To think my DD is very talented at piano.

[MyNavyLurker]

My DD is 8 and is on a waiting list for piano lessons, but I’m wondering if anyone can tell me if this is a sign she has a natural talent or gift for the piano.

I bought her a beginners piano book and each day, she’ll spend about 20 minutes reading the lessons and working through the exercises and pieces. We have a book of Christmas carols. She is playing pieces with sharps, flats, hand movements etc and she is playing them really well.

If I am honest, I am not musical myself, so I’m totally blown away. She is learning a piece that’s two pages with two hands, sharps, movement of hands etc in only a couple of days of sitting for max 20 mins.

Maybe it’s just that thing of being amazed at what your own kids are capable of, but Im wondering if this is unusual to have this ability after only a couple of months since starting, and completely self taught using beginner books.

Please be kind, I’m aware it might be that thing where I’m just a proud mum. 😂

I seem to be going backwards haha! My poor teacher. I am sure he covers his ears and hopes for the best!

So she's taught herself to read music? Wow!

It can be both op. You can be amazed at your own children because they are yours, and she can be naturally talented too, which it sounds like she is. It will need to be nurtured though to get her to a point where she can perform and play the pieces she would like for pleasure as she gets older.

Are you waiting for school piano lessons? My DC is a teenager now, but we moved away from lessons in school time at secondary for various reasons. I'm paying slightly less now than the school price and have more flexibility and contact with the teacher. If you want to say your area I'm sure posters will help find some options.

Enjoy!

Definitely more than one teacher out there! She sounds like she has a natural affinity for it, but I wouldn't count your chickens.
Children often show an aptitude for something but then a year or two down the line, they get fed up with it and drop it... so I would keep a sense of proportion, and remember you're playing the long game here.

How lovely. Can you share a video? Not with her identified of course

My DS was similar at about that age.

I'd tried to teach him the basics, and he refused to believe there was any correlation between the blobs on the page and the keys on the piano.

I bought him a book anyway, and one Friday he said 'I'm going to teach myself the piano'. By the following Tuesday he was playing with two hands, and reading basic tunes. He went on to be a chorister, and did his grade 8 piano at 13.

So, yes - I think it sounds like she has a knack for it, and determination. Hard to tell how talented until she has lessons really... Which she should do soon to ensure correct fingering etc.

Pretty standard capability for the amount of effort she’s putting in. Can she pick any instrument up and play it with little to no instruction? I would consider this gifted.

Thanks everyone. It’s school lessons that she has been waiting for. I’ve just reached out on our local Facebook page for recommendations. Hopefully we will find her a teacher soon.

I suppose you are probably right. It’s probably the effort she is putting in that’s resulting in the great outcome so far. She understands the timing, can count out rhythms correctly, with longer and shorter beats (I only know this because she is playing songs I’m familiar with). I’m just impressed at how determined she is and that she has achieved this with no adult instruction. I suppose kids have an amazing capacity for learning new skills.

Definitely get an outside teacher, for a beginner it'll be much better than school lessons IME. Not that the teachers aren't good but its term time only and generally only half an hour. Its really important for her to not get into bad habits also as that will really hinder her learning harder stuff.

Its great she has the motivation, especially at a young age that will help her hugely. My DS1 was the same, he had lessons on guitar but spent hours learning new stuff himself also. He managed to make it his job also. My DS2 had natural ability but no concentration span to practice so never really got anywhere with it.

My DS is self taught
The thing that him and your daughter have is a curiosity about music and a desire to learn and that’s priceless

DS is now 17 and doing music at college, he’s always exploring and listening to different music and we’ve exposed it to him as a family

Lots of good advice etc on this thread but I’d recommend taking her to see live music and spending time with her listening to stuff

You’re right to be proud of her 😊

The thing is - talent and motivation are practically the same thing in my opinion. If you are motivated to practise then you WILL achieve! Obviously some people are more 'musical' than others (good working memory, sense of pitch etc) but absolutely the key thing is to be willing to keep at it.

She sounds like she has real natural talent OP, you should definitely help her nurture it! How lovely.
My husband is like this, he can play absolutely anything after a few minutes of figuring it out. He just understands it in a way I never have. Its a real gift.

I don’t think you can post videos on mumsnet.

You can upload to youtube and share a link - if its a private link then its only visible to people you give the link to (so not THAT private if you post it here, but it wouldn't just come up on youtube to general users).

I play piano. I can say she sounds bright, musical and determined. She may or may not be great at piano or have an ongoing interest. It's definitely worth a go. She might prefer being self taught and autonomous and often classical piano is about precision- what would mozart want. So if she doesn't take to it as you though, go for band lessons or something like that too/instead.

Amazing. My 8 year old cant even sit still let alone play a piano. Well done to her.👏

Does your local council have a music service - it might be worth reaching out to them to see if they provide a service to schools or have teachers.

It certainly sounds like she has an aptitude or at least an enjoyment for it. Maybe get her the next book in the series so she can see what comes next.
It's also probably worth doing some listening and playing e.g. can she play back a tune she's heard.

Playing by ear is a skill you don't always learn from self teaching and I really wish I had taught myself to do it as it's much harder to learn as an adult.

And learning to read music at such a young age is invaluable - she'll.never lose that skill!

I did wonder about her possibly preferring being self taught. At the moment, she is the one asking for a teacher, so hopefully this is a good sign that she might actually enjoy having someone to learn from, although she does like to do things on her own terms. We’ll see. 😄

Talented girl!

My DD didn't want to do exams after the first couple of grades but still continued to have lessons and enjoyed practicing and teaching herself too. Be led by what your DD wants. It's so lovely when you discover an unexpected talent in your DC. I remember being bowled over listening to her.

I think that’s important! I don’t want to make it a chore for her, so will follow her lead. ☺️

Only Mumsnet has people saying this sort of thing 🤣

Teaching oneself to read music isn’t easy. Jealousy isn’t a good look. Or do you just like dimming people’s light? A bit sad….