Teaching to play keyboard??

[muziql]

On a piano, you have 88 keys (black and white) total.  8 white keys in a row are called an octave.  The musical alphabet is A, B, C, D, E, F, G (7 letters) then it starts over again at A.  So, from one A to the next A, is called an "octave". 
I'm honestly not sure HOW you should teach your child, but I do know that when you asked about all C's being called "c" or something else, whatever you choose to do, just be consistent for the range of the instrument.  The C in the middle of the piano keyboard is called Middle C.  It's also called C4 because from the left of the keyboard, it's the 4th C over to the right.  It can also be written c'.
The farthest left key is an A.  The farthest right key is a C.  There are 7 octaves, and an additional Bb, B, and C at the far right. 
On flashcards there will be a visual difference (where it's placed on the staff), even if you still just call it C.  I'd stick with one octave at a time, and make sure your child knows it very well, before you add on another octave. 
For what it's worth, I am a professional musician, play piano and flute, and sing.  I was not trained in solfege, but I know what it is, how it works, what a moveable do is, etc. 
Yet, to train a child with all these different names for 1 thing, might be confusing?  When reading piano music, I, myself, use the letter names.  I say Middle C, Treble C, Bass C, High C, Low C for the different C's.  I don't have Perfect Pitch, but I have very good relative pitch.  If I already know a song, I will always sing it in the same key.  If I don't know it, I'm usually off by a half-step or a whole-step if I started to sing and then pitch matched it to the piano.  In college, I did sight singing, and we used numbers, for example,  1 was the tonic.  So, C, D, E, also know as Do-Re-Mi, was sung as 1, 2, 3.  If G was the tonic, then all G's would be 1.  Solfege does not appear to differentiate between the octaves.  So, the tonic is always "Do". The numbers system doesn't differentiate either.  I'd just teach the one octave for awhile, then when they get it, it's really just 6 more repeats of the same "words".
Do some google searches too, and see what other people/teachers are doing.

[DrPrimo]

i feel l must respond to fludo:
kudos to you for teaching!  i'm so busy performing i don't have time
with that being said... there are two different schools of thought of solfege.  where fludo like movable do, i obviously do not.  i used that system my whole like and when i got to 20th century music is really messed me up (as well as my perfect pitch).  it was hard for me to say DO when i was singing a G (for example).  when i discovered fixed do (when i went to europe) i "got it" and it made my life so much easier. 
with that being said, for those that do not have perfect pitch, movable do is great!  please remember we are 2 professional musicians with 2 very different opinions... 9 times out of 10 when you go to a music teacher, they probably won't even teach solfege!
i know for my daughter i'm going to use fixed do b/c we have a music teacher from france here who is adamant about teaching using fixed do.  JUST ONE PERSON'S OPINION!! i think the important thing is that you care enough to teach your child music!  i might just disregard the solfege all together, call the notes C, D E, etc. and listen to a lot of music.  all kinds of music!  forget about what we said and just make sure they get to a piano/instrument every day!  and have a great time!!!
good luck to all!!
the doc

[Niniedney]

Thank you all for your input. It is much appreciated and very helpful. I think I am first going to give herthe keyboard and let her have fun with it. Showing her all the c's: do. And showing her how they sound alike. Then so on with all the  notes. She likes to sing, do, ray, me... Right now. Lol. It's super cute! She doesn't know she is getting a keyboard for her birthday, but she "reads" the books I have checked out from the library right now on how to play.

[2010BEBES]

So I am reading some books on how to play piano and keyboard. I am starting to learn to read music. Having a good time ....

Niniedney can you give me the title of the books you consider interesting.
I am also trying to start with my grandson but am considering taking classes myself and if he shows interest maybe he will receive some too.
My son (his father) played very good from hearing but did not know too much the solfage.
I on the contrary are terrible without the solfage.
Try looking for Wee Sing CDs that came with a book with the music so that you can follow on the keyboard. If you get Wee Sing Around the World you will listen languages from all the continents.
We have a saying that translated literraly will be: 'You will kill two birds with the same stone.' (music and languages)

[Niniedney]

I'm reading "how to play piano, everything you need to know to play the piano" amazing book for a begginer like me. But it is very basic, so I am also reading others. But I am not far enough into them to give a review yet.

[2010BEBES]

Thanks, I will look for it. Kep us posted on how it develops.

[ChrisSalter]

We shared the free report on "Is Music a Birthright?"(http://www.brillkids.com/ext/partners/ebook-free-download-2.php) that gives some perspective the challenges of learning music, and their roots, some of which was brought out in our discussions. SoftMozart has some similar, more in depth articles on the origins and challenges of traditional music notation as well, the summary of which you can see in this thread

(http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-music/information-about-music-history-and-theory-every-parent-should-know/new/#new).

What I also added, in a different section, to try and give some perspective of the range of approaches and choices, is a series of posts about the four common approaches to learning piano (up to now). I believe that our methods, both Hellene of SoftMozart and Piano Wizard Academy, begin to shape a "fifth way". What is important to appreciate is they were both developed in response to something that was not really working, in the context of the limitations of the other approaches, trying to compensate for those gaps and yet leverage their strengths. Though each method has its advocates and champions, including Hellene and I for our own, and those advocates can be as we have seen quite passionate and compelling, NONE OF THESE APPROACHES IS PERFECT. We do strive to honestly "perfect" our process every day, with more and more knowledge, and this forum has been I think very fruitful in its exploration of the options. Here is my latest contribution to that conversation.

http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-music/four-common-approaches-to-learning-piano-some-pros-and-cons/msg60967/#msg60967

I don't know how many parents are following all this, but I can tell you if you are, you are now MUCH more knowledgeable about both the challenges of music education, and the pallet of options available, and I hope it helps you all find your own unique solution to your children's needs, and leads to a less dogmatic, more practical, efficient and fun way to bring music into their lives.

[andreasro]

It's not for your kids, as a learning method using colors, but it's for every amateur or total beginner like me, who would like to learn for free, online, how to play keyboard:
http://www.howtoplaypiano.ca/
This guy, a young piano teacher, Andrew Furmanczyk, has a channel on youtube too. He has created free playing piano lessons and free music theory lessons. His style is funny too. His life story is interesting and heartbreaking at times, also encouraging.
Only in few days of watching, learning and practicing from his lesson I have started to learn a lot!

Hope this helps someone. I use the method cause I got a Casio (midi and all) keyboard as a present (and I still don't have the money for a method for my kid to learn piano using colors, games etc - either PW or SM). My son loves to touch and hear the notes.

Blessings,
Andrea

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