Piano for Kids

You probably have never even thought about how the spacing between children can affect their patterns of learning, but it truly does have an affect. I hope you will think about this, be observant and consider this factor in your teaching methods.

Children that are born with two years of each other tend to be more competitive. They are anxious to secure their place in the family and do not want their close rival getting ahead of them. Because of this there can be more petite fighting and arguing. If they are given the same music they will try hard to out do each other. That is good in one way; they will work hard to out shine the other, but the one who feels he/she is not the best will feel defeated. It will be hard to encourage this child to try as hard next time. There can be arguments between them as who is the best.

If there are three or more years between the children there is far less of this competitive nature. It seems each child is better able to establish his/her own identity. The older child is often more willing to encourage a younger one which is always helpful. The problem area you need to watch out for would be the younger child feeling they there is no hope of ever being as good as the older sibling/siblings and wanting to progress faster than their abilities merit.

Four or more years almost allows each child to be raised as an only child. Each has good confidence, but the youngest is usually spoiled by having much older siblings to see to their needs along with the parents.

None of these are serious problems, but being aware of them makes working with the individual child easier and the task of making progress more probable. Understand a child’s nature helps you tailor your teaching method to bring out the best in each student.

Again I want to stress to you that children between the ages of 4 to 7 are very sensitive to the world around them and often do not know how to handle what they do not understand. Because of this it is important for you to know about any difficult situations in a family if at all possible.

Is a new baby expected? That is exciting news, but how will your young student be affected by this new addition. It will certainly change his/her placement in the family which we have already discussed. Could there be a problem with jealousy that you will need to deal with for awhile until life has settled into a new routine with in the child’s family.

If there is a child within the family that has special needs of any type it could have an affect on your young student. The child might feel they do not get enough attention, causing him/her to act out or be very quiet and withdrawn. They might try extra hard to do will to please their parents, trying to give them extra pleasure and gain their approval.

Parental problems are a touchy area, but one that can be very important to you as you work with your young student. How the parents are getting along with each other definitely does affect the children in the family. If there is strife between the parents, whether they are married, separated or divorced, the young child often feels they are the cause of the problem, something they do not know how to handle or solve. This can result in the child withdrawing, not caring to try, or coming to lessons in a very bad mood.

In all of these situations you as a teacher need to be understanding, patient, gentle and kind, but you must also be firm in your attempts to keep the child focused on what you are trying to teach them. Practice at home might be hopeless, so carefully go over the pieces being worked on several times at lessons until things straighten out at home, then return to pushing for the child to play the assigned pieces at least once a day at home.

It is amazing how placement in a family will affect a young student. If the child is the oldest they will usually strive for perfection and be relatively frustrated when they do not feel they have preformed at the level they perceive is expected of them. I think it is quite natural for parents to expect a lot out of their first child. There are a lot of factors that create their attitude. First time parents tend to be feel their child can do anything and to somewhat expect that of them.

By the time the second child comes along life if fuller which seems to put less pressure on this child to perform at the same level as the first. However, sibling rivalry will stir it sometimes ugly head. No two people in the world are exactly alike and the children within a family will be quite different. It is possible that the second child will out perform the first child in some activities that can be a great thing or a huge conflict, depending on the personalities involved.

If there are more than two children in a family the last will have much less pressure in his/her life, but will tend to be more of the “baby” about things than the older children. They will expect to get by with more and not to have to perform to the same level as the first born.

Each of these situations will require your special attention to bring out the best in each of your piano students, especially those six and under. Since parents are paying you to teach music to their child or children, they will expect good results. You can not obtain them without understanding and working with the factors that give each student his/her personality. Placement within the family is one of the important yet subtle influences you must not only consider, but understand and work with.