Review: Minimusic
Back in 2003 when I went to my very first MTNA conference (SLC, UT) I discovered MiniMusic. At the time, Paula Manwaring, creator of Minimusic was selling the program on her own. I was really impressed with what I saw and decided to invest in the program. What I liked best about Minimusic (besides the program itself) was that it was something I could purchase and use it how I saw fit. I didn’t need to certify to use it, I didn’t have to give a percentage of my income to anyone and I can add other activities to it if I wanted to.
Minimusic is now available through Kjos. Since Kjos has picked up MiniMusic it has been given an updated look! I reviewed Minimusic briefly back in 2011 but wanted to review it again in more detail.
First, Minimusic is a children’s music theory course which teaches pre-reading music theory for young children. The Minimusic website suggests children 5-7, but I have used it with children 4 years old with no problems. Minimusic is designed to teach in small groups. I have used it with as little as 2 students. It can also be adapted for a larger class setting.
There are 32 lesson plans all laid out for you. Lessons include hands on activities, (some crafts), worksheets, fun interactive stories, and games. A lesson typically lasts an hour but I like to have “extra” activities in place just in case we go through a lesson too quickly. You can also get away with doing a 45 min. lesson if you have a small class (2-3) unless you have students in your class that REALLY enjoy coloring. One of my students this year loves to color so anytime we go to the workbook it’s hard to get her to move on from it.
Concepts taught in Minimusic are:
- Note and Rest Values
- Counting and Rhythm
- Basic Music Symbols
- Music Alphabet
- Direction of Reading
- Basic Pitch Recognition
- Black Piano Key Groups
- White Piano Key Names
- Intervals up to a 5th
- Recognition of 23 Instruments and Their Family
When students finish the Minimusic program, they are ready to start any instrument of their choosing! They are off to a great start because their basic theory knowledge is already there.
The Teacher Kit is pretty amazing. When Kjos started selling it they improved the quality of all the products. The program is totally the same, everything – the workbooks, cards, etc… are just nicer quality. A couple conferences ago, I was able to see firsthand in the Kjos booth the updated Minimusic kit with the new look. I loved the updated look so much so that I decided to purchase another set. I knew that I would get good use out of it regardless if I had Minimusic classes or not. That is one of the great things about the teacher kit is it comes with everything you can use with your regular students too! I can’t tell you how many times I have used the items in this kit during private lessons, group lessons and camps. It has come in very handy! Matter of fact, I have even held pre-piano camps using the Minimusic program. It works out VERY well!
The teacher kit includes: A Student Workbook, Cloth Keyboard and Transparencies; Flash Cards (instrument, note value, rhythm, musical alphabet, intervals, keys); Music Symbol and Instrument Bingo Games; Bingo Chips; Pitch Puppets; CD with songs and instrument sounds.
You can see more samples of the kit here.
Minimusic has a couple Facebook pages that you may be interested in joining. First the Minimusic facebook page and then the Minimusic Teacher Support page.
If you are looking for a solid program you can use with beginners before they begin lessons, I highly encourage you to take a look at Minimusic! You can purchase the teachers kit here.
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46 Responses
depending on the age, we do a lot of singing, game playing, pattern matches, listening for loud and soft, high and low, short and long. I would love the opportunity to use minimusic. It sounds like an awesome program to work with young children on their musical beginning.
I would love to win the set. I currently teach children 4-5 and 5-7 in group classes using Musikgarten curriculum. We do a lot of tonal and rhythm pattern echoes, following along on a musical score and finding patterns we know in it; and I use my floor staff for working on lines and spaces — various games, beanbags, etc.
Use scrabble tiles to label the white keys on the piano!
Sounds like a fun resource to add to the studio! One of my current favorites when introducing young beginners to piano/forte is to use the song “Loud Quiet” by Caspar BabyPants using large and small pictures of animals along with “Ps” and “Fs” for the child to manipulate while on one of our listens. http://babypantsmusic.com/track/112541/loud-and-quiet
Great song!! Thanks for sharing. I’m downloading it right now.
Currently I am only doing private lessons and occasional group classes with young children. I would love to win this and give it a try!
I have been looking into the MiniMusic curriculum for awhile now after hearing some great reviews. Looks like fun!
I currently use several activities from Music Mind Games by Michiko Yurko with my students. Students especially love the “Blue Jello” terminology used for teaching rhythm and the manipulatives that we use for the games.
I have been looking for a good theory resource for my younger students for quite a while. At the moment I use a combination of Faber My first Piano Adventures and my own worksheets. I have had a look at the Mini Music samples and will probably buy a set. They seem to be just wheat I am looking for.
This looks really cool! I never have enough activities for the young ones. Mostly we do a lot of singing, clapping, and walking around.
Currently I use Piano Maestro and My First Piano Adventures. They work but this sounds way better!
I use Music for Young Children, but this looks very interesting for my young private piano students
I have just spent the last 3 hours planning the next 2 months of my preschool class. Spring semester will have a lot of lessons about nature. For example, a whole unit on bears. Bear songs, books, and activities. One of my absolute favorite things to do with all children is to incorporate literature into the music room. Using orff methods we have a lot of fun playing rhythms and singing pitch patterns to books with repetitive rhyming. (Old Black Fly, Click clack moo, Rumble in the Jungle)
It would be lovely to add this resource to my arsenal!!
I use various theory cards and some games etc. I have acquired over the years. I always have to go in search of materials when I have my group lessons. This sounds like a great resource to have. It would be nice to already have it laid out for you. Would love to win!
I teach preschool music to 2-5 year olds, and one of the choirs I direct is 4k-1st grade. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve introduced a visual representation of a couple of our vocal warmups. One side has five hearts going up and then down. The children start on the left side and point as we sing the solfege up and down. The flip side has three larger hearts going and down with space in between each. This is for our do-mi-sol warmup. They have really caught on quickly to this! I copied these on cardstock so they would last more than one rehearsal.
I use Music for Little Mozart’s. I have a little ponies and little race cars that students use to find groups of 2 or 3 black keys. I also have a little drum and other little instruments that is enjoyed by that age for rhythm activities.
I have been teaching preschool and kindergraten level for 10 yrs with Music for Little Mozarts. I am presently trying to reach out to more 3 and 4 yr olds as there is such a market for them in my area. I find it hard to find good games and worksheets for young children, without purchasing an expensive program. I currently use a little of this and that from several programs, but my favorite thing to do with them is march, sing, and clap. They love aking music with rhythm instruments!!!!
Sometimes I feel like I’m spinning my wheels with the younger ones. This just may be the answer! I currently use My First Piano Adventures.
I currently use My First Piano Adventures with young students, but I feel I could teach even younger students with MiniMusic. It sounds like a great background for students who want to take piano lessons. I use rhythm instruments and games that teach music theory.
Wow – choosing my favorite activity to use with little ones is hard! I use a wipe-off staff, we do a lot of flashcards and flashcards games, clapping and taping rhythms, etc. But there’s always more we could do – would love to win the set.
For young children, I’ve tried adapting the old Music Mind Games materials. There are some activities that work well, but more that don’t. This looks like a great system that is perfectly age-appropriate!
This look like fun. My favorite with little ones is using simple rhythm instruments and then building an ensemble. Very simple parts, (like one group eighths, one quarter and a talented group half notes) all taught by rote and layer on. Really an early experience creating actual music.