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What Is The Best Age To Begin Teaching A Child Piano?

Elise — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:47:19 +0000

La Leçon De Piano (The Piano Lesson) By Marguerite Gérard (1761–1837)

Musical training during a very young age can be strikingly rewarding. In fact, most babies who are frequently exposed to perfectly tuned piano sounds and music have a tendency to automatically develop what is called “perfect pitch,” which is the ability to identify a musical note without any given reference.

This may seem unthinkable, but there is actually nothing extraordinary about this. Nobody can be born with the perfect pitch ability because it is a skill that is 100% learned.

Piano training is most effective when it is reinforced at a relatively young age. Children can begin learning when they are as young as three or four years old.

Exposing infants and toddlers (typically from birth) to classical music is very beneficial from a musical standpoint, because classical music involves the highest musical content out of all different types of music. Classical music is characterized by more complex components.

In comparison to classical music, certain types of contemporary music can hinder a child’s musical development. This is due to the fact that some forms of music over-emphasize detracting aspects like loudness or music structures that are too simplistic, which under-stimulates the brain.

An individual does not have to be especially “gifted” in order to play the piano well, which is why enrolling any child in piano lessons at an early age can be beneficial. Many people think that forcing their child into piano lessons at a younger age will result in their child being unable to sit still or concentrate on piano practice and technique.

Quite honestly, you will never know whether you child grows up to choose the piano or not, until they actually grow up. My sister (age 5) and I (age 8 ) were enrolled in piano lessons at the same time. My sister never truly developed the passion needed for piano persistence and she quit a few years later. I, on the other hand, kept on going to participate in competitions and conservatory examinations. Our difference in age had nothing to do with it (the fact that I was older). It was simply an outcome of trial and error by my parents who decided to enroll the both of us in piano lessons. I never went forward in ballet, gymnastics, curling, or soccer… but piano, I did.

Younger children can also benefit from piano lessons because there is no need to force them to practice for long hours on end. While practice makes perfect, it’s unwise to force a child to practice for long periods of time.

Many famous pianists have recommended practice sessions of less than an hour.

Not only is this beneficial for musical improvement, but it is also easier to keep a child focused on practicing over a half hour-long practice period, as opposed to a two hour-long practice period.

As a final note, advancement in piano practice is highly dependent on the ability to eventually memorize musical compositions.

In piano, it’s recommended that one should memorize as many pieces as possible before the age of 20.

Why? Pieces learned during earlier ages are almost never forgotten. Again, even if they are forgotten, they can be picked up again quickly. Pieces learned after the age of 40 actually require a lot more effort for memorization and maintenance.

Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:

Learning the piano should never seem like a daunting or overwhelming task for a young child. The child should be given the opportunity to explore and learn at their own pace. The right piano teacher will be able to observe and guide young children throughout the learning process to help keep them interested in fun, musical exercises, while also rewarding them as they grow to achieve certain goals in music.

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Some Of The Greatest Pianists Could Never Teach Piano

Elise — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:09:45 +0000

Analytics Vs. Artistry

It’s true, there were very few great pianists who could master the art of teaching piano, as they spent their entire lives mastering their own training and artistry. Learning and teaching are essential parts of exploring science. However, some of the most well-known pianists who had not received sufficient teaching training were actually pushed into teaching.

By human nature and throughout history, we have looked up to these great composers and pianists for guidance and piece of mind in how we relate to learning piano. If they can do it, they should be able to show us how, right? If you asked a famous pianist how to play a certain piece, he or she would sit down at the piano and play it. Notice that the language of the pianist is spoken by the hand and the piano, as opposed to the mouth.

Not only that, but that pianist may also be completely unaware about how exactly the fingers are moving in the right way to manipulate the piano keys. It literally takes the ability to control thousands of muscles and nerves in the fingers, hands, and forearms to learn how to manipulate the keys the proper way.

Acquiring technical skills can come from two different extremes. The first is the analytical extreme, where every movement and muscle is analyzed. The other is the artistic extreme, where the piano player discovers his or her own way of expressing musicality through body motions and feelings, thus acquiring the correct movements to execute proper piano playing.

And so, technique through the artistic extreme is difficult to communicate to students, because it’s acquired through completely personal and nonlinear musical aspects. Still, even knowing the proper and analytical practice methods is not enough. The correct explanations as to why they work are needed, which usually lies outside the expertise of the pianist.

There seems to be a gap in the development of proper teaching tools. The artist or the piano teachers lack training to develop these tools, but scientists and engineers who may have such training lack piano experience and artistry for teaching piano.

