This morning, I experienced parenthood bliss.
There was no crying or chaos to greet the day.
I did not feel the house rumble from a basket of toys dumping on the floor.
Or experience the ten-minute chaos that follows an exploding diaper.
The dog wasn’t barking at a random stranger and no one was arguing over what’s considered a breakfast food.
Instead, I heard a pitter patter of tiny feet race straight to the living room to greet the Prodigies Deskbells.
Followed by my three year old’s sweet voice singing & playing along to Hello C & talking to his stuffed animals about C, G and F Chords.
If you want to know what bliss sounds like, I’ll tell you.
It’s the sound of your child composing music all on their own…. as coffee is percolating on the counter.
I took a moment to listen & watch from afar, and revel in what felt like I had unlocked Level 20 in the game of motherhood.
And although this is already starting to sound like a humble brag on a dreamy morning, I’m going to take this moment to share one more triumph with you.
A year ago, at age two, my child developed perfect pitch.
While this may sound like something that could only happen for the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts of the world, that’s simply not true.
Musical success & pitch-training are absolutely a possibility for your child too.
And there is nothing I wish more than for your family to experience the same joy from hearing your child make music!
Which is exactly why I’m sharing this with you.
Here’s how my child developed Perfect Pitch with Prodigies Music Lessons:
I’ll start out by saying every household is different so it is important to concentrate on what works for you and be gentle with your child & yourself in the process.
I’m not sitting my child in front of the piano every second until he gets the notes right.
He leads quite the normal childhood outside of his pitch skills and spends plenty of time playing outside & learning other subjects.
The key? We lean into what makes sense in the moment.
If my toddler wants to curl up on the couch with me, I sing songs with him out of My First Songbook.
Or if he seems cranky, I let him take out his frustration jamming on the deskbells. Trust me when I say they are durable!
If it looks like he wants to have some fun and dance around, we tap along to Sweet Beets and spin around to the Tooty Ta.
No day is like the day before and it’s imperfectly perfect in that way.
Introducing my 8 month old to Prodigies:
We introduced Prodigies Music Lessons to Harrison at 8 months old. I know that seems early, but there are wonderful songs for babies inside the curriculum & an exclusive Totigies playlist for the little ones. Mr. Rob taught me early that the benefits of introducing high-information music to a baby is so important for their developing brains.
What made even more sense to me in the moment was that the Totigies soundtrack was a really soothing way to get my child to fall asleep. At that stage of parenting, I’d have paid a million dollars for a quiet, restful household. Luckily, Prodigies is affordable to join so I signed us up. And we never left!
Kind, Knowledgable Hosts, Fun Characters & Colorful Imagery inside the Prodigies App
Lovable characters inside the app like Mr. Rob, Ms. Sam, Baby Lil, Beet, Cherry, the Deskbells & Meteor Man were all present when Harrison was a tiny baby. I decorated a small corner of his room with Prodigies posters & the characters I printed from the app. The bright colors were a joyful addition to his room & are highly recommended! I remember him babbling and smiling a bunch as a baby in his brand-new musical corner.
You can download the music decorations for FREE here:
https://pages.prodigies.com/free-ultimate-music-room-decoration-pack
Solfège & the Curwen Hand-Signs
When Harrison was about 1, we started practicing solfège with him. Solfège will always be a winner in our house, because it’s a powerful tool that requires no setup so it can be done on the fly to rapidly help children develop a sense of pitch.
Whenever it makes sense, I sing and hand-sign with him. He absolutely LOVES the one-on-one attention & I am sure your child will too.
Try practicing solfège & hand-signing at meal times or in the car, whatever moment of the day that feels right for you. We’ve been successful at this during bath-time, and even during those long potty training sessions. When I’m doing the dishes & Harrison’s playing across the room, I can sometimes squeeze in a mini-solfège music lesson with him.
Music can happen anywhere and doesn’t have to be another task on the never-ending todo list. Let yourself have fun. ❤️
By the next Summer (at about 1.5 years old), Harrison was beginning to hand-sign and repeat solfège around the house. Harrison only took his first steps a few months prior to this, so when I tell you that when you’re changing your child’s diaper as their reciting college-level pitch methods back at you, your world kind of stops.
When we started I thought, how long will this take? But it didn’t take hours out of our days, nor was it that challenging to introduce. It’s been a fun way to connect with my child & build musical confidence for both of us. I didn’t know anything about the hand-signs when we started, but they are a staple in our home now.
Mind-blowing, right? My brain almost flew out of my head when I heard this for the first time!
We didn’t drink some magical potion or spend a ton of money to make this happen.
It’s been as simple as consistency, leaning in to the Prodigies app daily and falling in love with the music learning process.
What I learned from Mr. Rob about Pitch
“Most of us are not this gifted with pitch and music, but it is certainly possible to develop similar musical skills with your kids by giving them “meaningful exposure to pitch during the critical period for auditory development.” If kids experience music and the individual notes at a young age, they will internalize the sound of the notes similar to the way we internalize language at a young age.
The problem however, is that most of us don’t start any kind of pitch-based music training until elementary school…around age 5 or 6.
At this point, the window for internalizing music and language is starting to close, and as a result, most of us miss out on learning music during the most impactful years. Getting your child started with music as early as possible is the best way to jumpstart your kids on a colorful, exciting and age-appropriate musical journey” – Mr. Rob
Free Prodigies Bell App
In the above Pitch test, I used the Prodigies Free Bell App to test Harrison’s ear. Now that he’s a little older, he practices with it on his own.
This is not the same as the Prodigies Music Lessons app, but instead a fun add-on bell instrument to make the most out of your lessons.
You can download the Prodigies Free Bell app on both android and iOS devices here: https://prodigies.com/pages/bell-app
More advanced lessons + the Prodigies Deskbells
When we introduced the Deskbells, we began with the C Bell independently away from the other bells, and then slowly transitioned into the full 20 Deskbell set. Which is to say, we introduced the individual notes one at a time like encouraged in the video lessons.
Once you’re in the app, your child will be introduced to each musical note and practice one note at a time. As they advance, they will play along with all 8 bells (or notes on the C Major scale) and move on to learning hundreds of other songs they can rock out to!
Now, the Deskbells have become a living room staple so that the invitation is always there to make music!
Since they are in plain sight, Harrison is able to freely play the deskbells whenever he wants. He comes up with all sorts of songs and like I mentioned before, has recently been leaning heavily into chords. Game-changer!
Final Thoughts for now:
I truly recommend Prodigies Music Lessons for every child & household, and it’s never too early to start!
I look forward to more musical mornings with Harrison and will continue to share our experience as he grows.
Life as a parent can be so chaotic, but learning music doesn’t have to be.
Instead, may it be an opportunity for more joy & blissful moments added to your day.
Happy Musicing!
-Emma Webb