How old where you when u started

[tallman]

how old where you when you started . i have a 9 month old who loves the piano she stands at it and presses the keys . Now how old is a good age to start? 5years old ?
please help

[amelialw]

I was 3 when I started. My mom sent me for the little tots class at yamaha.

[tallman]

and how old are you now . and what level are you at

[imbetter]

i started at 5. if your really into it and are serious about it, it takes about 3-5 years to become a solid pianist. unfortunatly i wasnt all that into it until i was about 9. now im 12 and im play pretty advanced pieces e.g. bach well tempered clavier, beethoven sonata op.13....

[amelialw]

and how old are you now . and what level are you at

I carried on with yamaha lessons till I was 8. When I was 7 I started private lessons and my mom asked the teacher to start me from the beginning . Unfortunately, I did'nt have a good teacher till I moved to canada so my technique well everything was messed up. After I moved to canada I continued with lessons under a new teacher, she corrected everything.

I'm 20 now. Playing at ARCT Performer's level, gonna do my exam next year in June.

[hic]

I started kinda late 13 yrs old. Still catching up and still having fun 

[sideshow]

I was 24 when I started
now i'm still 24
I play for 9 months now

[counterpoint]

Who old where you when you started . i have a 9 month old who loves the piano she stands at it and presses the keys . Now how old is good age to start 5years old ?
please help

9 months is definitely too young  

But that doesn't mean, that she shouldn't "press the keys" now and then if she likes it  

If you play piano yourself, you can show her how to play a little tune with one finger. Only show! Not teach! If she really develops a desire to take lessons, then it is the right  time to begin!

(I started with piano lessons in the age of 10.)

[saturn_pianist]

I started at age 6 .. and I'm 16 now ... but I think u can get her started at age 5..

I'm a member of a national orchestra and I play pieces like Etude No.12 (Chopin)

good luck!!

[m]

I started at 12 and still every day learning something new.

[scrumhalf]

I started about 2.5 years ago.  I am now 40 years old.  I started at the same time as my 5 year old son, mainly to know enough to help him with his practice. 

My most challenging piece to date is what I am currently working on, the Chopin Prelude in
E Minor, Op. 28, No. 4.

My son, now 7, started when he was 5.  He is currently focusing on some Duvernoy etudes, but his last "serious" piece was the Beethoven sonatina in G.  He has perfect pitch, a much better ear than I and significantly more talent.  I expect him to blow by me over the next few years...lol...

[kimba1055]

Who old where you when you started . i have a 9 month old who loves the piano she stands at it and presses the keys . Now how old is good age to start 5years old ?
please help

28 i'm 32 know and is getting much better i started my little girl emily at 4 years she is 5 and 7 month 

[invictious]

I started at 10 years old...
and i am 16....

[mcgillcomposer]

I started @ 15.

[gerry]

Started weekly lessons at 5 - the teacher also held monthly rhythm classes where all her students got together and were handed different percussion instruments and given patterns to play.

[prettypianoplaying]

I was 7 yrs old when i started, and i finished my ARCT when I was 17 years old. I am now 20 yrs.

[supernanny]

I was 29 years old, had two years of lessons while I was finishing my masters degree (not music related), then lessons stopped for ten years and now since a few months started lessons again. I am basically just beyond the beginners level.

I do have young kids, they started to hit keys when they were able to pull themselves up on the piano. I always took them on my lap as soon as they could sit with support and start playing simple songs with one hand or even finger and sing with it. My oldest was able to hum a melody when he was around one year. And then I mean recognizable. He is now a singer in several choirs, including the honor chorus of his school district.

Number two is following his footsteps en will join a children's choir this fall. He plays violin, has a nice voice and a good ear for pitch.

The third one has a strong voice, clear, on pitch. She is only five years old. She wanted me to start her on the piano, which I did. I took her in for five minutes with my son's and my teacher and she now sits nicely upright, holds her hands and fingers in a decent position (as far as I can see) and plays her way through book number one of the Alfred series for kids. No formal lesson, no pressure. She says she want to play the violin, but also cannot wait until she can join the kids church choir again (she was the youngest participant ever in that choir, but we held her back a little until she can sit/stand still a bit longer and probably will be able to read).

The youngest is humming along in pitch when we are singing or playing. he want to hit the keys when I am playing piano. We will see what he likes to do with music, or not.

So it definitely pays off to play a bit with your little one at the piano, just for fun. I do not start formal lessons until they can at least pay attention for twenty, thirty minutes and this can be different in each kid. In my experience as a parent and ex-schoolteacher, this is around six, seven or eight years old. The above is not an illustration of the musicality of my kids, but more an illustration of what may come almost on it's own in a relaxed way if you just pay a little attention to it, but are  not forcing anything.

Supernanny

[amelialw]

haha...your little girl's story sounds like mine.
I started singing at my church choir with the kids as soon as I could stand too when I was younger then 1.

[eternal_interval]

I started at the ripe age of 19.

