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I may have the opportunity to teach a four or five year old who is just learning his letters. I have checked (somewhat) out Faber's course for young children but would like to be able to teach w/o using a CD. Any advice? Are there any other courses out there for this age? Any tips on teaching a child of this age? Thanks, Joy

I would use solfege instead of letter names. You could try using Alfred's Music For Little Mozarts's course, which I believe does a little solfege singing along with letter names (it was written by Christine Hicks Barden, who helped write the Yamaha curriculum, which uses solfege exclusively).

I love this age group but there are few, if any, private methods for the preschooler/kindergartner. In my opinion, they learn better in a group setting, where they get to experience a lot of different activities, not just sitting at the piano doing repertoire. Yamaha and Harmony Road are two methods specifically designed for this age.

I know the Fabers have been working on a preschool piano program but I don't think it's available yet.

I've taught many 5 year old students and had one student who had just turned 4 when we started; I also started out at the same age. There was never a need to use any "special" courses. A standard method book along with outside supplements works just fine, which is the same for older students. They just may need more supplements and more off the bench activities.

I've always been confused what the problem is with teaching a child who can't read or just started reading. As long as they can sing the ABCs or can learn to, isn't the rest the same as teaching any other child? Why is reading so important for beginning music studies?

The method you're most comfortable with is probably the one to use. The real question you should focus on is how willing are the parents to assist the child each and every day with the lesson preparation. Personally, I ask the parents to do, as a minimum, two work sessions, 15 - 20 min each, replicating what we do in the lesson. I point out that parental involvement is inversely related to the age of the child. If there is even the slightest hesitation or questioning, then I suggest we postpone lessons until the student is capable of self-study, which is generally 4th or 5th grade.

Specific tasks which I have the child do each day is play keys/group of keys, from top to bottom and reverse; simple 1-2, 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4, and 1-2-3-4-5 finger exercises. We work on form right from the beginning, and of course, clapping and counting the pulse. I also use flash cards, as a game, so the student learns both note names as well as recognizing intervals. Methods are notoriously weak in these areas, so teachers simply must expand and supplement.

Have fun and enjoy your student.

I really like Faber's basic piano method, Piano Adventures. What do you think about starting with that (of course, at a slower pace than with an older student) and supplement with other ideas, etc.? I'm not a very creative person, so advice on what other activities I could insert would be appreciated. Thanks for the advice already given.

I totally agree with John. Parent involvement is a huge deal with young kids. I've been reading the book "Helping Parents Practice" and it makes a big deal about parents attending lessons, taking notes, being positive, etc. I highly recommend it.

I think teachers could, in general, spend more time educating the parents on how to help the children practice.

I started my youngest in the Faber primer book just before he turned 4 years old. The songs were very doable. (at 8 years old he still likes to play "2 Black Ants"! ) The accompaniments are clever and help the kids feel like they are making real music.

As a piano technician I have heard many times from people that "Shouldn't you wait until a child can read before starting lessons". That makes about as much sense to me as waiting until they can read before teaching them to talk!

I would 2nd that book recommendation (Helping Parents Practice). I have one child who started piano at 5 and another that started violin at 4. My oldest playing piano as a 4th grader at the early sonata level still needs some involvement to get practice done, even though he loves it and enjoys playing. I do there there is a direct relationship between how supportive, interested, and involved the parents are and how successful a child is at their music lessons.

If you mean the primer for Faber's course, I would say no, but I've heard of a few teachers adapting Faber's My First Piano Adventures for a 5 year old.

Buy and/or make your own flash cards.
--Create cards with notes, rests, a series of notes and rests. Once they understand the note and rests values, use the series and have the students clap, dance, play a note, sing, etc the rhythm.
--Create cards with A-G, A-G natural, A-G flat, A-G sharp. Have the student find one of those notes and/or all on the keyboard.
--Create cards with intervals and generic patterns and have the student play the notes. Mix with previous cards and have the 1st/2nd/3rd note be that note.
--Create cards with regular, staccato, slurred notes, etc and have the student jump, walk, etc to the notes.

Race down the keyboard finding notes with your student (of course, you have to take your time finding the notes).

Teach the student to draw the clefs, notes, rests, etc. This will help later in composition.

If there is a duet, I always do the duet with the student. They usually feel very proud playing the duets.

As for involving the parents during the lesson, I would be cautious about this and would play this by ear; having the parents involved is not always a positive. This is probably a minority opinion though.

Pick a book you and your student are comfortable with. Sometimes I spend a few lessons without a book and use only supplements and activities till I know the child better. That way, I know their personality a bit better to suggest something more appropriate. For example, I prefer to use books that start with notes on the staff. However, some students would be easily overwhelmed by this. Others would benefit from colorful pictures in their books whereas other students could care less.

Doesn't anyone teach little fingers to play anymore with pictures of elves lounging around on the staff?

I loved those elves!

Thanks to everybody. Any tips on teaching solfege? I've never taught that way.

I do not accept students who cannot read simple word such as:
Cat, dog, fish, piano, fun, I can play, I like piano , 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc....

I interview students to test their ability of taking lesson at young age if they are younger than 6 years old.

I do turn away a 6 years old who cannot follow simple direction of mine.

I do accept a 3 years old and 11 months who can read like a second grader.

I also refuse to teach a 3 years old who can read but fingers are too tiny for piano. One year later, she came back for another interview then she is ready to take lesson.

Just a couple hours ago I was teaching one of my 5 year old students using Faber's My First PA, book A, which consists entirely of off-staff notation. This was our second week on Mary's Rockin' Pets (tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb) and since it only uses 3 notes stepping up, down, repeating, we used solfege. This little girl can't read yet.

