Many parents wonder, "Will my child have to unlearn piano by number when they go on to read music?" It's a good question, but it has a very simple answer, which I apologize for posing in the form of a question: did you have to unlearn using training wheels on your bicycle?
No, you didn't, because the training wheels were just a way for you to feel comfortable with the bicycle, and the moment you were able to ride without their support, all memory of those training wheels faded away. It's exactly like that with piano by number. All the children we've taught make a smooth transition to reading music and have only a dim memory of piano by number.
But the point is that these children played piano long enough in the beginning, thanks to piano by number, to be able to grow slowly and enjoy the benefits of simply making music at the piano before they were inundated with the task of learning to read music.
There is, of course, a huge difference between riding a bicycle and playing a piano, and, yes, playing piano is infinitely more difficult.
But logic dictates that the harder a subject is, the more generous and careful the initial approach to the student must be, especially when those students are very young and just gaining the motor and perceptive skills necessary to start to play the piano.
All that matters is that the child enjoys starting to play the piano, by whatever method, and is also slowly taught how to read music while simultaneously enjoying the benefits of simply PLAYING music at the piano.
It is important for the parent or teacher to never, ever, allow the child to feel like a failure at playing.
An important point to emphasize is that you can only lose the battle of the piano once: once your child feels defeated, they won't want to play, and if they do, they will do so grudgingly. That's simply human nature. So how is a teacher or parent to proceed?
Better to lower the bar slightly, sometimes dramatically, and proceed slowly rather than demand too much too soon and deflate the child's enthusiasm. It takes a creative teacher to do this, and almost all teachers prefer, instead, to follow the steps, page to page, in the standard music texts, a process which bores children, even those who are the most diligent and cooperative.
There are several reasons why piano teachers take this "page to page" approach.First and foremost, it is easier for the teacher to proceed using this "page to page" method. If the teacher follows a text alone, there is no room for error: the child either learns what's on the page or is made to feel like a failure to some degree and risks the teacher's disapproval.
But what about the child's point of view of that same piano lesson that goes from "page to page?" In the child's mind, perhaps, they are asking, while this hypothetical conventional piano lesson is proceeding, "Why is this so boring? I thought music was this fun stuff that sounded good...."
After all, that is a child's perception of music as we present it to them before piano lessons: music is fun and we sway and dance and sing to it as toddlers.
But now you want this same child to suddenly make music by reading it off of a page. And the result is that predictable 90% failure rate for which conventional piano lessons are famous.
We all know children are impatient, and may only dimly understand the concept of deferred gratification.
But conventional lessons take the concept of deferred gratification to an unacceptable degree, a degree that totally ignores the psychology of children.
Another way of stating it is that it is ridiculous to assume that very young children should be introduced to the piano as if the end desired is to have them play at Carnegie Hall. The regimen this misconception imposes upon children beginning piano lessons is all but unbearable for the kids.
You should be glad to see your child happily experimenting with this most grand of musical instruments, and leave the thoughts of Carnegie Hall and the standards of conventional piano teachers behind: all that matters is that your child enjoys the piano and wants to do it more.
The proof of this is in the statistics: it is generally accepted that 90% of children starting piano will quit. But they don't quit for the reason you might assume.Most people assume kids quit because conventional lessons are too difficult, and that is partly true; the piano is hard for most kids unless you bend over backwards to make them take baby steps toward playing, all the while not diminishing any natural enthusiasm for music they may have.
But the real reason children quit is the imbalance between fun and learning in the conventional piano lesson, with the emphasis on learning straight from the book.
But what if the emphasis were reversed? What if a piano lesson consisted of mostly fun, rather than drudgery, and the work was interspersed with games and explorations of sound, rhythm and chords?
The result of this approach is that the child relaxes, and starts to try to get the idea of the rather difficult concepts being presented. But the teacher must be creative, every minute of the lesson, rather than relying on the books to fill up that half hour. No teacher will ever willingly tell you this.
Don't you, as parents, remember your lessons as a child? Almost all parents report to us that they hated their childhood lessons, but still want to learn to play, and want their children to learn, too.
The first step to success, in my view, is to give your child a tool that they can use BY THEMSELVES, a system so simple that they can move forward on their own steam, exploring the piano as a musical toy without teachers, parents or anyone but themselves if they wish.
And there's only one piano method that allows children to use the piano by themselves at first, specifically, and that is Piano by Number.
The reason for this is that numbers are, for all practical purposes, the first method that a child uses to order their world.
Remember "This Little Piggy?" a basic counting game? Were you teaching your child to count to five, or that they had five digits? In either case, consciously or not, you were teaching them NUMBERS, and you were both having fun doing it!
Counting verbally usually comes before letter perception in terms of child development.
Numbers are very deeply ingrained in children's minds, it's just part of how we grow up.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com/ to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Start Piano by Number
The idea of playing piano by numbers has been around for a long time. In fact, numbering the keys is just an extension of numbering the fingers, which was first done by Carl Czerny early in the 19th Century.
In the 1950's, there was the Emenee organ, a keyboard which had numbers printed on the keys, and a book of songs "by number" to go with it. There were even "play by color" products. The concept was always to find a quick way to get people started playing the keyboard.The reason for this is that reading conventional sheet music is not easy, not for adults, and certainly not for children. Why should starting piano be "easy?"
Talk to most conventional teachers and they'll say that music is serious and difficult, and piano cannot be made easy for beginners. The truth is that piano students have historically had an 80+% quit rate. 8 out of 10 quit within the first year! Why? The teachers blame the kids, but perhaps the teachers are to blame. Do you know any method for anything that has an 80% failure rate and calls itself a success? A golf swing? A sewing pattern? A diet regime? It's supposed to work!
Here are a few figures from my private teaching practice: 90 out of 100 children who start piano by numbers are still playing a year later, almost all having made the transition to conventional sheet music. And almost all of those continue, year after year, because they are allowed to learn at their own pace, and started having fun with the piano right away. Who cares if a child who would normally have quit piano is happily playing songs by number and a few pieces of sheet music a year later? The choice is to have that child quit music altogether.
If a piano method does not work, the method is wrong, it's as simple as that. The professionals tell you otherwise, but common sense tells you this is true: if a piano method does not work, the method is wrong,
But why use numbers to teach beginning piano? What is there about conventional music notation (sheet music) that so confuses almost everyone, and specifically children? The answer is that numbers are understood by everyone. Numbers are essentially one-dimensional, whereas conventional sheet music incorporates concepts from many dimensions to convey the information necessary to play, say, Jingle Bells. Conventional sheet music and conventional music teachers demand that a child comprehend at least four things in order to "succeed:"
Find the correct piano keys to play (a big task for a child)Be able to use the correct names for these piano keys (hard to remember)Use the correct fingers to play those keys (even harder, especially at first)Play those piano keys at exactly the correct point in time (add this to the above three)
These four elements are overwhelming to all but the most musically gifted children. Is music only for the musically gifted, or should everyone be able to play piano at their own ability? Kids are often devastated by failure at this ridiculous, conventional system.
No wonder they quit. I'm not saying that the above four elements aren't necessary, I'm saying that almost all children don't respond to this conventional system as a starting point.
We need a better starting point for children and the piano. Playing piano "by numbers" requires only one thing: play the correct piano key as best you can. Believe me, after watching thousands of kids, this is hard enough to do well. It's a great place to start for everyone. Just press the numbered keys so that it sounds like the song you know.
Music isn't just for musicians and teachers and stars and artists and record companies, it's also for children, an essential part of childhood.
But why "piano by numbers?
The basis of musical construction is mathematical. No one asks kids to start math class in the first grade solving algebraic formula. We let them start adding and subtracting for YEARS until we ask more. Piano by numbers gives children the same "gentle start." It's only logical to start at their level.
Numbers are an essential part of music. When we "number" the piano keys with stickers we do no more than denote the classical "intervals." The numbers that kids learn with this system are the same as the numerical assignments given to the relation between piano keys by classical music. When a child plays the piano key #1 and the key #5, they are playing the same combination of keys known as a "fifth" in classical music.
Everything learned playing piano "by number" will be of value when making the transition to conventional sheet music. Playing "by number" is a reinforcement of classical technique, a "prequel" that conventional teachers have unwittingly left out, to the unintentional detriment of their students.
It's important for children to get started easily, and successfully. I'm not advocating lowering the bar for everything and forever, only for the first year that a child starts music study. The benefits are enormous.
Preview the elements involved in playing piano "by number"
Your child will play a single line of numbers, from left to right like a book. There are no other symbols to decipher. There are no chords and no accompaniment. The child is not expected to play with both hands unless this is what comes to them naturally. The object is to have the child make the piano produce the tones of a song they can recognize.
Recognition is the key: just watch the smile on their face as they realize they are actually playing
a song they know. It's an instant increase in self-esteem, and I have the pleasure of seeing it every day
I've put the stickers on the piano, now what do I do?
You should put the stickers on the piano with your child. Kids emulate what you do. If you play piano and are involved, they will want to do the same. I can't emphasize this enough. Even if you only try playing at the beginning, the sight of you trying piano is enough to let them know that they should try it, too. Make the launch as fun as possible.
Open the book to the songs and try one yourself so you know what it's like. YOU are the teacher.
You need to see what the children are attempting to do. Playing piano by number is so easy for adults that you'll get the idea in a few seconds.
It doesn't matter which finger or hand you use. If you or your child use one finger, most likely the index finger, that's fine. The point is to start playing. It's better to play with one finger than be confused by a flurry of commands and not play at all.
Here's a very important tip: lavish praise on your child. Tell them they are great for playing Jingle Bells. Tell them you want to hear another song. Tell them you want still another, if they seem still excited. Be amazed. It is amazing. Sit with them and listen to them. Be involved.
Stay directly involved until your child seems to be firmly launched, playing song after song on their own. Then back away and let them do it by themselves. If they need help, there's nothing so complicated that you can't help them figure it out. Piano "by number" is that easy, and satisfying to a child.
My object in private teaching is to make a child into a "tinkerer." A tinkerer is a child who:
Plays the piano a little bit every time they go past oneLikes to try out new songs
Doesn't worry about anyone else's opinion of their playing
Tries to play songs they hear on TV or elsewhere
Is confident and curious about the piano
Thinks piano is easy
Makes up their own songs
A piano weighs perhaps at least an average of 500-700 pounds. Are there any other 700 pound pieces of furniture your child has exclusive control of in your home? My point is that just playing Jingle Bells on a 700-pound monster is enough to raise the self-esteem of the most humble child. Never express disapproval.
The only mistake your child can make is to not play the piano. Praise, praise, and then when they are bored, go play the piano yourself. They'll keep coming back, and so will you.
The phrase, "Piano Is Easy!" was in fact the expression of one of my students. I asked a child, after about a month, "Well, Dave, how's it going? Still like piano?"
Dave, about seven years old, said, "Piano is easy!" with a smile that indicated anybody knows that silly piano stuff. I had the title for the book, right there. Thanks, Dave.
By the way, Dave now reads music, plays simple Bach pieces and sight-reads any easy piece of conventional sheet music I put in front of him. Yes, it took two years. But Dave plays (not practices) the piano without being told, because it's a fun activity.
Dave was allowed to discover that piano is fun, even for people who can't read conventional sheet music at first. In my estimation, Dave had a 100% chance of being one of those "quitters" if I hadn't started him with numbers, and then used numbers carefully to prepare his transition to sheet music. I always tried to find HIS level, and help him move up at his own speed.
How do you teach a child at first? To be honest, I make a game of everything. Kids are always scared and intimidated by the idea of "piano lessons." (In the interest of accuracy, I make only "house calls." I am that rarest of teachers who travels to the child's house and teaches them where they feel most comfortable, at home.)
You have to demystify piano lessons as quickly as possible, and get the fun started. After the kids memorize the location of Middle C, I start playing familiar songs right away.
All you have to do is say, "Dave, play the piano keys that are numbered, just like in the book." The kids play familiar songs like Jingle Bells right away. In fact, I've never had a kid who couldn't play Jingle Bells in the first two minutes of their first lesson. And then five more songs.
And then ten and then twenty.
One important point: I break any tension with jokes and fun and playing silly songs myself as soon as I see the child begin to wander, and kids will wander. Thinking about music is hard work, so break it up with fun. As soon as a child has a small taste of fun (a silly song) they're ready for a little more work.
Fun, work, fun, work. Watch their faces and you'll see exactly which one is right for the moment.
The kids will show you what to do! Keep leading them back to the task, for short periods, and they will follow, because music has its own inherent fun. Kids and music, work and fun, in simple combination, are a natural partnership.
PIANO IS EASY and THE CHRISTMAS CAROL KIT are intended as an ideal starting point for children's music study. Almost all children can and should make a transition from numbers to playing conventional sheet music. For example, there are gifted kids I teach who have Attention Deficit Disorder, and I allow them to play by number as long as it takes me to get them feeling secure about deciphering sheet music.
I try every lesson to move forward with reading music, and if the child isn't ready for the transition, we stop and go have fun with games and counting and numbers. This patient "bait and switch" method, in my estimation, always works, with any child.
Numbers are like training wheels on your kid's bike. When they're comfortable with taking them off, you'll be the first to know about it.
Perhaps only the eye of a professional will be able to determine the exact moment for this transition from numbers to conventional sheet music. I also recognize that almost all parents don't have the luxury of a teacher coming to their home once a week. But the principles are the same.
How will you know when your child is ready? As a general rule, later is always better than sooner. Give your child the chance to explore the piano at their own pace. If the kids seem to lose interest, you should renew your interest. If they see you keep trying to play piano, they will keep trying, too.
In fact, one element I look for in finding candidates for this transition to conventional sheet music is arrogance: I want a child to say, "This number stuff is too EASY!" That's when kids are ready for conventional sheet music.
Remember that by this time (every child differs, a week, a month to a year) any child will be able to play dozens of songs by number from memory, and dozens more with the book in front of them. A child who has had a positive initial experience with piano, and who already knows their way around the piano, is a much better candidate for conventional music teaching than a child who is simply thrown into complex conventional piano lessons and expected to succeed.
How far can piano by numbers take my child? Piano by numbers, if introduced by a parent or understanding teacher, offers the best possible starting platform. There's no confusion, discipline or force involved.
Do I have to use more than PIANO IS EASY to get started? Absolutely not. We've created an entire system in case exploring "piano by number" meets the long term needs of our students.
The average child benefits by being able to start playing piano in a positive atmosphere, starting with perhaps PIANO IS EASY or THE CHRISTMAS CAROL KIT, and then proceeding to I CAN READ MUSIC. Here are some of the benefits of starting a child playing piano by numbers:
Start learning piano at home where a child feels comfortableUse a system which is immediately understandable: numbersBuild confidence with simple, barely perceptible, gradual steps If all your child gains in starting piano "by number" is a positive attitude towards piano, everyone is a winner. The goal is to see your child start playing piano in a positive atmosphere, and then perhaps go on to private lessons.
I'm not advocating playing piano "by number" for more than the initial experience. In my private practice, I use "numbers" to start the child, and then, as we get started with conventional sheet music, numbers are used as a way of defusing the tension kids feel in learning the more complex art of reading conventional sheet music.
Practical advice for parents: do's and don'ts
Do encourage your child Don't criticize their playing
Do sit and listen to them play Don't demand that they "practice."
Do ask them to "play" the piano
Don't set a time limit, such as "Practice half an hour." If a child doesn't do it under their own steam, it's pointless to force them. Five minutes a day is all that a child needs, if it's fun.
Do play piano yourself. I teach in homes everyday where the youngest ones are eager to try piano because Mom does it, Dad likes it, and the older kids play as well.
Don't take playing piano so seriously. If you think it's fun, your kids will, too.
Do this if your child seems to not want to try it: go over to the piano and start trying it yourself. You'd be surprised how quickly your child decides that they want to do it, too.
Don't even think of Carnegie Hall.
Don't apply any pressure whatsoever. If you push kids too hard, they turn off right away, and it's hard, if not impossible, to get them back. Do think about a private teacher for your child if they show interest. But not for a while. Let the child explore the piano on their own.
Don't expect your child to understand things like using the "correct fingers" or playing "in rhythm." All you want at first is to have your child enjoy sitting at that great big piano for a few minutes a day.
There will be lots of time to pursue further interest if and when your child decides they want to take lessons. And when they start those lessons, they'll already have a relationship with the instrument. It's much easier to interest a child in conventional music study when they think they already can play!
Do make games out of everything connected to music:
"You play a song, then Mom will play a song.""Let's see who can play Jingle Bells the fastest without any mistakes.""Let's each play our favorite song.""Let's play the song backwards!" (Kids love this one!)
"I'm going to try a song using both hands.""I'm going to play three songs, and you play three songs.""Does this song sound happy or sad?""I'm going to use lots of different fingers on this song." "Let's play name that tune.""Let's play musical chairs."
