When Can I Start My Child In Piano Lessons?

When Can I Start My Child In Piano Lessons?

By Courtney Hall

There's no simple answer to “how old does my child need to be for private piano lessons?”. Every child is so different in their development, maturity, attention span, and interests between 3-7, and every family has a different parenting style and routine at home that all effects the child's success in lessons. The first requirement that is a necessity is knowing left from right really well. They also need to be able to identify written numbers and letters really well, and if they are starting to read independently, that is a huge help. Lastly, they need to be able to sit relatively still, focus, and be able to follow directions for about 30 minutes.

Although learning to play an instrument is fun, it is also takes a lot of really hard work. Very young children are all about having fun and aren't so good at doing hard work yet. I have agreed to do lessons for as young as 3 before, and although they have some capability of learning piano, it almost always results in the same thing-- getting "burnt out" and fighting their parents horribly at home when they're told to practice. They have fun at their lesson and still want to take lessons, but they absolutely refuse to practice at home. Therefore, the progress is so unbearably slow without practice between lessons that everyone starts getting discouraged. Now there's always some resistance to practicing no matter what the age, but I feel like there's usually a big difference after about kindergarten or 1st grade when they've been through a little school and start understanding homework because basically that's how lessons work-- a half hour private lesson then at least 5 days of piano homework to work on independently. The older they start, the faster they progress and get to harder songs which helps them have more confidence and enjoy piano more, so they're a little less likely to get burnt out.

How creative the parents can be with practicing at home can be a huge help though. If the parents make piano practice a short consistent part of a daily routine and are really creative about making it feel like fun and games, piano practice is likely to go a lot better.

For children younger than 1^st grade students, make sure they have had at least 3-6 months of just playing around on the piano before starting lessons. This is actually very beneficial because they'll be learning where the high sounds and low sounds are and learning that they can make quiet & loud sounds and short & long sounds (which cuts out several lessons where you have to pay me to teach those basic things when they could be learning it on their own through experimentation and play!) And for girls in particular, make sure they have done at least 1 year of a dance class before starting music lessons. My students who have dance experience almost always seem to do better in piano lessons because they've experienced music and rhythm through their body and have already learned how to keep a steady beat necessary for piano playing. And most importantly, make sure you are making music a major part of your life at home by listening to classical music, kids songs, pop/rock songs, traditional/folk songs, patriotic songs, etc. very often. Singing at home is extremely important too-- exploring their voice is the most intimate way to explore music and become aware of pitch that they will hear on other instruments. Kids that have been exposed to lots of music at home almost always have an easier time learning piano! I also highly recommend enrolling in several semesters of our Preschool Music, Story, & Art Class for ages 4-6. Not only does it give kids exposure to music and instruments from around the world, but it also gives them a chance to explore pitch and rhythm that they will need experience with in piano lessons, get comfortable with our school environment, and practice direction following skills needed in lessons.

So, in short, by age 6 or 7 almost all children are ready for private lessons. Some children are ready by age 4½ or 5. And very very rarely, there are some children ready at age 3 or 4. Personally, I worry that if you take a risk and start lessons before age 6 just to see if they can handle it and it ends negatively, as they get older, they'll have it in the back of their head that piano was difficult and boring and be hesitant to give it another try. I'd prefer for piano lessons to be a successful and enjoyable experience from the very start for all of my students.

I personally didn't start lessons until 3^rd grade. My grandma had a piano at her house that I was allowed to play around on as a young child, and I started learning the basics about music notes in my elementary music class in the public school system. When I finally started piano lessons, I progressed very quickly through the beginner books which gave me a lot of confidence and motivation to continue. I never felt like I was falling behind other kids who started lessons at a younger age. I've met a lot of other professional musicians who didn't start piano lessons until late elementary school, and they all turned out to be incredible musicians!

I hope this gives you a better understanding of when to enroll your child in lessons and helps you understand why some piano teachers will refuse to teach very young children.

I also HIGHLY RECOMMEND purchasing either this children's clarinet with 8 color coded keys prior to starting piano lessons. Your child should be able to independently read the "notes" to the song and play them in the correct order and should be willing to play songs through 2-3 times in a row to "practice." This is a great demonstration of cognitive ability, attention span, fine motor skills, left and right coordination, and musical interest that are all needed in piano playing. If they are unable to complete this with the children's clarinet, it is very unlikely that piano lessons will be successful. Download the songs to play here.

Piano Students Beating Themselves Up

Sometimes I run into piano students who get really discouraged by making a few mistakes on songs they practiced at home. They start to really beat themselves up or feel like they're not doing good enough.

I am very much a perfectionist when it comes to many different things. Sometimes I will obsess over the littlest details. However, when it comes to piano playing, I don't obsess and I don't strive for absolute perfection. We're human. To play a song with absolute perfection is asking A LOT. I do, however, try my best. There's a difference between playing a song perfectly and a playing a song very well (but a typical audience listening can't always tell the difference).

