Lansing State Journal,
December 31, 2005
To begin his class at the Pee Wee Patch, Ron West first rounded up his
students.
On a recent Tuesday, he gathered the 4- and 5-year-olds first. Parker
Densmore, 4, and Jordan Richards, 4, both of Lake Orion, are ready to
play.
"I love upstairs," Parker said, as he skips excitedly down the hall.
Upstairs is the classroom, equipped with a piano and an easel. The
children are only preschool age, but they are learning how to play the
piano.
West gathers a few more students, popping his head into classrooms and
calling kids by name. One talks earnestly about a recent trip to
Disneyland. Others talk about who will play the piano first.
"No running in the hall, kids," West said as the children clamor toward
the door.
"Marshmallow in the mouth," he adds, putting an imaginary marshmallow in
his mouth to remind the children to be quiet.
Once they enter the classroom in Oakland County's Orion Township, he leads
them into a half-circle on the floor.
"If you're a kid, come to the floor," West said. "All kids to the floor."
The children gather in front of the easel, where West has a poster with
the outline of two hands. The fingers are labeled with numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4
and 5.
If the children can learn how to count to five, they can play the first
five notes on the scale: A, B, C, D, E, he explained.
To teach the children rhythm, he has them clap along with the notes. They
blow on their hands first for good luck.
"Quarter dot," the children say with one clap. "Quarter dot."
For a more complicated rhythm, they sing and clap, "quarter dot quarter
dot half-note."
Opportunity knocks
West has been teaching piano for about 30 years. But a few years ago, his
career took a strange twist.
He was teaching students as young as 3, and as parents heard about it,
more called and knocked on his door, hoping to enroll their children in
lessons. "People were beating my door down to teach their kids," he
recalls.
West knew he couldn't handle the demand himself. So, he decided to start a
class. The first one was at Jerry Luck Studios in Eastpointe. Twenty
children enrolled, he said. From there, the business just ballooned.
West called his business Tiny Tunes, and he teaches preschool children
ages 3 1/2 to 6 years old at eight locations in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb
counties.
"The churches and schools opened all their doors for me," he said.
"Everyone started referring me and referring me and referring me. Before I
knew it, I was in business and I just kind of never looked back."
Special passwords
The weekly lessons are an hour long with a 10-minute Teddy Grahams break.
The break lets them stretch and talk a bit.
"They're little and they all have things to say," he said.
The children call him Mr. Ron, and he incorporates as many gimmicks as he
can to keep the lessons light and fun.
His girlfriend, Debbie Lanctot, helps him print worksheets with graphics
and notes the children trace and color.
Midway through the lessons, West asks the children to leave the room.
They can return only if they give him the secret password. They have to
clap out the new rhythm, of course.
And the kids love it.
Gabrielle Gentner, 5, sits down at the piano and plays the keys with her
tiny fingers.
West shows her how to curve her fingers on the ivory.
"Now, you try it," he said. "Show me what you've got."
When she finishes the song, she rings the bell on top of the piano and
goes back to her worksheet.
Reading music
West charges about $75 for six weeks of classes. He wanted to keep the
lessons affordable, he said, especially because schools seem to be cutting
music classes for budget reasons.
West has two instructors and is training a third. It takes several months
to train a teacher to use his methods, he said, adding he puts a strong
emphasis on positive encouragement. For instance, he lets the children
honk a clown's horn after they play a song.
Shelly Gentner, 34, of Lake Orion, signed up her daughter, Gabrielle, for
lessons as soon as she heard about them.
"I'm interested in my children being exposed to music as much as
possible," she said. "I just think it makes you, overall, a better person.
There are studies that show that children who learn to play an instrument
do better at science and math."
Although Gabrielle does not like to perform for her parents, she does like
the lessons, her mom said. She even asked for a guitar for her birthday.
After just a couple of weeks, her daughter was able to clap
out quarter-notes and whole notes, Gentner said, and took an interest in
the music at church.
She plans to enroll her 2-year-old son, Jack, when he's ready.
"She can read music, but can't read words," Gentner said.
"I don't know how he does it, but he has great energy, that's for sure. It
amazes me how much she has absorbed, and so quickly." |
