Does this sound like a natural ability at piano/keyboard or fairly average?

[PinkyU]

My DD who is 10 has recently taken an interest in her sister’s keyboard, she’s taught herself a fair few songs from tutorials but mostly from listening to songs and working out the notes.

Yesterday she played the first 15 minutes of Clair de Lune, obviously it wasn’t note perfect but it was pretty close, having spent about 2 hours practicing (with earphones on as it was a surprise 😆).

I’ not musical in the slightest but this is pretty good going isn’t it, or am I being “that” parent?

She’s not had any lessons and I’m wondering if I should maybe look into booking her some, she’s happy just to continue tinkling away in her room.

Single fingering or chords and harmonies?

With a good tutorial and 2 hours' practice, I'd say that is fairly normal for someone with an average level of musical ability.

5 not 15

Chords and harmonies, it sounded (almost) the exact same as when I put it on Alexa 😆

Ha ha- I was just about to ask where the other 10 mins of music came from!

I think that for a ten year old to work that out and play it without any lessons is fairly impressive. She clearly has a good "ear" for music to be able to do that.

That's pretty good, but not vastly outside the range of normal, I'd say. Is she doing all the chords on the left hand too? Was she using a youtube video like this? I find them hard to follow, but my DD loves them and can use them pretty well.

I started teaching my DD the piano at 11 and she absolutely FLEW through her Grade 1 exam 10 months later. It's a good age to start lessones, @PinkyU , especially if she is showing some spontaneous interest like this.

I agrée, that’s impressive. And obviously enjoys it. Book some lessons!

My DC love to play along to YouTube tutorials - they are both ambivalent about the structured lessons and prefer just to pick songs and practice.

Yes, she has a natural ability and talent. I think you should encourage her, absolutely. Awesome, Op.

How lovely! Yes it does sound like she has an aptitude. Is she interested in having lessons?

I think it's impressive even if it was just the tune but with chords and both hands I think that's amazing! I have my grade 8 on a different instrument from hard slog and not natural talent- she sounds like she has natural talent.

She sounds musical. I'd book her lessons.

I think she sounds phenomenal. Picking that up in 2 hours? It would take me over two months.

It's fairly common for someone with a little musical aptitude to be able to figure out a melody. It would be more impressive to be able to work out chords and harmonies on her own with no tuition.

I would be surprised if a ten year old with no tuition has learned the Clair de Lune chords/ harmonies without using a YouTube tutorial. Less so for the melody, as it's more intuitive.

Yes, definitely. Learning to read and play a keyboard are likely to be skills she will value all her life.

Did she figure out the chords and harmonies alone or use a video?

YouTube videos make it a lot easier for anyone with a decent memory to learn.

But she obviously enjoys the instrument either way, so I would get her lessons.

The more important question is, is she interested in learning? If yes, book some lessons.

People get good by playing and practising, not as a result of 'natural aptitude'.

If she is going to play, she needs lessons to learn to do it properly, so she can move on to tackle more demanding pieces. Otherwise she's likely to learn bad habits that will curtail her progress.

impressive. Get her some lessons!

At 10 they can make very fast progress, can she read music? That really helps. Dd got through 2 grades in the first 15 months at 10