teaching a 6-year old

[amy]

hi guys...
i started teaching a 5 year old since september..and now he's 6 years old..
he's quite good at sight reading, although it's frustrating trying to make him play his notes for their values... he plays them all too fast as if eighth or 16th notes!!! and when i tell him, he can correct it there, but the next time i come, he plays the same thing too fast...and i dont want to move him forward because he cant play what is supposed to be played..

does anyone have any suggestions that i'll actually use? please... and thank you!
-Amy

[kilpok]

Hey amy,
 I have a student 9yrs. old who started with me with very little piano experience.  She had some problems with maintaing  correct rythm and tempo, which is normal i think for beginners.  But i think getting over this hurdle to be able to maintain simple rythm and tempo is a crucial first step.  So I try to stress to her the importance of this in various ways.  I recognize that she has an interst to progress. So i tell her that if we don't get over this hurdle it will be very hard to improve.  And each time we learn a piece together, or am hearing what she did during the past week my first focus is on maintaing strict rythm and tempo.  For example when we are learning a piece together i am more often than not counting out loud the  tempo or singing the notes(if she has problems with rythm).  And when revising what she worked on the past week if she has problems with this, this will be the first and major priority to correct  of the piece. And also when speaking to her mother after lessons i will tell her for example "yeah we're making progress, she is able to maintain correct rythm and tempo much easier now", or maybe," last week was better, the rtyhm and tempo were better". And  she has progressed considerably.  Maybe the key is to intelligibly engraine the importance of this in the students thinking.  By intelligibly i mean not negatively forcing it into the students head but find a way to be real firm about it and positively.

[Hmoll]

With very young children it is important that a parent is involved as much as possible in their practice. If you can explain this problem to the parents, and if they could reinforce the counting during the week, that might help. It depends on how "musical" the parents are, but even it they cannot read music well, if your instructions are written down - eg "Count out the right hand notes once through before playing them" - the parent can at least follow through on those instructions with their child.

Rhythm is not the easiest concept for 6 yr olds, so be patient.

[amy]

hey guys1 thank you for the advice and talk...
here is what i do... and maybe you can help me out.

i do write down all instructions and notes in a book for the mother.. she is very on top of things and likes to sit with her child and practice...  

i do count out loud for him (though he gets mad sometimes because he thinks it's too "dinky" for me to do it, as if i dont trust him to do it on his own) and i tell him that it's normal for me to count and that it doesnt mean he's not doing a good job.

he corrects the timing and tempo when im there... but when he plays it... he doesnt correct it the next time i come back... even though his mom knows he's not doing it.  This is very repetitive... and he gets all frustrated when i tell him to play something over... even if it's one bar of music!  

He's SOOO great for a 6 year old... but he plays SUPER fast... and sometimes omits the note values...
what else can i do other than the regular stuff!?

thank you
-amy

[Hmoll]

I would continue to address the importance of rhythm and note values, but I wouldn't worry that he is not learning, or that you are doing something wrong.
From what you say, he understands the note values, it's just that he doesn't understand why they are important. Than part will eventually catch up to the rest of his progress.
One thing that you could do to reinforce the importance of rhythm and note values is to sing a song for him using a very flat rhythm - just half noted, or just quarter notes - and then sing the same song for him using the corect note values, and see how he reacts to the difference.

[amy]

hey! thanks for the advice..
you're right.... he doesnt know the IMPORTANce.. even if he understand its slightly!
thanks!...

but u know whats funny.. he broke down crying the other day cuz he said his mom gets angry when he cant play something... and he says that he tries really hard.. but alll she says is "youre wasting my money if u dont play it properly"  

isnt that awful?

-amy

[amp]

Hey Amy!

One thing I do with  younger students is have them say the value of the note.

Quarter....half-note...dotted-half- note...whole-note-hold-it

So each word has the same number of words as it should counts. This helps because the students don't get confused abotu counting. THis will work for a while, and soon he will be able to count aloud easily. This may slow him down, because of the physical time it takes to say the words outloud.

Good luck :-)

[OlderGuy]

"Quarter....half-note...dotted-half- note...whole-note-hold-it"

Hmmm. what do yu say when it comes to an eighth note?
Peter

[amy]

hey there guys!..
that whole-note-hold-it sounds coool!!1..
haha.. i think that by the time they do learn to play eighth notes... they wont need to say it!??!
haha...

hey.. guys.. some piano books show the notes without staff lines.. and sometimes that bothers me!.. it's just not cool without the staff!...haha..  

and yah.... my student is a BOY... and he's very very reluctant to play anything for me properly..he zooooms through things!

-amy

[amp]

<<some piano books show the notes without staff lines..>>

I used to think like you, but like yesterday I realized it is good, because they are getting used to seeing the notes going up and down with out extra distractions. Then when they get to the staff they really understand what it means for the notes to go up and down.

BTW, what method book are you using? And you may just have to give him time, you're right sometimes little kids find it hard to sit down and stay focused for a half hour.

