Piano teaching for 3yo

[Jellycatrabbit]

I promise I'm not a pushy mum!

Both dh and I play the piano fairly well (I'm grade 8 and dh has his frcs). Consequently ds who is 3y4m is really interested.

I feel its much too early to start him on proper lessons (and I can't really afford it) so wondering if anyone can point me towards resources we can use with him at home?

We do a lot of singing and clapping, playing notes in time, higher and lower- basically early aural training. I have a few beginners books (tune a day, piano time) but he can't read yet so they aren't helping!

Above all i want to keep it fun and retain his enthusiasm for when he is old enough to start formal lessons, probably when he starts school at nearly 5.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Look for a musicianship type class (Kodaly/Dalcroze are good keywords for searches in your local area). Classes based on this are a really good foundation for learning musical instruments when ready (I'd recommend around 5 or 6).

Some teachers also specialise in early years musicianship.

Colourstrings (naturally leads to violin) has singing rascals resources. Jolly Music might be worth a look too.

Will he copy simple melodies by ear - familiar nursery rhymes rather than tune a day?

Thank you

Yes he can identify familiar tunes if I play them to him (what's this? It's twinkle twinkle) and can do a fairly good job of singing in time, although a little tuneless at the moment.

There are Kodaly classes near us but they are sadly very expensive. (Currently on maternity leave so probably a good option for the future)

The colourstrings resources look great and just the sort of thing I am after for now!

You could investigate Wunderkeys, if you have lots of time and energy for doing preschool piano lessons yourself.

A lot of your DC's success on the piano, rather than the musicianship activities you describe which sound great, will depend at this stage on your DC's dexterity and co-ordination. But your DS could probably play the bunches of black keys with his fists, with his fingers loosely folded under his hand, if you know what I mean while you play something in the key of Gb.

Getting to know his way round the keyboard by knowing which note is which using the pattern of the black keys to find the Cs and Fs first would be useful for him.

Singing little songs with the names of the keys will be very helpful,

eg C D E F GGG

G F E D CCC

and reciting A B C D E F G A BC etc and doing it backwards will be very helpful.

Knowing which finger is which will be helpful. Get him to tap his thumbs together, second fingers together etc

You can buy a whiteboard with a giant stave for about £3 if you wanted to start with note reading. Put buttons or Lego pieces on the lines and in the spaces. Count the lines and spaces etc.

Then when his little hands are a bit bigger and stronger he can really get going with actual playing.

I love you’re inspiring the interest in him so early.

In addition to a teacher can I just emphasise how important it is to give him free access to the piano… even when you want to rip your ear drums out and the clunking it all promotes a fantastic relationship with music.

Do you do much free learning with him at home as it is? Does he have a lot of interest? There are some excellent tutorials for young children on YouTube… perhaps teach him some very basic bits and see where you go from there? I would reach out to your local music shop if you have one? We have a fantastic independent music store in our city and they ALWAYS have amazing tutor recommendations.

mibbelucieachwell thank you those are just the types of exercises I was looking for. He already knows the Cs and Fs so lots more to explore there.

Bootothegoose it's a digital piano so he can have as long as he likes with the headphones on once he's lost concentration with us.

We do lots of learning through play stuff like counting and maths with toys, painting and drawing words, which he loves. Lots to think about to extend those principles to the piano!

What about the Dogs and Birds piano method? I think it's for ages 4-7 but if he's really interested, it might be OK. It's based on Kodaly I think with lots of aural skills, and uses lots of pictures and visual cues as well when it comes to the music reading part.

You might have a look at the Piano Adventures primer book. I thought this was great for young DC as it starts off teaching them to play some patterns using the whole keyboard and not using notation till later in the book. With duet parts for the adult so it sounds really cool, and ideal if you play yourselves.

I taught DS piano for a bit before he wanted proper lessons, he was 5 but not as focussed as DD was at 3 (DD did want and got violin lessons at 3). We didn't go as fast as with a real teacher but he did learn some stuff.

