Brief Philosophy

A major philosophy of the Yamaha music system is that learning is much easier when you’re enjoying yourself, so the courses are designed to be full of exciting musical activities, which all have a purpose in developing the musical mind of the child. Music should not be a burden and, while creating many accomplished musicians, the education system also gives many children who have no intention of becoming professional the chance to learn musical skills for life. Mr Kawakami’s intention was to promote easily accessible music worldwide, creating international ‘even temperament’ (thought to have come about through ‘man’s desire for musical expression’).

As it is recognised that the approach to teaching e.g. 4-5 year-olds is very different than when teaching 6-7 year-olds, there is a different course for each age group. However, whatever the age group, the basic philosophies are the same. Like the Orff Schulwerk and Suzuki systems, the Yamaha method uses the way a child learns its mother tongue, listening first, copying what they hear, then learning to read and finally how to write. So this translates as:

hearing music
singing what is heard
playing what is heard and sung
singing and playing what they read
writing what they hear, sing and play

Like the Dalcroze method, it is considered important to experience musical ideas before they are notated; and likewise the music must be felt rather than explained verbally.

In my experience of traditional individual piano tuition, I would read the music to learn how to play it, note by note. The teacher might demonstrate how it should be played, but ultimately, a piano lesson was only as musical as my own playing. This is what I love about Yamaha lessons – a group of children who may only be able to play ‘do, re, mi’ will play it to an exciting CD or teacher accompaniment and feel such a sense of achievement as they contribute to this very musical atmosphere.

A Yamaha course is a total musical experience for a child, using the keyboard as a means to an end and not the end in itself, so a lesson may include: song, dance, rhythm, harmony, solos, ensembles, music appreciation, notation and ear training. To maintain interest throughout the lessons, these activities are conducted in appropriate ways depending on the age group and ordered in a way that will maximise what the children can take in during a lesson. For example, for four and five year olds activities needing concentration would usually be placed towards the beginning of the lesson, when the children are fresh; and each activity would last no more than five minutes. The lessons are given in groups of up to ten, as together children stimulate each other and create among themselves a musical environment.

Lesson content:

A great emphasis is placed on listening and singing and as the course is a continuous process of developing the ear, everything is sung before it is played; and even when teaching how to sight read, sight singing comes first. Solfege plays an important role in this, fixing the pitch while singing everything with musical expression. Unlike the Kodaly system, which uses a moveable do - training for interval and not pitch - Yamaha uses a fixed ‘do’ which is always C, therefore:

Every lesson has at least two sessions of solfege singing: the ‘memory solfege’ songs playing an important role not only in introducing the notes, but also other elements: dynamics, phrasing, articulation and so on. This activity, like others, uses a specific teaching method, incorporating the ‘listen – sing’ approach. This enables the children to listen to the melody alone and then sing it back, with an accompaniment to enhance what they are singing and at the same time to improve their harmonic awareness. This, and indeed any drills or copying are done in such a way to give it a steady tempo throughout, with the intention of passing that sense of tempo on to the children. At the end of any memory solfege piece, the children would be expected to be able to sing back a similar tune by ear, copying any detail the teacher puts into it.

Harmony is also sung using the same technique as described above, building up a harmony repertoire, using I, IV and V7, starting with C major and adding G, F, D minor and A minor by the end of the two-year course. The inversions used first of all are: I = root position, IV = 2nd inversion and V7 = 1st inversion (missing the third), so that singing a cadence in C major would be thus: do mi sol, do fa la, si fa sol, do mi sol.

(Deborah - Perhaps it would be better here to insert some notation, which I don’t have on my computer.)

Apart from solfege singing there are also ‘fun songs’: singing with words. This activity aims to arouse the children’s interest in music, and is a vehicle for expressional ideas. Covered also could be: posture, tonal quality, careful diction, experience of intervals, melodies and harmonies from the exciting accompaniments on the CD and played by the teacher.

It is recognised that four is the earliest age to start keyboard lesson as it is the age when the fingers have developed enough to be capable of keyboard playing. It is also the age when children learn more quickly through listening than at any other point in their life. Therefore, the first course that has been designed starts at age four to five and a child then follows a pathway of courses suited to follow on from this. The next age one can start is at six to seven, which in turn follows a different pathway. There are also courses for starting ages of eight to nine and twelve to adult. Each are designed specifically for that age group and teachers are trained accordingly.

The first courses are taught over a period of about two years, and aim to build a foundation of general musicianship, giving children the chance to develop a sense of hearing, pitch, rhythm, melody, harmony, phrase and tone quality; using the keyboard as a learning tool and creating a basis for musical expression.

There are four stages in these courses, each having a repertoire book containing music and songs; a workbook for notation and images of some of the music they hear and an accompanying CD. Each week the teacher gives singing, playing, listening and written homework to consolidate things learnt in the lesson and with the intention of creating a musical atmosphere at home. The recommended amount of practice time at the beginning of these courses is about ten minutes five times a week.

