What to teach a 4 year old in his first lessons???

[amy]

hi everyone..... i need some help:

i have a 4 year old boy who is going to take piano lessons.  I don't think it's best to start him out on the piano right away (in terms of playing), but i want him to get a sense of what music is and some of the fundamentals about the piano and music/sound in general.  

Can you guys help me think of some fun interactive activities to do with this boy as an intro to piano lessons??      (listening to different types of music?)  and would it not be a good idea to introduce the Staff, the way notes and clefs look like, the musical alphabet etc.??

please help me, thank you so much.

amy

[Daevren]

I don't know much about teaching pedagogy and I don't have any experience with children myself.

But I am going to reply very rudely anyway.

Start with singing. Actually I have heard that you can start with teaching singing at age 2. I know some indian musicians that began at that age. This way you aren't teaching piano (or any other instrument) but you are teaching music, much more important.

When the child gets more serious and focussed you can move to an instrument.

[bernhard]

i have a 4 year old boy who is going to take piano lessons.  I don't think it's best to start him out on the piano right away (in terms of playing)

I completely disagree.

Here is this 4 year old boy, in a room with you and this magnificent, wondrous sound making machine,  and you intend not to let him use it?

Is he going to pay any attention to you? I doubt it.

This is what I suggest you do.

Go to the piano, and encourage him to make sounds. He can use fists, he can play cluster of notes, he can play single notes, he can use just one finger or both hands, he can play loud or soft. Let him do whatever he wants. As for you, control your wish to “teach”, and instead observe. You are waiting for something. And this something is the moment when he run out of ideas. He will start fascinated and interested. But as he exhaust his repertory of ideas, he will get uninterested. This is the moment you must intervene and give him another idea, another thing to try. By the way, at this age this may take more than one lesson.

Here are three things to try once he gets tired of bashing the piano (in this order):

1.      Tel him to play only on the black notes. No matter what the plays it will always sound good and have a vague “Chinese music” feeling to it.

2.      Tel him to play RH fingers 234 the three black keys as a cluster (chord) and LH finger 23 the two black keys as a cluster. His job is to play them right on the beat. You can use a metronome, but I prefer to do something else. The point of this is to get him used to the idea of playing to a regular beat and start using the fingering that will be later used in scale playing. The something else I do is this. I play on the bass (LH) the notes F# and C# (thin crochets) alternately. He must be together with me. Once he gets the hang of going together, I introduce my RH and play this melody (quavers): D#-C# - A# - C#-D#- C# - A# - rest – D# - F# - D# - C# -A# - rest – rest –rest – rest -  D#-C# - A# - C#-D#- C# - A# - rest – G#-F#- A# - G# - F#. Repeat as long as you wish.

They just love the sudden “organisation” that appears (first what sounds like randon clusters – then I add the bass what regulates the beat, and then the melody comes out of nowhere and fits everything perfectly).

I call it the “Chinese clock”. You can tell a story about it if you wish. He may master this the first lesson or not. It does not matter, how long it takes, just keep at it, since these are important basic skills.

3.      Now you play on the bass the following chord progression (do it in broken chords, it is nicer): LH: C – RH: CEG – LH: A – RH: ACE – LH: F – RH: FAC – LH: G – RH: GBD and back to the beginning. Tell him (as you go through this progression) to play anything he wants as long as it is white notes only. It will always sound good and he will feel that he is actually playing something (and he is!).

Notice that the plan above follows a structure: (1) he can do whatever he wants. (2) he is totally limited in what he is allowed to do. And (3) he goes back to do what he wants, but within a certain limitation (only white notes). So we have thesis, antithesis and synthesis = Dialetics!

Watch like a hawk for signs of his attention drifting. As long as he is focused let him keep at the activity he is on. That is when learning is at its most effective. The moment he drifts change the activity. If he is an unusually concentrated child he may keep on (1) for the whole lesson. This is perfectly all right. If he is unusually unattentive the material above may not be enough to cover 20 – 30 minutes (which I am assuming is your lesson time. Be prepared to go through the same material for several lessons. It is not how much material you teach that matters. What matters in the end is how much did he learn.