I don't think it's you being a bad teacher, it's hard to get into the habit if you're feeling a bit tentative about doing it at all and whether they're too young.

I think if you want to have a go, pick a book to follow (does it matter if he can't read it? you can!), try to sit down together and do a couple of minutes at the same time every day. We had a star chart where we'd stick a sticker for each piece DD practiced.

One advantage of being 3 is they don't get bored. You don't need to worry about progressing through a book at any particular pace or getting onto harder things unless he seems to want that. I remember DD's teacher kept feeling she had to offer DD something new because she thought she'd be bored, but actually DD wanted to keep playing the piece she'd already learned as she knew it now, liked it and it sounded good.

Third fiddle thank you that looks like a good book. The ones we have seem quite focused on reading music which isn't that helpful.

Yes I definitely recognise the not being bored with the same pieces and exercises. Like reading the same bedtime story over and over!

I started at three but my hands were too small, so stopped until I was five. In the meantime I played glockenspiel and learned to read music.

Drumming (on any suitable surface) is good for coordination and rhythmic awareness too.

Eg on Bongos L R R. LR R while you play a waltz or whatever.

I start my students at 4. I actually think it's better to start younger and you see the results in two years when your dc is playing and others are just starting.

However I really suggest you do a lot of research on your piano teachers, not all start at this age and if they agree to teach your dc, ask if they are familiar with a dc because for me I teach a 4yo quite a lot differently to even a 6yo.

I think little and often is probably the way to go. My daughter started at 5 and the biggest thing is definitely concentration. Also realised fairly early on that her recognition of capital letters was a bit ropey (I assumed all totally fine as she was reading pretty well but generally lower case). It took a while for her to grasp that learning to play was quite slow going and less gratifying initially compared to bashing out any old notes on the keyboard.

I’d go into it with pretty low expectations of what a 3yo will tolerate in terms of formal learning from you and as long as it’s fun, treat anything he picks up as a bonus.

Thank you. Yes we have both seen children put under too much pressure and coming to resent musical training so really keen to avoid that. Definitely trying to keep it fun, but also varied and exposed to lots of useful groundwork.

The musical whiteboard is proving very popular!

Aww how cute.

I used to sing each note of a scale either major or chromatic depending on how many steps on each step of stairs to my baby/toddlers. Happy times.

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My child started at 3 as a grandparent insisted they wanted to pay for lessons. They had a great teacher who followed Wunderkeys and I would say they are musical. However, they are now 7 and have just passed Initial grade piano (pre grade 1). They did get a distinction. They will most likely take grade 1 next year. I'm therefore not sure they are much further ahead (if any) than they would have been if they started at 5 but they enjoy it so I haven't worried about whether it was worth it.

I started both my DCs on piano at 3 (almost 4). No external teacher (but I did grade 8 and lessons above that). Both were up to grade 1 standard in about 18 months then roughly a grade's progress every 6-8 months, so up to grade 5 by age 7-8.
Young children taking e.g. 4 years to reach grade 1 are generally getting weekly external lessons rather than daily input from an adult musician in the home. At the start, the rate of progress depends a lot on the degree and frequency of adult input.

My dd did Suzuki violin from 3, she switched to traditional teaching at 5, plays in a semi pro orchestra now, she did piano later and got to grade 8 quicker

Get him to improvise using only black notes. You can put a drone underneath and whatever he plays will sound good.

You can do call and response type things, eg

Your LH

G b and D b : minim, crotchet, crotchet ostinato

Your RH

2 bars of black notes to make a short phrase, then 2 bars rest

DS

Plays balck notes of his choice in your 2 bar RH rest. Idea would be he "answers" your RH, stays in time and understands the turn taking idea.

Should have said "answer" would not be "copy", just something that fits the pulse/ is in 4/4.

You can vary it to be in 3/4.

You can also vary dynamics that he has to copy.