they choose. Where others would struggle, your child would shine. PAP makes students who have it so much better at learning music than others, it's not even comparable. They are in a league all their own. If you really believe your child is musical, it is unconscionable to deny them the chance of developing the one ability that will set them apart from most of the best musician's out there. Only about 10% of students at Julliard School of Music have PAP... and these are the best of the best young music students in the world! Having PAP could be the one ability that sets your child apart from all of the others! What other form of education could you purchase that will do so much for so little money? Literally for the price of one years worth of lessons, before age 6, you are setting your child up for, at the very least, an enhanced ability and appreciation for music. And you very well could be setting them up to be 1 in a million who has fully developed PAP!