But if I could go back in time I would have started when I was about 8-10 yrs old.

[nonfox]

I was 15 when I started, and I'm 18 now - I've played for little over 2½ years.

I'm almost finish with Schuberts Impromptu Op. 90 No. 4.
After that, it's Brahms Rahpsody op. 79 no. 2, and then 3rd mvt. of the Moonlight sonata 

[pianowolfi]

I started first on violin at 7 or 8, then on cello at 9 or so. My love was always piano though. I don't regret to have learned cello for a while. Violin was not so much my instrument, I love it but i rather listen to it. I started on piano at 11 with my dad. Very special. Would be a long story...anyway... I started finally. I am still an "outlaw" in the "piano world". But why not? Screw all the prejudices.

[guendola]

We had an old cheap piano at home and when I was 6, I tried teaching myself a little bit from a beginner's book, but my parents stopped me and forced me to learn recorder for a year. At 8 I was finally allowed to have piano lessons, then I had a one year's break when I was 14 and another year of lessons with 15. Then I finally moved on to electric guitar and rock music.

Three weeks ago, that is 29 years later, I started taking piano lessons again and I really enjoy it! I was making musing most of my live but it was a very long time ago that I had touched a real piano. And to my amazement, I can still play most of the "old" pieces, slower and with a bit of effort - I even do the same mistakes

[gerry]

The first piano we had when I started at 5 was an old player piano of my grandmother's. She had an incredible collection of classical rolls including paraphrased operas like Madame Butterfly where the main themes played while you read the plot along the side of the roll. I could barely reach the pedals but I pumped away and watched the keys play. To this day I still have killer calves.

[tallman]

I started first on violin at 7 or 8, then on cello at 9 or so. My love was always piano though. I don't regret to have learned cello for a while. Violin was not so much my instrument, I love it but i rather listen to it. I started on piano at 11 with my dad. Very special. Would be a long story...anyway... I started finally. I am still an "outlaw" in the "piano world". But why not? Screw all the prejudices.

what do you mean by outlaw.?

[pianowolfi]

what do you mean by outlaw.?

Warning, long rant ahead
I never went to play at competitions, I studied with rather unfamous teachers, I first failed at auditions until it was too late, so I had to study privately, which was good but has not a very good reputation in my country. Then I missed EVERY opportunity to get a teaching job at a music school until it was too late. Some of my teachers I had before I started to study professionally were VERY demotivating to me. I was not at all self-esteemed ever for a very long time. I made so and so often attempts to change careers but there was no chance, music wanted me back, so to say. Now I am happy about it and don't want to change careers ever again. So far so good. But whatever I do as a pianist is NOT something "established". Last May I played my program, which consists of my own compositions, for some fellow musicians. They criticised me to knots. Though I am convinced that my program is very good I had a complete nervous breakdown. The person I used to live with for the past few years COMPLETELY ignores my music so far (we are separated now, but good friends though). My sister listened to a part of my program and found it "too impressionistic" The person that means most to me at the time is FAR away and we can in all probability NEVER meet. And so on and so forth. I mean, I AM convinced and St. Cecilia is convinced of me, sorta, as it seems, but I feel in many aspects somehow like a complete outsider and whatever I try to do against it is not successful. Though I am somehow "integrated"and it somehow seems to go on. Despite everything. It's difficult, it's hard and it's a lonely way to be "different". I try to make an advantage out of all this, now. wish me luck

[imbetter]

try giving improvisation a rest.

[pianowolfi]

try giving improvisation a rest.

Are you knowing what you are saying? *shakes head in complete disbelief*

[imbetter]

lets not ruin this thread. lets bring it to the pianostreet kindergarden thread.

[frombachtobarber]

I started at 4. I'm 15 now, and as for what level I'm at...well, I passed Grade 8 Piano (ABRSM) at age 10 with a 130, and I do competitions pretty often now.

[leuthold]

i started at 9 and i am 17 now but i havent been taking lessons for two years, i practise myself...

[nocturnelover]

Well I started at 16 and I'm now 17 and my teacher thinks that I can go to the conservatory in 2-3years BUT seriously I really think should start her at three, the sooner the better, who knows she could be the next Martha Argerich, because all the really really good pianists who have freaky talent seem to start from very early ages!!!