Can he read fluently? If he cannot, I would not bother with the staff for a couple of weeks, or even a month. Instead, on this first lesson tell him about C. Make sure he leaves the lesson knowing where all the Cs on the piano are, and make sure that he finds the C by reference to the black notes. Again, do that at the piano with an activity I call “Jumping” he must jump up – with his finger, it does not matter which -  and down the keyboard playing all Cs in sequence, and he does that by visually locating the 2 black keys and pressing the white key to the left. Can he tell left from right? Next lesson, tell his about the Fs (they are to the left of the three black keys, so this both reinforces the Cs and avoid confusion). Keep adding one note at a time (in this order: C – F – E – B and last A and G: expect trouble with these last two). When he is really good at this, teach him to say the notes first in order (ABCDFG), backwards (GFDCBA), and skipping (EGBDFAC) and skipping backwards (GBDFACE). Skipping is very important because it will lay the foundation for the staff later on (lines and spaces follow the order EGBDFACE)

This should be enough to see you through the first lesson and for him to leave the lesson wanting more!

Also very important is that over the course of the next weeks you find out what kind of music he likes. So that the pieces he loves are the pieces he learns how to play. No one bothers with what they don’t like. (At this age the sure bet is nursery rhymes and Disney/Children’s TV songs). Ask mum what he watches, what he hums, what he is singing at school.

By the way, I personally do not follow too rigid a plan. I make a plan (it is very important to have something to fall back on if everything else fails!) but I am always ready to let go of the plan and improvise according to the behaviour/personality of the student.

Good luck.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bernhard

[Swan]

Amy, I agree with Bernhard that the very first lesson should be at the piano.  He's no doubt been told he's going to have 'piano' lessons, if he's NOT playing the piano you could actually have a riot on your hands (depending on personality and parenting) or he may not come back (depending on personality and parenting.... )

I would do something pretty similar to what Bernhard is recommeding.  Just let him thump away for while.  I've been surprised at how this works with different kids.  Some will be very happy to do this until their parent drags them home, explaining, 'but it's the next girl's turn."  But I've had one little girl who did what she was told, and then within about five seconds she very neatly and quietly folded her hands in her lap and looked up at me.  I told her she did very well and to have another go.  I do this a few times, with the same result.  So we moved on to another activity.

I've found you can't take anything for granted these days with kids, such as just assuming they know what black and white is.  Break concepts up into very small guided stages.  For example, you want him to notice that the piano has black and white keys.  You could ask:
1. "Can you see how many colours there are on the piano?"
2. "What are the colours?"  (If he doesn't know tell him.)
3. Get him to show you where the black ones are and where the white ones are by saying, "play some black ones, play some white ones."
4.  You can then play a single note and he has to tell you if it's black or white.  Keep things very energetic, very quick and obviously a 'game' with lots of exaggerated praise when he gets it right.  I find that setting very easy achievable goals is very important with young children at the beginning stages.  They have to feel that HEY!!! I can do this!  And I want to do it again!!
5. Now you want him to notice that the black and white keys are in a pattern.  Ask him to count (as loud as he can!! - most little boys like yelling) 1 2 3 as you play the black notes.  Repeat this in other groups (3-5 times),
6.  Ask him "Can you find a group of 123 notes?" Lots of excited encouragment when he does, melodramatic uh-oh's when he gets it wrong, ask him to look again and give him time to correct it.  If he still gets it wrong, show him and send him on the task again.
7. Tell him he's going to have a race.  Tell him to stand up and get ready, because as fast as he can he has to find all the black notes, from down here (show low notes) to all the way up here (show high notes)and if he gets it all right he gets a prize (if you wish!  I like giving kids things, but that's just me )  Ready Set ..... Go!!!  and make sure you get completely out of the way (and the piano bench too) 'cause some little kids nearly do run up and down the piano (and I've been bumped into before, so I know now to take a BIG step back).
8.  Play the same game, going the opposite way.
9.  Calm the lesson down now, (after you give him your prize) and tell him about low notes and high notes.  Show him on the piano, and then get him to thump low, and then high.  Now he's ready for another game.
10.  Ask him to stand beside the piano, and if you play low notes, get him to crouch down really low to the floor (it's best to demonstrate) and when you play high notes, he has to stretch as high as he can and wiggle his fingers in the air (again, demonstrate).   Play this a few times, and then introduce middle sounds.  When he hears and sees you play in the middle, he has to stand with his legs apart and his arms folded in front of him. Now he has three positions and sounds to play the game.
11.  If you still have time, tell him to sit at the piano (I've forgot to mention, I do all these games so far sitting beside the child.  There's a few reasons why I do this, but one important reason at this stage, 'cause 4 still is pretty much toddler, is for bonding and security issues.  I want the child to learn to trust me and know that I'm on their side and will help them lots.  So hopefully they'll listen and cooperate with me.  It's worked so far.)  STORY TIME!!!!  And make up a short story about animals, and he has to provide the sound effects.  A little bird goes,   and let him do what he wants.  The big fat elephant goes,  etc.
12.  The last thing I do is make up a song (yes people a SONG to be sung with words). Ask him if he has a pet, and what the pet's name is.  that's what the song will be about.  Make sure it only has at the most four little phrases.  Here's an example of a song we wrote recently, "J-O-K, J-O-K, my dog's name is Jok."  Sing it while you play something, get him to sing along with you a few times.  Then write the words in a book.  At 4 I'd be a little blown away if he could read fluently, but hopefully his parents can! As you both sing the song again, get him to thump away as he sings.  They usually thump out the rhyhtm.  Don't worry about notes, and if he needs a suggestion, get him to use the three black keys and hit them with his fist.  Play the song again in different registers of the piano.  
13.  When it's time for him to go, show his parent what he has to practise this week.  Yes!  Practise from the very go!  Demonstrate the song and the process and tell the parent what they have to do.  They should be aware that at this age, the boy needs to practise with a parent.

