Kinderbach - A Review

Product: KinderBach

Price: $19.99 monthly / $95.88 annually (Online sessions)(Per family, not per child)
DVD packages also available

Company: KinderBach LLC

Where to Purchase: kinderbach.com

Brief Overview:
"KinderBach is about establishing a music foundation for young children. Students learn note reading, rhythm, singing, vocabulary and a variety of other skills which provides them the basis for further education. It’s about much more than just playing the piano! "

In-Depth Review:
Karri Gregor, the founder of KinderBach, is an author, illustrator and music educator. She has an extensive background in music, visual arts and drama. She was raised with a love of music and wanted the same foundation for her children. But when she couldn't find a piano teacher that would take a student younger than 7, she decided to begin teaching her own children.

Later, she started teaching other younger students as well. She would tape the lessons so that those who missed a class could keep up. When Karri's family moved, she lost all of her students. So they had the idea to begin teaching with videos, so that she wouldn't have to worry about losing her students again. And she could also use her interest in the arts to "spice" up the videos.

KinderBach is geared for ages 3 to 7. It uses DVDs, activity books and CDs. It is about more than playing the piano. Children will play the piano. But they will also sing, do puzzles, color, etc.

It uses multiple learning styles to engage the child, hold his interest and help make the lesson sink in. The videos are cute and colorful. They are kept short, since they are geared to very young children.

The songs are catchy. I find myself singing them as they pop in my head during the day. They are also kept short and easy to memorize for younger children.

The worksheets are user-friendly and simple. The hands-on things are great, using cutting, coloring, gluing, etc. I like the visuals to help with retention. For example, Dodi the Donkey lives between the 2 black keys. So your child will make little flashcards to set behind each group of 2 black keys on her piano/keyboard.

Karri is a pleasant hostess on the video sessions. She is likeable and fun to watch. I am confident that your child will enjoy having her has their online piano teacher.

I used this program with my 7 year old daughter (turns 8 this month). At times, she felt the pace moved too slowly. So, I agree that it is for a younger age bracket. I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone older than 7. But there were things about it that she enjoyed. My daughter liked most of the worksheets, the piano time and the songs. She can be heard going about the house singing "Dodi, Dodi, Where will you sleep..."

We set our laptop up near our keyboard, so that we could easily go back and forth between the video lessons and the song playing. If your computer and piano are not near each other, it will be a little more of a back and forth thing, if you do more than one lesson at a time. You can also consider purchasing the DVDs.

If you have younger children (maybe 3-6), I think KinderBach would be a wonderful musical addition in your home. I am very impressed with the quality of it.

On the website, you will find FREE online lessons, a sample e-book, coloring pages and a song download. That is a good place to start.

To read other reviews, click here.

Disclaimer: I received a 3-month membership to KinderBach.com free of charge to review, as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew. The above is just my opinion. Please remember that opinions may, and do, vary.