Don't be impatient. Don't expect anything, and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Expect lots of conventional accomplishment and your child will lose interest as soon as they see they cannot please you. Make it easy to please you.
Mom and Dad say you have to practice. One case comes to mind, regarding forcing kids to "practice." I had a student, six, who was a great, zesty boy, clumsy and sensitive and athletic and curious. I used all my usual methods to get him started. He became a tinkerer, making up little songs, always playing a few minutes every day or so.
He was progressing well enough toward learning the first five notes of the conventional sheet music staff. I never gave him assignments, or homework, but I always brought him new conventional sheet music which he had the option of exploring that week. He always tried the pieces I left him.
After five months he was intrigued by a silly beginner's song called "My Wigwam" and played it at home, according to his Mom's account, 500 times a day. His Dad hated this song. I tried to get the parents to see that it was important for the child to memorize and own a song that he liked. I advised them to grin and bear it, be thankful you have a child who goes to the piano under his own steam, with no one nagging him to practice.
But Dad instituted a new program, demanded assignments and started forcing the child to practice half an hour a day, with Dad watching sternly, which was very uncomfortable for this child who thought it was fun to play the piano by himself.
After two weeks, I watched the child give up and want to quit. I told the child that he didn't have to play piano if he didn't want to, that it should be fun, and that maybe he would start again some day. This was a child who had waited by the living room window for me to arrive for our crazy, fun lessons for five months.
After a month the parents decided that piano "Just wasn't for him." How do I choose a piano teacher? Very carefully. Look for the following list. Some elements below are obviously hard to find, but you won't find them unless you look for them.
Look for a teacher that has a fun, warm manner. Don't choose that great teacher down the block that everyone says is great but has a distant, professional manner. You can come back to that teacher when your child shows promise and is older. Start with someone friendly, professional and skilled with children.
Look for someone with the patience of a kindergarten teacher.
You need someone who is willing to go slowly, who doesn't emphasize accomplishment as much as very patient skill building. The truth is that music and piano study is hard, and it takes a brilliant, patient teacher to inspire kids. Look for a teacher who also teaches music theory to kids, not just piano, and has a reputation for making music theory fun. Kids like to know how music works from the inside, but it takes unbelievable patience on the part of the teacher.
Try to find a teacher who will come to your home. This is not easy or inexpensive, but for a beginning child, it is often the difference between getting started and quitting. A child is most comfortable at home. You can see and evaluate the teacher's manner and "method." From the child's point of view, you've never seen a child as uncomfortable as a beginner sitting in a stranger's music studio, unless the teacher really has a handle on putting kids at ease with games and fun.
If you can't find a "house call" teacher, ask to sit outside the teacher's studio room until the child feels comfortable. It's hard enough to comprehend music, much less do so with a stranger in a strange house. Make your child as comfortable as possible.
Here's my most important point. Listen to your child. If they say again and again that they don't like lessons, that it's too hard, get another teacher and start over. Kids don't lie about this: if they say piano is too hard very often, the method is wrong. Get another, more sympathetic teacher.
Every child is unique, and too many teachers forget this in their passion to teach their "method."
I'd rather have a child love the piano and happily play six simple songs than hate piano as they play some complex piece like a robot performing pointless drudgery.
There's time enough to work on the hard stuff after a child is inspired to do so.
In conclusion:
A child who has a positive start on the piano at home is more likely to make the transition to private lessons outside the home.
In former times, before radio and television, the piano was the entertainment center for the family. The whole family at least tried to play an instrument.
I believe beginning to play piano "by numbers" helps move a family toward that perhaps unattainable but noble ideal. There can be only a good result from more people discovering the pleasures of the piano and music, no matter how humble their current abilities.
It's better to start playing piano with a simple system than to be confused with a flurry of conventional commands and thus quit trying altogether.
What I try to do as a teacher is to communicate the excitement I felt for the piano as a child to each and every child as an individual.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
In the 1950's, there was the Emenee organ, a keyboard which had numbers printed on the keys, and a book of songs "by number" to go with it. There were even "play by color" products. The concept was always to find a quick way to get people started playing the keyboard.The reason for this is that reading conventional sheet music is not easy, not for adults, and certainly not for children. Why should starting piano be "easy?"
Talk to most conventional teachers and they'll say that music is serious and difficult, and piano cannot be made easy for beginners. The truth is that piano students have historically had an 80+% quit rate. 8 out of 10 quit within the first year! Why? The teachers blame the kids, but perhaps the teachers are to blame. Do you know any method for anything that has an 80% failure rate and calls itself a success? A golf swing? A sewing pattern? A diet regime? It's supposed to work!
Here are a few figures from my private teaching practice: 90 out of 100 children who start piano by numbers are still playing a year later, almost all having made the transition to conventional sheet music. And almost all of those continue, year after year, because they are allowed to learn at their own pace, and started having fun with the piano right away. Who cares if a child who would normally have quit piano is happily playing songs by number and a few pieces of sheet music a year later? The choice is to have that child quit music altogether.
If a piano method does not work, the method is wrong, it's as simple as that. The professionals tell you otherwise, but common sense tells you this is true: if a piano method does not work, the method is wrong,
But why use numbers to teach beginning piano? What is there about conventional music notation (sheet music) that so confuses almost everyone, and specifically children? The answer is that numbers are understood by everyone. Numbers are essentially one-dimensional, whereas conventional sheet music incorporates concepts from many dimensions to convey the information necessary to play, say, Jingle Bells. Conventional sheet music and conventional music teachers demand that a child comprehend at least four things in order to "succeed:"
Find the correct piano keys to play (a big task for a child)Be able to use the correct names for these piano keys (hard to remember)Use the correct fingers to play those keys (even harder, especially at first)Play those piano keys at exactly the correct point in time (add this to the above three)
These four elements are overwhelming to all but the most musically gifted children. Is music only for the musically gifted, or should everyone be able to play piano at their own ability? Kids are often devastated by failure at this ridiculous, conventional system.
No wonder they quit. I'm not saying that the above four elements aren't necessary, I'm saying that almost all children don't respond to this conventional system as a starting point.
We need a better starting point for children and the piano. Playing piano "by numbers" requires only one thing: play the correct piano key as best you can. Believe me, after watching thousands of kids, this is hard enough to do well. It's a great place to start for everyone. Just press the numbered keys so that it sounds like the song you know.
Music isn't just for musicians and teachers and stars and artists and record companies, it's also for children, an essential part of childhood.
But why "piano by numbers?
The basis of musical construction is mathematical. No one asks kids to start math class in the first grade solving algebraic formula. We let them start adding and subtracting for YEARS until we ask more. Piano by numbers gives children the same "gentle start." It's only logical to start at their level.
Numbers are an essential part of music. When we "number" the piano keys with stickers we do no more than denote the classical "intervals." The numbers that kids learn with this system are the same as the numerical assignments given to the relation between piano keys by classical music. When a child plays the piano key #1 and the key #5, they are playing the same combination of keys known as a "fifth" in classical music.
Everything learned playing piano "by number" will be of value when making the transition to conventional sheet music. Playing "by number" is a reinforcement of classical technique, a "prequel" that conventional teachers have unwittingly left out, to the unintentional detriment of their students.
It's important for children to get started easily, and successfully. I'm not advocating lowering the bar for everything and forever, only for the first year that a child starts music study. The benefits are enormous.
Preview the elements involved in playing piano "by number"
Your child will play a single line of numbers, from left to right like a book. There are no other symbols to decipher. There are no chords and no accompaniment. The child is not expected to play with both hands unless this is what comes to them naturally. The object is to have the child make the piano produce the tones of a song they can recognize.
Recognition is the key: just watch the smile on their face as they realize they are actually playing
a song they know. It's an instant increase in self-esteem, and I have the pleasure of seeing it every day
I've put the stickers on the piano, now what do I do?
You should put the stickers on the piano with your child. Kids emulate what you do. If you play piano and are involved, they will want to do the same. I can't emphasize this enough. Even if you only try playing at the beginning, the sight of you trying piano is enough to let them know that they should try it, too. Make the launch as fun as possible.
Open the book to the songs and try one yourself so you know what it's like. YOU are the teacher.
You need to see what the children are attempting to do. Playing piano by number is so easy for adults that you'll get the idea in a few seconds.
It doesn't matter which finger or hand you use. If you or your child use one finger, most likely the index finger, that's fine. The point is to start playing. It's better to play with one finger than be confused by a flurry of commands and not play at all.
Here's a very important tip: lavish praise on your child. Tell them they are great for playing Jingle Bells. Tell them you want to hear another song. Tell them you want still another, if they seem still excited. Be amazed. It is amazing. Sit with them and listen to them. Be involved.
Stay directly involved until your child seems to be firmly launched, playing song after song on their own. Then back away and let them do it by themselves. If they need help, there's nothing so complicated that you can't help them figure it out. Piano "by number" is that easy, and satisfying to a child.
My object in private teaching is to make a child into a "tinkerer." A tinkerer is a child who:
Plays the piano a little bit every time they go past oneLikes to try out new songs
Doesn't worry about anyone else's opinion of their playing
Tries to play songs they hear on TV or elsewhere
Is confident and curious about the piano
Thinks piano is easy
Makes up their own songs
A piano weighs perhaps at least an average of 500-700 pounds. Are there any other 700 pound pieces of furniture your child has exclusive control of in your home? My point is that just playing Jingle Bells on a 700-pound monster is enough to raise the self-esteem of the most humble child. Never express disapproval.
The only mistake your child can make is to not play the piano. Praise, praise, and then when they are bored, go play the piano yourself. They'll keep coming back, and so will you.
The phrase, "Piano Is Easy!" was in fact the expression of one of my students. I asked a child, after about a month, "Well, Dave, how's it going? Still like piano?"
Dave, about seven years old, said, "Piano is easy!" with a smile that indicated anybody knows that silly piano stuff. I had the title for the book, right there. Thanks, Dave.
By the way, Dave now reads music, plays simple Bach pieces and sight-reads any easy piece of conventional sheet music I put in front of him. Yes, it took two years. But Dave plays (not practices) the piano without being told, because it's a fun activity.
Dave was allowed to discover that piano is fun, even for people who can't read conventional sheet music at first. In my estimation, Dave had a 100% chance of being one of those "quitters" if I hadn't started him with numbers, and then used numbers carefully to prepare his transition to sheet music. I always tried to find HIS level, and help him move up at his own speed.
How do you teach a child at first? To be honest, I make a game of everything. Kids are always scared and intimidated by the idea of "piano lessons." (In the interest of accuracy, I make only "house calls." I am that rarest of teachers who travels to the child's house and teaches them where they feel most comfortable, at home.)
You have to demystify piano lessons as quickly as possible, and get the fun started. After the kids memorize the location of Middle C, I start playing familiar songs right away.
All you have to do is say, "Dave, play the piano keys that are numbered, just like in the book." The kids play familiar songs like Jingle Bells right away. In fact, I've never had a kid who couldn't play Jingle Bells in the first two minutes of their first lesson. And then five more songs.
And then ten and then twenty.
One important point: I break any tension with jokes and fun and playing silly songs myself as soon as I see the child begin to wander, and kids will wander. Thinking about music is hard work, so break it up with fun. As soon as a child has a small taste of fun (a silly song) they're ready for a little more work.
Fun, work, fun, work. Watch their faces and you'll see exactly which one is right for the moment.
The kids will show you what to do! Keep leading them back to the task, for short periods, and they will follow, because music has its own inherent fun. Kids and music, work and fun, in simple combination, are a natural partnership.
PIANO IS EASY and THE CHRISTMAS CAROL KIT are intended as an ideal starting point for children's music study. Almost all children can and should make a transition from numbers to playing conventional sheet music. For example, there are gifted kids I teach who have Attention Deficit Disorder, and I allow them to play by number as long as it takes me to get them feeling secure about deciphering sheet music.
I try every lesson to move forward with reading music, and if the child isn't ready for the transition, we stop and go have fun with games and counting and numbers. This patient "bait and switch" method, in my estimation, always works, with any child.
Numbers are like training wheels on your kid's bike. When they're comfortable with taking them off, you'll be the first to know about it.
Perhaps only the eye of a professional will be able to determine the exact moment for this transition from numbers to conventional sheet music. I also recognize that almost all parents don't have the luxury of a teacher coming to their home once a week. But the principles are the same.
How will you know when your child is ready? As a general rule, later is always better than sooner. Give your child the chance to explore the piano at their own pace. If the kids seem to lose interest, you should renew your interest. If they see you keep trying to play piano, they will keep trying, too.
In fact, one element I look for in finding candidates for this transition to conventional sheet music is arrogance: I want a child to say, "This number stuff is too EASY!" That's when kids are ready for conventional sheet music.
Remember that by this time (every child differs, a week, a month to a year) any child will be able to play dozens of songs by number from memory, and dozens more with the book in front of them. A child who has had a positive initial experience with piano, and who already knows their way around the piano, is a much better candidate for conventional music teaching than a child who is simply thrown into complex conventional piano lessons and expected to succeed.
How far can piano by numbers take my child? Piano by numbers, if introduced by a parent or understanding teacher, offers the best possible starting platform. There's no confusion, discipline or force involved.
Do I have to use more than PIANO IS EASY to get started? Absolutely not. We've created an entire system in case exploring "piano by number" meets the long term needs of our students.
The average child benefits by being able to start playing piano in a positive atmosphere, starting with perhaps PIANO IS EASY or THE CHRISTMAS CAROL KIT, and then proceeding to I CAN READ MUSIC. Here are some of the benefits of starting a child playing piano by numbers:
Start learning piano at home where a child feels comfortableUse a system which is immediately understandable: numbersBuild confidence with simple, barely perceptible, gradual steps If all your child gains in starting piano "by number" is a positive attitude towards piano, everyone is a winner. The goal is to see your child start playing piano in a positive atmosphere, and then perhaps go on to private lessons.
I'm not advocating playing piano "by number" for more than the initial experience. In my private practice, I use "numbers" to start the child, and then, as we get started with conventional sheet music, numbers are used as a way of defusing the tension kids feel in learning the more complex art of reading conventional sheet music.
Practical advice for parents: do's and don'ts
Do encourage your child Don't criticize their playing
Do sit and listen to them play Don't demand that they "practice."
Do ask them to "play" the piano
Don't set a time limit, such as "Practice half an hour." If a child doesn't do it under their own steam, it's pointless to force them. Five minutes a day is all that a child needs, if it's fun.
Do play piano yourself. I teach in homes everyday where the youngest ones are eager to try piano because Mom does it, Dad likes it, and the older kids play as well.
Don't take playing piano so seriously. If you think it's fun, your kids will, too.
Do this if your child seems to not want to try it: go over to the piano and start trying it yourself. You'd be surprised how quickly your child decides that they want to do it, too.
Don't even think of Carnegie Hall.
Don't apply any pressure whatsoever. If you push kids too hard, they turn off right away, and it's hard, if not impossible, to get them back. Do think about a private teacher for your child if they show interest. But not for a while. Let the child explore the piano on their own.
Don't expect your child to understand things like using the "correct fingers" or playing "in rhythm." All you want at first is to have your child enjoy sitting at that great big piano for a few minutes a day.
There will be lots of time to pursue further interest if and when your child decides they want to take lessons. And when they start those lessons, they'll already have a relationship with the instrument. It's much easier to interest a child in conventional music study when they think they already can play!
Do make games out of everything connected to music:
"You play a song, then Mom will play a song.""Let's see who can play Jingle Bells the fastest without any mistakes.""Let's each play our favorite song.""Let's play the song backwards!" (Kids love this one!)
"I'm going to try a song using both hands.""I'm going to play three songs, and you play three songs.""Does this song sound happy or sad?""I'm going to use lots of different fingers on this song." "Let's play name that tune.""Let's play musical chairs."
Don't be impatient. Don't expect anything, and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Expect lots of conventional accomplishment and your child will lose interest as soon as they see they cannot please you. Make it easy to please you.
Mom and Dad say you have to practice. One case comes to mind, regarding forcing kids to "practice." I had a student, six, who was a great, zesty boy, clumsy and sensitive and athletic and curious. I used all my usual methods to get him started. He became a tinkerer, making up little songs, always playing a few minutes every day or so.
He was progressing well enough toward learning the first five notes of the conventional sheet music staff. I never gave him assignments, or homework, but I always brought him new conventional sheet music which he had the option of exploring that week. He always tried the pieces I left him.
After five months he was intrigued by a silly beginner's song called "My Wigwam" and played it at home, according to his Mom's account, 500 times a day. His Dad hated this song. I tried to get the parents to see that it was important for the child to memorize and own a song that he liked. I advised them to grin and bear it, be thankful you have a child who goes to the piano under his own steam, with no one nagging him to practice.
