Lessons for Beginners
Parents often ask “How old should my child be in order to start piano lessons?”
If a child knows the letters of the alphabet and is motivated to play the piano, I believe they are ready to begin. I currently teach students as young as kindergarten age. I also have beginning junior high students as well as beginning adults.
I have found that the first year of lessons are the most critical for beginning students. Students who are not properly trained from the start tend to develop bad habits that can be extremely difficult to break. Mental pathways and finger memory start to form from the first day of lessons. As an example, it can be extremely frustrating for students to learn to read music if they have been taught “position playing” where the thumb is almost always used to play “Middle C”. My philosophy of teaching results in strong music reading skills within the first year of lessons.
Young students can be a challenge for many piano teachers. Younger children especially struggle with sitting still, staying on the piano bench, and paying attention for the duration of the lesson. For this reason, I have developed a special curriculum that involves stories, activities, games, and toy animals that keeps the children’s attention. Rather than becoming bored, my beginning students are often heard saying “Can I play it again?”