Let's switch gears and think about basketball. Professional basketball players should be able to make every shot they attempt in a game, right? After all, they're professionals who have likely been playing the game for about 20 years or more! So why do they still miss free throws? Baseball players certainly don't hit home runs every time either, despite the millions of times they've practiced swinging a bat. The fact is, they are performing an action that takes precise accuracy and involves a lot of muscle groups in the body, all while they're multi-tasking during a game. The same goes with piano. Except with piano we are adding in a complicated mental aspect of learning how to read an entirely new language written down on the page. So you are asking your body to first translate foreign messages into something that makes sense and then expecting your brain to relay those commands to your limbs and hoping all of your muscles can work together in perfect timing to hit all of the correct notes. Don't forget to add expression into that too-- dynamics, articulations-- wow! Did you ever stop to think how incredible our bodies are just to be able to play piano at all?! 

So if you are one of the (usually adult) piano students who is beating themselves up for not being able to play a song well enough--- stop!  You should continue to practice a song until it flows smoothly, you feel comfortable with the notes, and you lose the sense of struggling to get through it or racking your brain when you get to certain spots. However, when you're performing that song in a lesson on a piano that feels slightly different (or a lot different) than yours at home and you have a little anxiety because there is a teacher listening, you should relax and know that your teacher is looking for a general understanding of concepts and not a completely flawless performance. Besides, muscle tension only creates more problems and mistakes! Take a deep breath, concentrate, relax, and enjoy your playing! 

Halloween Piano Challenges

I like to give students a little extra Halloween challenge to complete to earn their candy the week of Halloween. I usually pick about 3 challenges from the list below depending on how much time we have in the lesson. Feel free to alter the challenges in any way that fits the student you are working with---- these are just some ideas/general suggestions! I try to adjust the difficulty for each student so it gives them a little challenge or a little review without being so hard that it's discouraging. Try to encourage success in these little games to give the student a confidence boost!

Earn Your Candy Halloween Challenges

1. Play a scale with RH and LH!

Teacher's choice of scale--any difficulty according to the level of the student

2. Name the notes in 30 seconds or less!

Pick out a group of flashcards and have the student name all notes correctly before the time's up. You can add more flashcards for more advanced students/less for beginners. I usually do about 9 cards: the middle C area from bass clef F to treble G.

3. Perform a song you played over a month ago with less than 3 mistakes!

4. Define 5 musical terms!

On some index cards, I write some terms such as dynamics, tempo, forte, piano, octave, skip, step, chord, rit., 8va, staccato. 

I usually divide them in different difficulty levels and have more than 5 to choose from, but the student just needs to pick 5 that they know to tell me what they mean. 

5. Name the music alphabet for 2 octaves using only skips in less than 10 seconds!

Example: C E G B D F A C.   They can play the keys as they say the letters out loud if that helps. I usually demonstrate it first so they understand, then give them one practice round without the timer, then give them 10 seconds to do it.

(For some students, it could be better to challenge them with saying the music alphabet backwards.)

CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE SHEET OF THESE CHALLENGES. I print this on orange paper. 

DIY Washboard/Guiro Kids Craft

Suggested age: Preschool/Kindergarten

YOU WILL NEED:
Cardstock Paper
Tacky Glue
Popsicle Stick
Crayons/Markers (Optional)

1.  Fold one piece of cardstock accordion style. (The smaller the folds, the better)

2. Put glue on the points of one side of that folded paper.

3. Line it up and glue it down to the another flat piece of cardstock.

4. Children may decorate their instrument with crayon or marker if you wish.

The washboard can be played by rubbing the popsicle stick over the bumps.

*You could also drill a very tiny hole in the end of the popsicle stick, and use a hole punch to punch a hole in the paper on the guiro and attach both with a string to each other so the parts do not get separated.


Music Lesson: 
-You can incorporate this into a lesson about Appalachian Mountain music and folk music

-You can also work this into a lesson on different guiro-type instruments... washboards, regular wooden guiros, wooden frog guiros, metal guiros, etc.

Musical Parcheesi

The game cards are a mix of flashcards of cards with types of notes. If they draw a card with a staff, they figure out what letter it is and move to that letter on the gameboard. If they were to draw the other type of card and it is a half note, they move 2 spaces forward, etc.

I also made little cards on blue paper that are "blue bonus cards" with miscellaneous piano and music trivia questions.  If they land on a blue space on the gameboard, they get a chance at answering a bonus question. If they get it right, they can move 3 extra spaces forward.
A few examples of the bonus questions:

• General music trivia
• What is a composer?
• How many spaces are on a staff?
• Fill in the blanks:  Every  __________  Boy ____________  _____________  *or substitute with whatever phrase you teach students to remember treble clef lines
• Fill in the blanks:  __________  Cows __________  ___________  *or substitute with whatever phrase you teach students to remember bass clef spaces
• What is tempo?
• What are dynamics?
• Name 2 famous composers.
• What is a composer?
• What is a staff?