But Dad instituted a new program, demanded assignments and started forcing the child to practice half an hour a day, with Dad watching sternly, which was very uncomfortable for this child who thought it was fun to play the piano by himself.
After two weeks, I watched the child give up and want to quit. I told the child that he didn't have to play piano if he didn't want to, that it should be fun, and that maybe he would start again some day. This was a child who had waited by the living room window for me to arrive for our crazy, fun lessons for five months.
After a month the parents decided that piano "Just wasn't for him." How do I choose a piano teacher? Very carefully. Look for the following list. Some elements below are obviously hard to find, but you won't find them unless you look for them.
Look for a teacher that has a fun, warm manner. Don't choose that great teacher down the block that everyone says is great but has a distant, professional manner. You can come back to that teacher when your child shows promise and is older. Start with someone friendly, professional and skilled with children.
Look for someone with the patience of a kindergarten teacher.
You need someone who is willing to go slowly, who doesn't emphasize accomplishment as much as very patient skill building. The truth is that music and piano study is hard, and it takes a brilliant, patient teacher to inspire kids. Look for a teacher who also teaches music theory to kids, not just piano, and has a reputation for making music theory fun. Kids like to know how music works from the inside, but it takes unbelievable patience on the part of the teacher.
Try to find a teacher who will come to your home. This is not easy or inexpensive, but for a beginning child, it is often the difference between getting started and quitting. A child is most comfortable at home. You can see and evaluate the teacher's manner and "method." From the child's point of view, you've never seen a child as uncomfortable as a beginner sitting in a stranger's music studio, unless the teacher really has a handle on putting kids at ease with games and fun.
If you can't find a "house call" teacher, ask to sit outside the teacher's studio room until the child feels comfortable. It's hard enough to comprehend music, much less do so with a stranger in a strange house. Make your child as comfortable as possible.
Here's my most important point. Listen to your child. If they say again and again that they don't like lessons, that it's too hard, get another teacher and start over. Kids don't lie about this: if they say piano is too hard very often, the method is wrong. Get another, more sympathetic teacher.
Every child is unique, and too many teachers forget this in their passion to teach their "method."
I'd rather have a child love the piano and happily play six simple songs than hate piano as they play some complex piece like a robot performing pointless drudgery.
There's time enough to work on the hard stuff after a child is inspired to do so.
In conclusion:
A child who has a positive start on the piano at home is more likely to make the transition to private lessons outside the home.
In former times, before radio and television, the piano was the entertainment center for the family. The whole family at least tried to play an instrument.
I believe beginning to play piano "by numbers" helps move a family toward that perhaps unattainable but noble ideal. There can be only a good result from more people discovering the pleasures of the piano and music, no matter how humble their current abilities.
It's better to start playing piano with a simple system than to be confused with a flurry of conventional commands and thus quit trying altogether.
What I try to do as a teacher is to communicate the excitement I felt for the piano as a child to each and every child as an individual.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
Good Age to Start Piano
The age to start your child depends entirely on whether you intend to use the conventional methods that employ only sheet music. If you intend to use the conventional methods, then don't even think of starting before the age of six.
The reason for this is that preschoolers are just too young for the standard sheet music methods that exist. Many have difficulty understanding the tasks asked of them in a conventional piano lesson outside the home, and have great difficulty with the abstract concepts and symbols necessary to read sheet music.
If you intend to use a friendly method such as piano by number, there is no age limit: any child that can identify the numbers 1-12 is a perfect candidate to begin enjoying and learning music at the piano.
In terms of maturity, I would suggest the age of four or five as a good age to start with piano by number, and soon after perhaps begin to slowly introduce the concepts of sheet music as presented in our book, I CAN READ MUSIC.
If you encounter any difficulties with sheet music, back off and continue with piano by number.A child should easily grasp the concepts presented in I CAN READ MUSIC, and if they don't they are too young for sheet music and should be allowed to continue enjoying piano by number until they are old enough to make the transition with ease.
Better to wait than to frustrate.
PRESCHOOL: I recommend starting children of preschool age playing piano by number. Preschoolers are just getting used to numbers and letters. Many teachers have found that having children identify numbers via the piano keyboard is a fun activity that builds confidence with numbers.
The most important aspect of using piano by number for preschoolers is to first recognize the capabilities of the child: can the child identify numbers if the graphic representation of those numbers (on a page) is presented to them?
It is one thing for a child to recite vocally numbers as high as they can, but quite another to recognize the symbols for each number. Many preschool children can play any numbered piano key you say to them, but have difficulty playing numbers (or any symbols, for that matter) that they find on the page.
Piano by Number slowly builds the abstract skills necessary to decipher musical symbols later, and promotes children's sense of security in successfully deciphering them.
For children who cannot yet identify the symbols for numbers, the piano keyboard is an ideal place to build confidence with those symbols, with the added attraction that music itself produces a "good-mood" effect that is conducive to learning more complex skills.
Seeing the first twelve numbers, 1-12, spread out on a piano helps children to imagine numbers as a sequential ordering device.
Probably the biggest secret of teaching music to children this age is to allow kids to be kids while they learn. If you do this, and it requires unbelievable patience and creativity, they will reward you with constant effort, and humor!
The younger the child, the less I expect. If they only learn that the piano is a fun place to be, you've had a major victory as a teacher and a parent.
KINDERGARTEN: I recommend starting kindergarten kids with piano by number, and then making limited attempts at sheet music depending on the child's sense of security with the piano.
Usually, this is no problem. Kindergarten kids are very ready for games of any kind, and begin to have the skills necessary to put several hand movements together into a group of movements.
Children of this age still are most comfortable with numbers, but will tolerate more games preparing the way for reading sheet music. But you must make games out of everything. And back off from teaching sheet music as soon as you see their eyes start to show exhaustion, perhaps 5 minutes at most. Sheet music is fascinating but very tiring for kids this age. Better to expose them 5 minutes at a time than risk exhausting them and making them feel like failures.
With this age you may be able to teach them chords (three piano keys played with the left hand) but usually I allow them to play 2 note chords (two piano keys with the left hand) until it becomes obvious that 2 note chords are too easy.
I don't insist that children play with both hands at this point, that is, chords with left hand and melody (numbers) with the right hand. It is enough that they can make their way through a few moments of a song that I show them, always carefully chosen to allow them to master a simple-enough task.
For example, a child this age should begin to easily have knowledge of the first three chords (three piano keys for the left hand) known as C, F and G. Any child can do this with enough focused, fun repetition.
If a child does begin to read sheet music, be careful to gain complete mastery of the notes of the right hand, say the first 5 keys above Middle C, before attempting to introduce the left hand.It is my feeling that merely introducing the idea of "lines and spaces" (sheet music) is more than a victory at this stage.
The reason for this is that sheet music is much more of an abstraction than numbers for children of this age. Children gravitate to what is most comfortable for them, and you can bet at this age that it will be "piano by numbers," because it is less abstract than sheet music.
Children who are allowed the room to succeed at "piano by number" no matter how glacial their pace, are perfect candidates for reading sheet music, because they are properly prepared.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: FIRST GRADE: At this age, you can start with piano by number to build confidence, and readily move on to sheet music a little bit at a time within a few months.
First graders seem magically wired to try the piano! All the physical perceptions necessary are in place; numbers are no problem, playing with two hands is no problem.
But if a child has difficulty with playing two hands simultaneously, do not insist, as most kids this age have great difficulty with two handed maneuvers. It is enough to expose them to the idea that two hands are involved, eventually simultaneously.
With Piano by Number and chords (two or three piano keys played with the left hand) under their belt, first graders are ready to conquer the right hand of sheet music, and engage in a study of chords.
At this age kids are emotionally ready to play the game called "happy and sad" wherein the teacher plays chords and has the child try to guess their (the chords) emotional or dramatic quality, happy or sad.
Kids love this silly game, almost like a game show, and never tire of trying to listen and assess the emotional quality of the chord. Earlier than this age, many children seem to have difficulty grasping the idea of a sound (the piano chord) having a certain emotional quality (happy or sad.)
At this point it also becomes possible to introduce "finger games," that is, games that teach a child to move beyond using the index finger. I always allow kids to start with the index finger, if that's what comfortable.
It may take a long time to get a child to use all the ten fingers properly, but it is worth waiting for, especially if in the meantime you are teaching them other valuable things.Believe it or not, kids will let you know when they are ready to use all five fingers.
I'll tell you the formula for success. It has three stages:
Teach the notes, the numbers, get the kids to decipher the commands and play the correct keys as best they can, with whatever finger comes to their mind.
Introduce the idea of five fingers, slowly, as a game, as a joke. I always say, when they play with only their index finger, "Oh, you were born with only one finger on each hand! Wait! I see other fingers under there, all curled up!" Try that 50 times and they will start using more fingers all by themselves, I guarantee it.
Rhythm is best left to last. The only thing I do at this point is to play rhythm games. I never, ever insist on rhythm in a piece of printed music, numbers or sheet. Don't even think of rhythm in the usual sense for first graders. Better to try simple rhythm games like "fours" that give children the idea of regularity, of pattern, of repetition.
To start the process of learning fingering, I begin with a game called "threesies," in which they play, starting from Middle C; 123, 234, 345 456, etc using the right hand thumb, index and third finger in ascending order. Kids love the complexity of this, but if it is too difficult after several tries, then try something else for a while.
Two more "rules:"
Keep coming back to ideas, again and again.
Never acknowledge a child's failure to grasp these ideas, just show comic surprise and move on.
Children at the piano have an uncanny knack of showing you an honest effort if the task is not incomprehensibly difficult.
Break down complex motions into easily grasped bits.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
The reason for this is that preschoolers are just too young for the standard sheet music methods that exist. Many have difficulty understanding the tasks asked of them in a conventional piano lesson outside the home, and have great difficulty with the abstract concepts and symbols necessary to read sheet music.
If you intend to use a friendly method such as piano by number, there is no age limit: any child that can identify the numbers 1-12 is a perfect candidate to begin enjoying and learning music at the piano.
In terms of maturity, I would suggest the age of four or five as a good age to start with piano by number, and soon after perhaps begin to slowly introduce the concepts of sheet music as presented in our book, I CAN READ MUSIC.
If you encounter any difficulties with sheet music, back off and continue with piano by number.A child should easily grasp the concepts presented in I CAN READ MUSIC, and if they don't they are too young for sheet music and should be allowed to continue enjoying piano by number until they are old enough to make the transition with ease.
Better to wait than to frustrate.
PRESCHOOL: I recommend starting children of preschool age playing piano by number. Preschoolers are just getting used to numbers and letters. Many teachers have found that having children identify numbers via the piano keyboard is a fun activity that builds confidence with numbers.
The most important aspect of using piano by number for preschoolers is to first recognize the capabilities of the child: can the child identify numbers if the graphic representation of those numbers (on a page) is presented to them?
It is one thing for a child to recite vocally numbers as high as they can, but quite another to recognize the symbols for each number. Many preschool children can play any numbered piano key you say to them, but have difficulty playing numbers (or any symbols, for that matter) that they find on the page.
Piano by Number slowly builds the abstract skills necessary to decipher musical symbols later, and promotes children's sense of security in successfully deciphering them.
For children who cannot yet identify the symbols for numbers, the piano keyboard is an ideal place to build confidence with those symbols, with the added attraction that music itself produces a "good-mood" effect that is conducive to learning more complex skills.
Seeing the first twelve numbers, 1-12, spread out on a piano helps children to imagine numbers as a sequential ordering device.
Probably the biggest secret of teaching music to children this age is to allow kids to be kids while they learn. If you do this, and it requires unbelievable patience and creativity, they will reward you with constant effort, and humor!
The younger the child, the less I expect. If they only learn that the piano is a fun place to be, you've had a major victory as a teacher and a parent.
KINDERGARTEN: I recommend starting kindergarten kids with piano by number, and then making limited attempts at sheet music depending on the child's sense of security with the piano.
Usually, this is no problem. Kindergarten kids are very ready for games of any kind, and begin to have the skills necessary to put several hand movements together into a group of movements.
Children of this age still are most comfortable with numbers, but will tolerate more games preparing the way for reading sheet music. But you must make games out of everything. And back off from teaching sheet music as soon as you see their eyes start to show exhaustion, perhaps 5 minutes at most. Sheet music is fascinating but very tiring for kids this age. Better to expose them 5 minutes at a time than risk exhausting them and making them feel like failures.
With this age you may be able to teach them chords (three piano keys played with the left hand) but usually I allow them to play 2 note chords (two piano keys with the left hand) until it becomes obvious that 2 note chords are too easy.
I don't insist that children play with both hands at this point, that is, chords with left hand and melody (numbers) with the right hand. It is enough that they can make their way through a few moments of a song that I show them, always carefully chosen to allow them to master a simple-enough task.
For example, a child this age should begin to easily have knowledge of the first three chords (three piano keys for the left hand) known as C, F and G. Any child can do this with enough focused, fun repetition.
If a child does begin to read sheet music, be careful to gain complete mastery of the notes of the right hand, say the first 5 keys above Middle C, before attempting to introduce the left hand.It is my feeling that merely introducing the idea of "lines and spaces" (sheet music) is more than a victory at this stage.
The reason for this is that sheet music is much more of an abstraction than numbers for children of this age. Children gravitate to what is most comfortable for them, and you can bet at this age that it will be "piano by numbers," because it is less abstract than sheet music.
Children who are allowed the room to succeed at "piano by number" no matter how glacial their pace, are perfect candidates for reading sheet music, because they are properly prepared.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: FIRST GRADE: At this age, you can start with piano by number to build confidence, and readily move on to sheet music a little bit at a time within a few months.
First graders seem magically wired to try the piano! All the physical perceptions necessary are in place; numbers are no problem, playing with two hands is no problem.
But if a child has difficulty with playing two hands simultaneously, do not insist, as most kids this age have great difficulty with two handed maneuvers. It is enough to expose them to the idea that two hands are involved, eventually simultaneously.
With Piano by Number and chords (two or three piano keys played with the left hand) under their belt, first graders are ready to conquer the right hand of sheet music, and engage in a study of chords.
At this age kids are emotionally ready to play the game called "happy and sad" wherein the teacher plays chords and has the child try to guess their (the chords) emotional or dramatic quality, happy or sad.
Kids love this silly game, almost like a game show, and never tire of trying to listen and assess the emotional quality of the chord. Earlier than this age, many children seem to have difficulty grasping the idea of a sound (the piano chord) having a certain emotional quality (happy or sad.)
At this point it also becomes possible to introduce "finger games," that is, games that teach a child to move beyond using the index finger. I always allow kids to start with the index finger, if that's what comfortable.
It may take a long time to get a child to use all the ten fingers properly, but it is worth waiting for, especially if in the meantime you are teaching them other valuable things.Believe it or not, kids will let you know when they are ready to use all five fingers.
I'll tell you the formula for success. It has three stages:
Teach the notes, the numbers, get the kids to decipher the commands and play the correct keys as best they can, with whatever finger comes to their mind.
Introduce the idea of five fingers, slowly, as a game, as a joke. I always say, when they play with only their index finger, "Oh, you were born with only one finger on each hand! Wait! I see other fingers under there, all curled up!" Try that 50 times and they will start using more fingers all by themselves, I guarantee it.
Rhythm is best left to last. The only thing I do at this point is to play rhythm games. I never, ever insist on rhythm in a piece of printed music, numbers or sheet. Don't even think of rhythm in the usual sense for first graders. Better to try simple rhythm games like "fours" that give children the idea of regularity, of pattern, of repetition.
To start the process of learning fingering, I begin with a game called "threesies," in which they play, starting from Middle C; 123, 234, 345 456, etc using the right hand thumb, index and third finger in ascending order. Kids love the complexity of this, but if it is too difficult after several tries, then try something else for a while.
Two more "rules:"
Keep coming back to ideas, again and again.
Never acknowledge a child's failure to grasp these ideas, just show comic surprise and move on.
Children at the piano have an uncanny knack of showing you an honest effort if the task is not incomprehensibly difficult.
Break down complex motions into easily grasped bits.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
Help My Child Read Music
Do you remember your childhood piano lessons, with all those uninteresting exercises that comprise the ENTIRE curriculum of famous book methods, such as Bastien, John Thompson, Alfred, Schaum, and all the others?
Go look in your piano bench where you keep all the piano books from your childhood: we use all these books, but only after we have sparked a child's enthusiasm by getting them to play songs that are familiar to them, right away, from the first second of their first lesson. We use the "piano by number" format before we ever attempt to introduce children to the daunting complexities of sheet music.
The truth is that our method seeks only one thing: to get your children started playing piano, to get started being happy playing music, to get started being happy understanding music, rather than being mystified and frustrated by sheet music.
WHAT OUR SUPPORTERS SAY: The vast majority of our supporters are parents who have actually tried our method. They are wildly enthusiastic, because piano by number yields IMMEDIATE results. Their lucky children love the piano, want to play music, and once they have started piano by number, are ready to brave the difficulties of learning how to read sheet music.
