Preschoolers and Piano

Over a year ago a friend of mine called up and asked me if I'd like to have Pippi (then age 4) join a pre-piano class. I jumped at the chance. So, once each week, for several weeks I took Pippi to a class taught by Kathryn Tuttle. Pippi loved going to this class; every week she'd bring home pictures of what she'd learned (quarter notes, whole notes, half notes, . Kathryn's class focused on learning the basic music skills needed to read music, feel the beat, and just love music. And all of us moms decided that the fact that Kathryn wore beautiful earrings and jewelry didn't hurt in earning our children's complete adoration. Anyway, Kathryn proved to be a very fun teacher for Pippi, and we were so sad when she moved right before we were going to start private lessons.

I wasn't going to let a little thing like a teacher moving away keep me from continuing Pippi's music education so I spent some time searching for a new curriculum. I found a great series called Sing and Play Piano by Ann Collins and Linda Clary, especially for preschoolers. It starts out teaching children in a group, just the way Kathryn did. So I recruited a girl from church to be in an informal "piano class" with Pippi. I warned her mother that I would be experimenting on her child and my child.

Sing and Play Piano has been great. The first book teaches the keys of the piano, loud and soft, and just generally how to have fun with music. Twice during the course, the children are asked to play a picture. Pippi, with her vivid imagination, lit up when she was asked to make the sound of a bird singing or a rock splashing into a pond with the piano.

By the time the girls started the second book I had to separate them. For some reason, they were getting very competitive with one another. (My Mom would say that this is because Pippi is like me at that age. I think it may have been because their strengths were just so different, and that they lacked patience waiting for each other to catch on to something new.) But, though Pippi was not ready for private lessons 2 months before, she was ready when it became necessary.

The Sing and Play book starts children playing in the closed hand position. I found that this was especially good for Pippi since her fingers weren't quite strong enough to hold a good hand position. Slowly we transitioned from a fun crazy class to a fun traditional lesson. The transition happened very naturally. By the middle of Book 2 the children are doing technique exercises trying to strengthen each finger before playing the practice songs. Sing and Play also provides pattern cards in the back that really helped Pippi with her music reading. The book introduces notes so naturally, that the kids just seemed to figure it out. The book also has a song that teaches finger numbers. And did you know that doing all 5 verses of "Where is Thumbkin" helps the fingers to learn to work independently of one another?

The Sing and Play books do move quite slowly through the skills. It may seem very redundant to some, but I really liked it for this age group because they don't have the patience to practice something 300 times before getting it to sound right and because I don't have the patience to sit with Pippi while she struggles. Each song stretches the child just a wee bit further, so little that they barely even notice they are progressing.

I also noticed that Pippi liked to practice frequently (but not for a long period of time) as long as I pushed for practice at the same time every day. Once we got into a habit, piano practice was as much a part of the day as brushing our teeth. And once we got out of the habit I had to struggle so hard to get her to the piano. She really only practiced 5-10 minutes 3 to 4 times a week when we were in the groove, but it was fun to see how quickly she progressed with such a small time investment. You've got to love those young brains.

Tonight Pippi and Amber had their recital. Pippi insisted on wearing a brown suit (hand-me-down) with a pair of giraffe print tights. Each girl introduced her own musical numbers. Both girls played two songs and then each a duet, Amber with her mother, and Pippi with me. I was so pleased with how much the girls loved doing their duets with their Moms. I gave the girls 11 roses each at the end of our recital. And though they'll have other recitals in their future, on grander pianos, in concert halls, I feel happy that I taught piano this year. Even though I probably wasn't the best teacher on the block, I feel like I didn't hurt their musical potential at all, and that I nurtured a little seed.