TOS Review Crew- KinderBach

Earlier this year, Hubby and I bought a digital piano with the intention of bringing some music into our home. We had good intentions, I can read music moderately well, and He can play “okay” for someone who has never done lessons. We figured with a beginner’s book, and some patience, the two of us could figure out how to teach our kids to play.

Despite all our good intentions, that didn’t work out. Luckily for me, KinderBach came to the rescue!

What is KinderBach?

KinderBach- Simply Discover Piano is an online program with video lessons and PDF workbooks. By the end of the 240 lessons (60 weeks of instruction) a KinderBach student “will have a strong musical foundation that he/she will be able to use as a springboard to any music instrument. Your child will:

Know all the notes on the piano by location and letter name
Be familiar with the grand staff,
Read some individual notes on staff and all notes by pattern on staff,
Understand and read rhythms from eighth to whole notes,
Have improved listening skills so that he/she can interpret rhythms, intervals and patterns heard.
Play familiar melodies,
Play hands together or separately,
Have a working music vocabulary,
Understand basic composition methods”

KinderBach is so much more than just playing the piano. I feel like this program is giving my children a fantastic foundation in music, and will open so many doors to them. Not only are they learning songs on the piano, they are learning music theory, and more importantly, a love for music.

KinderBach is available in many different formats, as an online program, an app for mobile devices, and as DVDs. My family used the online program. Each daily lesson includes a video and a worksheet page. It takes us 10-15 minutes a day to complete a lesson.

Our Experience

A screenshot of the KinderBach program- the videos also open up to full screen

When Bug is using the program at the piano, I opened it on our tablet, so the tablet could sit on the music stand, and he could watch the videos as he played along. The videos have a high re-play value so some days, I also streamed the lessons on our TV so all the kids could just watch the videos. The videos are very high quality and engaging. Each lesson has interesting characters to present the information, so they really held the attention of my kids. Since they cover more than just the mechanics of playing a piano, they were still useful for all the kids.

I like how you can watch the lessons as often as you want, and in any order. Bug liked to sit down at the piano and just “play” lesson after lesson when he wanted to, and could go back and see his favorites again. I would play his daily lesson for him, and then work on the workbook page, but then I would let him watch any of the videos he wanted.

The downloadable PDF worksheets that help reinforce the lessons learned that day. I really like this component because it provided a way for me to review information with Bug even if I hadn’t been able to sit with him when he was doing his lesson. We were then able to practice the concepts together outside of his time at the keyboard with the videos.

A Sample Worksheet Page

Something I Loved

Bug is on the piano as I type this, working with KinderBach. He really has developed a love of music. He also has found confidence when he sits down at the piano. When we first began trying to teach him piano, too often he felt frustrated and became impatient and discouraged.

KinderBach helps avoid this frustration by “breaking down the various tasks and techniques of playing the keyboard and separates them into child portions. For example: Before playing a song, rhythm, note identification, note placement, and music patterns are presented as different items through discussion and games. Learning is gradual and child-paced. In addition KinderBach uses fun characters to teach ideas, making the process entertaining.”

The engaging characters and short lessons have held his attention and kept music fun. Now, he is more open to practicing, and enjoys showing me what he has learned.

Product Details

KinderBach is recommended for children from the ages of 3 to 7. I can see a slightly older child using and enjoying the program as well. Since you can select which week and lessons you want to play, it is easy to use a KinderBach membership with multiple children. There are no limits on how many times you print the PDF workbooks. One subscription works for the entire family!

The online subscription to KinderBach is available for 19.99 a month, or a full year for 95.88 (60 % savings over a monthly subscription). You can also try the first two weeks of lessons free to see if KinderBach is a good fit for your family.

KinderBach also has an App available. Click on the crew banner below to read more reviews, both of the online program, and the App.