Advice on teaching a very very young child (3 1/2 or 4 years)

[orlandopiano]

I will be starting lessons with a a child who is not quite 4 years old. I've never taught a child younger than 5 1/2 before, but the mother has pretty much begged me to start her youngest with lessons and she feels he can do it.

I just need advice on how to approach this, methods, etc.

[m1469]

Hello orlando, you may want to check this out :


"What method to use for very young students"
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2192.msg18542.html#msg18542
(methods for very young students)


The whole thread is helpful.  There is probably more around the forum and even in my files.... but....


m1469 

[dmk]

Bernhard has good tips on that thread....

Only thing I will emphasise is at that age, teaching kids general music and aural skills is probably more important that teaching them to play brilliantly.

Initially I start with a lot of keyboard investigation kind of things, black and white, groups of 2 and 3 etc....plus experimenting with their hands...getting them to wriggle their bodies like 'jelly on a plate' so they are nice and lose and relaxed and you impress the importance of this on them from the first time their hands think about hitting the keyboard, same with any exercises you ordinarily use for good hand position.

After this I use lot of Dalcroze with students this age...getting them to walk out and clap rhythms with a metronome. I will often put words to their pieces so they can sing with it (it is amazing how much a song about 'My Dinosaur' goes down so much better than a piece call 'Tune in C').

good luck

dmk

PS i would love to hear others thoughts on what they do with little mites!!

[pianistimo]

go all out for the extrasensory stuff.  put stickers on the keys.  make notebook for them to practice writing notes and whatever musical ideas they have.  trace their hands and number the fingers (and put above piano).  enlarge all music (4x).  give their parents some books to read to them about composers (and maybe a few tapes of easy stuff).  ask them lots of engaging questions:

what is this on my shirt? skirt? whatever - and make it something connected to the lesson.  give them one of their own to wear.  blow rhythms into paper towel rolls.  buy a load of felt and get a felt board.  they love messing around with stuff and can move the pieces - rests, notes, etc to their liking.  you can reward them if they solve a puzzle (like where to put bar lines). 

keep a diary of what works and what doesn't. 

make one step seem really important for a lesson.  use a lot of praise.  start with a small keyboard instead of the whole piano keyboard?  go outside for half the lesson and use sidewalk chalk to explain a concept.  ask them to jump into the square that has the whole note/whole rest - whatever.

 

[pianistimo]

was just reading through the contemporary popular music syllabus for the australian music examination board (where they use the acoustic piano, digital piano, and electronic organ).  they have a simpler, yet probably great method for young children as well as older beginners.

www.ameb.edu.au/MiscPDFs/CPM_revKeybrd.pdf

they suggest other ideas, too, such as:
working on a well  balanced posture
hand and finger positions that facilitate performance
learning about tempos(steady sense of time and rhythm)
appropriate dynamics
beginning reading skills

i like their sight-reading exams because they only focus on four bars (though for a four year old - it could be one or two)

you could make a huge octave keyboard with each of the notes being pieces of a puzzle or pillows that fit together.  mess it all up.  see if the child can put it together.  show the pattern of two and three black notes first.  let the child keep the puzzle.

coloring books are great, too!  writing the numbers of the beats (1,2,3,4) gives them a chance to write their numbers - and of course, the letters ABCDEFG.  later on in the coloring book (if homemade) you could ask them to write all the letters of A in the appropriate place on the keyboard - and so forth.  then - have them find the notes on the keyboard.

seeing the patterns of notes seems like a good place to start - as well as getting comfortable hand position and just having fun playing.  (even if they goof off a little).

[pianistimo]

here i sit - dwiddling - and daydreaming - so here's a few more ideas that come to mind:

make a book to read and have the italian musical term on the left page, and english term on right.  for instance, you could write the word forte (with a pic of a lion) and then the word loud on the right.  same with piano (and pic of mouse).  then you could see if they could gauge the sounds when they read - and also the sounds that go inbetween. 

make their bed musical.  hang all  kinds of bells and whistles under it (from the box springs) so that when they jump on the bed - it's really musical.

fill up glasses of water at different heights and have them ding the sides and then try to match the pitch with their voice.

make a piano out of clay.  bake it.

let them draw you, the piano teacher. 

give them a 'listen diary' to tell mom what they are hearing and to write it down.  (ie. the wind, rain, birds - and then describe what the sound sounds like to them - is it high or low or is there a rhythmic pattern).  give them a list of words that they might use.  keep adding to the list of descriptive words.

[pianistimo]

buy a book of nursery rhymes put to music and/or folk songs.  start the lesson singing songs they know and playing the accompaniment and letting them add stuff at the top of keyboard or rhythmically.  (repetition is what kids really like - so if you do it at each lesson - they'll establish songs they know).

