Kinderbach

• Kinderbach Piano for Young Children

• Age Range: 2-7 years

• Presenter: Karri Gregor

• Price: Online Membership $19.99 monthly or $95.88 a year, also available as a DVD program check Kinderbach's website for DVD pricing

 

About the Program

(Taken from Kinderbach.com)

Start early with Music and Piano for Children
is the best thing you can do for your child's brain development.

KinderBach does not color, sticker
or number keys or
turn the keyboard sideways
We just teach the children where
the notes are
using ANY piano without
ANY additions.

A Tried and Proven System

Professional Quality Video Lessons Online or by DVD!
You can teach your child yourself for a fraction of the cost

NO RISK 30 Day Money Back Guarantee!
The best time to learn a language or to begin playing a
musical instrument is 3 - 6 years of age.

Presented by Karri Gregor
Professional Musician, Artist, CEO
Decades of teaching experience
Thousands of Students

Research clearly shows Piano is the best instrument with the most benefits to brain development.
KinderBach is a unique method of teaching very young children to actually
PLAY PIANO, read NOTES, learn INTERVALS,  RHYTHM & music PATTERNS. 
Begin at ages 2 - 7 your child will play  songs and read music
Simple In Home or In Classroom Music Instruction is included on Online or DVDs, CDs, Activity Books

Keeping it fun and interesting always with games, puzzles, coloring, singing
All materials included and reprintable

Follow through the lessons Online or with the DVD's and activity books at home!
Play real songs like "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", "Happy Birthday"
and more in the first month of curriculum.
Perform like a real musician with CD's and studio quality background music. 
Students sound great and keep wanting to learn.

ClarkClan Observations

     First of all I would like to say Wow! is this a very full program.  It is way more than just watching a teaching video on how to play the piano. Kinderbach actively engages kids with fun, interesting characters and Mrs. Gregor who guides the lessons. There is way more than just finding notes and playing simple songs on a piano.  Music theory is taught in a fun, gentle manner. I would encourage you to visit the KinderBach website for more samples than I can describe to you here.

Some standout features for Ben and Rebekah

• Rhythm instruments
• Activity books for use during the video
• Songs to sing
• Fun characters, Dodi the Donkey, Frisco, Jake the Golden Retriever and the most favorite: Beat Bugs

     Ben (9) and Rebekah (7) were the two that tested the Kinderbach program.  They both really enjoyed the program. They were always eager to sit and do the lessons. While we have a piano, we also have a full size keyboard. This made the program easier for the two of them to use at the same time. We would set the keyboard up on the ottoman in front of the TV. We used our Wii and the internet channel to stream the videos on to the TV so they could watch easily and together.

     There are 6 (level 7 is coming) levels of the KinderBach program. Each level has 10 weeks of lessons, with four lessons per week.  Because Ben and Rebekah are at the top of the age range and older, I did not follow the one lesson per session. We would sit to do their music lessons two to three times a week and would do a weeks worth of lessons in one sitting.   As each session is not very long, this worked well for us.  I had printed out the activity books that went with the level they were working on. I originally had only printed out one activity book with the thought of just making copies as needed, but soon found this to be a pain. Each child having their own activity book worked very well.

     I found that it was very easy to see what materials were needed for each week. Items needed were presented at the beginning of each week’s lessons. Very simple, basic items were required. A printer, crayons, glue, cardstock or cardboard were the most commonly used items.  A rhythm instrument was also needed. The video told you that it did not have to be fancy and could be out of the kitchen. We cleaned up two tin cans and used wooden spoons. These instruments worked great

     You could tell that the program was designed for younger children. It moved slowly and made great use of repetition.  As well, each individual lesson was fairly short. While this may turn off other older children, my two enjoyed watching, playing their instruments and singing or marching along.  Rebekah loves to color and enjoyed the activity book and coloring books that we downloaded.

Here is a sample video of Mrs.Gregor teaching how to find D on the piano.

Kinderbach Sample

One of the activities is to color Dodi’s house and place it above the two black keys.

Recommendation

     I would recommend KinderBach to other families. My two enjoyed the lessons and will continue to work on them. I can definitely see using these with younger children. Because of the short lesson time and lots of activity, even a three or four year old could easily pay attention.

     As someone who reads music and plays an instrument, I liked the music theory that my kids were learning as well as how to play the piano. There was a game to help train the ear to listen for high notes and low notes. This is so ingrained in me, I never thought to teach the difference to my children.  The rhythm instruments were excellent tools, as well as fun to play. Ben and Rebekah both loved marching around to the Beat Bugs, which were a good way to introduce keeping the beat of the music.  Overall I was thoroughly impressed with what my kids learned and the manner in which it was presented.

     I also feel that the price of the online lessons is a good value. If you have ever paid for music lessons, they can be cost prohibitive. In our area the running rate is $12-$15 a half hour per child. When you pay for an entire year of Kinderbach, it breaks down to just $7.99 a month.

As always, I am not the only one to review KinderBach.  Visit the Crew Blog and read what my Crew Mates thought of this product. It is always nice to get a balanced view before you buy.

As an Independent contractor for The Old Schoolhouse and member of TOS Homeschool Crew I received  KinderBach online lessons for free from KinderBach in exchange for my honest review of their product.