Piano 4.5 year old

[Dahliaorangessweet]

Hello, my daughter started Reception in Sept and does piano lessons weekly at her school. my husband and I are not musical at all but she seems to be enjoying it and we would like to encourage her.

How best can we support her? We are thinking of getting a digital piano, should we practise with her on a daily basis? Any books we should get, how can we encourage musicality? I always wanted to learn as child but my parents couldn't afford it growing up, so maybe it's a chance for me to pick it up too!

Yes you definitely need some sort of piano /keyboard for her to practise at home.

Ask her teacher what book to get.

The best way to support her is regular practise together at home and learning along with her. It begins very easy to follow.

Good luck 🙂

This is definitely something to discuss with the piano teacher. I'm actually a bit shocked that they didn't discuss expectations with you up front. It's not normal to start instrumental lessons without an instrument to practise on at home and expectation of practising at least most days.

On the plus side if your daughter is already having fun without being able to practice, she'll probably love it and progress much faster with.

in terms of electric pianos, generally you want full sized 88 keys, and weighted touch sensitive keys so it feels as similar as possible to a real piano. But do ask teacher for recommendations, they'll be used to it.

Make it a game. My 3rd child is just 5, we never tell her to practice but she begs to play the piano because it's fun and her older sisters set a great example.

You can probably get a piano free or cheap from fb or a charity shop. That's all is needed for early practice. Make sure it is tuned regularly and see if she can recognise notes. If she wants to play piano then a keyboard, unless it's a fancy weighted one, doesn't replicate a real piano.

My kids have all found a paper piano helpful in the early days. Draw the stave above and the note that corresponds to the key as an early introduction to sight reading. A proper sized one can help with working out which notes to press because you can write on it.

Sounds like she's enjoying it! Music can be a lifelong hobby even if not your career , great she's able to start young. Aiming for daily practice is a great habit to get into, find the best time of day, whether before school or tea etc. If you aim for daily, and then you miss one or two, it's fine. Make the practice short and fun, ( might only be 5-10 minutes at this age/ stage) ask the teacher to write down what it should look like. You can also find some note reading game apps and maybe even rhythm practice ones. There are some good beginner theory books with stickers mine used, I'll try to find the title. Singing with her is good too. Find some family friendly concerts to go to so she can see and hear musicians. If you think she'd sit through a live orchestra of the film of the snowman, that is often on at this time of the year, paired with other family friendly pieces, or a local carol service/ concert. She might not stick with piano forever, lots of children want to add or swap to something they can play in a group but equally many love how satisfying and varied piano can be. It does take effective practice though, you can't expect progress without that. There is a great music thread on the extra curricular board, don't be put off by talking of conservatoires and grade exams, everyone started on page 1 of the book. There's no daft questions.

Music Theory for Young Children Book One, Second Edition (Poco Studio Music) : Ying Ying Ng: Amazon.co.uk: Books https://share.google/nJmt3Wcl5wjlgUI42

Here's the book. It suggests from five up so if you find it's too tricky,can leave it a few months.

Ask the teacher what materials she is planning on using, different books use different methods and will confuse her if you mix them. I’ve always used books that start off stave by fingers first then not names then introduce notation. She definitely needs a digital piano at the very least to practice on and in the early stages just enforce the habit of getting her to the piano most days and playing the pieces she does on the lesson. In time the teacher will give more guidance of what she expects from practice and how to do it.

You can probably get a piano free or cheap from fb or a charity shop.

Risky unless you know what you're doing and get very lucky. Pianos aren't easy to move, and the ones people give away are often old and un-tuneable. And gosh, where do you live that pianos turn up in charity shops? Never seen that! The occasional violin or guitar, never a piano, they're massive and too much risk of being a dud and occupying shop space forever.

Thank you so much for your responses! She does piano lessons at school, and she has Me and My Piano Part 1 edition book. @thirdfiddle the teacher only plays acoustic and I am keen for a digital at this stage, I have been looking at Roland FP10 so will likely get there. She only started mid September, oh dear have I been letting my daughter down by not practising at home?! I honestly don't even know where to start, as I never learnt it.

Don't panic, it's never too late to start practising! 😂

Absolutely you have not let her down, she's having fun and sticking at it so you are absolutely encouraging her. She will just make even more progress with reinforcement at home. Progress is never linear as well, she may seem stuck on one section for ages then suddenly things click. You could try learning alongside so you understand what she's doing, and encourage her to play for you and other family members to get used to sharing her music ( however basic at the start). Also, if she's happy you can occasionally video a tune so she can see the progress as sometimes they think they aren't getting better. It's just because the pieces get a little bit harder!

The Roland sounds ideal, should get her a good long way. And YY you haven't done anything wrong, I'm just surprised teacher didn't set things out up front. But it's all good, if she's managing without practice she will love it with! Maybe teacher gives beginners a grace period to see if they like it and set them up nicely with technique before asking to let them loose at home.

Thanks @Ubertomusic ! In the last half an hour, I have clicked buy and got the roland FP10! going to spend soem time going through the resources @horseymum mentioned and try the paper piano that @mustardrarebit mentioned! I feel completely unequipped and will need to go into full research mode 😂

You’ll be fine with me and piano, it takes 1 note at a time starting with middle C and the hand positions stay static for a very long time certainly within the first book so you’ll be able to help no problem.

Firstly, congratulations - your daughter is incredibly lucky to have such supportive parents.
A digital piano is great, as she'll be able to practice with headphones - still make a point of asking to listen to her playing and praising it though!
At this age, if she's enjoying playing piano and is learning which note is which and how to read music, that's brilliant.
Definitely check out the theory book a previous poster has suggested - a gentle introduction to music theory early on is really beneficial.
The previous suggestion re regular videos is also a great idea.