I expand on these ideas through the next few lessons.  Slowly introducing name notes, practising writing A B etc on paper (cause they haven't done a lot of this at 4 either).   Note reading, staffs, clefs etc I don't introduce until much later.  

Aural skills are more important to develop at this stage.
Just 'listening' can cause a lot of problems.  Kids don't want to just listen, and if you are going to have him just listen, make sure it's not for very long.  Even a minute is a long time for a little 4 year old boy excited about being a piano player to have to try and listen to something!  DOING, being ACTIVE (yes we know listening is active, but not so much at 4 - most 4 year old think of having to listen to something for any amount of time as sitting still and being quiet.  Listening AND visuals work better.)

Anyway Amy, hope it goes well for you and your 4 year old.  I think this age group takes the absolute most work for a teacher, but it can also be the most fun and rewarding. (IF you like kids I guess....0

[ahmedito]

A dificulty I encounter with kids is having them find the relationship between high notes, low notes and left and right on the piano.

About 2 years ago I attended a teachers seminar and I found out a very nice way of doing teaching this with very little kids... glissandos! have them play glissandos all over the keyboard, they love them, and play a game where he pretends to lift the keyboard and tip it to the left or right and while he does that, you play glissandos up or down... it works. That is the one concept that is very hard to teach to kids this age. High-low... left-right

[amy]

hello everyone..

thank you so much for replying and helping me out.  These methods you have suggested are very simple, yet crucial and effective for the first lessons or so.  

I now see why it is important to have the first lesson based on PIANO playing....as you've said, it IS a piano lesson after all.  And also, if i were to have them JUST listen to music or sing, they will expect to do only that in the next lesson and may refuse to do anything with the piano.  so thanks!

My first lesson with this 4 year old is this Tuesday Aug. 10.    In terms of figuring out what kind of music the child likes.....how do i exactly connect the disney soundtracks or cartoon songs to classical piano repertoire?     And what do you think of the pieces/songs they have in those beginner books?   (they all seem to be the same...and yet, im not sure they work very very effectively with all  young children...)  

- would it be awkward and too "complex" to play 3 or 4 short famous pieces from famous composers?  such as Beethoven, Bach, Debussy, Tschaikovky?   or will they go nuts when hearing such complex classical music???

Thank you everyone for your notes, i have read them over and over and will apply them to my future lessons.

amy

[ahmedito]

There is one thing I like about the Susuki method. Go from the familiar to the unfamiliar. If you WERE going to teach him some pieces, make sure its music he knows (ie jingle bells, happy birthday, etc). Stuff like that. If you play classical music I suggest Mozart or some Bach from the French suites... and keep it short unless he wants to hear more. Or some of the more programatic stuff. In all, I also sugest some piano duets where he only plays one or 2 notes, so that he feels involved in the music-making process.

