Sorry to barge in on the piano forum (organist first study, and regular on viva organ), but I need a bit of advice from you pianists and teachers.

I hadn't planned to send my four year old piano lessons for a couple of years (I started at 6, thought that was a good time), and I certianly had no intention of teaching him myself. However, at the moment I find myself in the position of living in the middle of the countryside and having him really keen to learn to play. He is always at the piano trying to play, and asking about lessons. I'd like to get him started till we move later in the year, so what do people recommend to start with. Pupils at the school where I'm head of music come with a variety of books (Piano Time, Fanny Waterman, John Thompson, even Jibbidy F), so wondering what others might use.

I use Tunes For Ten Fingers with some of my youngest beginners, but I've never taught a 4 year old so I'm not sure how much use this reply is.

Have a look at Dogs and Birds by Elza Lusher. The Alfred Prep Course series are also good and link in to the rest of the series well. I have used Tunes for 10 Fingers with older beginners, and it is a good book, but I think it would move too fast without sufficient re-inforcement for a four year old.

Suepea - I can't get that link to work......

Much of the material in Piano Party would work I think with a four-year-old.

Maybe Lina Ng's Piano Lesson (sic) Made Easy.

I used Jibbidy F and loved it - I was 5 when I started

Thanks so far everyone!

Fab, there really are people out there who also started on Jibbiddy F. I really thought I was the only one! I was 6 when I started, seems a long time ago now...

Wouldn't it be interesting to find out what some famous people started with? Lots of kids at my school had Fanny Waterman as a teacher, so naturally I think they used her book (not Jibbidy F!)

Actually I forgot to mention it, but I started on Jibbidy F too !

So did I Wonderful book!!!! Interesting progression - learning the A-C-E before filling in B & D and then concentrating on the GBDF & ACE so much.........One of my favourite tunes was The Dripping Tap......

''Drip drop drip drop what is that?

it's our dripping dripping tap

Drip drop drip drop all the night

We forgot to turn it tight ''

Ahh.. memories.. Maybe I'll see if I can find the book somewhere..

Talking about Fanny Waterman, "Me and My Piano" is good.

The youngest I've taught Piano was 6, but if this four-year old can bridge 5 notes and has the right mindset, then there's no reason why they can't start piano lessons.

Jo

Yes I enjoyed that one too ! I loved getting to the first "not-dripping" note and sitting on it for a nice satisfying minim.

btw I had a feeling the second line went
"it's our leaking dripping tap"
but it could be that I've remembered it wrongly

Oh yes, Maggie, I'm sure you're right - 'leaking' it is.
Well, it was over 30 years ago
I remember lots of the Rupert Bear rhymes too - and there isn't even a tune.

It works all right for me CD - I've just checked it. If it still won't work for you put Dogs and Birds into Google and work past the pet websites to find it described as "A new Kodaly approach to teaching keyboard"


I wouldn't touch "Me and my Piano" again after using it with a five year old. It doesn't bring left hand in till nearly half way through the book (OK, you can skip through the pages and do it earlier, but I don't like doing that) and the material gets too difficult very early on - both pieces and the games, which I found were way beyond the understanding of my pupil, a child of probably average intelligence. In fact I don't like the Fanny Waterman tutors at all as they seem illogical in approach and the content is not very interesting.

I wouldn't touch "Me and my Piano" again after using it with a five year old. It doesn't bring left hand in till nearly half way through the book (OK, you can skip through the pages and do it earlier, but I don't like doing that) and the material gets too difficult very early on - both pieces and the games, which I found were way beyond the understanding of my pupil, a child of probably average intelligence. In fact I don't like the Fanny Waterman tutors at all as they seem illogical in approach and the content is not very interesting.

It's a long way from being my first choice these days. I'm not so bothered by the later arrival of the LH, but some students in the past have found the "two hands together" section too much too soon. I have always found book two much less logical in approach than book one, and I think some of the content seems pretty dated now.

I'd not used it for quite a while, until a pupil turned up with it last month (she saw it in the shop and fancied it: plus the book I wanted was out of stock) so we gave it a go as she seemed to like it, and it has worked pretty well. I have to say she is six and probably a bit above average intelligence, I agree I don't think I'd use it with a 5 year old Sue. I'm not sure we'll use book 2, but currently after about half a term of lessons she is playing the 2-hands pieces towards the end of the book - she was reading alternate hands fairly confidently yesterday. We are supplementing it with Lina Ng's My first theory book.

I've used The Music Tree's 1st book, Time to Begin, with a lot of 5 year olds & it's worked out very well. I haven't tried it on a 4 year old, but I think it'd be a good choice. The approach is very musical, aural & imaginative, the accompaniments are lovely & the reading is built up very gradually. It uses the whole keyboard, so the child doesn't get stuck in "positions" & avoids associating a finger with a particular note. There are "Activity" books for theory & the whole series is very attractive & appealing to children. I've never had a child who hasn't loved it.