And these children succeed, unlike the unlucky children who have to start out with a method that uses only sheet music.
We don't want to eliminate sheet music. We just want children to get started playing piano with enthusiasm, and then begin the long process of becoming musically literate, using sheet music.
There HAS to be a better way to introduce children to the piano than the conventional methods. By the industry's own statistics, conventional piano teaching has a failure rate of almost 90%!
DO YOU KNOW ANY METHOD FOR ANYTHING THAT HAS A 90% FAILURE RATE, AND STILL CALLS ITSELF A SUCCESS?
And there is a better way to start children at the piano: get your child started right away with a simple method that yields immediate results, and builds immediate enthusiasm.
Piano by number is temporary method, a starting platform that establishes a positive relationship between the child and the grandest of all instruments.
CONVENTIONAL METHODS: Conventional piano methods make most children resentful, frustrated and turned off to the instrument, for one simple reason: conventional methods do not let children make music right away.
Conventional methods frustrate children, and make them feel like failures because the methods utilize only sheet music.
Put most simply, conventional piano methods ignore the psychology of children.Let's say it again in bold type: conventional piano methods ignore the psychology of children.
IT'S LIKE ALGEBRA: Conventional piano methods are like teaching first graders algebra!Of course children hate it! It is incomprehensible!
Children need to start with 2 plus 2 equals 4, and then move slowly towards the complexities of sheet music and algebra.
Piano by number is exactly like 2 plus 2 equals 4: it is baby simple, and children understand it from the first second they see it. Later, they move on to more complex languages.
WHY PIANO BY NUMBER IS LIKE PHONICS FOR READING
Piano by number is much like phonics for reading.
Let's look at the history of phonics.Before there was phonics for reading, which came into popularity in the 50's and 60's, there was a reading method called SCOTT FORESMAN, a system in which children were required to memorize the SHAPE of letters, rather than the SOUND.
SCOTT FORESMAN was most famous for the characters DICK AND JANE, but perhaps even more famous for the fact that a majority of children were failing to learn to read using this absurd system, which all the schools in America used.
Then a few pioneers, parents and educators, including my parents, developed phonics, a logical system in which children were taught that each letter had a sound, and suddenly children understood how to read, because the system was logical, simple and allowed them to get started without failure.
Piano by number is exactly the same as phonics.
How can you argue with a method that children universally embrace with unlimited enthusiasm?
How can you argue with a method that breeds an immediate passion for a musical instrument?
The conventional method of reading, SCOTT FORESMAN, demanded that children decipher visual symbols (letters) much like conventional piano methods that demand that children immediately start deciphering the symbols (notes) of sheet music.
Phonics is a way of demystifying those symbols (letters) establishing the logic behind the symbols, in exactly the same way that piano by number demystifies the piano, and allows the child to see the logic of the piano by using numbers at first, instead of starting out with the incomprehensible visual symbolism of sheet music.
It's very easy to get a child to understand the symbols of sheet music when they have already established a positive relationship with the instrument, immediately upon first sitting at it.
WHY IS PIANO BY NUMBER A SUCCESS FOR CHILDREN? How does piano by number yield such amazing results? How does piano by number make children enthusiastic about the piano when conventional methods make them frustrated?
The answer is that children already understand numbers before they ever sit in front of a piano.Numbers are a language that any child already understands. A kindergarten child understands counting, and already embraces it as a learning process that brings them success and praise from adults.
All that piano by number does is to temporarily substitute NUMBERS for the difficult SYMBOLS of sheet music, at first, so that the child is allowed to play numerous familiar songs right away, demystifying the piano and making it a friend instead of an enemy.
Later, when the child feels comfortable with the geography of the piano, we reintroduce the symbols of sheet music, showing the child that there are different ways of telling them to play each piano key.
Children taught piano by number already know how to play each key as a number, so they readily understand the "new" language of sheet music when they are comfortable with the instrument.
PSYCHOLOGY: The problem with sheet music methods is that they do not take into account the psychology of children: if you make a child feel like a failure at something, they are not going to be willing to keep trying to learn it.
Piano by number allows children to succeed right away, to build enthusiasm and confidence, before they are beset with the difficulties of sheet music.
Piano by number makes children feel like winners, right away, most importantly, because it allows them to make music right away.
A child who can play even a simple familiar song with one finger at the piano is a far better candidate for subsequent piano study than one who has been made to feel a failure by a teacher unwilling to bend even a little to the psychology of children.
Children want to make music, and we should let them, before we demand that they study sheet music.Children say "goo goo," before "mama," crawl before they walk, talk before they read.Let them play music before they read music. Let them add 2 plus 2 before they attempt algebra.
PIANO BY NUMBER IS A VALUABLE EDUCATIONAL TOOL: Piano by number is as valuable an educational tool as phonics is for reading, and someday, all children will start out studying piano by number, and then move on to the conventional study of sheet music.
Conventional piano teachers deny children this tool, entirely out of ignorance, and the result is a 90% failure rate for conventional piano methods.
If the method fails, the method is wrong.
Piano by number has, in my daily experience, and the daily experience of the countless parents and teachers who have tried it, a higher than 90% success rate.
WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE? You have nothing to lose if you try piano by number, except perhaps the awful experience of your child saying to you, "I hate piano lessons. I want to quit."
Give your children the gift of proper preparation for conventional piano lessons. Give them piano by number.
Let your children establish a positive relationship to this grandest of musical instruments at home, with you, before you go out and try the conventional methods.
If you do, you have a far greater chance of success at starting conventional piano lessons. In fact, you have a 90% chance of success with those conventional methods.
The benefits to you and your children are enormous, and life-long.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com/ to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
Go look in your piano bench where you keep all the piano books from your childhood: we use all these books, but only after we have sparked a child's enthusiasm by getting them to play songs that are familiar to them, right away, from the first second of their first lesson. We use the "piano by number" format before we ever attempt to introduce children to the daunting complexities of sheet music.
The truth is that our method seeks only one thing: to get your children started playing piano, to get started being happy playing music, to get started being happy understanding music, rather than being mystified and frustrated by sheet music.
WHAT OUR SUPPORTERS SAY: The vast majority of our supporters are parents who have actually tried our method. They are wildly enthusiastic, because piano by number yields IMMEDIATE results. Their lucky children love the piano, want to play music, and once they have started piano by number, are ready to brave the difficulties of learning how to read sheet music.
And these children succeed, unlike the unlucky children who have to start out with a method that uses only sheet music.
We don't want to eliminate sheet music. We just want children to get started playing piano with enthusiasm, and then begin the long process of becoming musically literate, using sheet music.
There HAS to be a better way to introduce children to the piano than the conventional methods. By the industry's own statistics, conventional piano teaching has a failure rate of almost 90%!
DO YOU KNOW ANY METHOD FOR ANYTHING THAT HAS A 90% FAILURE RATE, AND STILL CALLS ITSELF A SUCCESS?
And there is a better way to start children at the piano: get your child started right away with a simple method that yields immediate results, and builds immediate enthusiasm.
Piano by number is temporary method, a starting platform that establishes a positive relationship between the child and the grandest of all instruments.
CONVENTIONAL METHODS: Conventional piano methods make most children resentful, frustrated and turned off to the instrument, for one simple reason: conventional methods do not let children make music right away.
Conventional methods frustrate children, and make them feel like failures because the methods utilize only sheet music.
Put most simply, conventional piano methods ignore the psychology of children.Let's say it again in bold type: conventional piano methods ignore the psychology of children.
IT'S LIKE ALGEBRA: Conventional piano methods are like teaching first graders algebra!Of course children hate it! It is incomprehensible!
Children need to start with 2 plus 2 equals 4, and then move slowly towards the complexities of sheet music and algebra.
Piano by number is exactly like 2 plus 2 equals 4: it is baby simple, and children understand it from the first second they see it. Later, they move on to more complex languages.
WHY PIANO BY NUMBER IS LIKE PHONICS FOR READING
Piano by number is much like phonics for reading.
Let's look at the history of phonics.Before there was phonics for reading, which came into popularity in the 50's and 60's, there was a reading method called SCOTT FORESMAN, a system in which children were required to memorize the SHAPE of letters, rather than the SOUND.
SCOTT FORESMAN was most famous for the characters DICK AND JANE, but perhaps even more famous for the fact that a majority of children were failing to learn to read using this absurd system, which all the schools in America used.
Then a few pioneers, parents and educators, including my parents, developed phonics, a logical system in which children were taught that each letter had a sound, and suddenly children understood how to read, because the system was logical, simple and allowed them to get started without failure.
Piano by number is exactly the same as phonics.
How can you argue with a method that children universally embrace with unlimited enthusiasm?
How can you argue with a method that breeds an immediate passion for a musical instrument?
The conventional method of reading, SCOTT FORESMAN, demanded that children decipher visual symbols (letters) much like conventional piano methods that demand that children immediately start deciphering the symbols (notes) of sheet music.
Phonics is a way of demystifying those symbols (letters) establishing the logic behind the symbols, in exactly the same way that piano by number demystifies the piano, and allows the child to see the logic of the piano by using numbers at first, instead of starting out with the incomprehensible visual symbolism of sheet music.
It's very easy to get a child to understand the symbols of sheet music when they have already established a positive relationship with the instrument, immediately upon first sitting at it.
WHY IS PIANO BY NUMBER A SUCCESS FOR CHILDREN? How does piano by number yield such amazing results? How does piano by number make children enthusiastic about the piano when conventional methods make them frustrated?
The answer is that children already understand numbers before they ever sit in front of a piano.Numbers are a language that any child already understands. A kindergarten child understands counting, and already embraces it as a learning process that brings them success and praise from adults.
All that piano by number does is to temporarily substitute NUMBERS for the difficult SYMBOLS of sheet music, at first, so that the child is allowed to play numerous familiar songs right away, demystifying the piano and making it a friend instead of an enemy.
Later, when the child feels comfortable with the geography of the piano, we reintroduce the symbols of sheet music, showing the child that there are different ways of telling them to play each piano key.
Children taught piano by number already know how to play each key as a number, so they readily understand the "new" language of sheet music when they are comfortable with the instrument.
PSYCHOLOGY: The problem with sheet music methods is that they do not take into account the psychology of children: if you make a child feel like a failure at something, they are not going to be willing to keep trying to learn it.
Piano by number allows children to succeed right away, to build enthusiasm and confidence, before they are beset with the difficulties of sheet music.
Piano by number makes children feel like winners, right away, most importantly, because it allows them to make music right away.
A child who can play even a simple familiar song with one finger at the piano is a far better candidate for subsequent piano study than one who has been made to feel a failure by a teacher unwilling to bend even a little to the psychology of children.
Children want to make music, and we should let them, before we demand that they study sheet music.Children say "goo goo," before "mama," crawl before they walk, talk before they read.Let them play music before they read music. Let them add 2 plus 2 before they attempt algebra.
PIANO BY NUMBER IS A VALUABLE EDUCATIONAL TOOL: Piano by number is as valuable an educational tool as phonics is for reading, and someday, all children will start out studying piano by number, and then move on to the conventional study of sheet music.
Conventional piano teachers deny children this tool, entirely out of ignorance, and the result is a 90% failure rate for conventional piano methods.
If the method fails, the method is wrong.
Piano by number has, in my daily experience, and the daily experience of the countless parents and teachers who have tried it, a higher than 90% success rate.
WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE? You have nothing to lose if you try piano by number, except perhaps the awful experience of your child saying to you, "I hate piano lessons. I want to quit."
Give your children the gift of proper preparation for conventional piano lessons. Give them piano by number.
Let your children establish a positive relationship to this grandest of musical instruments at home, with you, before you go out and try the conventional methods.
If you do, you have a far greater chance of success at starting conventional piano lessons. In fact, you have a 90% chance of success with those conventional methods.
The benefits to you and your children are enormous, and life-long.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com/ to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
Piano Kids Newsletter
I must note that the kids who learn piano the best are those whose parents or family members also play piano or music of some kind. How can we ask our kids to try music/piano if we don't include it in our own lives?
You don't have to be Paderewski or Sting or Beethoven. You can love country or classical or rock or gospel or rap or pop or anything, but listen to it, sing it, let your kids know that you think music is great.
Before we go any further, let's say it again: Play piano, not practice.
Say that to your kids. Go do it yourself, and then expect them to do the same.
Play piano, not practice.
You'd be surprised how many people forget the nugget o' wisdom above.
I often say I'm like a sheep dog, watching the piano student and trying to see their process. I never care about my "method." I care about the student's perception of the method, which is their "process."
The method, whatever it is, is useless unless appreciated by the student's "process." The practical result of the above is that I proceed incredibly slowly but persistently to include the concepts of sheet music after I have had the child play successfully at least two dozen songs by number.
This can take months or years, or weeks or days. It depends on the child. A nervous child makes a poor student. Set them at ease by lowering the bar imperceptibly until they are ready for more advancement. You are the gatekeeper to the mysteries of music.
It's as if there were a secret door to each individual child's perception of music, and all you have to do is sit there and guide them until they find that magic door themselves. You cannot force the moment wherein they perceive that they can play piano. It will come, and you can prepare them
If you force reading sheet music before you have adequately prepared the child, you lose the child as a willing, excited student.
If you lose the child's interest in piano (85% of kids who start using conventional methods later quit) it's your fault, not theirs. Prepare them adequately, gently. It's not easy to learn to read conventional sheet music. It takes time. Indeed, an exceptional, brilliant child may indeed learn the skills of reading music in several minutes or days. I know, because I was one of them (I was seven when I learned to read music.)
But what about the other 99.99% of kids? Should these average, even gifted kids, be denied the wonders of playing piano music because the skills necessary to read conventional sheet music weren't immediately apparent to their particular current intellectual abilities? Set limits that the child can realize right away. Break down the elements until the child easily scales each carefully graduated step.
A Typical Lesson:
I teach 30 minute lessons for almost all kids. Here's the log of a hypothetical but typical lesson with a child who has not yet started reading conventional music:
Minute 1-5: Is the child uneasy or happy? If they're uneasy, haven't "practiced" (I don't use the word but countless parents do) I play number games and joke around and play TV themes or Rugrats or some silly pop or folk song or game until they calm down and see that I'm rather easy to please.
I'm not serious in demeanor in any way. I don't really care if they have practiced, because it's impossible to enforce: remember that the goal is to get kids excited enough that they go to the piano by themselves. The goal is not to get kids to play some song they don't understand like a robot. The goal is to get kids to play piano under their own steam, without forcing them.
My secret goal with each child is to be somewhere in between a game show host and drill sergeant, but I start out all game show host. It grabs even the most unprepared child. Who would you rather perform for, Bob Barker (Price Is Right) or some snarling negative military presence? These are kids, folks.
Minute 5-10: Assuming this is later than a first lesson, I try several skills to see what has stuck since their last lesson. I try a few songs by number, praising all the way if the child uses one or many fingers, slow or fast. Any initial effort is applauded if you see their attitude is clear and calm.
Even the most humble effort has in it something worthy of praise, for example: a child who bumbles through a song like London Bridge but never loses their place has done something remarkable. Tell them about it. Tell them about how preachers and actors have to read from a book, too, and look up at people but not lose their place in the book. A child who has been rightfully praised is readier for the next task.
Never forget this: whatever level of skill the child shows you is where you will start this lesson.
It's pointless to berate or even chide a child for not having mastered a particular skill from the last lesson. I never ever let a child know they have disappointed me. Better to work with a positive attitude on that same skill again in this lesson, perhaps disguising the skill in a new way as a game.
Don't expect anything and you'll be pleasantly surprised with some tiny accomplishment. Take that tiny something and build on it. If you can't build on that tiny accomplishment, go back to earlier skills.
Never let them know they are being demoted from an attempt at a new skill. If you can't seem to get the next skill launched, just pull back the difficult activity like a magician and go back to something easier.
There's never time lost in going back and cementing earlier skills. In fact I look for each skill to be almost automatic and offhand (finding keys, use both hands, flats and sharps) until I go onto another more complex skill.
Minute 10-20: This is the main work period of the lesson. They're calm, they know it's fun and fast and they aren't being yelled at (but, rather, praised) and they know the lesson is almost over. Why not have fun and learn this piano stuff? As soon as they are comfortable, we work on a general level of competence, playing titled songs that they either know or have heard of.
What songs do they like, I ask. Let's play them! I often only let them play a bit of a song, whisking it away from them just as I see them get tired and confused. As soon as you put another song in front of them, they are refreshed and try again. It's better to play just a bit of 25 songs than one long song, painfully slowly, all the way through.
Kids learn the same principles from a variety of simple pieces as from a tightly limited repertoire. Variety is refreshing.