• Piano specific trivia
• What were white keys on a piano made of a long time ago before we started using plastic?
• How many keys does a piano have?
• What does the damper pedal (on the right) do on a piano?

Halloween Challenge

Happy Halloween! 

Students of mine completed their 5 Halloween Piano Challenges in order to earn their piece of candy.  Here were the challenges. 

1. Play a scale with right and left hand.

-This one is open ended so that the teacher can choose exactly what they need to complete according to their skill level. Young beginners may be asked to play only a pentascale. Advanced students may be asked to play an A Major scale using two octaves.

2. Name the notes in 30 seconds or less. 

-I set a timer on my phone and the students try to get through the stack of flashcards naming the notes correctly before the timer beeps.  I usually do about 10 flashcards for most of my students (bass F through treble G plus a bass C). I will add a few more for advanced students or take some out if a beginner student has not learned all the notes yet. 

-If a student has just started lessons and does not know notes on the staff yet, I point to a key on the piano and they tell me the letter of that key.

3. Perform a song you played over a month ago with less than 3 mistakes.

4. Define 5 musical terms. 

-I give them 7 index cards with words/symbols so that there are 2 "freebies" they can skip if they don't know.  

       -Beginners set:  treble clef, bass clef, repeat sign, double bar line, quarter note, half note, duet

       -Intermediate set:  forte, piano, step, skip, octave, dynamics, tie

       -Advanced set: dynamics, tempo, 8va, chord, staccato, 4/4,  ritardando

5. Name the music alphabet for 2 octaves using only skips in less than 10 seconds. 

-I set 10 seconds on the timer on my phone, and students start on middle C, and then name the letters of the keys going in skips (C, E, G, B, D, F, A, C).  They don't need to play the keys, but they can if they want to. 

Once the student completes all 5 Halloween challenges, they've earned their piece of candy!

Why Music Flashcards Are Important-- A Letter to Parents

     As teachers, we want our students to learn how to read sheet music easily and fluently.  Some students catch on quickly, but others struggle with note reading.  I often feel like I spend way too much time in a lesson just figuring out the notes, and I know we could be focusing on so much more if only the student would practice notes at home.  Likewise, the parent would get SO much more for their money if the student would practice notes at home.

      For most students, I send home flashcards along with the letter below.  My flashcards are customized to include clues from the "Freddie the Frog" book series as well as clues like "Every Good Boy Does Fine."

     I created this letter with an introduction to help parents understand WHY reading notes easily and fluently is important.   Feel free to use the letter below for your studio and change it to whatever fits your needs!

Important New Piano Material Information

What makes people enjoy reading books as a hobby? In elementary school, you learned your letters and what sounds they make. At first, you had to piece together this information by sounding out words letter by letter. The more you practiced this by reading simple books, the more you started to memorize the letters, sounds, and combinations that formed words. Years later, you don't have to consciously think about the individual letters that form words at all-- you just sit down and read quickly and efficiently. If reading continued to be a process of deciphering each letter and sounding out each word, it would be a very tedious job to read hundreds of pages and no adults would ever take up reading as a hobby!

Reading music is exactly the same. I think the thing that makes music FUN and makes playing piano an enjoyable hobby for me is that I know the notes on the staff just as well as English letters in a book. I can sit down with new music that I've never seen before and quickly figure out how to play it without translating each note into a letter and then that letter onto the keyboard. Without developing this skill of fluent note reading, playing the piano is likely to become too tedious and the student will want to give up playing. Learning and memorization come to humans through repetition. Some students are able to memorize the notes just through the repetition of songs, but most students need a little more practice. Just as your child might have learned their addition and subtraction facts through flashcards, I feel that this is also one of the most effective way to reinforce music notes on the staff.

When you start off learning addition and subtraction facts, it's common to use your fingers to help you out. There's no harm in this at first-- it gives you a way to figure out the solution-- then eventually you need your fingers less and less because you start to memorize them. The same applies to music notes-- students have learned numerous ways to help figure out note names (such as phrases like “Every Good Boy Does Fine,” the spaces spelling the word FACE, and even reading the “Freddie the Frog” books), but in the end we want to have them memorized and not need to use the “tricks” to figure out each note.

Please note the flashcards that have been sent home with your child. I have designed flashcards that incorporate the different “tricks” on the answer side to use at first if the student is still getting stuck on particular notes. The end goal is for the student to name the correct letter of the note immediately upon seeing it. I've found that during lessons with many students we are sometimes spending more time than what's necessary figuring out individual notes instead of getting to the other important lesson topics. Working with your child a few times a week on memorizing the notes will provide a better value for your money for each lesson.

I am asking only $3 for each set of flashcards to help cover materials/supplies. The set includes all notes on the staff. However, beginners will not need to learn all of these right away, so I made a list that corresponds with the Faber books to tell you which flashcards to pull out and use according to where they are in their lesson book.

Thanks for your dedication to helping your child, and hopefully this will make piano even more enjoyable than it already is for your child!

Sincerely,

Courtney