I have colorful paper cutouts ("Do" is red, "Re" is orange,
"Mi" is yellow, etc) and as the notes get higher, the paper cutouts get taller. (They look like a bunch of sky-scrapers if they're all lined up, if that makes any sense.) I probably have around 10 of each note, so I arrange them in stacks, and then I had my little student lay down the notes in order, according to the song in her lesson book. I tell her that the first note is "Mi" and then she can see how her notes step down in the book, so she arranges "Mi-Re-Do" with the paper, and continues through the song. Once she's done, we sing in using solfege as we point to each paper on the floor. It's also a great visual, as the shapes rise and fall and stay the same.

I think it depends on the teacher. Personally, I am not comfortable teaching a child below the age of 6 due to their attention span and especially if they can't read yet. I have tried and it just is not my area of expertise. Bravo to any teacher who is!

The call I will always remember is from the mother of a 2 year old - "he is gifted!"

I teach children from about age 5. For the very young ones (and this is not always dependent on their exact age), I incorporate time away from the piano, lots of games, lots of clapping, flash cards, rhythm activities with percussion (sometimes with me playing piano while they, for example, play a pattern of 'short short long' and so on). We do very small improvisations, in which I give them a few notes to play (e.g. CDE) and they experiment with rhythm etc while I play something underneath, and, finally, we do some singing of simple songs and also rounds.

The mix of activities always varies depending on the student's strengths and weaknesses.

For those that can't yet read, I spend a lot of time on learning the relevant letters of the alphabet. I give them their own set of letters in multiple copies so they can get the idea that the letters repeat themselves over and over.

I also have my special helper, a small plastic hedgehog. The kids love it when he interacts with them and especially when he gets thing wrong. He's small enough that he fits on individual keys, and I often get students to put Mr Hedgehog on keys that I name.

Really, there are so many different activities that work with kids of this age, and many of these can be done at home, too, which really supports the lessons.

At this age, so much of it is about repetition and reinforcement of the very basic concepts.

Sometimes I will back right off actual learning to read music and concentrate on rhythm, listening etc, and then go back to reading when I feel the student is ready.

And with all of the above, I discuss it all with the parent/s. If I feel that a student simply isn't ready I'll tell the parents to come back in six months to talk about it again.

When you use solfege it doesn't matter if the student knows his alphabet or not, since you are naming the notes on the staff 'do', 're', 'mi', etc... I currently have several 4 year olds who started piano last September this way. They are just barely able to draw the alphabet but they can recognize the lines and spaces on the staff because they know them in solfege.

Solfege helps internalize pitch. We sing the solfege notes of every song that they will play in their book. They sing while they are playing their piece. Solfege is the key to ear training. I will play 3-note solfege patterns in the Key of C 5-finger position and they will tell me what I played and then put those notes on my staff board.

I had a similar problem many years ago, when I was suddenly required to teach many very young children, the majority of whom could not yet read. After an initially frustrating period I started to call ‘D’ Dog, ‘G’ Goose, ‘B’ Bird etc. This little change set the ball rolling and I was eventually able to teach all the essential elements of music and piano to very young children (ages 3 to 7). Singing is a very important part of the method. This approach developed into a system which is now becoming widely used by both teachers and parents. You can find more details at www.dogsandbirds.co.uk.

Hi, I may not be answering you question, but I am a mum trying to teach my son (4 yr old) keyboard. I will like to teach him simple songs like twinkle twinkle little stars and other children songs before sending him for proper music lessons in a year or 1.5 yr time. Main reason in cost. It cost £22 for 30mins which I find very expensive to learn just simple songs and notes, which I am told I should be able to teach him myself.

I have no music background and my sister who plays piano used to say that I am absolutely tone deaf and not cut for piano.

I bought 2 books John Thompson's modern course for the piano 'Teaching Little Fingers to Play' and Kid's Keyboard Course published by Hal Leonard, but I have problem following it.

My son knows his alphabets back to front, so it won't be too much problem getting him to understand. My problem is with me. How do I teach him and is there any recommended books or resource for me to start?

Thanks in advance.

It's really great that the parents want to start the child so young! I will agree with John on the parent issue. Success with a child that young depends almost entirely on the parents at home. If you're honest with them about that up front, there shouldn't be an issue.

(A little blog about the parent issue: http://marywilliamspianostudio.com/blog_files/dont_quit_piano.html)

1. For my littlest people, I start with Dozen a Day, Mini Book. I have them clap and count the rhythm of each piece, identify the line/motion of the melody, and teach the song half by rote/half by reading. It's very slow moving at first, but eventually they grasp it, and become very excited to be able to do it on their own, without much help from me.

2. As a warmup/technique, I teach five-finger patterns up and down the keyboard, by rote.

3. I also teach a simple repertoire piece by rote, a measure or two a lesson. This allows them to be able to really play something pretty, and makes them feel accomplished.

4. Somewhere in every lesson, I sneak in some improv, so they get comfortable moving around the keyboard and experimenting.

5. Lastly, I start with the Schaum Note Speller. It starts with counting the lines and spaces, then identifying the S for space and L for line, then integrates the "F-A-C-E", etc. We just work on it a little each day, and they love it.

It can be demanding to teach someone so young, but the benefits of it being done correctly are priceless.

John Thompson? Ugghh.

Really, you need to check out 'My First Piano Adventures' by Faber. If you go to their website www.pianoadventures.com you can view the method, watch clips of how to teach specific songs in the curriculum, and even ask questions on their forum.

Plus, the music is just wonderful.