I play a game called "first line of the song" in which we zip through dozens of songs playing only the first line of the music, like a couple of greedy kids sampling chocolates. If a child is really wandering, we play "first note," in which we whisk through dozens of songs, and they only have to play the first note. The process is the same, but the kids have fun and don't feel overworked.
They learn the same thing no matter how long the task: look at the page and then press the piano key.
Of course, other kids will demand to play all of certain songs, and then you sit back, help if needed, and be happy and praise them no matter how poorly they do. If they play poorly, don't make them aware of it, but instead find the basic skill that eludes them.
I'll say it again: never ever be negative. No matter how they do, it's an honest effort and you'll get much further if you take mental note of what skill they failed at and then attempt later to find a way to present it.
One of the great pleasures of teaching this way is making up the games that let the kids learn.
Always break the skills down to the lowest possible level. Make it easy to please you and kids will never stop trying. Make it difficult to please you and only that .01% of genius kids will succeed.
One more thing: I bring new sheet music (conventional or numbers depending on the child) to each lesson. The kids come to expect it, and say, "What did you bring me?" Think about it: here are kids anticipating the new sheet music for the week, not a TV show or a junk food item.
This anticipation of new sheet music can't be bad for them, and is in fact a miracle that affects their attitude profoundly.
No kid wants to play the same songs over and over until they find that first song they can't seem to stop playing. All kids seem to find at least one special song that they can play from memory.
This song seems to be their way of saying, "See, I can play this great big piano all by myself!"
Some kids love Star Wars, other Twinkle, Twinkle, or The Wigwam Song (a staple of early kids piano books.) I've had parents come to me and say, "Can't you make him play another song? He plays it all day!" I point out that when he's good and ready he'll move on, but for now you better sit down and listen to him play "that song" again, and praise him mightily.
If the child wanders at all during the minutes 10-20, we play a quick game to blow off steam, then dive right back in.
Minute 20-30: By now the lesson has produced whatever advancement will be possible. All you can do now is cement the sense that piano is fun and easy to do. Be aware that the last 5 minutes of the lesson are practically useless.
I always ask at 25 minutes, "How's your brain doing? Getting tired?" If the honest answer is
"Yes," we play a fun number or chord game or two, maybe play a line of a couple of songs, and then I let them go perhaps a couple of minutes early. These kids come back every week willing to do anything to try to learn to play piano. If the kids don't come back, you can't teach them.If the child is not tired, then I still proceed the same, making the last 5 minutes rather relaxed and easy.
A Student Story:
I once had a pair of brothers that I taught who both had limited skills and interests regarding piano. Frankly, they could take it or leave it. I'd put them in the quitter category for sure if they were taught by the conventional method. Their mom wanted them to play piano and didn't care if it took a decade (a very good attitude for a mom.)
The younger brother was a handful, sometimes only going 15 minutes before he melted down and needed to do something else. You could go another 15 minutes, but I elected not to, stopping the lesson just about where he demonstrated that it was basically over.
Week after week this child came to the piano and bumbled his way through dozens of songs by number. Invariably I would say, at the end of a song or portion of a song, "Cool, let's try this one!" I never ever expressed dismay at his efforts. I could see he was simply doing the best he could.
Slowly we tried the transition from numbers to sheet music again and again. Each time seemed a failure, but I never let him know that. I tried all sorts of crazy stunts for this child who had such trouble paying attention.
One time I put a coal scuttle (a sort of black bucket used to empty ashes from a fireplace) over my head and used the little fireplace shovel as a microphone. I called out the names of chords that
I "Gortok" the spaceman needed to hear, and my little troublemaker responded with glee. I count about a dozen games that I use every day that originated with this child, and I thank him for it. He forced me to be extremely creative. And eventually it worked for him. Here's how:
After months and months he began to realize that I wasn't going to stop trying sheet music.
So he gave in, inch by inch, and slowly was able to read the first dozen notes of the "right hand" of simple sheet music. I acted as if I didn't care if he learned sheet music, always moving to another area as soon as he seemed to tire of trying to figure out new sheet music, always of the simplest kind. Finally we got to left hand, and after months of fun-filled battles he could figure out the essential dozen left hand notes kids have to learn to find on a piano.
After almost a year, this kid could play almost nothing from memory except the first ten notes of the theme to Star Wars (a performance I always applauded.)
One day his mom wanted to hear him read a piece of sheet music, so I opened a book of simple songs at random, as I always do, and said, "Play this, pal." All of a sudden this kid plays both hands at once, perfectly. It was a simple piece, but what a surprise. I said, "I didn't know you could play with both hands at the same time!" He looked up at mom, beamed, and said, "I been listening all along, mister!" with the charming lisp ("mithter") of a kid missing his two front teeth!
The moral of the story is, here's a kid who now loves to play the piano, who would have quit for sure with a less patient teacher, who now can read simple sheet music with no difficulty. The truth is, any kid can learn to read music. The hard part is finding an adult who is patient enough to sit with them until they figure it out.
Fun Piano Game: FOURS
"Fours" is the most basic rhythm game that I play with kids. I always use it on the first lesson, and on all subsequent lessons until the child seems too old for it. It's a fun but very childish game that teaches rhythm and piano geography without using printed notes or numbers of any kind.
It's important for kids to actually play the piano without the encumbrance of graphic notation (notes or numbers) of any kind.
For example, you'll notice that kids in general can go to the piano and play three songs:
Chopsticks
Heart and Soul
Knuckles: A funny piece KIDS play on the black keys with the knuckles.
"Fours" is a piano game constructed in exactly the same mold. The child plays numbers and I play the chords. If the symbols below don't line up in your browser, remember that there are always four notes (numbers) for every chord (letter.)
FOURS
The child begins on "Middle C," also known as the white piano key with the sticker numbered one:
CHILD: 1111 2222 3333 4444 5555 6666 7777 8888
TEACHER: C G C F C F G C
I play a kind of funny Chico Marx oom-pah accompaniment using the chord pattern (C G C F C F G C, etc.) Kids find this very easy and refreshing. We play up the piano keys, moving to the right, with the natural goal being for the child to reach the highest key on the piano. I'm pretty "strict," that is, if the child breaks the rhythm or misses a key, we start over. Strangely enough, kids love to go back to the beginning and start over as much as they love going all the way to highest key.
Fun variant: Ask them to count up the white keys until they reach the highest white key (starting from Middle C, which to them is #1) and tell you what the "number" of that white key is (it's 29.) This has no musical value except that it makes the child an explorer of the instrument.
The object of these games is to make the child a keen and enthusiastic observer of their instrument, something impossible to do when the child is locked into reading only sheet music from a book. Kids need to improvise, however humbly, and essentially all of my games are designed to make fun music outside of sheet music, numbers or conventional.
"Fours" teaches a child that:
Sheet music is not always necessary to have fun with music
They have to count while they play
Music is divided into numbered units
Piano is a fun thing they can do right away
And finally....I speak to and hear from so many people (almost all adults referring to their childhood experience with piano) who had their fingers or knuckles rapped by a piano teacher.
Whatever idiot thought up this "negative" method deserves our ridicule. How can you expect kids to learn the equivalent of algebraic formula when the teacher's main mode of expression is basically negative? Kids thrive on nurturing, creative and patient teachers.
Teachers who do stupid things like rapping knuckles expect more or less immediate results, and are always disappointed with the average child's less than brilliant performance. Teachers need to remember to teach the kids, not the teacher's method.
Playing the piano is a great outlet for all kids, and no child should be denied the pleasure of making music at the piano because their abilities don't meet the expectations of an impatient teacher.
A year spent preparing a child with numbers and games is a year very well spent if the child ends up fascinated with piano and music.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com/ to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
You don't have to be Paderewski or Sting or Beethoven. You can love country or classical or rock or gospel or rap or pop or anything, but listen to it, sing it, let your kids know that you think music is great.
Before we go any further, let's say it again: Play piano, not practice.
Say that to your kids. Go do it yourself, and then expect them to do the same.
Play piano, not practice.
You'd be surprised how many people forget the nugget o' wisdom above.
I often say I'm like a sheep dog, watching the piano student and trying to see their process. I never care about my "method." I care about the student's perception of the method, which is their "process."
The method, whatever it is, is useless unless appreciated by the student's "process." The practical result of the above is that I proceed incredibly slowly but persistently to include the concepts of sheet music after I have had the child play successfully at least two dozen songs by number.
This can take months or years, or weeks or days. It depends on the child. A nervous child makes a poor student. Set them at ease by lowering the bar imperceptibly until they are ready for more advancement. You are the gatekeeper to the mysteries of music.
It's as if there were a secret door to each individual child's perception of music, and all you have to do is sit there and guide them until they find that magic door themselves. You cannot force the moment wherein they perceive that they can play piano. It will come, and you can prepare them
If you force reading sheet music before you have adequately prepared the child, you lose the child as a willing, excited student.
If you lose the child's interest in piano (85% of kids who start using conventional methods later quit) it's your fault, not theirs. Prepare them adequately, gently. It's not easy to learn to read conventional sheet music. It takes time. Indeed, an exceptional, brilliant child may indeed learn the skills of reading music in several minutes or days. I know, because I was one of them (I was seven when I learned to read music.)
But what about the other 99.99% of kids? Should these average, even gifted kids, be denied the wonders of playing piano music because the skills necessary to read conventional sheet music weren't immediately apparent to their particular current intellectual abilities? Set limits that the child can realize right away. Break down the elements until the child easily scales each carefully graduated step.
A Typical Lesson:
I teach 30 minute lessons for almost all kids. Here's the log of a hypothetical but typical lesson with a child who has not yet started reading conventional music:
Minute 1-5: Is the child uneasy or happy? If they're uneasy, haven't "practiced" (I don't use the word but countless parents do) I play number games and joke around and play TV themes or Rugrats or some silly pop or folk song or game until they calm down and see that I'm rather easy to please.
I'm not serious in demeanor in any way. I don't really care if they have practiced, because it's impossible to enforce: remember that the goal is to get kids excited enough that they go to the piano by themselves. The goal is not to get kids to play some song they don't understand like a robot. The goal is to get kids to play piano under their own steam, without forcing them.
My secret goal with each child is to be somewhere in between a game show host and drill sergeant, but I start out all game show host. It grabs even the most unprepared child. Who would you rather perform for, Bob Barker (Price Is Right) or some snarling negative military presence? These are kids, folks.
Minute 5-10: Assuming this is later than a first lesson, I try several skills to see what has stuck since their last lesson. I try a few songs by number, praising all the way if the child uses one or many fingers, slow or fast. Any initial effort is applauded if you see their attitude is clear and calm.
Even the most humble effort has in it something worthy of praise, for example: a child who bumbles through a song like London Bridge but never loses their place has done something remarkable. Tell them about it. Tell them about how preachers and actors have to read from a book, too, and look up at people but not lose their place in the book. A child who has been rightfully praised is readier for the next task.
Never forget this: whatever level of skill the child shows you is where you will start this lesson.
It's pointless to berate or even chide a child for not having mastered a particular skill from the last lesson. I never ever let a child know they have disappointed me. Better to work with a positive attitude on that same skill again in this lesson, perhaps disguising the skill in a new way as a game.
Don't expect anything and you'll be pleasantly surprised with some tiny accomplishment. Take that tiny something and build on it. If you can't build on that tiny accomplishment, go back to earlier skills.
Never let them know they are being demoted from an attempt at a new skill. If you can't seem to get the next skill launched, just pull back the difficult activity like a magician and go back to something easier.
There's never time lost in going back and cementing earlier skills. In fact I look for each skill to be almost automatic and offhand (finding keys, use both hands, flats and sharps) until I go onto another more complex skill.
Minute 10-20: This is the main work period of the lesson. They're calm, they know it's fun and fast and they aren't being yelled at (but, rather, praised) and they know the lesson is almost over. Why not have fun and learn this piano stuff? As soon as they are comfortable, we work on a general level of competence, playing titled songs that they either know or have heard of.
What songs do they like, I ask. Let's play them! I often only let them play a bit of a song, whisking it away from them just as I see them get tired and confused. As soon as you put another song in front of them, they are refreshed and try again. It's better to play just a bit of 25 songs than one long song, painfully slowly, all the way through.
Kids learn the same principles from a variety of simple pieces as from a tightly limited repertoire. Variety is refreshing.
I play a game called "first line of the song" in which we zip through dozens of songs playing only the first line of the music, like a couple of greedy kids sampling chocolates. If a child is really wandering, we play "first note," in which we whisk through dozens of songs, and they only have to play the first note. The process is the same, but the kids have fun and don't feel overworked.
They learn the same thing no matter how long the task: look at the page and then press the piano key.
Of course, other kids will demand to play all of certain songs, and then you sit back, help if needed, and be happy and praise them no matter how poorly they do. If they play poorly, don't make them aware of it, but instead find the basic skill that eludes them.
I'll say it again: never ever be negative. No matter how they do, it's an honest effort and you'll get much further if you take mental note of what skill they failed at and then attempt later to find a way to present it.
One of the great pleasures of teaching this way is making up the games that let the kids learn.
Always break the skills down to the lowest possible level. Make it easy to please you and kids will never stop trying. Make it difficult to please you and only that .01% of genius kids will succeed.
One more thing: I bring new sheet music (conventional or numbers depending on the child) to each lesson. The kids come to expect it, and say, "What did you bring me?" Think about it: here are kids anticipating the new sheet music for the week, not a TV show or a junk food item.
This anticipation of new sheet music can't be bad for them, and is in fact a miracle that affects their attitude profoundly.
No kid wants to play the same songs over and over until they find that first song they can't seem to stop playing. All kids seem to find at least one special song that they can play from memory.
This song seems to be their way of saying, "See, I can play this great big piano all by myself!"
Some kids love Star Wars, other Twinkle, Twinkle, or The Wigwam Song (a staple of early kids piano books.) I've had parents come to me and say, "Can't you make him play another song? He plays it all day!" I point out that when he's good and ready he'll move on, but for now you better sit down and listen to him play "that song" again, and praise him mightily.
If the child wanders at all during the minutes 10-20, we play a quick game to blow off steam, then dive right back in.
Minute 20-30: By now the lesson has produced whatever advancement will be possible. All you can do now is cement the sense that piano is fun and easy to do. Be aware that the last 5 minutes of the lesson are practically useless.
I always ask at 25 minutes, "How's your brain doing? Getting tired?" If the honest answer is
"Yes," we play a fun number or chord game or two, maybe play a line of a couple of songs, and then I let them go perhaps a couple of minutes early. These kids come back every week willing to do anything to try to learn to play piano. If the kids don't come back, you can't teach them.If the child is not tired, then I still proceed the same, making the last 5 minutes rather relaxed and easy.
A Student Story:
I once had a pair of brothers that I taught who both had limited skills and interests regarding piano. Frankly, they could take it or leave it. I'd put them in the quitter category for sure if they were taught by the conventional method. Their mom wanted them to play piano and didn't care if it took a decade (a very good attitude for a mom.)
The younger brother was a handful, sometimes only going 15 minutes before he melted down and needed to do something else. You could go another 15 minutes, but I elected not to, stopping the lesson just about where he demonstrated that it was basically over.
Week after week this child came to the piano and bumbled his way through dozens of songs by number. Invariably I would say, at the end of a song or portion of a song, "Cool, let's try this one!" I never ever expressed dismay at his efforts. I could see he was simply doing the best he could.
Slowly we tried the transition from numbers to sheet music again and again. Each time seemed a failure, but I never let him know that. I tried all sorts of crazy stunts for this child who had such trouble paying attention.
One time I put a coal scuttle (a sort of black bucket used to empty ashes from a fireplace) over my head and used the little fireplace shovel as a microphone. I called out the names of chords that
I "Gortok" the spaceman needed to hear, and my little troublemaker responded with glee. I count about a dozen games that I use every day that originated with this child, and I thank him for it. He forced me to be extremely creative. And eventually it worked for him. Here's how:
After months and months he began to realize that I wasn't going to stop trying sheet music.
So he gave in, inch by inch, and slowly was able to read the first dozen notes of the "right hand" of simple sheet music. I acted as if I didn't care if he learned sheet music, always moving to another area as soon as he seemed to tire of trying to figure out new sheet music, always of the simplest kind. Finally we got to left hand, and after months of fun-filled battles he could figure out the essential dozen left hand notes kids have to learn to find on a piano.
After almost a year, this kid could play almost nothing from memory except the first ten notes of the theme to Star Wars (a performance I always applauded.)
One day his mom wanted to hear him read a piece of sheet music, so I opened a book of simple songs at random, as I always do, and said, "Play this, pal." All of a sudden this kid plays both hands at once, perfectly. It was a simple piece, but what a surprise. I said, "I didn't know you could play with both hands at the same time!" He looked up at mom, beamed, and said, "I been listening all along, mister!" with the charming lisp ("mithter") of a kid missing his two front teeth!
