My 4 year old has shown a huge interest in the piano. She was so keen to learn something I taught her Twinkle twinkle little star - she plays it with 1 finger starting on c - I didn't think she would retain it, but she picked up the whole verse in 10 mins and can still play it a week later!!! She can identify middle c and the other c notes up and down the piano.

While she is too young for "formal teaching" she is keen to learn more and I don't want to miss the opportunity by making her wait until she is 6 or 7. her older sister did the Alfred combined theory / tunes book but this seems way too much for a 4 year old plus she doesn't seem that interested in "tunes that aren't tunes" (ie ones made up for learning and she doesn't know!!!). She can't read yet but knows all her letters / numbers and would appear a bright child generally.

Can anyone advise on what I could do with her so as not to miss this valuable learning opportunity? I already play her loads of nursery rhymes and she bangs along on her tambourine or triangle.

thanks for any advice

Elizabeth.

I think this has been mentioned in the other 'young beginner' thread - but I would strongly recommend the book 'Singing Games and Rhymes for the Early Years' by Lucinda Geoghegan (pub National Youth Choir of Scotland).

If you taught her some of these small range songs and games, then tried to work them out on the piano, you would get over the problem of her not wanting to play tunes she doesn't know.

Kodaly teachers always work this way round - the musical experience (ie the song) then the concept being taught (eg pulse), then the notation. If a child can sing a song then he/she has it inside him/her - in the ears and the whole body.

A lot of nursery rhymes are very unsuitable for young children to sing - the composed ones invariably have a large range and/or difficult intervals for a young voice to sing unaccompanied. Nursery rhymes which are truly children's own playground songs and chants are immediately recognisable - they often incorporate the falling minor 3rd (soh-me) and the 's-m-l-s-m' chant (which are the first intervals we make conscious to the child). There are several that are pentatonic and can therefore be easily played on the black notes.

Do please PM me if you'd like to know more about this approach.

Good luck and have fun!

I have just started to teach a 4 year old boy this year, on the understanding with his parents that we would see how it goes. I have started to work with some basic books, those with fairly large print which is easier for little ones to read. We are finding the way about the piano, Ds, Es, Bs etc, using hands as properly as we can, and indeed reading the music!! Middle C is easy to recognise of course, and I have to remind about right and left hands quite a bit, but progress is evident. It is not as fast as you would expect even from a 6 year old, but it is there.

I also break up the 1/4 hour lesson with singing Kodaly style to get him used to listening and trying to pitch - and this is working too, and he enjoys playing my little drum and marching round the room to my made up tunes which can be a bit discordant at times! We also work on high notes and low notes by having him jump up or crouch down as appropriate when I play the notes.

The main thing is that he wants to come to his piano lesson every week. We do have good and bad weeks, but on the whole his attention span is increasing and he is willing to spend more time each week at the piano. I think that the main idea is to keep things fun and just see how it goes, after all there's plenty of time.

Hope this helps.

I started piano lessons right before I turned 3. I know of quite a few people who started at 3 and 4 years and did just fine.

I also started piano lessons around age 4 after showing an interest in a similar way (I used to copy the doorbell chime on the piano and things like that apparently) - my parents both play and my brother and sister were having lessons at that time, and it all worked out very well. I now have a son of my own who I have started 'teaching' at age 5 after he expressed an interest. I have the book 'me and my piano', because it looked similar to something I learned with so I felt comfortable using it with him (I am branching out now as I am going to be teaching others as well, but that was what I had at the time). He is picking it up very quickly, and most importantly really enjoying it. He recognises middle C straight away, and can hop up and down the piano on all the notes. He knows the note names and finger numbers (currently relies more on finger number than notation, but he knows when it sounds right or wrong). At first, he just wanted to storm through everything and basically get to the end of the book, and I just tended to take things at his pace with the idea that I didn't want to put him off and make it seem like work. It seems to have gone all right, as when he reached the two hands together stage, he found this more of a challenge and has even started practising to a degree! I have never asked him to practise, as I think that at this age, and when all the interest is coming from him, I should be led by him and just keep it fun, but now if he wants to do some piano and I am busy making tea or whatever (being mummy and teacher is interesting!), he will get his book and go over earlier pages.

Sorry, this seems to have got a bit long! But I think my point is, let the child lead it, keep it fun, and just see how you go. Good luck!

Great advice, thanks everyone. Interestingly most teachers round here won't teach until a child is 6 or 7 ... apparently until they are old enough to concentrate, so i am told - seemingly this doesn't happen until they go to school and are drilled on how to sit in a seat (i know, what a load of rubbish). To me, that misses a valuable window of learning for any child showing ability and interest.

Funny, Elph, my daugher like your son knows when things don't sound right and instead of plodding on she will work away until she corrects it!!

Last evening she sat at the piano for 10 minutes, all on her own, just playing. she didn't ask for help, she just practised and practised and practised. Now if only I could get my 10 year old to do that ..................!!!!

Elizabeth