[ThEmUsIcMaNBJ]

I don't know if it's the kid or what but I'm teaching a 5-year old right now and he sits still for an hour lesson every week and concentrates every minute of it!  I think it's all about being funny!  If you can entertain the kid and still teach you'll get a lot more done.  Actually one lesson his mom was supposed to pick him up and she came an hour late!  So I ended up having a 2 hour lesson with this kid and I didn't even notice!  He was focused the entire time just learning.

I remember one of the first lessons I had with this kid, I was  teaching him how the thumb has a new name!  1!  and the pinky has a new name too 5!  WOW!  And then I told him "Can you say hi to 5?" And he gets this big smile and lifts up his pinky, waves to it and says "HI 5!"  He never forgot that, thats for sure!  Hehe, I love teaching him more then I like teaching the 16 year old!

So come up with new fun ways of teaching them things and they'll learn more!  At least I think so!  

[amy]

hey GUYS!...
wow....your 5 year old seems polite, quiet, and eager to learn! good for you and him!!!
unfortunately.. my kid...is a very outgoing, loud, boy..who likes to talk about magic tricks, toys, action figures, and likes to make up things and facts like, "did you know that there is 20 million poeple on earth?" and he's so confident with all his remarks.. haha..
but it's sooo hard!!!

and with the staff lines misisng.. i dont know if it's good to turn around and look at that method , since he learned notes with the staff... but ill try it regardless..

The book he started was Alfred Brendel's Book 1 (orange),,,,  and now this new one... is like... ahh/// i have it downstaires.. sorry..  

anyways, that's all! thanks guys
-amy

[Jo]

Have the student clap the rhythms to words with the right number of syllables for the beats.
semibreve - great-big-whole-note
minim - ta-aa
crotchet - ta
quavers (2 together) - ti-ti

You can also use fruit:
wat-er-mel-on
app-le
straw-ber-ry (for a quaver and 2 semiquavers beamed together)

The list is endless. Metric counting in beginners just confuses them.

Trip-le-ty for a triplet is also good too.

[pianomagic]

Oh, I agree with you guys!  Teaching the young ones is so much fun, and it's even more fun when they're older and have such a good, strong foundation under them!   I just love getting a good two years in before they start first grade.  

I introduce eighth notes within a month or two to the students.  They don't have any problem with them, whether they're four years old or ten.  Like most who have posted here, I hold off on counting with numbers until they start doing lots of complicated hands together.  In general, they tend to just pick up on counting naturally when the time is right.  

I use the same words as the others, except we call a dotted-half note a "half-note dot."  When you sing quarter for the quarters, they are already dividing one beat into two syllables.  When you introduce the eighth notes, it's easy for them to switch between "quarter" and "eight-eight."  After saying quarter for a few weeks, getting the timing of the eight-eight is easy.

About getting your student to count ... at such a young age, you can make up some rules that they just don't have enough age to know you're kinda ... stretching things.  

For example, for the first two years, they just don't play the piano at all unless they are singing the rhythm or the letter names.  If a student has trouble with rhythm, I don't even let them play a piece until they clap and say the rhythm, poor things.  

If they get really good with the rhythm in a piece, I'll let them play and sing the words, and if they're really lucky, I'll even "let them" memorize it.  It's amazing how students just love to memorize when it's a privelege, rather than a duty.

Aren't they funny people, sometimes?

As far as reading off-staff ...

I'm sure there must be a sound pedagogical reason for doing so, since so many publishers do it.  However, I haven't discovered the benefit.  For four and five year olds, I love the Music for Little Mozart series, but I draw the lines in.  Without those lines, they have difficulty seeing if the notes are going up or down.

Actually, unless I draw in the lines, I have difficulty seeing if the notes are going up or down!  The only drawback to the Mozart series is that, like Alfred, they're a bit heavy on the fingering and hand positions, and some students could read the numbers instead of the notes.  But if you're vigilant, and have them always singing the letter names, they don't fall in that trap.

Also, the Mozart flashcards are incredible.  If they master all four levels of flashcard sets, they have an incredible foundation of music theory!  (My young ones usually complete the third set by the end of kindergarten ... and they end up knowing more than my fourth graders!)

Sorry I'm so talkative about young ones!  I just love getting them young, because by the time they're in second grade, they can play easier repertoire books, no problem!

Good luck with your student.  They are a handful at that age!

[PianoProfBonsWay]

I am a teacher of 40 years, and have a special system just for that age, that helps correct that problem.
email me at: fastwaypianomethod@yukontel.com

Besides my system correcting this problem, they learn 3-5 years in the first 6 months or less without hours of practice ~ youngsters love it ~ it is also FUN! ~ AND parents don't complain about their youngster not doing well.

FREE Demo' and lesson and FREE downloads, too.

[rach17]

Right now I have a 6 year old student that is just amazing.  He is very musical and learns incredibly fast.  He pays very strict attention to the rythm and catches his own mistakes almost all the time.  I havn't taught much, but I think it couldn't get too much better than this...