I am starting to teach a student in September who was enrolled in the Yamaha Junior Music Program (4-6yr olds) He's 6 now and has completed the 4 books in the course. I've never had a student come out of this before - does anyone know what level he would be at in terms of a well known method book or royal conservatory books? I'm assuming he wouldn't be ready for rcm yet.

Why not have him bring his books along when you interview/meet the child/parents?

Yea I will... I just thought maybe someone would have a good idea of the approximate level. I know it uses alot of solfege and I haven't really used that before and I know it's not common in many method books i've used.

The focus of Yamaha Education is more broad than just a regular private piano lesson.
They usually have good hearing, good rhythm, musicality, but not good in sight reading, because sight reading is not their main concern at that age group. In general, it is easy to teach kids who went through Yamaha course.

Thanks... do you know if there is any method that's better to use with them?

I would start them with Piano Adventures, either the Primer Level or Level 1, depending on how much (or how little) they can read music notation.

In my personal experience, they are difficult to teach, as their "playing" level far exceeds their reading level. And they could be confused by the letter-name system of notes instead of solfege, which is what they are taught. Their ears are more developed than their peers; however, that is a double-edged sword, as they might have developed a dependency on hearing the music first rather than reading the notes first.

So, the transition to traditional lessons may pose some problems. Just be patient with them and don't be afraid to start over, if necessary. Perhaps channel their strengths to overcome their weaknesses.

I have three previous Yamaha students. I made a mistake with the first two - started them off at PA level 2 older beginner. They both came to me playing several nice pieces. I thought level 2 was a compromise between the difficulty of the pieces, and their lack of reading skills (which I ascertained from flashcards.)

What I realized quickly is that they had learned mostly by rote, and were very weak on reading, including note values, note names, and finger numbers. Level 2 was difficult.

When the third Yamaha student came, a year later, I started her at Level 1. I explained that the pieces might seem easy for her, and that if it felt too slow, we could skip some. I explained that Yamaha just "taught things in a different order than I do", and that she was way ahead of my other students on some things, but that I wanted to spend a little time working on the things she didn't know as well. We actually ended up not skipping much at all, although she moved quickly. She has since passed up both the other two Yamaha students, and is probably one of my best students.

I think, in hindsight, the first two were used to a completely different style of learning, and suddenly being expected to read was difficult, and slowed them down, which they found discouraging.

The third student was still able, on the simple pieces, to use some of her rote and/or ear training to quickly master the simple, short pieces, and felt more successful. Because her reading skills were introduced more slowly, she grasped them more easily.

My suggestion to you is to have a couple pieces, from very easy, to early intermediate, on hand, and ask them to play them. Start with the easiest, and stop when they start struggling, and choose your level from there.

(I also found it necessary to reassure parents that the gaps weren't "bad" - simply the result of a different emphasis.)

Thanks so much those are good suggestions from both of you!

Yes I watched a couple Youtube videos of kids who had been in yamaha and it looked like the level of difficulty could be PA 1 or 2 but you are both right that their reading level will not be that high...

I will definitely take your suggestion lollipop and bring some PA pieces with me to see what he can play! Thanks so much for the advice!

One other question for you both - did you use solfege at all to help them when they came to you or did you transition right out of that?

Don't expect Yamaha kids at that level to be able to play right away from the book. They were not taught that way. They were taught layer by layer. Actually, it is a good idea if you observe Yamaha system, it helps teaching little kids.

Kids can do the conversion very fast from do, re , me to C, D, E...Don't worry about this part. Don't make them read and play right away, you will lose the student, you need to gradually change the way they learn the music, from aural to more reading.

Are there any method books that use solfege that would transition them nicely?

With those students I started out using solfege, but also used the letter names. They picked it up easily, but still occasionally use solfege. I didn't need any special books; it was like learning synonyms.