Now that I have a piano my brother (17) takes advantage and his mind is like a dry sponge! It absorbs tons of info in seconds :P

So, I've started him up and he is picking up the material very fast! I've asked him to count rhythm for me, play me notes I mention and he even sight read about 5 of the beginner pieces and had the patience to go over them with me slowly while counting rhythm out loud!

In just one night we learned about key signatures 2/4 3/4, 4/4, note durations up to a quarter note, positions of all the notes on the keyboard, he can now recognize some of the notes on both staves and after trying out the beginner pieces HS he can quickly put them together with minor guidance. And he is reading the score without looking at his hands most of the time. At the end of the lesson he asked me to show him a scale and he played it with correct fingering the very first time and in 2 octaves Right Hand only.

He's even trying to improvise and his right-hand melodies are a lot of the time pleasant to hear. He doesn't know how to accompany them yet but he'll learn in time. He seems to intuitively know where to take a melody and he knows nothing about music theory.

I hope he'll have the patience to continue with learning the instrument. I am doing my best not to annoy him with unnecessary things. I feel like a casual approach will work good for the first months. I'll be happy if he makes more effort to play with correct posture. I'll keep reminding him till it happens.

We can't afford to pay lessons for him right now but as soon as I get some extra money I will take him to a couple of lessons with a good teacher to see if he will like it. He can benefit a lot even with just 1 lesson per month. The rest of the time I can work with him till he catches up with me.

Teodor, That's great that you're teaching your brother - for you too!! Schools that use peer tutoring have found that it significantly improves the tutor's mastery of the subject, too. I'm sure it's true of piano.

Teodor, you are a great brother! That's wonderful! I think it is great you are going to be able to enjoy the piano experience with your brother. I bet we'll see some duets from you fellows in the future!

It certainly helps me too. I notice things and little details I have missed myself and it helps reinforce the things I do know. We had our second lesson yesterday and he's already improved since a day ago. He said he's been playing from time to time while I am at work. It shows. He can now sight-read the easiest pieces, complete with note durations and it's only been 2 days.

I suppose my goal is to get him through my method book and then he can start learning anything he wants since he will be very proficient at reading notes by then and will have dealt with many technical problems. I think he will be most interested in popular music and music from movies/video games. Which is good. I also like such things.

Talent must run in your family!

It's the best gift you can give anyone You are a lovely brother!

I have a student (only just 8 years old) who has been trying to teach his brother (6 years old). I don't think they made your progress after months, LOL

Enjoy the piano together!

Sounds like you are doing a terrific job teaching him. Its always a little tricky teaching a family member or close friend but if you can work on learning together - I mean you learning off him how to teach then I wouldn't waste your money on another teacher.

If you need any advice on something your not sure on how to teach then research it a little or think back to how did you learn that and understand it.