The moral of the story is, here's a kid who now loves to play the piano, who would have quit for sure with a less patient teacher, who now can read simple sheet music with no difficulty. The truth is, any kid can learn to read music. The hard part is finding an adult who is patient enough to sit with them until they figure it out.
Fun Piano Game: FOURS
"Fours" is the most basic rhythm game that I play with kids. I always use it on the first lesson, and on all subsequent lessons until the child seems too old for it. It's a fun but very childish game that teaches rhythm and piano geography without using printed notes or numbers of any kind.
It's important for kids to actually play the piano without the encumbrance of graphic notation (notes or numbers) of any kind.
For example, you'll notice that kids in general can go to the piano and play three songs:
Chopsticks
Heart and Soul
Knuckles: A funny piece KIDS play on the black keys with the knuckles.
"Fours" is a piano game constructed in exactly the same mold. The child plays numbers and I play the chords. If the symbols below don't line up in your browser, remember that there are always four notes (numbers) for every chord (letter.)
FOURS
The child begins on "Middle C," also known as the white piano key with the sticker numbered one:
CHILD: 1111 2222 3333 4444 5555 6666 7777 8888
TEACHER: C G C F C F G C
I play a kind of funny Chico Marx oom-pah accompaniment using the chord pattern (C G C F C F G C, etc.) Kids find this very easy and refreshing. We play up the piano keys, moving to the right, with the natural goal being for the child to reach the highest key on the piano. I'm pretty "strict," that is, if the child breaks the rhythm or misses a key, we start over. Strangely enough, kids love to go back to the beginning and start over as much as they love going all the way to highest key.
Fun variant: Ask them to count up the white keys until they reach the highest white key (starting from Middle C, which to them is #1) and tell you what the "number" of that white key is (it's 29.) This has no musical value except that it makes the child an explorer of the instrument.
The object of these games is to make the child a keen and enthusiastic observer of their instrument, something impossible to do when the child is locked into reading only sheet music from a book. Kids need to improvise, however humbly, and essentially all of my games are designed to make fun music outside of sheet music, numbers or conventional.
"Fours" teaches a child that:
Sheet music is not always necessary to have fun with music
They have to count while they play
Music is divided into numbered units
Piano is a fun thing they can do right away
And finally....I speak to and hear from so many people (almost all adults referring to their childhood experience with piano) who had their fingers or knuckles rapped by a piano teacher.
Whatever idiot thought up this "negative" method deserves our ridicule. How can you expect kids to learn the equivalent of algebraic formula when the teacher's main mode of expression is basically negative? Kids thrive on nurturing, creative and patient teachers.
Teachers who do stupid things like rapping knuckles expect more or less immediate results, and are always disappointed with the average child's less than brilliant performance. Teachers need to remember to teach the kids, not the teacher's method.
Playing the piano is a great outlet for all kids, and no child should be denied the pleasure of making music at the piano because their abilities don't meet the expectations of an impatient teacher.
A year spent preparing a child with numbers and games is a year very well spent if the child ends up fascinated with piano and music.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com/ to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
Author of Piano Is Easy
The author of the Christmas Carol Kit and Piano Is Easy! was asked recently about his teaching method:
"My philosophy of music teaching is to provide an environment in which the student cannot fail.
Too many teachers have a rigid program which the student, usually a child, must master or risk disapproval.
Students, especially children, are unique individuals and these personal differences may mean a radical range of motor skills and intellectual abilities.
I can honestly say that it is my students who have taught me how to teach: I watched their efforts and devised ways for them to grasp the next step. When they grasped the next step, I'd try the next step after that, and if they failed, I'd go back to the last step, all the while entertaining them and informing them, and most of all, playing the piano for them to show what awaited if they kept trying.
Music is either pleasurable or it isn't, especially to a five year old. If you make music fun, students keep trying. A piano teacher, especially of children, must necessarily function somewhere in between a game show host and a drill sergeant.
A music teacher should never express disapproval to a student who has made an honest effort on a complex problem: when a student fails, it is the teacher who has failed to present the material properly or in an interesting manner.
One rule I have discovered is that students learn things when they are good and ready to, and it's up to the teacher to give them the skills that make them ready to master the next step.
Patience to a music teacher may mean months of strategy. The student is always right; if the method fails, the method is wrong. Reading music by numbers, improvising and studying chords is so natural to students that they can do it without exhaustion: they feel a rise in self-esteem.
Improvisation exercises allow a student to make satisfying music outside of the crushing limits of conventional music notation. Anyone can improvise music, given certain basic skills.
It is better to have a student with limited accomplishments play a simple tune by numbers or memory, or improvise, and be proud than to have that same student feel defeated by conventional music notation.
The object of piano teaching is not to create millions of Vladimir Horowitzes, but rather to allow everyone the opportunity to speak the great language of music, even in humble dialects such as numbers or basic improvisation.
As soon as a student begins to feel defeated by studying sheet music, the teacher must shift to the more pleasurable study of harmony and theory. There are students barely capable of playing a simple piece of sheet music, but who can play all twenty-four major and minor chords flawlessly because it is logical and fun.
A wise teacher plays to the student's strengths while relentlessly attacking the problem areas a bit at a time.Deciphering conventional music notation is drudgery, a complex right-brained chore to even the most diligent child.
A brilliant, diligent child will memorize a piece of music they love so they can ignore the right-brained deciphering mechanism and engage the poetic left brain as soon as possible. Even much less gifted children do the same, memorizing a piece they love so that the dreaded sheet music is forgotten in the pleasure of playing.
Part of the secret is to loosely divide the lesson time into both a study of the piano (including conventional notation and improvisation) and a study of harmony.
In addition, the teacher must make each area of study a living, breathing experience. The study of chords, for instance, is made exciting by constantly asking the student's input: is the chord happy, sad, weird? Anything that can be made into a game should be.
A study of chords isn't dry and boring if the teacher is capable of showing that within that study are the secrets of a great language, the language of music. You can't just tell a student that a particular "something" is exciting about piano music: you have to sit down and play that "something" for them right there, or it's not real to them. Students who know what they're shooting for are always willing to try.
The Piano by Number books are the result of what I saw that worked while I was teaching. I began to see certain patterns of information that seemed to make music theory digestible regardless of the skill level of the student.
And I observed what information was necessary for each student to progress to the next level, and this became the core of the book, the set of steps that will begin to lead anyone to play satisfying music on the piano.
The premise of the book is this: there are certain basic skills that a student will need to begin studying music, and these skills can be self-taught if the information is properly presented in a step-by-step format.
This book is intended for adults and children supervised by adults. An enterprising and intelligent child of six or eight could make their way through this book alone. A child of six would probably need an adult to help them make apply the stickers, but the advantage is that the parent and child can learn together. If your child sees you try to play the piano, they'll try it right away. I've seen it again and again.
You will be shocked at how easy it is to begin to play the piano if the information is properly presented. The steps you go through in the book are almost exactly what beginning students learn in the first few weeks of my private lessons.
The most basic rule is this: if you don't understand something, go back a step or two and review.
Music is so skill-based that you usually cannot progress to the next level unless you have first mastered the previous level. Take the time to try all the steps.Playing "by number" is a humble dialect, if you will, of the great language of music. You can't make a better, happier beginning to your study of music than playing piano "by number."
All the skills you use in these books will be valuable to you later when you learn to read conventional sheet music. It has been my experience that students first taught by number, and who have a solid knowledge of chords, have a far higher chance of learning to read conventional sheet music.
Anyone can teach themselves to play the piano if someone gives them the logical steps. That's all I've done."
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com/ to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
"My philosophy of music teaching is to provide an environment in which the student cannot fail.
Too many teachers have a rigid program which the student, usually a child, must master or risk disapproval.
Students, especially children, are unique individuals and these personal differences may mean a radical range of motor skills and intellectual abilities.
I can honestly say that it is my students who have taught me how to teach: I watched their efforts and devised ways for them to grasp the next step. When they grasped the next step, I'd try the next step after that, and if they failed, I'd go back to the last step, all the while entertaining them and informing them, and most of all, playing the piano for them to show what awaited if they kept trying.
Music is either pleasurable or it isn't, especially to a five year old. If you make music fun, students keep trying. A piano teacher, especially of children, must necessarily function somewhere in between a game show host and a drill sergeant.
A music teacher should never express disapproval to a student who has made an honest effort on a complex problem: when a student fails, it is the teacher who has failed to present the material properly or in an interesting manner.
One rule I have discovered is that students learn things when they are good and ready to, and it's up to the teacher to give them the skills that make them ready to master the next step.
Patience to a music teacher may mean months of strategy. The student is always right; if the method fails, the method is wrong. Reading music by numbers, improvising and studying chords is so natural to students that they can do it without exhaustion: they feel a rise in self-esteem.
Improvisation exercises allow a student to make satisfying music outside of the crushing limits of conventional music notation. Anyone can improvise music, given certain basic skills.
It is better to have a student with limited accomplishments play a simple tune by numbers or memory, or improvise, and be proud than to have that same student feel defeated by conventional music notation.
The object of piano teaching is not to create millions of Vladimir Horowitzes, but rather to allow everyone the opportunity to speak the great language of music, even in humble dialects such as numbers or basic improvisation.
As soon as a student begins to feel defeated by studying sheet music, the teacher must shift to the more pleasurable study of harmony and theory. There are students barely capable of playing a simple piece of sheet music, but who can play all twenty-four major and minor chords flawlessly because it is logical and fun.
A wise teacher plays to the student's strengths while relentlessly attacking the problem areas a bit at a time.Deciphering conventional music notation is drudgery, a complex right-brained chore to even the most diligent child.
A brilliant, diligent child will memorize a piece of music they love so they can ignore the right-brained deciphering mechanism and engage the poetic left brain as soon as possible. Even much less gifted children do the same, memorizing a piece they love so that the dreaded sheet music is forgotten in the pleasure of playing.
Part of the secret is to loosely divide the lesson time into both a study of the piano (including conventional notation and improvisation) and a study of harmony.
In addition, the teacher must make each area of study a living, breathing experience. The study of chords, for instance, is made exciting by constantly asking the student's input: is the chord happy, sad, weird? Anything that can be made into a game should be.
A study of chords isn't dry and boring if the teacher is capable of showing that within that study are the secrets of a great language, the language of music. You can't just tell a student that a particular "something" is exciting about piano music: you have to sit down and play that "something" for them right there, or it's not real to them. Students who know what they're shooting for are always willing to try.
The Piano by Number books are the result of what I saw that worked while I was teaching. I began to see certain patterns of information that seemed to make music theory digestible regardless of the skill level of the student.
And I observed what information was necessary for each student to progress to the next level, and this became the core of the book, the set of steps that will begin to lead anyone to play satisfying music on the piano.
The premise of the book is this: there are certain basic skills that a student will need to begin studying music, and these skills can be self-taught if the information is properly presented in a step-by-step format.
This book is intended for adults and children supervised by adults. An enterprising and intelligent child of six or eight could make their way through this book alone. A child of six would probably need an adult to help them make apply the stickers, but the advantage is that the parent and child can learn together. If your child sees you try to play the piano, they'll try it right away. I've seen it again and again.
You will be shocked at how easy it is to begin to play the piano if the information is properly presented. The steps you go through in the book are almost exactly what beginning students learn in the first few weeks of my private lessons.
The most basic rule is this: if you don't understand something, go back a step or two and review.
Music is so skill-based that you usually cannot progress to the next level unless you have first mastered the previous level. Take the time to try all the steps.Playing "by number" is a humble dialect, if you will, of the great language of music. You can't make a better, happier beginning to your study of music than playing piano "by number."
All the skills you use in these books will be valuable to you later when you learn to read conventional sheet music. It has been my experience that students first taught by number, and who have a solid knowledge of chords, have a far higher chance of learning to read conventional sheet music.
Anyone can teach themselves to play the piano if someone gives them the logical steps. That's all I've done."
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com/ to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
Why Piano Stickers Work
(The method under discussion is in the book I CAN READ MUSIC which you can see at http://www.pianoiseasy2.com/icanreadmusic.html)
The purpose of the five blue stickers (and the red one) on the piano keyboard is to give a reference point for children. That is, the BLUE stickers define the location of the FIVE lines of the musical staff (the FIVE lines are the "musical staff") and the RED sticker defines the location of Middle C.
The first step after applying the removable stickers to your piano is to make the child aware of the circular symbol for Middle C, the circle on the left (in the above drawing) with the little horizontal line through it.
You need to look through some pages of music in, for example, a book such as I CAN READ MUSIC, and help the child identify the graphic symbol for the note Middle C (the symbol directly above this, the circle with the little line through it.)
Make a game of it, saying "Who can point to Middle C on the page first?" and then let them win every time after a few tries. Go through page after page, making a game of finding Middle C on the page.
After the child can easily find Middle C and distinguish it from all other notes, it's time to find the relationship between Middle C and the piano keyboard.
Specifically, the note Middle C is defined as the white key with the RED sticker. See the drawings at the top of the page.
Play some games in which the child sees the note Middle C on a page, and then has to play it on the piano keyboard, finding the white key with the RED sticker.
Once you have established security with Middle C, it's time to move beyond it by finding the FIVE horizontal lines and their relationship to the FIVE blue stickers.
It's really quite easy: the five lines are exactly marked with the five blue stickers. Children understand this quite quickly, but you must be patient and first establish an understanding that the lowest of the five lines is equal to the blue sticker furthest to the left. See the drawings above.
In fact, all that is necessary for quite a while is for the child to be familiar with three basic elements: 1) the location of Middle C, 2) the location of the lowest of the five lines, the first blue sticker, and 3) the location of the second of the five lines, the second blue sticker.
The reason for this is that all beginning piano music concentrates on the note Middle C and the five white piano keys directly above that. Thus there is no real reason to learn the other lines yet, and you'll find that it is a large enough job simply to get a child comfortable with Middle C and the first two of the five lines.
Once your child is familiar with Middle C and the first two of the five lines, and the blue stickers on the white keys, you can approach the spaces in between the five lines.
All of this is introduced slowly in I CAN READ MUSIC, whose actual purpose as a text is to get the child comfortable with the first five white keys, that is, Middle C and the four white keys above it.It's not necessary to name the notes, nor is it necessary to make the child use a certain finger to play a certain note: in fact, asking these tasks of a child actually deflects them from the REAL task, which is to become comfortable with finding the relationship between the notes on the page and the keys on the piano. Once you accomplish that relationship, the notes and the keys, all the rest, names and fingers, falls into place relatively quickly. In fact, one of the main reasons that most conventional methods are a failure for children is because these methods move too quickly into naming notes and assigning fingers, without first making absolutely sure that the child can find the VISUAL relationship between the notes on the page and the keys on the piano.
Thus all the stickers are doing is providing a temporary, initial reference point for the child, helping them find that relationship between the notes on the page and the keys on the piano.
Once you establish this familiarity, start removing the stickers until they are gone. If your child seems confused, put the stickers back until they understand EASILY the relationship between the notes and the keys.
WHY PIANO BY NUMBER FIRST?
We suggest, however, that you not even attempt the above steps until you've first introduced your child to the piano using PIANO BY NUMBER®. The reason for this is simple: it's easier to teach reading music to a child who can already play dozens of songs at the piano, and the only way to accomplish this immediate confidence and familiarity is to use a method such as PIANO BY NUMBER first, and then proceed to reading music.
The reason for this is that all children understand numbers, and will be able to immediately play lots of songs by number, whereas as reading music, even using the careful steps above, is NOT an immediate process, and requires careful guidance to be successful.
You stand a far greater chance of success at reading music, which is, after all, the real goal, if you first make the child comfortable with playing the piano using a simple, transparent and immediate method such as PIANO BY NUMBER, and then SLOWLY begin to introduce the elements of reading music using the careful steps outlined above.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
The purpose of the five blue stickers (and the red one) on the piano keyboard is to give a reference point for children. That is, the BLUE stickers define the location of the FIVE lines of the musical staff (the FIVE lines are the "musical staff") and the RED sticker defines the location of Middle C.
The first step after applying the removable stickers to your piano is to make the child aware of the circular symbol for Middle C, the circle on the left (in the above drawing) with the little horizontal line through it.
You need to look through some pages of music in, for example, a book such as I CAN READ MUSIC, and help the child identify the graphic symbol for the note Middle C (the symbol directly above this, the circle with the little line through it.)
Make a game of it, saying "Who can point to Middle C on the page first?" and then let them win every time after a few tries. Go through page after page, making a game of finding Middle C on the page.
After the child can easily find Middle C and distinguish it from all other notes, it's time to find the relationship between Middle C and the piano keyboard.
Specifically, the note Middle C is defined as the white key with the RED sticker. See the drawings at the top of the page.
Play some games in which the child sees the note Middle C on a page, and then has to play it on the piano keyboard, finding the white key with the RED sticker.
