Online Music Lessons for Kids with Great Bend Center for Music

As homeschool parents, one of our biggest challenges is helping our kids learn subjects that we don’t feel comfortable teaching. And for many families, teaching music is one of the most intimidating subjects. But, homeschooled kids need to learn music. That’s why I was so excited to discover Great Bend Center for Music and their online music lessons for kids. They make homeschool music so easy and so much fun. Here’s how we’re using Great Bend Center for Music’s programs in our homeschool.

I received compensation and access to classes from Great Bend Center for Music in exchange for my honest review, but all the opinions in this post are my own.

What is Great Bend Center for Music?

Great Bend Center for Music is a non-profit organization that is using music to build community through engaging online lessons for kids ages 2 and up. Young children who participate in the Sound Scholars™ or HighKey Kids™ programs attend small group online music lessons with a highly qualified teacher. The program is based on the El Sistema model, which is designed to build community and eliminate barriers that would prevent kids from participating.

Online Music Lessons with Great Bend Center for Music

Online Classes

Great Bend Center for Music uses small group online classes. The classes are held on Zoom, and each small group is paired with a great teacher who keeps the kids engaged and makes learning fun for them. The online music classes for kids meet daily for Sound Scholars™ and Weekly or Biweekly for HighKey Kids™.

Sound Scholars™

The Sound Scholars™ program provides free weekday music lessons for kids from 2 years old through 3rd grade. These free lessons are a great way to help young students have a fun and positive experience with music while learning listening skills, teamwork, and practicing critical thinking. Because the small group classes meet every weekday for 10 weeks at a time, kids have the opportunity to develop a community with each other and their teacher.

During the Sound Scholars™ program, kids learn the basics of music and music theory. They also learn about famous composers and musicians in music history. And they have lots of opportunities to sing and dance at their own pace throughout the lessons as well.

HighKey Kids™

The HighKey Kids™ program continues lessons for older students, in grades 4-12. The classes focus on exciting topics that make music fun, such as Video Game Music, Beats and Loops, Songwriting, and Digital Audio Production. Kids can also learn how to play instruments including the piano or keyboard and the ukulele.

Benefits of Kids Music Lessons with Great Bend Center for Music

Easy to Teach

One of the biggest benefits of Great Bend Center for Music for homeschool families is that parents don’t have to be musical for their children to be successful in the classes. Teaching music in homeschool can be intimidating, but Great Bend Center for Music makes it easy. All we need to do is turn on Zoom, and it’s lesson time.

My son was so excited to participate in his music classes. He was eager to get to know the teacher and the other students, and he was even able to make music together with his class on Zoom.

As a homeschool parent, I love that he was able to participate in collaborative music-making through his Sound Scholars™ class. This is an opportunity that is hard to come by for homeschoolers and would not be available to us otherwise.

No Prep or Planning Required

I love how easy the Great Bend Center for Music classes are for homeschool parents. All I had to do was log on to Zoom at the correct time. All the planning and preparation for the lessons were done by Great Bend Center for Music’s online music teachers. This made the process of adding music lessons to our homeschool so easy.

Check out the class schedule and find a Zoom music class for your child here.

Comprehensive

As a former music teacher, I love how comprehensive the classes are at Great Bend Center for Music. During one short music class, my son learned about important musical concepts like beat, rhythm, and meter. He also learned some new vocabulary words for different tempos in music, practiced ear training, and even performed different rhythms. The classes give a great foundation for understanding music in the future.

I also love that everything was taught right at his level. Because the class was designed for kids his age, the teacher did a great job of explaining everything in a way that was easy for him to understand.

One of Great Bend Center for Music’s goals is to remove barriers that would prevent kids of all ages from being successful in learning music and they did that during the classes my son took.

Engaging

As a teacher, I know that it can be really hard to keep kids interested and engaged during lessons on Zoom, especially when they are young. So I was skeptical about how online music classes for kids would work. But it was clear from the first few minutes of our very first lesson that our class was being led by an expert online teacher.

During each class, our talented teacher was excellent at keeping kids focused and engaged on Zoom. Even the youngest students were able to focus and pay attention throughout the lesson.

Learn more about the Great Bend Center for Music staff and teachers here.

Small Classes

One of my favorite features of Great Bend Center for Music’s classes is the small class sizes. The live lessons that we attended included a teacher and just a few students. This made it easy for the teacher to get to know each student individually, and for the students to get to know each other as well. I love that the lesson plans even included opportunities for the kids to connect through answering questions.

As a homeschool family, a community can sometimes be hard to come by. Homeschool socialization can be a challenge for homeschoolers unless we are seeking it out intentionally through programs like Great Bend Center for Music. I love that this program provides an opportunity for young people to make friends and practice social skills as well.

And, these classes are even better than private lessons because kids can learn from each other as well.

Read more stories of how Great Bend Center for Music is building community here.

Inclusive

Great Bend Center for Music’s classes are based on the El Sistema model. This means that teachers are working to build intentional community with the students. And, they are working to eliminate barriers and help every child to be successful at making music. I love the way that participation in this program builds self-esteem as kids see that they can make music.

Affordable

Great Bend Center for Music offers free online music lessons for kids from age 2 through 3rd grade through their Sound Scholars™ program. These classes meet every weekday for 10 weeks, helping music students build community while having a lot of fun and a great experience with music. And these classes are completely free for families, which means that anyone can enroll their kids in music school!

I appreciate the great things that Great Bend Center for Music is doing to make great online music lessons affordable and accessible to all families, everywhere.

Learn more about the Sound Scholars™ program and sign up here.

Fun Topics

There are lots of opportunities for older students in grades 4-12 at Great Bend Center for Music through the HighKey Kids™ program. I love that the classes are focused on topics that make music education fun and relatable for young kids. This is a great place for kids to learn about podcasting, songwriting, digital audio, and more from the comfort of home.

Learn more about the HighKey Kids™ program and sign up here.

Learn an Instrument

I love that they offer classes for students who want to learn a specific instrument, like piano or ukulele. Learning ukulele is a great way to introduce kids to the stringed instruments since skills kids learn on the ukulele will transfer directly to the guitar.

As a former piano teacher, I was so excited to watch a group virtual lesson in the piano program. The piano teachers did a fantastic job of making piano lessons fun and helping kids learn new skills while learning about music and introducing them to new composers at the same time too.

Life Skills

It was clear from the beginning of our very first virtual music lessons that Great Bend Center for Music is doing so much more than just helping kids become great musicians. I have loved watching my son practice new skills, and I have seen him develop his cooperation, teamwork, listening skills, and critical thinking along the way. Whether or not he grows up to be a musician, I am so glad he has had such a positive experience with an awesome teacher and a community.

Try Great Bend Center for Music for Yourself

Great Bend Center for Music is offering 15% off any HighKey Kids™ online music lessons for kids with the coupon code HOMESCHOOL.

Check out the classes that are offered and sign up for music lessons today!