novice teaching piano to 3.5 year old

[Yani_Byron]

Hi,
     I'm on lessons 51 of LM with my grandson.  He is 3 years old, closing on 4.  He does well with the program.  He certainly has an ear for music, but I don't, and know very very little about music.  However I would like to start him on learning the piano.  We have an old electric Yamaha, 29 white keys, without MIDI. 
   I've been reading the older post here on the subject, and can see there is a lot of good info posted already.  Also I've noted some of the software programs that are out there like Soft Mozart, however I'll wait on that as it's a deeper commitment.  My question is...where should and what should I start with?  That is what would be a simple basic beginning to do with him, and me.
   Thanks in advance,  Tim

   

[Mandabplus3]

Well I love softmozart so I would say start there
But as an alternative for the time being you could start by teaching nursery rhymes in solfege ( do re me just like in little musician) that will get one hand working. You can have your child sing the note names rather than the song lyrics as they play to reinforce pitch and key location.
The problem is its difficult to teach 4 year olds to play cords if you don't know much about music yourself. So two handed piano may need to wait.
Also play games using all fingers walking up and down the piano. If you check out the soft Mozart forum you can access videos ( free) showing finger excersizes. Try to get your child playing hanon and black and white cats excersizes for finger strength and suppelty. After a few months of this and about 10 nursery rhymes you will be ready for soft Mozart or a teacher. 

[Yani_Byron]

Thanks...sounds good. 

[Tamsyn]

My 3-year-old has actually done much better with Little Musician for piano stuff than with Soft Mozart, but all of my children (5,3, and 2.  not the baby) have done well with SM so I still recommend it.  I recommend coloring the notes on the piano somehow to help him make the connection.  You can put stickers on the piano, or do something like a piano insert.  I made one that matches LMs you can print out from here:  http://www.teaching-children-music.com/2012/10/movable-do-piano-insert.html.  We do the LMs lessons at the piano and my kids love taking turns playing the "solfege" and "chord recognition" parts of the lesson.

If you have an i-pad or i-phone, check out https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/piano-dust-buster-song-game/id502356539?mt=8.  You don't need a midi connection to play the game with the piano because the it recognizes pitch.  I've even played it by singing!  It doesn't help you learn both hands, but it's a fantastic app.  My kids really love it.

[Mandabplus3]

Tamsyn is there a way to teach little kids chords? I imagine that the children doing little musician would pick up chords very quickly ( do me so, in perfect pitch has just popped into my head again!  ) I know soft Mozart does a great job of it but for absolute beginners without the program, how can the parents add in the left hand?
Do you suggest playing the melody using one hand and then the other?
I ask because I think it would be easier for kids to learn the left hand of the piano BEFORE they get to choosing their hand dominance at around age 4. If they are already used to using both hands equally then they won't spend the months struggling with both hands together that our slightly older kids did.
Your thoughts are worth more here than mine, as you actually know piano and music  I am an amature with a load of enthusiasm 

[Korrale4kq]

I have a question for Tamsyn also,

Is there any impact on a child learning piano if they are left handed? I go to the keyboard and I instantly use my dominant right hand.  James will only use his left. He has started to pluck out little tunes like Mary Had A Little Lamb. But only with his left.

And Tamsyn I realised that I could use voice with piano duster when James yelled out mummy while sitting beside me. There are a few songs on that app  that I have been playing that don't register E3 and above so I have to hit those notes vocally. Not sure if it is the app or my cheap keyboard that has the issue.

[Tamsyn]

Amanda, YES!  Little kids can learn to play chords.  That has actually been my next big project right now, something to teach kids to read lead-sheet notation that builds off of what LMs has done.  You can get your feet wet with LMS by having them play the chords with their left hands during chord recognition, and the solfege melodies with their right hands. 

Here's a little something I did awhile ago to teach how to build a major triad:
http://www.teaching-children-music.com/2011/05/building-major-triad.html
http://www.teaching-children-music.com/2011/06/rain-rain-go-away-piano-chords-are-here.html

I never got further than that, and now I'm revamping my approach to include color-coded stuff.  So far so good.  The C, F, and G chords are the "primary" chords for C major because they are the three Major triads that you can play on all white keys.  That's why LMs emphasizes "Do-Mi-So, Fa-La-Do, So-Ti-Re" so much.

As far as learning piano if you are left handed, I don't have a perfect answer for you.  I do know that the left brain controls the right hand and the right brain controls the left hand and little kids are more right-brained when they are younger, but I don't have any conclusions about what to do about it.  I think piano is great for helping both hemispheres work together.  I liked to quote Matthew out of context to my students, "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth."  They have to work simultaneously and separately no matter which hand is dominant.  But I'm only getting started on teaching younger kids.  Before motherhood my youngest student was 5. 

edit:  I don't know what to tell you about the app.  We haven't had any issues with it.

[lzp11]

Thank you Tamsyn for posting these links - they are REALLY helpful 

I have a question about the fingering for chords.  I noticed that when playing the Do-Mi-So chord that the player used the fourth finger of the left hand rather than the little finger.  Is that the correct finger to aim for?  In little children it can be a problem for small hands, so does that make a difference?  But should adults use the fourth (e.g. me when I'm learning  )

Thanks again

[Tamsyn]

Um, the player was me, and no, I don't recommend that fingering for a beginner, I suggest 531.     In my defense, I used them interchangeably in the video and ultimately it doesn't matter.  When I took keyboard harmony in college they raked us over the coals to get the fingering right for scales but they didn't care what fingering we used for our chords and inversions, largely because when you play chords in music, the fingering for a chord will really depend on the context of what came before and what comes next.  Fingering for scales matter a lot more because we are trying to build muscle memory for the most ergonomic way of playing that sequence of notes.  Everytime that sequence of notes appears in music, someone who has learned their scales properly will naturally gravitate to the best fingering because they have experienced it.  I hope that makes sense.  So with chords, play what is most comfortable, and for little kids that fingering would probably be 531 or 135 in the right hand.  The most important thing we are learning when it comes to chords is understanding the theory.

[Tamsyn]

They did care what fingering we used for arpeggios though.  Just a side note.

[lzp11]

Thank you for clarifying Tamsyn - that makes a lot of sense 

It's good to understand the purpose of learning fingering for scales and arpeggios! In a smaller scale, I've been getting my 3-year old to play C to G and back again at the start of every lesson with each hand and both together. It's made a huge difference to her fluidity when playing.

She made a better attempt with the chord do-mi-so today    I think we will practice this and then some of the other LMs chords with both hands.

[Yani_Byron]

Is there a link that shows a picture or clip of hand exercise for children?  Not exercises on the piano but those ones just for hand strength?

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