Review of Musical Intervals & Key Signatures Flash Cards from Warm Hearts Publishing

I am so excited to tell you about Warm Hearts Publishing's Musical Flash Cards and Games, part of the Fine Arts Bundle in the 2018 Build Your Bundle Sale. Way to go, Susan Brown, this set of E-books is wonderful! I recommend them for every home school.

I wish everyone took the time to learn intervals, key signatures, and how to read music. 

A year or two of piano lessons is a great investment into every child to lay a foundation for music if he, or she should choose to pursue instruments or singing later on. These flash cards are a great way to reinforce music theory for children. I love that in the Key Signature Flash Cards have the major key and the relative minor. Many people don't realize that the key signature for a major chord like A Major is the same for its Relative Minor key, F# Minor. 

As a worship leader, I often have people on my team who play by ear and cannot read music. It is so hard sometimes to explain a complicated chord or beat without musical language. Kind of like trying to communicate in a foreign language, instead of your own. 

Music intervals are step one in learning to harmonize as a vocalist. When you sing harmony, you often sing a third above or a third below the melody note. Understanding intervals at an early age so that you can recognize intervals prepares children for later on, to hear and note and be able to sing its interval. There are three half steps between an interval. For example C to E has C#, D, and D# in between--three half steps. 

Flash cards are easy and fun, but Susan takes it a step farther by giving us 14 ways to use the flash cards that are all fun! It makes learning music theory fun!

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Name the Notes Before the Keyboard Collapses

This set of flash cards gives you each note on the Treble Clef and each note on the Bass Clef. However, there's a lot more to this E-book. 

You are given every thing you need to use these flashcards to play the Keyboard Collapse Flash Card Game. This is really fun!

First, you will have to print the pages and put together your game board. This game requires a bit of time to set up and you will need to prepare your flashcards. 

The object of the game is to race to the end of the keyboard before all the keys collapse beneath you. Children love this!

Once you set the game up, you can use any of the flashcards to play the game. That means you can use the flash cards I already talked about (intervals and key signatures), as well as the following flash card sets. 

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Remember the Musical Terms

Musical terms are in Italian. Words like accelerando to a musician means to speed up the tempo. Ritardando means to slow down. 

After playing a variety of games with these flash cards, you son or daughter will be able to recognize and obey musical signal words like Andante, Largo, and Mezzo Forte. 

Again, I recommend taking a year or two of piano where these are introduced naturally.

​Then, use these flashcards to reinforce the musical terms. 

Like all the other flash cards, clear instructions are given to create and use them. 

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Remember the Music Symbols

The final book, Music Symbols Flash Cards is another great digital product where students learn to recognize notes, time signatures, and notes. 

Yes, it's tricky to tell the difference between a half rest and a whole rest. "Wait, which is the hat???" you wonder to yourself. The flash cards will help. They also have dotted quarters and eighth notes both ways. 

I like that Susan includes Crescendo, Decrescendo, Fermata, and Ottava. This phrases appear all the time in choir, band, and worship team sheet music. In addition, she mentions cut time (2/2). 

I love these books! The flashcards are packed with information that musical children should know so they can play and sing effectively. In addition, the flashcard games make learning so fun!

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Get These Resources Super Cheap!

Be sure to check out Susan Brown and Warm Hearts Publishing at Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and at her blog. 

All four of these books, along with my Families Learn Together: American History Art Appreciation and several other music and art E-books and audios make the Fine Arts Bundle from the 2018 Build Your Bundle Sale worth checking out. 

So much great curriculum for such a little price. 

God bless you and Happy Homeschooling! 
​Meredith Curtis

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