"Ughh..do we have to pray the Rosary?" to "Let's do it AGAIN!"

"Ughh..do we have to pray the Rosary?" to "Let's do it AGAIN!"

Our prep-free way to incorporate music making and faith at home

Incorporating music learning into our prayers and at-home Catechesis has been GAME CHANGING for our family.

My kids went from:

"Ugh do we HAVE to pray the Rosary AGAIN?"

to 🙂

"MOM! It's MONDAY - Can we play the Joyful Mysteries on the Pitch Bars???" 

  

We’re a Catholic family with 4 kids under 7 years old. I’m a K-4 music teacher of 12 years, and my husband is a film producer by trade. We decided the producer/Hollywood life wasn’t for us, so we quit all that to start what we’ve felt called to do - to bring more music & faith into the homes of children. 

In fact, our own children really inspired this journey. When I was shopping for an instrument for my oldest son, I wasn’t happy with anything on the market - all the “toy instruments” were clanky and not very “musical”, just noisy (Or they were light-up, battery operated ones with terrible sound).

I knew he wasn’t ready for a $500+ “real instrument” just yet. So we designed something that should be in every child’s home: A real, affordable instrument that sounds beautiful.

Our Pitch Bars are a professionally tuned, high quality instrument that kids can play on their own - without any prep and very minimal instruction.

The color-coded music notation makes it easy for anyone to follow, from 3-year-olds to adults who may have never learned to read music.

And my favorite part about it: Catholic Hymns & prayers are incorporated into learning and reading music.

I love setting up my kids in the backroom with the Pitch Bars, and hearing the gentle chimes of "Immaculate Mary" or "Amazing Grace" in the background as I'm making dinner. It's a welcome break from the normal thuds and chaos that our house tends to project.

___

BTW, if you're new here, get access to all out free prayer & music resources? It's our full list of content that we add to, as we cycle through the liturgical seasons. It includes downloads, videos & sneak peeks into what we're working on! For example, you'll have access to helpful resources like our Musical Advent Guide that features "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel", and our St Nicholas Lesson that features the song "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas"

 

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Our value-packed bundle that your little one will love.

FAQs

The Faith

How does this instrument help teach the Faith?

We use traditional Catholic Hymns and Bible Songs to introduce music playing. By including songs of the Faith in your Domestic Church and traditions, it helps children learn and feel and grow with the beautiful lyrics and melodies of the Faith.

Many of our customers have also incorporated this instrument into their family’s prayer time, which includes playing and singing hymns after their family rosary in the evenings.

Music is such an integral part of Catholic worship and experience, and Playful Pitch makes it accessible to the Church’s youngest members.

What are other ways we can use this instrument as a family?

Some customers have used it as a guide on incorporating music of the Liturgical seasons and specials feasts throughout the year. They sing and listen to the Playful Pitch songs together as a family, and then their children play the songs on the pitch bars independently throughout the week.

We have customers who have used Playful Pitch to allow the youngest members join the older children to play music together. The older child will play the song on the piano or violin (and a variety of other instruments), while the younger child plays the tune on the Playful Pitch Bars.

The Music

Do I have to know how to read music to help my child use Playful Pitch?

Nope - our notation is color coded and intuitive. We use familiar and popular tunes so learners can know how the song should sound - and use our friendly, simplified notation to play it out!

How is Playful Pitch notation different than reading other music?

Our notation and instruments are color-coded to make music-reading intuitive and fun. We also slightly change rhythm notation - so that long notes appear long, and short notes appear small.

We blend traditional black-and-white music notes with a fun, easy-to-read system for a gentle introduction to music reading.

Will there be new songs available in the future?

Yes, The Online Classroom will have a new melody to play with the change of every Church Season, or every month. Additionally, we are constantly designing new printed song cards that we’ll put in our shop when they’re ready!

The Instrument

FAQs about our Pitch Bar Set

What’s the difference between Playful Pitch Bars and toy xylophones?

Toy instruments are typically made with low sound quality, cheaper materials, or with battery-operated, electronic sounds.

Playful Pitch Bars are made from professionally-tuned, high-end aluminum bars and beech wood – for a child to learn music-reading and pitch-training from a real, professional, durable instrument.

Do the digital bars work just as well as the physical instrument?

Unfortunately - No. There’s just no substitute to a real, natural, professionally-tuned instrument. The timing, feeling, and sound of digital instruments will never be as good as the physical thing.

We love the digital bars for introducing kids to the concept of our music notation! But it works much much better for the real instrument.

Does it take a lot of guidance/time to teach a child how to use this instrument?

We designed Playful Pitch to be as child-led and intuitive as possible. We believe in the Montessori principle of fostering an independent work environment with rich materials, so that the child’s natural curiosity and delight take over the learning process.

An adult may demonstrate the initial set up and care, but after a short time, the child’s natural love of music and intuition should be able to take over!

As parents, we personally love to send our 4 and 6 year old children downstairs to play the pitch bars independently while the toddler and baby are taking a nap. The sound is soft enough to keep the babies asleep. We love to hear the pleasant, subtle background sounds of the pitch bars in the home, similar to soft wind chimes.

What age is this instrument/method for?

It was designed as an introduction to music making and reading for ages 3-10. Though, most of our customer feedback tells us that THE WHOLE FAMILY loves this instrument. Adults and teens have just as much fun as children, playing beloved familiar tunes on the color coded instrument.

Our most common review is “EVERYONE is wanting their turn on it....from the youngest child to the parents”. Many parents messaged to tell us they secretly played with it before wrapping it up and giving it to their children.

We LOVE that!!

Why not just start kids off on piano or violin?

We believe that fostering a love for music making should start with a play-based approach that capitalizes on the child’s natural love and intuition for music.

Formal lessons often come with a stigma of overwhelming assignments and mandated practicing - things that can squash a child’s joy for music making. If they first experience success on our gentle process and simplified with relative ease, it builds a confident, joyful musician who becomes inspired to work through the later challenges of music making.

Also - some kids and parents are just not ready for the time and financial commitments of formal lessons and professional instruments. Playful Pitch provides a way to introduce children to music, without spending the thousands it costs to buy a professional instrument and provide ongoing lessons.

I want to order the bars now, where can I get them?

If this is your first interaction with Playful Pitch you can simply enter your email below (or on this page) where we give you a welcome discount to any of our physical items in our online shop. Even if you dont intend to use the free Playful Pitch Online Classroom, you will still receive the discount promo codes.

You’ll receive your welcome discount codes immediately via email (check all your mail folders if you don’t see it) and there will be links to our shop where you can place an order.

If you made it this far grab our FREEBIES 🥰

Prayerful & Musical Downloads

Enter below for Free resources to all things musical & catholic

Make your family prayer time musical and interactive for the youngest Catholics in your homes! Our downloadable resources include our musical cards, Rosary guide, children's Way of the Cross, and more prayers and songs! Get immediate access or learn more here!