Notation is taught from the first lesson, each item having been experienced by the children before it is introduced as a written symbol. For instance, after having played a keyboard exercise consisting of three crotchet dos and a rest, do will be introduced to them on the stave, which they read, sing and play before they write it in their workbooks at home. With this keyboard exercise the children will be taught the rhythm: three crotchets and a rest which they clap or play on percussion instruments saying ‘tahn, tahn, tahn, rest’ (said ‘tan’) with accompaniment from the teacher or CD. Another example of this spoken rhythm is two crotchets and a minim: ‘tahn, tahn, ta-ahn’.

The course includes ‘music appreciation’ sessions, which aim to give the children a love of listening to music, teaching them how to listen more deeply, and enhancing their responsiveness. This is done through imagery: for example in the junior course (JMC), the pieces are stories, with different things happening in different sections, denoted by actions which the children learn. They are therefore introduced to the sounds of instruments by what character/event it represents, then they learn to recognise the sound, picture the instrument and know how it is played. Basic forms are also recognised through the return of the same actions. Included in a lesson might be rhythm step, also an exercise in responsiveness and steady tempo. Each piece uses different parts of the body to develop the child’s sense of rhythm, tempo and co-ordination and response to music. For the teacher and parents it often seems like an aerobic session!

The repertoire that is learned increases in difficulty with every piece, introducing some element which had not been experienced before in the course. In the early stages, they mostly make use of the I, IV, V7 patterns sung previously in harmony solfege sessions, adding V occasionally. As they learn to play the piece, the goals are to have them above all play musically, with proper posture and hand positions, eventually performing it as a solo in front of the class. In my experience it is something they love doing, and have no qualms about performing in front of audiences whether in a class concert or an end of term concert with over a hundred people watching. (Perhaps that’s because they get solo stickers for performing their piece in class….!)

To prepare the fingers for the repertoire pieces, keyboard exercises and drills are used. They are fun as they have intricate CD accompaniments for even the most basic of exercises. Before learning to play an exercise or piece, the children do drills in the same way as they learnt the solfege pieces – they listen to what the teacher plays and sing and play the notes, the way they were played and with a steady tempo.

After the basics…

Whichever ‘pathway’ is taken (i.e. whichever starting age), courses follow on which ‘match’ their predecessors. So a JMC child would progress to the Junior Extension Course (JXC), the content of which is more playing and creation. This particular course has more ensemble content, and their repertoire becomes more advanced while they play scales and cadences. They also start sight-singing at this point and learn to put harmonies to melodies, then create patterns with the harmonies, later on improvising with what they have created and being encouraged to compose their own tunes too.

On this pathway, the next step is the Junior Advanced Course (JAC), the lessons remaining weekly group sessions, but adding one half hour individual lesson a week. This course aims to develop the performance skills of the individual, alongside the hearing, reading, writing, singing and ensemble skills which they continue to experience. It also aims to enhance the creative ability hopefully sparked in the previous courses, using musical arrangement and improvisation.

I have mainly written about the content and courses of the JMC pathway, as this is the one I teach. I also believe it to be the most fundamental of the courses offered, primarily as it takes children at the optimum starting age.

Examinations

The Yamaha Music Foundation (YMF) has its own examination system, starting with a Fundamental Skills Exam after JMC, then going through Grades 14 to 1. Grade 5 is the first teacher grade and is probably, in performance terms, equivalent to the Associated Board Grade 8 or above. However, it also includes many other aspects of musicianship not expected of a traditional learner. The Fundamental Skills Survey, as the first exam is known, is exactly that. The children taking it will have completed the first course and be a few weeks into the next, so they will be aged around six or seven. It checks for pitch, rhythm, musical expression, tone, posture, improvisation and more while the child performs prepared pieces and songs; and also checks for recognition of chords and pitch and other hearing tests. Exams are the opposite of my experience of Associated Board Exams, examiners giving feedback and encouragement to the children, making it a pleasant, and not a frightening experience. Their own teacher is the second examiner, so there is at least one familiar face; and sometimes the exams will be done with the whole class at once. Teachers are encouraged to continue working towards exams so that there is constant improvement and a good example to the children.

Teacher training:

Teachers are first of all auditioned for playing skills and general musicianship, then are sent on training courses which intensively teach the technique, psychology and repertoire of the course the teacher is being trained to teach. Usually, some form of mentoring is continued after the course has finished, class observations and feedback from experienced teachers being extremely helpful.

Teachers are encouraged to use and develop their particular areas of expertise, while working on their weaker points. It is very obvious in the pupils when one area has been neglected by a teacher, whether purposely or through lack of interest. However, although all this may sound a little regimented, teachers do develop their own teaching style and have to think up devices of their own to e.g. make solfege singing more interesting and keep the class’s attention from wandering.

Final comment:

I believe the Yamaha method incorporates a lot of good elements found in other systems, making music accessible to everyone; each lesson designed to be fulfilling and fun.

Local/further information…

...in the USA:

www.yamaha.com/musiced/newmusiced

...in the UK:

www.yamaha-music.co.uk/yms/about.asp

do = C
re = D
mi = E
fa = F
sol = G
la = A
si = B
do = C (etc.)