Possible Three year old student

[urbanspice]

I have this lady with a three and half year old son who is interested in taking piano. And since he's so young I'm just going to do a few trial lessons to see if he is capable and focused enough for continuous lessons. Does anyone have any experience teaching to a young child? What worked and didn't?
Should I use a method series or not? I usually use Bastien or Thompson series, but if there is one better suited for younger students please let me know. If you think a method would be inappropriate, what do you recommend?
Also, should I even try (hehe or even think about) teaching a three year old how to read music? Would maybe the Suzuki method be okay?
I know a few games and things, but I'm always searching for more.
Thanks!

[tds]

good luck teaching this 3 year old student! i had a friend who once was approached by a mom holding an 11 month baby. she wanted my friend to teach her baby boy. she was quite assertive about starting him with some piano lessons. she then said, "a genius!", pointing her index finger at the little thing. tds

[abell88]

You might find some of these links useful. Some of them are more directly related than others. (It's a good board, but no search function!)

https://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=008e9u

https://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00ALeS
https://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=004sB6

https://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=004qaT

[whynot]

I have taught a handful of very young students, including two three-year-olds.  I found it okay at the time, as I really enjoy children at that age, but I don't think the kids ever got much out of it.  It's more for the parents:  "my little genius won't make it big if he doesn't play a concerto by kindergarten."  Actually, neither of the three-year-olds worked out well.  One, the mother was as above:  every week, "well, how talented is he?  he's making up little songs, isn't that amazing?"  (the songs were two little fists banging on the keys...)  The mother quit the lessons after a while because one day he was somewhat less attentive and she decided he was bored and didn't want to play the piano anymore (!).

The other three-year-old basically tried to kill herself in a lesson-- ABSOLUTELY NOT MY FAULT; she did something that could have seriously injured her, except it didn't, thank God.  You can't imagine my horror.  Turns out it was something she did all the time at home, and the mom apologized for not remembering to tell me.  I pretty much ended it after that.   


I teach music reading to some children under five, but I do lots of non-reading things first.  Name the white keys, name the black keys, songs they know, the obvious young children's duets, etc, and also have them sing along with everything.  My reading- readiness test is when the child is adept at recognizing symbols, like numbers, and knows that they have a meaning.  You can wait until they can just plain read, but kids are learning to read so late now, you might not want to wait that long!  But I think numbers are an easy level of a similar process, so I'm okay with that.  Good luck if you decide to do this, but sit very close to the child and WATCH (that's all I'm gonna say).       

[vera]

My youngest students have been 4, usually close to 5 yrs old. And those really seem to have something extra. Average students or below I would never take on at that age. But I also find, that the hands are often not ready and there is great difficulty getting the right shape of the hand. That is for me usually the foremost reason, not to take them on.
The ones, I did take on, have all worked out very well, and have indeed been outstanding. The others I told to wait a year or more, and they did fine then. There are often special classes available for very young children doing a range of music activities. That may be more useful.

[kilini]

I started piano at around 4. That was a HORRIBLE experience. I never understood fingerings, and a lot of bad habits were taught to me (coin on hand, anyone?); when I reached seven and had a chance to quit, I promptly kissed my keyboard good bye. There was not a drop of musicality in me. 
But I'm sure cases like mine don't always happen. If only I met the right teachers back then.

[marialice]

Do the parents play music as well and are they prepared to practice with the child? Three is very young, it can surely work but only if the circumstances are right. I have seen a 3-yr old violin student who progressed better than most 6 yr olds. Her mother was a professional violinist and they practiced together every day.

[Rapunzel]

Would maybe the Suzuki method be okay?

I've never tried the suzuki method with piano - but it works real well with violin 

I find that young children respond really well when you incorporate a few games/activities while teaching them piano - like getting them (or you) to trace around their hands and number the fingers etc.

[takenote]

I teach Suzuki Method which is ideal with a child this age.
You need to work with the parent though too to ensure that what you do is followed up at home.

I'm new to this site but I noticed a reference to Music Mind Games in another thread. I also use these activities which were produced by another Suzuki Teacher, Michiko Yurko. In the past this equipment was generally bought in bulk and hence could be expensive but I've just found out that 'child packs' are now being marketed designed for the child to follow up with the parent at home. The book that accompanies the materials is a mine of information too and you can make up your own equipment for the activities that you want to use.

check out the website at

www.musicmindgames.com

hope this helps

takenote