Note Values

Teaching young students the values of different notes can be tricky. This is a tried and true activity that helps students understand whole, half and quarter notes. This isn't an original Preschoolers and Piano idea, but it's definitely worth posting here for you all. Enjoy!

Supplies:

• Construction Paper
• White Printer Paper (3 sheets)
• Marker (or printer)

Instructions:

Cut one printer paper sheet into 4 sections. Cut another in half. Leave the last one intact. On each of the 1/4 size pieces, draw a quarter note. One the 1/2 pieces, draw a half note. And on the full page, draw a whole note. (You can also use the computer to print them out. Just make sure you use 1/4 of the page for each quarter note, etc).

Glue the notes on to construction paper (opt.). Be sure you keep the size of the paper accurate (1/4 page for quarter notes, 1/2 page for half notes, etc).

Show your student the whole note (sometimes it helps to have 4 written on the page) and explain this is a whole note and gets 4 counts. Then show the half notes and explain that two half notes are the same as one whole note (put the pages on top and show that two half notes are the same size as a whole note). I used to teach quarter notes first, but it was hard for the young students to understand a measure. But this visual aid helps them gain a more concrete understanding of a measure and how the notes relate to each other.

Caterpillars and Butterflies

Spring is in the air! That also means spring fever. You know what I mean. Kids are even more energetic (no idea where the extra energy comes from); they have a much smaller attention span; and you have less control and less patience. I've learned that the best way to beat the spring fever is to have spring-related lessons.

This one is my favorite spring lesson. It helps kids learn the musical alphabet, but it can also be adapted to many other things like note names and musical theory.

Supplies:

• Construction paper
• Crayons (or markers)
• Googley eyes
• Pipe cleaners

Instructions:

Out of the construction paper, make butterflies and caterpillars. You will need 7 of each. I used a long piece of white construction paper for the body of the caterpillar and put a head and tail on either end. You could also make the caterpillar body out of circles. Just make sure there's enough room to write on it.

Write two letters that are next to each other alphabetically (i.e. A B or E F). Then put a ? instead of the following letter. And finally put the letter that comes next (i.e. A B ? D or E F ? A). Then on the butterfly wings, write down each letter of the musical alphabet.

The goal of the lesson is for the student to find the butterfly that matches the caterpillar. For students who have a hard time understanding the musical alphabet repeats, it helps to do this with letters printed out that stretch 2 octaves so they can see the pattern on the ground.

This also works for older students who can read. Write down theory names (i.e. Forte or Quarter Note) and have the butterflies match with the symbol.

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.

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!