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Preschool Prodigies
LESSONS FOR THE YOUNG MUSICIAN
Meet Mr. Young
CREATOR & TEACHER OF PRESCHOOL PRODIGIES
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Robert Young is part musician, part teacher, part technologist, and part kid. Growing up as the oldest of seven siblings, Rob has always been surrounded by young children. The creation of the Young Music series is the result of many years of instilling music into young people and Rob hopes that his fun and easy to follow method will provide a musical advantage to all kids of the 21st century.
Rob began his musical career by imitating his childhood hero, Raffi. Guitar in hand and tunes in mind, less than perfect renditions of Baby Beluga and Day-O were the "look-at-me" staples of his early music career. By fifth grade, the guitar was forgotten however, and thanks to the inspiration of his older cousins, the drums took over.
Through middle-school and high-school, Rob was as die-hard of a drummer as anyone can be. From drumline to percussion ensemble to Dave Matthews concerts and to hours upon hours rocking out in the basement, Rob cultivated his love and knowledge of music.
When Rob graduated high school and ended up at New York University's School of Music, he found that his dedication to the drums had left him severely under-practiced in the tonal aspects of music. He could dictate rhythms with the best of them, but for the majority of college, he struggled with basic singing, simple scales, and other seemingly easy musical concepts. After one particularly embarassing "get up and sight-sing in front of the whole class" moment, Rob apologized to his teacher and said, "I'm sorry but this is hard for me."
His teacher responded, "It's music, it's college, it's supposed to be hard."
Feeling discouraged and at a loss, it wasn't until one of his other teachers put a constructive spin on Rob's problem. Comparing ear-training to strength-training, Rob's teacher told advised Rob to do some "weight lifting for ears." From then on, Rob dove in on discovering all the different ways he could weight lift with his ears. It was hard work, and it took time, but with practice, the muscles grew.
In conjunction with a computer music class he was taking, Rob designed an ear-training computer program that he later distributed on campus. By developing and using his own program he progressed quickly and in one semester went from nearly failing his ear-training classes to getting A's.
After finishing college in three-years, Rob moved to Delaware to join the folk-rock group Mad-Sweet Pangs and began teaching at the Univeristy of Delaware's Early Learning Center. He went on to teach music at St. Michael's School and Nursery, private lessons through S Music Studio, movement classes with Kidz Jump Jam n Jive, and at play classes at Gymboree Play and Music. He then went on to co-create the kindie (kid-indie) band Nature Jams, while continuing to teach private lessons and music classes throughout Delaware.
Rob began creating the Pre-School Prodigies series after being inspired by the We Hear and Play method, developed by Naoyuki and Ruth Taneda. Taneda's method proved that if given the right instruction at the right age, children could develop the skill of absolute pitch (sometimes referred to as perfect pitch). Taneda's method, while amazing, is VERY time intensive, both on the parent and the child, and Rob set out to create something more fun, digestable and modern to further future generations musical abilities.
The PSP Method was designed to take college-level ear-training and make it fun, easy-to-follow, and colorful. Mr. Young revised his teachers ideas about music and firmly believes that
"It's music, it's fun, and it's supposed to be fun."
Which isn't to say there's a ton to learn from music and about music, as there most certainly is. However, it is Mr. Young hopes that his fun, easy and practical videos will give children a musical advantage that up until now has been reserved only for schools and families that can find and afford the best early music instructors.
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