[pianistimo]

ok.  with this broken leg, i am simply observing my daughter and what she likes to do the most.  today...she wanted to get the mail again - and she looks through it for colorful items.  what if teachers sent their four year old pupils interesting mail to read?  i know  my daughter loves mail.  perhaps a computer generated pic of something musical and some stickers.  on one tv show, they showed how to make your own stickers.  will have to look into that today.

here's some sites for making homemade stickers: 

(with gelatin)
www.homeschoolzone.com/pp/crafts/stickers.htm

(with elmers glue and vinegar)
www.bright-ideas-software.com/Sugarbush/Craft/craftsticker.html

if you make a book with placement for stickers, they could learn where to put each item (like treble and bass clef)

[pianistimo]

here's another idea (probably overdone):

listen to saint-saens carnival of the animals (midi form)

then, either at the same time or afterwards - color favorite animals

www.ZoomSchool.com/coloring

[pianistimo]

some sites aren't working so well from here, but a list of what i've found for supplement:

nursery rhymes:  www.first-school.ws/theme/cp_nursery_rhymes.htm

www.coloring.ws/music1.htm
www.preschoolcoloringbook.com/color/cpmusic1.shtml
(has symbols to print)
www.teachingheart.net
www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems1.html

of all the web sites i visited, this one is the coolest for the age range we're talking about:

www.landofmusic.com/samples/Sampt1.pdf
www.landofmusic.com/samples/Sampt2.pdf
www.landofmusic.com/samples/Sampt3.pdf
www.landofmusic.com/samples/Sampt4.pdf

[iumonito]

Teach the pieces to the parent and have them play it at home while the child is around.  Seeing someone else play is a great motivator.

And by all means, make it not be about discipline more than 5 minutes at a time.

Children love to improvise too.  It really doesn't matter what comes out at first, and limited note improvisation can become real fun.

I have "taught" a lot the 1.5 to 3 group and they can have a blast with the piano.  Watch out for the keyboard lid and keep liquids away from the instrument.  having kleenex handy also a good idea.

[pistachio]

I have "taught" a lot the 1.5 to 3 group and they can have a blast with the piano.  Watch out for the keyboard lid and keep liquids away from the instrument.  having kleenex handy also a good idea.

You've taught piano to kids aged 1.5 to 3 years old? Could you tell me more about this? I've been wondering if this is possible and am hoping that you could give me detailed description (method, goals, experiences, tips & helpful hints etc.) Thank you!

[sonatainfsharp]

Good luck!

I tell the parents that is what Kindermuzik is for.

Once they are 7 or 8, then they can start.

[bernhard]

 Have a look here:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2192.msg21823.html#msg21823
(How to teach very young students – the historical method, the pragmatical  x logical method and total exposure as the best way for under-5s)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2907.msg25589.html#msg25589
(how to teach chords to young children)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4020.msg36635.html#msg36635
(What to teach a 4-year old in his first lesson)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2994.msg26162.html#msg26162
(Teaching little brats – recorder rules)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2192.msg18542.html#msg18542
(methods for very young students – Candida website)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,587.msg14335.html#msg14335
(How to teach a 5-year old to read music – Candida Tobin)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,1884.msg14708.html#msg14708
(Motivating children – joining the child’s model and using other children’s accomplishments to motivate)

Best wishes (and good luck – you will need it!)
Bernhard.

[wenat]

Lots of good advice above.  I often teach very young beginners due to popular demand, although feel that 6yrs is a much better age to start.  Teaching a 3-4 year old, it's important that you don't set your expectations to high, or expect much out of them.  The main purpose of the lesson is to develop a love towards music and enjoy coming to lessons.  Lots of games, colouring, puzzles and movement are needed.  I also use a lot of percussion instruments to develop their rhythm skills, children love to be able to shake the maracas and tap the castanets, especially the ones made for children in all different colours, shapes and forms! I also have a giant keyboard taped down to the floor where children can jump from note to note!  Lots of energy is needed, lots of love for little children, lots of patience, and lots of positivity!  Good luck.

[pianistimo]

i found an old book 'the everyday songbook' by connie walters.  i like it a lot because there's a lot of action songs in it.  3-4 year olds do a lot of moving around.  so, if it's directed moving - that's better.  especially in regards to the whole day.  for instance when they go to pick up toys (farmer in the dell) 'we're picking up the toys, we're picking up the toys, we'll put them away for another day, we're picking up the toys.'  (ok.  this is a mom's perspective of what 3-4 year olds need to be taught - as i pick up yet another thing my 16 year old has left on the floor).

here's another one (are you sleeping) modified to be much more useful.   'are you cleaning, are you cleaning? cleaning up. cleaning up. ________is putting the blocks away _________is putting the trucks away...we're cleaning up the room, we're cleaning up the room.

do i sound psycho?

kodaly has some good stuff, too - in 'sound thinking'  (with songs and solfege).  i did my own 'kodaly' folk music by putting my son's spelling lists to music.  surprisingly, he remembered spelling words much better.