THE BEST GIFT
“Music is a more potent instrument than any other for education.” - Plato
Tis the season! Our favorite gift we received for Kail was The Prodigies Desk Bell Set. Kail loves music! He always has. My sister-in-law bought these bells for my nephew and niece. My mom thought they rocked and sent a set to us. She was right. It was the gift that would help lead our son’s early musical education.
Kail practicing his bells.
Kail’s Dada is a musician. He plays guitar and pedal steel. Kail has natural talent for sure. He has been generously exposed to music since the very beginning. While his Dada teaches him so much, Mr. Rob from Prodigies broke it down into the simplest chunks for him. Prodigies gave us tools we might not have considered otherwise that helped develop his ear. We discovered that he has perfect pitch. A gift that only 1 in 10,000 people have including Beethoven, Mariah Carey, Ray Charles, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Mozart, Brian Wilson, and Stevie Wonder.
Kail listening to and correctly identifying notes without looking. Based on how he learned, he will often say the solfège notes (Do, Rae, Mi… ) instead of C,D,E… They are the same notes.
As mentioned in my last blog, Kail gets very little screen time. When he does, other than the occasional family movie night we try and keep that time as educational and enjoyable as possible. When Kail was practicing bells we would let him be on screen for long stretches. It is a truly educational tool that you can use with or without screens. We actually loved the screen feature (not something I you would usually hear me say.)
The program not only teaches the sounds and recognition of notes and chords, but music reading, theory, rhythm, solfège, and signing to name a few. The 8 bells are tuned to the C major scale. They are a beautiful place for anyone to start a musical journey. They are easy for underdeveloped hands (most children’s hands are not fully developed until around 6 years old) to hit. You don’t need an exact aim. A child can strike the bells with an open hand, a closed fist, an outstretched finger, or other creative way one may need to come up with. A child with cognitive and/or physical disabilities could benefit greatly from bells. It activates seeing, hearing, and feeling. It also stimulates the proprioception and vestibular senses helping a child with movement and balance.
Kail rocking a few of his bells at 3 years old.
I realize I sound like an advertisement for Prodigies Bells (I am not paid for it, although would happily become an “affiliate.” I’m still learning about the blog world.) They really are just that good to devote a whole blog post to.
They are the kind of gift you give to your own child, grandchild, or a very special to you child. The starter kit contains 8 desk bells and a year membership for around $200. You can buy the desk bells alone for about $100. While my mom got us the first year membership, we ended up just going from YouTube videos after that (many can be found there for free.)
While Kail still plays his bells occasionally, he has transferred his skills on to the keys and guitar now.
Kail figuring out how to play, “Here Comes the Sun”
It’s all learning!