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 The PixiPan- a new Children's Instrument
(Excerpt from the Accompaniment Brochure for parents and teachers).
With this brochure, (not yet translated into English) I'd like to give everyone who plays the PixiPan with children, a brief description of the instruments' possibilities. These musical parameters are specialized information for the instructors, who, using their own knowledge, will be able to instruct their students. The usage of colors (optical Solfege) is the preliminary stage of learning to read music.
Children need a closely related person (mother, father) when they begin to make music. The adult can rationally comprehend the musical contents and then give this information to the child, feelingly and in accordance to his age.
Further information and extra sheet music in Internet under [www.pixipan.de].
This address is a Forum to exchange thoughts and communicate.
The PixiPan is an elementary instrument for young children (3 to 6 years) that helps to develop the musical structure of the „Space-Time-Consciousness". The tone order, using alternative sides with ascending notes creates a "circular Glockenspiel". A harmonic path of motion is achieved through the use of both hands. The root key is G major (red). All of the songs are to be sung while playing!
The Imparting of knowledge in two phases:
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1.
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The adult plays systematically and the child sings and experiments. (from 3 years)
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2.
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The child plays and both sing together. (from 4 years)
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It's always best, when possible, to have a fixed time to practice. This shared time should be "sacred". If the lessons begin when the child is 3 years-old, there are then at least 3 years until he or she will enter school.
Duration:
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At the beginning, 5 minutes
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When the second phase begins, up to 15 minutes or however long the child wants to play.
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The desired results will be reached through constant, loving engagement with the PixiPan. "Finished Products" are only a concomitant occurrence. The weekly lesson should last 30 minutes and include all the usual elements of musical education for children. (Games, dances and stories).
Layout of the PixiPan
 The PixiPan is tuned in G major and consists of 8 notes:
d', e', g', a', h', c", d", e"
This offers the possibility to sing and play a multitude of children's songs and rhymes.
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Left:
the One - later „minor"
Right:
the Other - later „major"
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Top:
bright - later „high"
Bottom:
dark - later „low"
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The Childs' First Time Playing
It is important that the child always plays using 2 sticks. The sticks run across the steel drum: they skip lightly, hop, rap, tap and drum in place, at first simultaneously, later, alternating. This phase serves the development of motor skills from simple mechanical movements to a controlled, soft playing. Adults and/or older siblings are an indispensable role model. The goal is to roll with the sticks and also play single notes.
Basic Musical Figures
The following "musical" principles are defined so:
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Circles:
with the left hand, Clockwise
Circles:
with the right hand
Counter clockwise
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Ascending:
left hand to the top and the middle
Ascending:
right hand to the top
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Climbing:
Alternating, beginning with the right |
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First, rolled and later single notes |
These movements are coordination exercises that serve, in accordance with the development level, as daily loosening-up exercises.
Songs
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Narrative Singing |
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At the start, the child should sing and then play arbitrary notes to his singing. The important thing here is the combination of singing and movement. The child can hang the Pan around his neck and play while walking. |
| 2. |
The Cuckoo: The notes „g" and „e" are given names and then small rhymes. |
| 3. |
Lyre Tune: „a" is added to the learned notes (Song example 4, 5 and 6) |
| 4. |
Building the Pentatonic: The circle of fifths will be completed by adding new notes. All of the melodies are enhanced with text. |
| B. |
Figure-Songs |
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In order to make practising the motion sequences easier, there are small sayings for each pattern. |
| C. |
Childrens' Songs |
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Depending on the development of the child's fine motor skills, he or she should play a "real" song in order to maintain and stimulate the learning process. These songs often become their favourite and it is therefore not always advisable to use a "seasonal" song. |
Within these bounds of possibilities, the development of the child up to his or her enrolment in school is hereby defined. Over years, the learning process is not always linear. It is so that things that have already been learned are repeated and thereby improved and reinforced. The goal is not a rigid learning process but an orientation towards the development of the child and a loving acquirement of musical knowledge.
Waltrop, im Januar 2003, Werner M. Weidensdorfer
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