[thorn]

I started teaching myself at 16, but only began lessons about 4 months ago- im 20 now, and ive just done dipABRSM.

i wish id have started at the same age as most people here though 

[pianistimo]

kodaly has methods that work with ages about 3 and up.  (basically pre-school)  but, for this age - i don't see why a precocious 9 month old couldn't do the same.  basically, you sit and play the same songs every night and add one or two every couple of days.  she will learn to match notes on the piano and match pitches with you singing.  no pressure.  kids LOVE repetition. 

i have some more ideas, too, because i am very interested in this subject and have studied it regarding language and music.  they are sort of inter-related actually.  the mandarin chinese language (one of the hardest to learn) is probably something your precocious 9 month old would pick up.  the tones and words together!  miss a critical stage - and mandarin chinese is out the window.

if you just have one child and you want to do 'the ultimate experiment' - hire a tutor for the language part.  play the piano and sing with her for the kodaly (and buy a book) - and don't hesitate to start naming everything in your house that is 2-3 letters long.  in fact, take two of your t-shirts and wear them every night with big letters Dad or Mom (give one to the other) and also a small t-shirt with the child's name.  make the letters BIG.

you can do this later on with reading music - but i wouldn't start until 3 or 3 1/2 with reading words. 

now words are put together with letters just like music is put together with notes.  i would start showing her two note patters and how to play back and forth between the forefinger and the middle finger.  get her a little keyboard of her own, too. that makes it easier for her to press the keys.  you can do what bastien does and focus only on the two black keys if you like. 

[pianistimo]

also, making drum like instruments is something they like.  you can make them with tin pie plates, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, oatmeal containers.  make a whole set of instruments with her and then ask her to accompany your songs at night.  then, perform for mom.

kids like to use music with puppetry, too.  make some finger puppets and put on some shows for her and with her.  if nothing else, it makes them laugh.  you can tell little basic stories that go with the songs.  for instance - jack and jill.  just sit behind the couch.

i'll look for some songs on here and also look in my kodaly book for stuff to do with 9 month olds.  it's entitled 'sound thinking.'

i'm thinking of some other stuff of my own - i remember my children liked easy puzzles.  you could make a large keyboard (sew) with black and white keys with the letter names on them - and then mix them all up.  do this puzzle every day - in different orders.  one time - put all the black keys in place and then fit the white keys in.  or go by the alphabet. 

the sound of glass harmonicas always got me, too.  i remember being facinated by glasses of water when my dad showed me how they sounded filled up to different levels.  now, if you don't want to spill - maybe superglue the bottoms to a board and then, permanent marker the line that you fill each to.  kids like to pour water - so you could do this outside and let her pour with a small pitcher the water into each container.

bells are another instrument that kids typically like.  and, chimes.  maybe start looking on the internet for all kinds of homemade instruments and just make everything!  flutes included.  (they have recorders at school).  here's a site for making some instruments:
https://www.familycorner.com/cgi-bin/sefer.cgi?Musical:Crafts

[pianistimo]

somehow this also reminds me of the first time i ever saw a mexican jumping bean.

[pianoprincess15]

Hi! I started learning to play the piano when i was 9, almost 10 beause the local piano teacher wouldnt take you for lessons if you were younger. Im almost 16 now so i think that maybe 8 or 9 years would be a good age to start taking lessons. I think that if you were any younger, you wouldnt really fully understand it. My friend started when she was 5 and shes the same age as me but she cant sight read for her life bacause she didnt really understand the basics when she was learning because she was so young when she started. So i hope that was helpful in some way! 

[sassafras]

I started at age 5 (2 weeks before 6th birthday present of piano); I quit after 10 years of lessons as a juried Level 10 at local state university music school; I resumed playing in April at age 53 and have beem working way through Schaum, Alfred, Michael Aaron and John Thompson method books, as well as AMSCO Piano Classics.

First grade, age 6 is a solid age to start.

If the child is really interested, start at 2 but do not pressure in any way and don't expect any serious work until at least age 6.

[quantum]

I started at 9 or so. 

[pianochick93]

I've come from a fairly non-musical background, so I started lessons at 4, but had no-one to listen to to make me feel "I want to be as good as them" to keep me motivated. I stopped at age 8, and took up lessons again, pretty much starting from the beginning, at 13. I'm now 14, and about to do my grade 4 exam. I play pieces at grade 6 or higher though, it's just my scales and technical work and theory that I don't know enough of yet.

If there's one thing I wish, is that I had never stopped, and I had had a decent teacher, not an old boring one.

[jimbogreat]

I started when i was 24

[amelialw]

don't they have that series of RCM books "Celebrate Piano" for little kids now. The books are structured in a similar way to the yamaha books for tots.

[kirae]

I started at 13 and am now 15 but would have started much earlier

[gilad]

I started at 23 and half( ;

Im 26 on the 23rd. Still getting started. I hope to be half decent when I'm 30.

But thats what I love a the music. You mature with it.

oy, I'm getting old!

[jinlys]

I started playing organ when I was ten years old, but I only stayed with it for about two years. I came to playing piano when I was 26 only, but I could benefit a lot from those two years in my childhood playing organ.

I do wish so much that I had had a real piano when I was five years or something like that...

[shamu]

I started when I was 6, and now I am 13.

[thalberg]

I started when I was 9.  Now I'm 30 and have a bachelors, masters, and doctorate in piano performance.  I have two amazing pianist friends, one started at 2 and the other started at 3.  Actually I have more than two pianist friends, but I don't know when any of them started.

My advice--develop your child's ear--that develops from age 3 to  6.  The way to develop it is through listening and singing.  And perhaps having your child play back for you some little simple things on the piano.