Piano Lessons 3 yr old

[RKK]

Hi all,

I'm looking to connect with other parents embarking on teaching their pre-schooler the piano. Would be great to share tips and tricks with others!

R

We tried - her hands were way too small and fingers nowhere near strong enough, so we bought her a kids toy keyboard instead. She was never that interested and it turned out to be a waste of time.

Not helpful I know, sorry!

Far too young imo. I started at 8 and progressed well.

I think it's best to see if a child expresses an interest in playing an instrument. I tried teaching my son but he wasn't interested.

My dad insisted that I learned violin because he had but I didn't want to and wasn't very good at it. When I was 9 I saw somebody playing a cello at a local music festival and said I wanted to do that. I loved it and did well because it was my choice, not my parent's.

Mine started at 4. There are books specifically for young learners.

Don't expect much progress.

Sounds young. My wife was a professional pianist for 25 years and started at 6

You can start them at that age but find a teacher that uses a relevant system. E.g. Piano Adventures by Nancy Faber is decent.
I'd stay away from a keyboard as you don't want to get them used to a non-weighted keyboard. I also wouldn't teach them yourself as it's a LOT harder to unlearn bad technique!

My piano teacher would say that's too young.

Personally I wouldn't start before 5-6 though.

Our piano teacher doesn't start children before 6 so that their hands have more strength. You could do prep activities such as developing rhythm and a love of music.

One of mine started at 3, passed her first theory and practical exams the month of her 5th birthday and 100% in theory. Sorry for the boast but just to balance the No opinions.

🙄

I have a friend who teaches piano and music other instruments,and she says three is a good age to start an instrument, especially in a group setting

Does your friend think the piano is a good idea to start at 3? I would recommend more manageable instruments at that age.

@Zonder yes, but maybe she would say that, to get me to sign my 3 year old up 😂

However near to us there is a piano school that starts from 18 months! It's not a traditional method they use but it is a successful scheme

Oh yes my DD was in a group, she was the youngest as the others were 4 or 5. They all gradually dropped out so by 5 she was the lone survivor.

I would focus on singing and rhythm games at that age, hopefully in a group which is designed for that age. I think the progress you'd make for an average child ( not an actual protégé) between 3 and 6, you'd probably do in a year at age 7. Pianos are adult sized, there are lots of instruments that come in child sized versions like violin and cello. That said, piano does help with most other instruments. Mine didn't start until 8/9 ( can't remember exactly!)and did grade 8 age 16. You could always give it a go and pause till later if it's not fun for your child.

18 months?! 😂

My friend started piano at secondary school and did her grade 8 before leaving I think in year 12. She also played violin from being younger.

Ex prof musician here (though not piano). You would be much better off finding a good early years music programme that teaches Kodaly than starting instrumental lessons at 3.

5 is much better, and ime the more fluent their reading (words) the faster their progress in music.

LOL I can't imagine my grandson starting piano at 18 months - you'd have to get him to sit still first!

I started my eldest daughter at 5 and it was a little too young really. She was perfectly happy to play but practice is the key and that was tricky to build in until she was 6. First few weeks were fine but I do think piano gets tricky quite quickly and it can be very de-motivating if they’re too small and not coordinated enough.

Sounds from your message that you're planning to teach your child yourself? My DH is a pianist and piano teacher. He didn't have experience of teaching very young kids, but my daughter always showed an interest in bashing around on the piano, so last year when she was 3 he bought these 'Piano for preschoolers' books https://wunderkeys.com/. They involve a lot of games and fun things at the piano (eg naming all the fingers with animals and then using only one or the other of the animals to hit keys; clapping back rhythms; singing songs etc). She has really enjoyed them and fairly regularly asks to go and play 'piano games' with him (he lets her take the lead for when to do it).

In terms of more structured piano lessons, I think we will wait another year until she is 5 before starting. Before then, she goes to a lovely 'music and movement' class based on the principles of Edwin Gordon, which helps to instill principles of rhythm, pitch etc all in a really fun and relaxed manner, and is her favourite time of the week.

Let me know how you get on! Interested to hear all the takes on when is too early to start an instrument. I would be more on the side of older is better, but my DH says it all depends on interest and maturity level so maybe she'll be ready earlier - who knows!

DD1 is 5, I’ve started to introduce letters to her, we play games, listen to notes, repeat after me, all completely fun. Wunderkeys is a very fun programme with good progression, I’m aiming to start it properly with her toward the summer, I didn’t have structured lessons until I was 8.

DD2 loves to give it a bash, I often play her favourite songs on the piano. I sometimes play these songs but get a few notes wrong and see if she spots the mistake - which she always does and belly laughs! I play a note, she does.

As a child, I found lessons so incredibly boring so I’m all about making it fun while I can.

It was violin DD did at that age not piano, but what HanaPales says absolutely. Teaching a very little one is not the same as teaching an older child but slower, it needs to be done in an age-appropriate way. DD's violin teacher also had lots of games and fun.

There are also some advantages. Little kids don't mind repetition, they often quite like it. DD's teacher was particularly recommended for little ones and knew her stuff, but most of her pupils were still much older, and teacher often seemed a bit taken aback at DD's happiness to /not/ have anything new this week. Which was actually really good for her progress because if you are playing things you know well you can work on the actually important stuff like making a nice sound.
Another vote for Piano Adventures here. They have some extra slow paced books particularly targeted at little ones, and quite a lot of exploring the piano before they even talk about note reading. And ideal for parent-child as a lot of the early exercises have duet parts for the teacher and sound really cool together.
The nice thing about doing it at home if that's your plan, is there's no pressure to get anywhere or even do it particularly often, you can just sound it out and see how it goes.

Too young and only worth even contemplating if it’s child led.

Dcs teacher doesn’t start until five. I can see some value in starting early though if you can find somebody with the correct technique and your child is interested. One of my dc is very musical…dancing as a baby, trying to sing nursery rhymes and play them on the keyboard at the same time without any prompting before age 2, but didn’t start lessons until five.