Learn To Read Sheet Music With Mussila
For some children, reading and playing along to sheet music conjures up images of musical virtuosos playing myriads of notes composed by long, gone (and sometimes not!) composers in hallowed concert halls. For others, the majesty of the concert hall remains, but the how and the why trump the where. Here’s where the fun begins. When children are first learning an instrument, and they learn what a note is — to recognize it — they are already reading sheet music, whether they know it or not. Already, the disconnect between the concert hall and the how and the why immediately narrows, all while the child’s world expands.
What’s Even Going On Here?
But what about recognizing that first note? What about those lines upon or between which a note sits (the staff or stave)? Or the double-stacked numbers (time signature) next to the thing that looks like a giant, curly “S” or backward “C” (treble and bass clefs)? What are the notes even called? Why do some notes look different!? Here’s where a picture is worth a thousand words:
Learning Through Play
Understanding what a note is, how it works, and how it relates to other notes to create a song without any context can seem daunting, especially for children. It doesn’t have to. Here is where Mussila, an internationally recognized children’s music learning app, comes into play. For many children, music theory is not fun enough and can become an obstacle in their musical education. This is why we gamify the theory, which helps motivate the children to learn more through play. We’ve even won several awards that recognize our methodologies and curriculum. Learning through play helps children make sense of complicated subject matter, like learning to read sheet music through games and repetition. When children learn to read sheet music with Mussila, there’s no risk of failure. Kids around the world enjoy learning with Mussila’s gamified experience — all to the backdrop of familiar songs.
Connecting The Musical Dots With Mussila
“Magically, kids intuitively pick up on the basic principles associated with music and have a blast doing so!” -Teachers with Apps
When anyone, young or old, endeavors to learn something new, it’s always helpful to associate something familiar to make sense of the unknown. This kind of association is no different when learning to read sheet music. Mussila incorporates three different learning paths to help children connect the musical dots along the periphery of their sheet music reading journey.
The Learn Path
The Learn Path is where children are introduced to musical fundamentals. Here’s where kids learn everything from instrument recognition to note identification to playing along on a virtual piano, complete with sustain to help recognize how long different notes last.
The Play Path
On the Play Path, children can choose to play along with familiar songs like Happy Birthday, Mary Had a Little Lamb or even The Magic Flute. As children progress through the challenges for a given song, they will encounter familiar musical elements depending on how far they’ve progressed through other areas, like the Learn Path. Here is where the child learns through play.
The Practice Path
Teachers and parents take note! If your child or student wants to focus on a particular subject, the Practice Path is where to go. Here, a child can concentrate on Theory, Piano, or Songs. When a child pursues Theory or Piano, he or she will have plenty of opportunities to apply what they’ve already learned through play. Children will discover new note reading challenges — even rhythmical ones, where reading for tempo is as essential as other exercises when reading for pitch.
With Mussila, You Can Read Sheet Better Than You May Think
When learning through play, especially with Mussila’s multi-faceted curriculum, you’ll be amazed at what your child knows. Chances are that if you ask your child to “read some sheet music” to you, you could very well be met with a blank stare. But if you ask your child to show you a quarter note, or a Middle C, or tell you the notes that make up the song Happy Birthday, don’t be surprised when you get all of the answers to your questions, but also a mini-concert too.
And when your kid thinks they’ve learned everything from Mussila, you can change the difficulty and open their eyes again to an even bigger musical world. Download Mussila from the App Store or Google Play for your phone or tablet.
