Teaching Piano to Very Young Children
It has been my personal experience that teaching very young children is very rewarding, but also very challenging. I want to share with you through this blog some of what I have learned in my own personal experience that might help you in teaching piano to very young children.
First I visit with the Mom (or in a few cases the Dad) at length about the child who will be starting lessons with me. What is the child’s placement among the other children in the family or is he/she an only child? What is the child’s basic temperament? What are his/her favorite things to do? As you visit with the interested adult you will come up with other questions you might want to ask, but the ones I have mentioned provide a good starting point. All the information could be helpful in teaching this young individual.
One thing I have found true with almost all of my 4 and 5 year olds is that they have short attention spans. Therefore I tell the parent in the beginning that the first few lessons will probably be less than 30 minutes as I do not want to burn out the child before I have a chance to get his/her interest. With the Animal Notes, I am able to increase the time fairly quickly by having the child play over the pieces already learned. This strengthens the child’s ability and gives them a sense of pride in what they have accomplished. Since the Animal Notes are easy for them to read, they do not normally mind playing some, if not all, of the pieces they have already learned. Should the child get frustrated, I talk to them about their interests, and then play word games with the Animal Notes. This usually works, but if it doesn’t, I cut the lesson short because I realize something besides music may be bothering them.
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