[Swan]

hello everyone..

how do i exactly connect the disney soundtracks or cartoon songs to classical piano repertoire?    

Why do you have to?

- would it be awkward and too "complex" to play 3 or 4 short famous pieces from famous composers?  such as Beethoven, Bach, Debussy, Tschaikovky?   or will they go nuts when hearing such complex classical music

I don't think he'll go nuts, I think he'll get VERY bored and wonder why you get to do all they playing when it's HIS lesson.   Whenever you think of doing something, ask yourself:  What's the purpose in this, what do I want to convey to him and why do I want to do this.

So why is it you would play Debussy for example?  What do you want him to get out of hearing Debussy, and is he capable of succeeding at what you want.

Is it because you would like to inspire him or let him know what he'll be able to do later?  If this is the purpose then it will be lost on a four year old.  They can't appreciate the skills involved and the music will mean little to him.  

Playing 2 or three pieces of anything is way to long for a 4 year old with nothing to do but watch and listen.  Now if you get him to dance or play along on a tambourine or some other percussion instrument it will work better.

If your idea is to expose him to quality music, then you're better off making up a CD and sending it home with his parents to play while they're having dinner or doing some other kind of family activity.  It will sink in this way, especially if quality music is heard in the house frequently.

what do you think of the pieces/songs they have in those beginner books?

To us who have been playing for probably twenty years or so, they're pathetic, but to a 4 year old boy who has never played a note in his life, knowing that when the dots are on THIS line it's an E and you play an E here!! That's pretty exciting.  And when you listen to best loved nursery rhymes such as Mary Had A Little Lamb, they're laughable.

Mary had a little lamb
Little lamb, Little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb
It's fleece was white as snow.

Simple and repetive because that's what works. Short. Sweet.  To the point.  Definitely go with what Ahmedito suggested, and use tunes that he would already be familiar with. And you don't even need to use beginner books for that.

Amy, what's the youngest you have taught before?

[kulahola]

This will be the only "fun" lesson, remember.

- black keys (same idea as Bernie but i dont need to write 300 pages to make myself understood)
- the bird
- the bear
- playing something, him:- listening - clapping - looking at the hammers
- pedal: with/without
- metronome (all kids love it.... lucky them)

[reinvent]

What great ideas - I really liked Swan's creativity!
 I've never taught quite that young of an age, but for my youngest, I always start out with off-staff notation.  It's another thing to consider.
  This way they can totally focus on the rythm using various ways - clapping, counting, stepping.  I personaly prefer Music Tree method books for teaching the rythm.
  I really believe that fun can be incorporated within every lesson.

[bachmaninov]

This topic is very good! So much good advice...

For younger students... I simply perfer making playing the piano "FUN" for them.. giving them pieces and teaching them things in ways they would feel is not "work". Eventually this fun developes into basic Practicing, which is why musical insturments builds so much discipline in younger people.

Example: Ever wonder why they have "sayings" for learning the staff? Every good boy does fine? I changed this to "Ever good boy deserves fudge!" Kids dig that.. and automatically remember it... E G B D F can now be identified on the staff!

[lc3606]

I have had tremendous success with a very simple booklet I created.  It's a take-off on Martha Beth Lewis' onesies, twosies, etc.  I start with very large print on the first page - either 1, or C  and the word Up.  2nd page contains 3 lines of 1 2 Up or C D up.  It continues on to 5 fingers.  I am amazed at how well this has worked.  And it's different with each student.  Some are doing float-offs to other octaves.  Some are concentrating on hand position.  Some have expanded to the left hand.  Almost all have gravitated to letters vs numbers.  Some are able to do it from rote.  I am just about ready to produce booklet #2.  I call this "The Workout".  You could adapt it to any primary compoent that suits your current lesson.  Just remember, Huge Print, Big Spaces, simplify, simplify, simplify.

I too have struggled with the suggestions that we stay away from the piano with very young students.  I have chosen to ignore that advice - I teach piano, on the bench.  Occasionally we incorporate an activity away from the piano - but it is always directly linked.  I have no trouble keeping the kids focused - just have to change activities quite often.  Sometimes doing theory worksheets vs playing.