Once you have established security with Middle C, it's time to move beyond it by finding the FIVE horizontal lines and their relationship to the FIVE blue stickers.
It's really quite easy: the five lines are exactly marked with the five blue stickers. Children understand this quite quickly, but you must be patient and first establish an understanding that the lowest of the five lines is equal to the blue sticker furthest to the left. See the drawings above.
In fact, all that is necessary for quite a while is for the child to be familiar with three basic elements: 1) the location of Middle C, 2) the location of the lowest of the five lines, the first blue sticker, and 3) the location of the second of the five lines, the second blue sticker.
The reason for this is that all beginning piano music concentrates on the note Middle C and the five white piano keys directly above that. Thus there is no real reason to learn the other lines yet, and you'll find that it is a large enough job simply to get a child comfortable with Middle C and the first two of the five lines.
Once your child is familiar with Middle C and the first two of the five lines, and the blue stickers on the white keys, you can approach the spaces in between the five lines.
All of this is introduced slowly in I CAN READ MUSIC, whose actual purpose as a text is to get the child comfortable with the first five white keys, that is, Middle C and the four white keys above it.It's not necessary to name the notes, nor is it necessary to make the child use a certain finger to play a certain note: in fact, asking these tasks of a child actually deflects them from the REAL task, which is to become comfortable with finding the relationship between the notes on the page and the keys on the piano. Once you accomplish that relationship, the notes and the keys, all the rest, names and fingers, falls into place relatively quickly. In fact, one of the main reasons that most conventional methods are a failure for children is because these methods move too quickly into naming notes and assigning fingers, without first making absolutely sure that the child can find the VISUAL relationship between the notes on the page and the keys on the piano.
Thus all the stickers are doing is providing a temporary, initial reference point for the child, helping them find that relationship between the notes on the page and the keys on the piano.
Once you establish this familiarity, start removing the stickers until they are gone. If your child seems confused, put the stickers back until they understand EASILY the relationship between the notes and the keys.
WHY PIANO BY NUMBER FIRST?
We suggest, however, that you not even attempt the above steps until you've first introduced your child to the piano using PIANO BY NUMBER®. The reason for this is simple: it's easier to teach reading music to a child who can already play dozens of songs at the piano, and the only way to accomplish this immediate confidence and familiarity is to use a method such as PIANO BY NUMBER first, and then proceed to reading music.
The reason for this is that all children understand numbers, and will be able to immediately play lots of songs by number, whereas as reading music, even using the careful steps above, is NOT an immediate process, and requires careful guidance to be successful.
You stand a far greater chance of success at reading music, which is, after all, the real goal, if you first make the child comfortable with playing the piano using a simple, transparent and immediate method such as PIANO BY NUMBER, and then SLOWLY begin to introduce the elements of reading music using the careful steps outlined above.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
Interest Your Child in Piano
A frequent question is, "How do we get our child to practice the piano?"I always stop them politely and say, "Please, say 'Play the piano' not 'Practice the piano.' "
If you make the piano into a game, you might get the child to try playing piano on their own, not under your orders.
For example, your child undoubtedly has a favorite toy or game. You don't have to say, "Go play your game," because the child ALWAYS wants to do that activity which brings them such personal reward.
To learn the piano even moderately well (even as an adult) you'll need not only persistence, hard work and a lot of intelligence, but also one other quality: love.
That's right, you'll have to love the piano in order to weather all that repetition, confusion and effort, not to mention the time involved.
What could possibly make so many people work so hard to master this great instrument? The answer is, because they love the instrument.
And this is also the answer to the original question, "How do we get our child to practice the piano?" You get them to play because it's so much fun that they do it themselves. There is no "practicing." You don't have to tell them to practice.
They play the piano as if it were a toy, a treasured toy they like to spend time with, until they're done with it, and then off to another happy activity.
Now, for children, this is very easy to accomplish. How? Simply lower the bar initially to the degree that the child cannot fail, can only succeed.
Make initial lessons so much fun that the child begins to want to explore the world of music through the piano. Do this as long as the child needs it until they demonstrate comfort playing simple music.
As an example, let them play with their index finger, as their instincts tell them and piano teachers see again and again. It teaches the child no bad habits because the "one finger system" will be gradually improved upon. How? By using simple finger and note games.
Basically, a fingering curriculum might be to let the child play with one index finger initially, preferably the right index finger. It doesn't matter if the child is left or right handed, start with the right index finger.
Then let them play with the index fingers of both hands. Then introduce the right thumb. Then use the right thumb and index together as a team. Then introduce the right middle finger as the third member of the team.
And all this finger stuff and games is before they ever see a note of music!
Always let them go back to a simpler system (one finger) if they demonstrate repeated discomfort with a more complex finger position (more than one finger.)
Discomfort is a child's way of saying, "You're going too fast."
It's far more important that the child feels proud and happy than you, the teacher, feel your method has been understood and mastered.The child doesn't care about your "method," or any method. They care about how they feel about themselves and how they feel about the piano. It's simple human nature.
After a little rest (simplicity,) they are ready for another try at reading music, but never press beyond the point of "mostly fun with a little work."
Better to back off while it's still fun, and try again another day when they're fresh: it's hard work to learn the piano and you're better off if you and your teacher are not in a hurry.With a child it's not difficult to get them started without anxiety, but it requires a teacher of almost Biblical patience.
Give your student a system that is transparently simple, like piano by number, and let them play by themselves. Hopefully your only problem will be getting enough songs for them to consume and explore.
Kids get very good quickly with piano by number, and then, at the time they become comfortable, of course, is the perfect moment to introduce reading music, for they are already comfortable with the instrument and able to play familiar songs reasonably well, in a way that makes them feel proud.
You'll need a good teacher, a very, very patient, almost saintly creature who is funny, articulate, and always has a secret curriculum in mind, reading music.
Allow the child time to demonstrate that they are ready pass beyond the world of preparatory piano games and attempt to start to read music.
This "time" could be a week, could be a year, and is entirely dependent on the particular child.
Almost the only mistake you can make is to go too fast.
All children start learning the piano in different ways, and a good teacher unlocks the way of teaching that gets them started and makes them love it from the very first minute.
This "magic way," is different for each child, can be humor, it can be math, it can be them imitating what you play, it can be sound games, it can be number games, it can be "Name That Tune," it can be playing with your nose, but don't let them leave that piano with anything in mind but, "Wow, that was FUN!"
Delay reading music until the child is comfortable playing simple, familiar songs by number. And when you begin to read music, make each attempt initially no longer than a minute or so. That's right, a minute at a time. The concepts have to be broken down into such simple units that only a minute is required to make a child understand each idea.
Later, those ideas are drawn together, allowing the child to easily find the notes on the page on the piano.
I've said it before: the worst habit you can learn at the piano is to not enjoy it and not want to play. That's the habit that will make you want to quit.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com/ to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
If you make the piano into a game, you might get the child to try playing piano on their own, not under your orders.
For example, your child undoubtedly has a favorite toy or game. You don't have to say, "Go play your game," because the child ALWAYS wants to do that activity which brings them such personal reward.
To learn the piano even moderately well (even as an adult) you'll need not only persistence, hard work and a lot of intelligence, but also one other quality: love.
That's right, you'll have to love the piano in order to weather all that repetition, confusion and effort, not to mention the time involved.
What could possibly make so many people work so hard to master this great instrument? The answer is, because they love the instrument.
And this is also the answer to the original question, "How do we get our child to practice the piano?" You get them to play because it's so much fun that they do it themselves. There is no "practicing." You don't have to tell them to practice.
They play the piano as if it were a toy, a treasured toy they like to spend time with, until they're done with it, and then off to another happy activity.
Now, for children, this is very easy to accomplish. How? Simply lower the bar initially to the degree that the child cannot fail, can only succeed.
Make initial lessons so much fun that the child begins to want to explore the world of music through the piano. Do this as long as the child needs it until they demonstrate comfort playing simple music.
As an example, let them play with their index finger, as their instincts tell them and piano teachers see again and again. It teaches the child no bad habits because the "one finger system" will be gradually improved upon. How? By using simple finger and note games.
Basically, a fingering curriculum might be to let the child play with one index finger initially, preferably the right index finger. It doesn't matter if the child is left or right handed, start with the right index finger.
Then let them play with the index fingers of both hands. Then introduce the right thumb. Then use the right thumb and index together as a team. Then introduce the right middle finger as the third member of the team.
And all this finger stuff and games is before they ever see a note of music!
Always let them go back to a simpler system (one finger) if they demonstrate repeated discomfort with a more complex finger position (more than one finger.)
Discomfort is a child's way of saying, "You're going too fast."
It's far more important that the child feels proud and happy than you, the teacher, feel your method has been understood and mastered.The child doesn't care about your "method," or any method. They care about how they feel about themselves and how they feel about the piano. It's simple human nature.
After a little rest (simplicity,) they are ready for another try at reading music, but never press beyond the point of "mostly fun with a little work."
Better to back off while it's still fun, and try again another day when they're fresh: it's hard work to learn the piano and you're better off if you and your teacher are not in a hurry.With a child it's not difficult to get them started without anxiety, but it requires a teacher of almost Biblical patience.
Give your student a system that is transparently simple, like piano by number, and let them play by themselves. Hopefully your only problem will be getting enough songs for them to consume and explore.
Kids get very good quickly with piano by number, and then, at the time they become comfortable, of course, is the perfect moment to introduce reading music, for they are already comfortable with the instrument and able to play familiar songs reasonably well, in a way that makes them feel proud.
You'll need a good teacher, a very, very patient, almost saintly creature who is funny, articulate, and always has a secret curriculum in mind, reading music.
Allow the child time to demonstrate that they are ready pass beyond the world of preparatory piano games and attempt to start to read music.
This "time" could be a week, could be a year, and is entirely dependent on the particular child.
Almost the only mistake you can make is to go too fast.
All children start learning the piano in different ways, and a good teacher unlocks the way of teaching that gets them started and makes them love it from the very first minute.
This "magic way," is different for each child, can be humor, it can be math, it can be them imitating what you play, it can be sound games, it can be number games, it can be "Name That Tune," it can be playing with your nose, but don't let them leave that piano with anything in mind but, "Wow, that was FUN!"
Delay reading music until the child is comfortable playing simple, familiar songs by number. And when you begin to read music, make each attempt initially no longer than a minute or so. That's right, a minute at a time. The concepts have to be broken down into such simple units that only a minute is required to make a child understand each idea.
Later, those ideas are drawn together, allowing the child to easily find the notes on the page on the piano.
I've said it before: the worst habit you can learn at the piano is to not enjoy it and not want to play. That's the habit that will make you want to quit.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com/ to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
Piano Chords
The piano chord dictionary is arranged according to chord usage, not the alphabetical name of the chord. Thus, you will find the chords that are most used in popular sheet music at the front of the dictionary, with those that are least used at the back of the dictionary. In practice, certain chords are used more frequently in popular sheet music than other chords.
Also, you will find that certain chords have more than one name: F sharp (F#) for example, may also be called G flat (Gb.) The Piano Chord Dictionary lists the chord name most used, with a reference to the alternative name.
There are many different names of chords, with accompanying chord symbols: C Major is the chord name, but you might see many different chord symbols, which denote the very same single chord. Thus a "C Major" chord might be represented by several different symbols, depending on the age and nationality of the sheet music and the choice of the editor of that sheet music: C, C ma, C maj are all accepted representations of the "C Major" chord.
The large chord symbol you see at the beginning of each entry in the piano chord dictionary, C, for example, is the chord symbol you will most likely find in contemporary, American sheet music, published by a major publisher such as Hal Leonard, to name but one publisher.
In addition, you will find that there are many more complex chords with accompanying chord symbols than are covered in this book, which is intended as a text for beginners who wish to explore the art of playing chord symbols in popular music. Therefore, we include an APPENDIX which will give you an acceptable substitute for the more complex chords which are not covered in this book: for example, if you see an indication for C9, you may simply play C7 as an acceptable substitute. This is because, for various reasons, the study of chords comprised of FIVE notes is beyond the scope of this book.
The Piano Chord Dictionary attempts only to introduce beginning students to the study of chords comprised of FOUR notes. Since the study of more complex chords (chords with five notes or more) is based on a firm knowledge of simpler constructions (three and four note chords) the student would be well advised to gain a firm knowledge of three and four note chords before proceeding on to a study of more complex constructions.
In addition, you will note that the chords covered in this book are all in a position known as "root position." Root position is a position in which the basic name of the chord is ALWAYS the lowest note of the chord (the note furthest to the left on the piano.) In a root position C chord, for example, the note C is always the lowest note. It is possible, in more complex arrangements, to place any of the notes of the chord in the lowest position, resulting in more pleasing sounds and smoother movements from chord to chord. The more complex arrangements, known as "chord inversions" are a complicated study, and well beyond the scope of this book.
But students would be, once again, well advised to study the root position of chords first, gaining a practically encyclopedic knowledge of chords in that basic root position, before proceeding on to a study of the art and science of inverting chords, that is, the art and science of producing chords in which the name of the chord does NOT appear in the lowest position of that chord.Failure to gain a firm knowledge of root position chords will inevitably result in confusion.
Think of the Periodic Table of the Elements, wherein all chemical elements are delineated. A budding chemist would do well to learn the properties of Oxygen and Nitrogen as individual elements before attempting to combine them into more complex compounds. It is the same with chords.
However limiting the use of root position may seem at first, a firm knowledge of it will be the unshakeable basis of a further study of more complex and pleasing chord construction.
Thus our suggestion is this: learn to play popular sheet music with the chord in the left hand, in root position, and the melody (the notes of the sheet music) in the right hand. Once you can play all the root position chord symbols covered in this book, you will be ready to proceed to a more complete study of complex chords and their inversions.
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy2.com/dictionary.html to see the PIANO CHORD DICTIONARY.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
Also, you will find that certain chords have more than one name: F sharp (F#) for example, may also be called G flat (Gb.) The Piano Chord Dictionary lists the chord name most used, with a reference to the alternative name.
There are many different names of chords, with accompanying chord symbols: C Major is the chord name, but you might see many different chord symbols, which denote the very same single chord. Thus a "C Major" chord might be represented by several different symbols, depending on the age and nationality of the sheet music and the choice of the editor of that sheet music: C, C ma, C maj are all accepted representations of the "C Major" chord.
The large chord symbol you see at the beginning of each entry in the piano chord dictionary, C, for example, is the chord symbol you will most likely find in contemporary, American sheet music, published by a major publisher such as Hal Leonard, to name but one publisher.
In addition, you will find that there are many more complex chords with accompanying chord symbols than are covered in this book, which is intended as a text for beginners who wish to explore the art of playing chord symbols in popular music. Therefore, we include an APPENDIX which will give you an acceptable substitute for the more complex chords which are not covered in this book: for example, if you see an indication for C9, you may simply play C7 as an acceptable substitute. This is because, for various reasons, the study of chords comprised of FIVE notes is beyond the scope of this book.
The Piano Chord Dictionary attempts only to introduce beginning students to the study of chords comprised of FOUR notes. Since the study of more complex chords (chords with five notes or more) is based on a firm knowledge of simpler constructions (three and four note chords) the student would be well advised to gain a firm knowledge of three and four note chords before proceeding on to a study of more complex constructions.
In addition, you will note that the chords covered in this book are all in a position known as "root position." Root position is a position in which the basic name of the chord is ALWAYS the lowest note of the chord (the note furthest to the left on the piano.) In a root position C chord, for example, the note C is always the lowest note. It is possible, in more complex arrangements, to place any of the notes of the chord in the lowest position, resulting in more pleasing sounds and smoother movements from chord to chord. The more complex arrangements, known as "chord inversions" are a complicated study, and well beyond the scope of this book.
But students would be, once again, well advised to study the root position of chords first, gaining a practically encyclopedic knowledge of chords in that basic root position, before proceeding on to a study of the art and science of inverting chords, that is, the art and science of producing chords in which the name of the chord does NOT appear in the lowest position of that chord.Failure to gain a firm knowledge of root position chords will inevitably result in confusion.
Think of the Periodic Table of the Elements, wherein all chemical elements are delineated. A budding chemist would do well to learn the properties of Oxygen and Nitrogen as individual elements before attempting to combine them into more complex compounds. It is the same with chords.
However limiting the use of root position may seem at first, a firm knowledge of it will be the unshakeable basis of a further study of more complex and pleasing chord construction.
Thus our suggestion is this: learn to play popular sheet music with the chord in the left hand, in root position, and the melody (the notes of the sheet music) in the right hand. Once you can play all the root position chord symbols covered in this book, you will be ready to proceed to a more complete study of complex chords and their inversions.
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy2.com/dictionary.html to see the PIANO CHORD DICTIONARY.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
Find a Good Piano Teacher
I have sorry statistics for you that your local piano teacher doesn't really want you to know: 90% of kids who start piano today will quit within three months. Why, you ask? Read on.
