Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Rainbow Music

Have you ever noticed that little kids love rainbows? During every lesson, we talk about rainbows and colors at LEAST 3 times. 🌈 So the trick has become how to incorporate their love of colors into piano lessons. And then it hit me.

RAINBOW MUSIC

Music and piano keyboards are black and white (so boring!). But what if we change that up for our young students? This idea is so fun, easy and can be reused for every lesson! Here's what you'll need:


  • Colored construction paper
  • White printer paper
  • Crayons
  • Tape

Cut the construction paper into strips for that are the same size as a piano key (one strip per color). Tape those strips onto the keyboard (one per key). Then, using the color on the piano as a key, write the notes to a simple song (i.e. Twinkle Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider, etc.).

This is a great way to get young students to play the piano without having to teach them the different notes on a staff. I usually let my students play the notes with whatever finger they decide. However, when we're working on certain fingers (whether building strength and dexterity or remember correct finger numbers), I tell them which finger(s) to play.

Saturday, May 5, 2018

Intro

Hello all!! Let me introduce the purpose of this blog by sharing a story. I got a message from a mom who was asking about piano lessons for her daughter (whom we will call Sally). I sent back the usual questions: has she ever had music lessons before; does she have a way to practice during the week; how old is she? "No. Yes. And 3 1/2."

😮😮😮

My initial thought was, "3 1/2??? There's NO WAY I'm going to spend a half hour trying to wrangle a 3 1/2 year old's energy." So I explained that young children don't have the attention span nor the muscle dexterity to play songs for a half hour at the piano. Her mother asked if we could do a trial lesson before I decide not to teach her. I agreed.

The day of the lesson arrived. Sally showed up, excited, energetic, and extremely adorable. She was also very polite, attentive and quick to understand concepts. The half hour lesson went by so quickly that I kept thinking my watch was jumping ahead! But I learned more in that lesson than Sally did. I learned that preschool-aged children can learn and often have more excitement to learn piano than other students. I agreed to teach her. I was so excited! And then I went to the source of all knowledge for some lesson plan ideas...the Internet.

With the internet's resources at my fingertips, I was ready to go! I Googled, Pinterested and Instagrammed every combination of words I could think of to find lesson ideas. And finally, after days and weeks of research, I finally found it!

NOTHING.

Yep. The internet let me down. *Pause for gasps* So I decided to take matters into my own hands. This blog is to help teachers and parents of young piano students find lesson ideas, practice tips and wiggle activities. Feel free to reach out with any questions or comments on what worked with your students!