10 Things You Should Do/Know Before Your Child Begins Piano Lessons (includes a printable checklist)
- Aug 1, 2017
- 4 min read
Many studies show that start taking piano lessons from a very young age stimulates a better brain development in a child. As a parent, you probably would like to know what you get yourself into before you sign up the piano lessons. The following is a checklist of things to do before your child has the very first piano lesson. This will speed up your child's learning curve, and help you to become a prepared parent entering into the role of nurturing a little pianist.
1. Buy a piano/digital piano/keyboard. Your child will not make progress without a piano at home with which he can practice between the lessons. Furthermore, your child won't learn how to play the piano properly by practice on a toy piano or a keyboard that only has 4 octaves. Ideally you will need an acoustic piano, because there are many technique that can't be learned through a little keyboard or digital piano.
There might be reasons why you would prefer a keyboard or a digital piano. The top reason is if your child loses interest in piano in a few months. The second is the cost of a good quality acoustic piano. Your child can learn as efficiently on a less expensive digital piano. Once your child shows real interest and commitment, you may upgrade to an acoustic piano. You can also buy a used acoustic piano to avoid investment risks.
While you shop for a keyboard/electric piano, look for weighted keys, touch sensitivity, dynamic flexibility, pedals, a music stand that is not flimsy, and a sound that matches the sound of an acoustic piano.
2. Put the piano in a part of the house that child doesn't feel lonely and isolated, but not to put it in a playroom where full of toys, and certainly not next to the TV.
3. Purchase a piano bench that is height adjustable. Sitting at the right height is important. Sitting at the wrong height will potentially cause incorrect hand/finger positions, unable to produce good tone. Also, you might need to place a step stool between the piano and bench so your little pianist can sit comfortably. Don't let your child kicks the feet when play the piano.
4. Explain Left and Right. Besides knowing the right hand from left, help your child to develop a sense of physical space. While the kids are jumping, running, dancing, remind them left and right during the physical action. Moreover, ambidexterity is a requirement in piano playing. It is useful if you ask your child to practice weaker hand and not just the one which is his natural side. For example, brush teeth with the weaker hand.
5. Make sure your child knows their alphabet, from A to G as well as backward. This really helps while learning to read the musical notes, and also saves a lot of lesson time. Also, make sure your kid is able to count from 1 to 10 since music is heavily based in math.
6. Concentration level of your child. Concentration develops with age. It is much harder for a 4 years old to concentrate on a subject than a more grown up kid like 6-7 years old. Train your child to have a longer concentration little by little through daily activity. Make sure your kid is able to concentrate for a duration of at least 30 minutes before you start the first piano lesson.
7. Give your child time for practice. Practice is the key to learn how to play the piano. Recently many parents tend to overbook their children's schedule. It would be difficult for a little kid to practice piano after a long soccer game. The more advanced your child becomes, the more practice time he needs. Make sure the activity schedule is well balanced. It is also recommended that parents include piano practice time in the already existing study chart. This helps in developing piano playing as a habit.
8. Apply discipline. High level of focus, determination, discipline, and commitment is very much needed in learning the piano. It would be better if parents could inculcate discipline right from the beginning. Those qualities will also help a child to achieve other academic success.
9. Be patient. It takes time to develop the piano skills. Even if your child is talented, he/she and parents will need to nurture the talent and develop it, practice long hours in order to mater this art. The performance won't sound great right away, and the kids might feel frustrated sometimes. As a parent, encourage your child and celebrate when he reaches a milestone.
10. Be supportive and get involved. Young beginners (ages 4-6) will need parent’s help reading the instruction, teacher’s practice suggestion, and so on. Please make time to help your child practice. Once the kid understands the routine and becomes confident, then you can let your child practice by himself. In addition, a parent doesn’t need to be musical nor able to play the piano in order to support his child’s piano study. However, if a parent is interested in what his kid is doing, the kid is more motivated and advancing faster. Here are examples of what you can do.
“Clap the rhythm of any measure in this piece and I will try to copy you.”
Point at any music marking and ask “What does this mean?”
“Wow, I like that song. Can you teach me how to play that tune?” Or, “Can I play the last note in this piece? Can you show me which key to press and when?”
“Let’s surprise Grandma with a special song. I’ll call her. Start playing when you hear me say HELLO.”
“What do you like about this song?” “Which part is difficult? Can you show me?”
“Can you play the piece in slow motion for me?"
I hope this checklist helps you to understand the piano lessons better and to know what equipment to get your child started. Let me know if you have any question. If you like to have a checklist from this article, click here.
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