Most piano teachers are honest people, but the piano is simply difficult to master, as any musical instrument is. And statistically, perhaps some large percentage of those 90% who quit were perhaps never destined to play very well in the first place.
Still, there has to be a reason why piano lessons turn out to be less fun than perhaps the child was expecting.
In fact, the reason the kids quit is the piano teachers themselves.
The sad truth is that most piano teachers don't try to get their students fired up about piano: they simply go from page to page in a standard text and see if the child can stand it.
And believe me, it is boring to have to play these exercise pieces again and again.
Of course, going from page to page in a text is very easy for the TEACHER: there is little creativity required on the teacher's part. And as all parents know, you'll have to be creative if you want to hold the attention of your six-year old.
But most piano teachers don't really even try, because they apply the same methods to the average child's humble musical gifts as they would apply to someone clearly destined for Carnegie Hall.
These piano teachers acknowledge no difference between a budding professional and a potential hobbyist, and hold your child, struggling to maintain an interest in this rather difficult art, to the same standards as those used to train professional musicians.
A creative, intelligent teacher takes a good look at each individual student, and takes the time to find what factors will affect the piano study progress:
Is the child happy?
Do they have motor skills, such as finger coordination? Hand movement?
Can they distinguish left from right?
What is the child's personality? Quiet? Exuberant? Belligerent?
Do they know how to complete a simple task?
Can they memorize?
The list of things to look out for at the beginning goes on and on. Each one of these factors affects how an intelligent piano teacher will approach that student, as an individual.
The first barrier to cross is expectation: what is the child expecting? Did they hear stories from Mom and Dad about old Mrs. Perkins, who rapped their fingers when they made a mistake? Or did they hear how wonderful piano lessons would be?
In any case, this piano lesson is THEIR piano lesson, not yours, and you had better find out how to communicate with this child as an individual in the first five minutes or it's over.
One approach that works wonders is humor. And playing. Make a joke and play a song for them.
If you do that first, you answer two childish questions that the child will inevitably be asking themselves:
Is this teacher a mean person?Will playing the piano be fun?
The answer to those last two questions had better be, "yes." Otherwise, you have already created a barrier between yourself and the child.
And I have to tell parents, unhappily, that most piano teachers are NOT avid players, comedians or game show hosts.
Many are either very young and inexperienced, or old and tired of the business. It's rare to have a good player as a teacher, but the rewards are endless: the hardest obstacle to hurdle at first is to instill the idea that piano can be lots of fun, and a good pianist vaults that barrier instantly.
Kids love to hear a tune, a funny song, something they know from TV or outside the lesson. The older they are, the more important this becomes.
Avoid the following kinds of piano teachers if you have a young child:
Disciplinarians: there is always time for discipline if you can get them to love it first.
Gruffness: you need someone who knows how to handle a child, and gruffness NEVER works. Gruffness is the last resort of the impatient.
Impatient: the first mark of a real piano teacher is the patience of a block of stone. Learning the piano requires repetition, which a clever teacher will disguise and make illuminating or at least entertaining.
It is not easy to be a good piano teacher. Many factors will work against you:
Repetition is not inherently fun unless it is something that interests you.
Mood: kids are people, too. They have good days and bad days. Have the sense to find out which it is. Modify your teaching pace accordingly.
Time of lesson: is it right after school? Does the child need rest or food?
Overloaded schedules: all kids have too many activities and to them, you are just one more. Don't make it difficult and dull.
Do THEY want lessons, or are they doing it to please Mom and Dad?
In closing, you can only lose the battle of the piano once. Once the child sense that this is a negative experience, the battle is lost, and it is the teacher's fault, not the child's.
It is up to the teacher to give the child a sense of victory during each lesson, no matter how small or undeserved that victory is.
Often what is required is to lower the bar so far that the child succeeds at something, no matter how small. Which would you prefer as a teacher, a tiny victory at some aspect of piano, or a profound sense of defeat over a task that only YOU deem necessary to master?
The point is that the piano and music is such a vast endeavor that there is always SOME small area that can be worked on if the child isn't following your curriculum well. Here are some examples what you can do during a "bad" lesson.
Start playing. Move the child over, get them a chair, but start playing that piano and show them why they came in the first place.
Play ear training games. Listening games. Counting games.
Talk about the famous composers, play a piece by them, talk about the composer's life. There isn't a child alive that doesn't want to hear of the adventure of the rivalry between Mozart and Salieri, and if they're old enough, tell them the theory that Salieri murdered Mozart. Make it up if you have to, but hold their interest.
Stop concentrating on reading music. Play by ear. Memorize. Play by number.
Children that have been taught with this benevolent, fun approach, will reward you with a love of the instrument that may lead to unearthing some of the talent that lies with them. It's your job as a teacher to find and nurture that talent, and it may not be the kind of talent you're expecting.
For example, kids may have an interest in pop or rock music, and if you can play a tune on the piano that interest them, the battle is halfway won. It doesn't matter what STYLE the music is, it matters that the music itself interests them.
Some kids don't know Mozart from a hole in the ground, and you may have to play music from TV and the movies to reach them.
I've never met a kid who wasn't interested in playing a tune on the piano if you make it easy enough to be pleasurable.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
Most piano teachers are honest people, but the piano is simply difficult to master, as any musical instrument is. And statistically, perhaps some large percentage of those 90% who quit were perhaps never destined to play very well in the first place.
Still, there has to be a reason why piano lessons turn out to be less fun than perhaps the child was expecting.
In fact, the reason the kids quit is the piano teachers themselves.
The sad truth is that most piano teachers don't try to get their students fired up about piano: they simply go from page to page in a standard text and see if the child can stand it.
And believe me, it is boring to have to play these exercise pieces again and again.
Of course, going from page to page in a text is very easy for the TEACHER: there is little creativity required on the teacher's part. And as all parents know, you'll have to be creative if you want to hold the attention of your six-year old.
But most piano teachers don't really even try, because they apply the same methods to the average child's humble musical gifts as they would apply to someone clearly destined for Carnegie Hall.
These piano teachers acknowledge no difference between a budding professional and a potential hobbyist, and hold your child, struggling to maintain an interest in this rather difficult art, to the same standards as those used to train professional musicians.
A creative, intelligent teacher takes a good look at each individual student, and takes the time to find what factors will affect the piano study progress:
Is the child happy?
Do they have motor skills, such as finger coordination? Hand movement?
Can they distinguish left from right?
What is the child's personality? Quiet? Exuberant? Belligerent?
Do they know how to complete a simple task?
Can they memorize?
The list of things to look out for at the beginning goes on and on. Each one of these factors affects how an intelligent piano teacher will approach that student, as an individual.
The first barrier to cross is expectation: what is the child expecting? Did they hear stories from Mom and Dad about old Mrs. Perkins, who rapped their fingers when they made a mistake? Or did they hear how wonderful piano lessons would be?
In any case, this piano lesson is THEIR piano lesson, not yours, and you had better find out how to communicate with this child as an individual in the first five minutes or it's over.
One approach that works wonders is humor. And playing. Make a joke and play a song for them.
If you do that first, you answer two childish questions that the child will inevitably be asking themselves:
Is this teacher a mean person?Will playing the piano be fun?
The answer to those last two questions had better be, "yes." Otherwise, you have already created a barrier between yourself and the child.
And I have to tell parents, unhappily, that most piano teachers are NOT avid players, comedians or game show hosts.
Many are either very young and inexperienced, or old and tired of the business. It's rare to have a good player as a teacher, but the rewards are endless: the hardest obstacle to hurdle at first is to instill the idea that piano can be lots of fun, and a good pianist vaults that barrier instantly.
Kids love to hear a tune, a funny song, something they know from TV or outside the lesson. The older they are, the more important this becomes.
Avoid the following kinds of piano teachers if you have a young child:
Disciplinarians: there is always time for discipline if you can get them to love it first.
Gruffness: you need someone who knows how to handle a child, and gruffness NEVER works. Gruffness is the last resort of the impatient.
Impatient: the first mark of a real piano teacher is the patience of a block of stone. Learning the piano requires repetition, which a clever teacher will disguise and make illuminating or at least entertaining.
It is not easy to be a good piano teacher. Many factors will work against you:
Repetition is not inherently fun unless it is something that interests you.
Mood: kids are people, too. They have good days and bad days. Have the sense to find out which it is. Modify your teaching pace accordingly.
Time of lesson: is it right after school? Does the child need rest or food?
Overloaded schedules: all kids have too many activities and to them, you are just one more. Don't make it difficult and dull.
Do THEY want lessons, or are they doing it to please Mom and Dad?
In closing, you can only lose the battle of the piano once. Once the child sense that this is a negative experience, the battle is lost, and it is the teacher's fault, not the child's.
It is up to the teacher to give the child a sense of victory during each lesson, no matter how small or undeserved that victory is.
Often what is required is to lower the bar so far that the child succeeds at something, no matter how small. Which would you prefer as a teacher, a tiny victory at some aspect of piano, or a profound sense of defeat over a task that only YOU deem necessary to master?
The point is that the piano and music is such a vast endeavor that there is always SOME small area that can be worked on if the child isn't following your curriculum well. Here are some examples what you can do during a "bad" lesson.
Start playing. Move the child over, get them a chair, but start playing that piano and show them why they came in the first place.
Play ear training games. Listening games. Counting games.
Talk about the famous composers, play a piece by them, talk about the composer's life. There isn't a child alive that doesn't want to hear of the adventure of the rivalry between Mozart and Salieri, and if they're old enough, tell them the theory that Salieri murdered Mozart. Make it up if you have to, but hold their interest.
Stop concentrating on reading music. Play by ear. Memorize. Play by number.
Children that have been taught with this benevolent, fun approach, will reward you with a love of the instrument that may lead to unearthing some of the talent that lies with them. It's your job as a teacher to find and nurture that talent, and it may not be the kind of talent you're expecting.
For example, kids may have an interest in pop or rock music, and if you can play a tune on the piano that interest them, the battle is halfway won. It doesn't matter what STYLE the music is, it matters that the music itself interests them.
Some kids don't know Mozart from a hole in the ground, and you may have to play music from TV and the movies to reach them.
I've never met a kid who wasn't interested in playing a tune on the piano if you make it easy enough to be pleasurable.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
Home or Travel Lessons
There are many factors you should consider as you design a musical education for your children or yourself.
The major question to answer is the location of the lesson. Will your kids be taught at home by a traveling instructor or will you travel to the piano teacher's studio?
LESSONS AT HOME
If you want to find a traveling instructor in your local area, try the local paper or local print media ads. Many piano teachers advertise in newspapers as well as online. Most piano teachers do not travel because of the major added expenditure on transport.
It is more convenient for the piano teacher to teach at their studio, but it is more convenient for the piano student to be taught at home. In the end, the decision may be left up to which types of teachers are available in your area. If you are in a very remote area, your only choice may be to purchase a piano method via mail and the internet.
There are many benefits to hiring a traveling instructor and having your lessons at home. First of, having lessons at home is far more convenient, as well as being conducive to learning because the child is in a comfortable, familiar environment.
Next, you will be able to see the lesson and observe how the teacher teaches and how your child
will react. You can bet that the teacher is eager to do a good job because you are present, if not in the same room, at least in the house and able to monitor your child's experience from afar.
Kids feel more comfortable at the home piano, and can glide from their own activities to the lesson and back again, all in the comfort of home.
Piano teachers who come to your home are more expensive, necessarily, but in my opinion, assuming you have a good teacher, you get what you pay for. That is, home lessons are a better buy because the learning environment is better and more secure. You may also want to make the point that many families want to have their children playing music in the home as a cultural value they support.
Having the lessons at home set that example for the children, but perhaps even more valuable is the fact that you may show praise for their efforts, however humble, more easily in your home.
LESSONS AT THE TEACHER'S STUDIO
Perhaps the prime virtue is that they are cheaper, and since most piano instructors teach only out of their home, there is a greater selection.
Some teach in their own home, or a studio attached to it. Others teach at music schools, exalted and famous, or in a storefront type of operation. In any case, you'll need to travel to the piano lesson and then either sit in on the lesson, or spend a half hour or so doing something else. And if you have other children to attend to, this can become difficult to organize and pull off happily.
One virtue of the studio teacher is that they usually have a larger library of music than a traveling piano teacher would ordinarily carry with them. This probably would not make a difference to the average child starting out, as they would usually have a single text assigned to them at first. But for an adult or more accomplished child, it could be a benefit.
As a general rule, I would try not to sit in on the lesson at a teacher's studio too often, as long as you feel comfortable with the teacher and child. The reason for this is simply concentration: your child will concentrate better if they are not trying to please you at the same time as following the piano instructor's directions.
At home it is different. There you can hear the progress of the piano lesson all through your home, at your leisure.
But your choice of piano instruction may come down to what is available in your area.
In other cases, such as a rural location, you may not be able to find a teacher at all, or a teacher may prove too expensive.
In this case, I would suggest trying to find what I would call a "starter method," that is, a method that is organized simply enough that you can do it yourself at home. There are many available, from large manufacturers to individuals who market their products online.
I would suggest that you compare all the piano products, and ask for samples if necessary. Some piano methods allow you to try them out online, using a virtual piano that uses your computer's mouse so you can get the idea of how that piano method works.
Regardless of which piano method you use, exploration of the piano whether in lessons or on your own can be a rewarding experience. Go very slowly and this is most important, learn at your own pace.
The piano is truly the grandest of all musical instruments and the benefits are life-long.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com/ to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
The major question to answer is the location of the lesson. Will your kids be taught at home by a traveling instructor or will you travel to the piano teacher's studio?
LESSONS AT HOME
If you want to find a traveling instructor in your local area, try the local paper or local print media ads. Many piano teachers advertise in newspapers as well as online. Most piano teachers do not travel because of the major added expenditure on transport.
It is more convenient for the piano teacher to teach at their studio, but it is more convenient for the piano student to be taught at home. In the end, the decision may be left up to which types of teachers are available in your area. If you are in a very remote area, your only choice may be to purchase a piano method via mail and the internet.
There are many benefits to hiring a traveling instructor and having your lessons at home. First of, having lessons at home is far more convenient, as well as being conducive to learning because the child is in a comfortable, familiar environment.
Next, you will be able to see the lesson and observe how the teacher teaches and how your child
will react. You can bet that the teacher is eager to do a good job because you are present, if not in the same room, at least in the house and able to monitor your child's experience from afar.
Kids feel more comfortable at the home piano, and can glide from their own activities to the lesson and back again, all in the comfort of home.
Piano teachers who come to your home are more expensive, necessarily, but in my opinion, assuming you have a good teacher, you get what you pay for. That is, home lessons are a better buy because the learning environment is better and more secure. You may also want to make the point that many families want to have their children playing music in the home as a cultural value they support.
Having the lessons at home set that example for the children, but perhaps even more valuable is the fact that you may show praise for their efforts, however humble, more easily in your home.
LESSONS AT THE TEACHER'S STUDIO
Perhaps the prime virtue is that they are cheaper, and since most piano instructors teach only out of their home, there is a greater selection.
Some teach in their own home, or a studio attached to it. Others teach at music schools, exalted and famous, or in a storefront type of operation. In any case, you'll need to travel to the piano lesson and then either sit in on the lesson, or spend a half hour or so doing something else. And if you have other children to attend to, this can become difficult to organize and pull off happily.
One virtue of the studio teacher is that they usually have a larger library of music than a traveling piano teacher would ordinarily carry with them. This probably would not make a difference to the average child starting out, as they would usually have a single text assigned to them at first. But for an adult or more accomplished child, it could be a benefit.
As a general rule, I would try not to sit in on the lesson at a teacher's studio too often, as long as you feel comfortable with the teacher and child. The reason for this is simply concentration: your child will concentrate better if they are not trying to please you at the same time as following the piano instructor's directions.
At home it is different. There you can hear the progress of the piano lesson all through your home, at your leisure.
But your choice of piano instruction may come down to what is available in your area.
In other cases, such as a rural location, you may not be able to find a teacher at all, or a teacher may prove too expensive.
In this case, I would suggest trying to find what I would call a "starter method," that is, a method that is organized simply enough that you can do it yourself at home. There are many available, from large manufacturers to individuals who market their products online.
I would suggest that you compare all the piano products, and ask for samples if necessary. Some piano methods allow you to try them out online, using a virtual piano that uses your computer's mouse so you can get the idea of how that piano method works.
Regardless of which piano method you use, exploration of the piano whether in lessons or on your own can be a rewarding experience. Go very slowly and this is most important, learn at your own pace.
The piano is truly the grandest of all musical instruments and the benefits are life-long.
by John Aschenbrenner Copyright 2000 Walden Pond Press
Visit http://www.pianoiseasy.com/ to see the fun Piano by Number method for kids.
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