[musiczone]

hi Amy, I liked a lot of Bernhards ideas,I often tell a short story about Mr. D, his friend Lady C and their pet E.Mr. D lives between the two black trees. I draw the two black trees and ask the student to help me with the characters in the story.

[CC]

Couple points that the others may not have covered:  one of your most important jobs is to constantly TEST the child. Have a set of tests ready: perfect pitch, ability to read, control over fingers -- can he play individual notes?, pitch sensitivity -- can he carry a tune, does he have rhythm? what is his attention span, what is his musical background? etc., etc.  The reason for the testing is that kids shouldn't always be treated as kids.  When they are NOT ready, they ARE kids.  But if they are ready, watch out!  They can learn faster than adults.  They are like sponges. Therefore, keep testing them, and give them whatever they will absorb. A corollary of this is not to assume that kids are limited to Mary Had a Little Lamb; some can immediately jump to much higher levels, and you need to watch out for that.

[bernhard]

Couple points that the others may not have covered:  one of your most important jobs is to constantly TEST the child. Have a set of tests ready: perfect pitch, ability to read, control over fingers -- can he play individual notes?, pitch sensitivity -- can he carry a tune, does he have rhythm? what is his attention span, what is his musical background? etc., etc.  The reason for the testing is that kids shouldn't always be treated as kids.  When they are NOT ready, they ARE kids.  But if they are ready, watch out!  They can learn faster than adults.  They are like sponges. Therefore, keep testing them, and give them whatever they will absorb. A corollary of this is not to assume that kids are limited to Mary Had a Little Lamb; some can immediately jump to much higher levels, and you need to watch out for that.

How very true!

[all_black_and_white]

Amy,

 You've been given so many great ideas already, I won't type up a book here.  But I've found that with children that young, the best teaching tool is IMITATION.  In many forms.  Those little minds can latch onto things in their memory like we wouldn't believe.  Even two-year-olds can learn something at the piano.  Try teaching him a song by imitating you - one hand, go slow.  This little guy has a short attention span, you won't keep him interested in this little game for long - make it fun, and always stop teaching this before he starts losing interest.  Keeping him eager for more.  
 
  There are plenty of other things you can do with a child of this age, but I emphasize *philosophy*.  You need to understand the way children of this age learn - the way they think, and what can be most effectively taught at this age.

  Hope this was of some help!

[m1469]

Go to the piano, and encourage him to make sounds. He can use fists, he can play cluster of notes, he can play single notes, he can use just one finger or both hands, he can play loud or soft. Let him do whatever he wants. As for you, control your wish to “teach”, and instead observe. You are waiting for something. And this something is the moment when he run out of ideas. He will start fascinated and interested. But as he exhaust his repertory of ideas, he will get uninterested. This is the moment you must intervene and give him another idea, another thing to try. By the way, at this age this may take more than one lesson.

I tried this today with my littlest student (3 or 4yrs old) who has been very shy and sometimes unwilling to do what is asked of her simply out of obstinance.   She LOVED it!  She completely came alive, was laughing and smiling and filling the room with her ideas of music.  She wanted to do this the entire time in fact, which is fine with me as I want to see the process through (and what I was doing wasn't working too well), but I am not too sure what to tell her mom and dad.

I could not do this the entire time...

As for you, control your wish to “teach”, and instead observe.

Because I felt guilty having her sit there playing her heart out and me not trying to teach her something.  I know, Bernhard, that you explain to parents from the get-go what the lessons will be about and why, but I started her with something different than the above, and I am not sure how to explain the sudden change.  Also, as I am not teaching her everyday, I feel that I must give her an assignment for the week, but what do I assign?

Should I assign for her to do the same thing at home all week?  What happens if she becomes board of this at home w/o me there to guide her into the next step at the right time?

Perhaps this is the time to ask mom and dad to consider daily lessons?

After I let her run free, there was no turning back.  Once in a while, she would stop, and I would tell her it was alright to keep going (should I do this?) and she would.  And then a couple of times when she stopped I would try to have her follow the next step of playing only black notes, but she would soon drift back into doing whatever she wanted to do (leading me to believe that she was not done exploring on her own yet).

And she definitely did not want to go back to the bloody book.

I am not sure what to do from here.  Any thoughts?

m1469

[m1469]

Nevermind   (for now), I will figure it out.

Thanks,
m1469

[maxy]

Sweet topic!!