We can’t deny that some of the most well-known pianists of all time were indeed geniuses. Many discovered and theorized new ways of incorporating mathematics and physics to improve piano playing, so we can’t say that absolutely no analytical aspects were combined with artistry in piano playing.

These long-developed and even re-invented technical piano playing aspects have actually never been documented historically in a systematic way as they have evolved over the years. Piano teachers struggle to teach because it’s very difficult to hold the artistic approach while trying to identify what correct theoretical explanations work for teaching practice methods. And unfortunately, without a sound explanation for why these work can cause the teacher and the student to misuse or misunderstand the right practice methods.

This is why no other piano practice methods have been developed throughout history. Learning and understanding why a certain practice method works, is just as important as the method itself.

Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:

Do you ever see a really great piano player and just think that they have been blessed with pure, amazing talent? Well, don’t. Most conservatories do not accept students unless they are of advanced levels, yet without proper conservatory training, many students are unable to attain the skills required to be accepted. A grey area has been created by the lack of good piano teaching methods, directly translating into a “lack of talent.” When this is all taken into account, it becomes more evident to see why some of the greatest pianists of all time could not teach piano.

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The Requirements of a Piano Teacher

Elise — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:40:16 +0000

I took piano lessons for 10 years with the same piano teacher. While it’s usually a great investment to start taking piano lessons with a teacher, you should be sure that the teacher you are choosing satisfies all of the following criteria.

1. Generally, your piano teacher should have studied music and/or piano throughout university, or through conservatory training and examination. He or she must know the instrument well in order to know how to use it as a teaching tool.

2. If you are a beginner, you should choose the most qualified teacher. It’s very important for beginner piano players to establish a solid foundation in regards to technical skills and musicality. If a teacher is not qualified enough to communicate and teach proper technique from the early stages of learning, it becomes very difficult to break bad habits developed by students in order to correct their technical abilities.

3. Ideally, the teacher should have both a background in performance and a pedagogical (teaching). A teacher with performance experience would only understand what it takes to play the instrument well, while a teacher with pedagogical training would only know hot to teach beginners (especially young children).

4. The environment you are being taught in also plays an important role. Basically, you should be free from distractions and other noises.

5. The teacher that you choose should be flexible and must understand the individual needs and goals of each different student. Teaching methods vary greatly between certain students, whether their goal is to become a concert performer or another’s goal is to play improvisational jazz pieces just for fun.

6. Your piano teacher should offer performance opportunities, such as end-of-year recitals, or the chances to participate in local festivals, competitions, and of course conservatory examinations. The ability to play in front of an audience is an integral part of studying music.

7. The teacher should have a well-rounded teaching strategy and should include teaching all aspects of music, including theory, technique, and musicality. Music is not just an ability to play a song well; it is a form of art. It takes a person with great artistry to understand and to teach complete musicality.

8. As a rule, the price of the piano lessons should not dictate your decision on choosing a piano teacher. A teacher with the best qualifications and experience would most likely not be cheap, but you would be getting quality teaching methods for your time and money spent.

Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:

Piano teachers are great, but they’re not for everyone. In fact, in today’s day and age, technology is starting to really take its place in music. There are several multimedia piano lessons and courses that you can learn on your own, saving you time and money from a weekly piano lesson. Read my review here if you are interested in finding the very best multimedia piano course that is being offered on the market today.

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Do You Need A Piano Teacher?

Elise — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:17:41 +0000

There is no doubt that anyone can teach themselves how to play the piano on their own. However, unless you already have some knowledge and experience in reading music, a complete beginner would most definitely benefit from the company of a piano teacher, at least for the first 6 months to a year or so.

Why are piano teachers needed for piano players at least in the beginning? Essentially, your teacher can show you the most effective body positions for playing the piano, such as hand position, sitting position, hand and finger movements, and so on. If you start out on your own with the wrong body positions, you could easily adapt to some bad habits or even injure yourself without even knowing the right hand and sitting positions.

Likewise, a beginner who sits down at the piano and starts playing is usually making at least 20 different mistakes simultaneously. These include things like coordinating the right and left hands, controlling dynamics, rhythm problems, timing, speed, finger positioning, learning certain things in the wrong order, and lacking a sense of musicality.

The right teacher can help you pinpoint all of these problems so that you can work to improve them. Your teacher will also know the basic skills needed for beginners so you can learn them in the right order. He or she can provide you with the right learning materials and they provide you with s structured learning environment, which is essential for beginners.

You should try to avoid teachers who are unable to teach you what you want to learn. For example, say you want to learn jazz improvisation but your teacher only teacher classical piano for conservatory examinations. Also, teachers who are too strict may not offer you the flexibility needed for your personal style of learning.

Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:

I was a beginner piano player at the age of 8 and getting a piano teacher was definitely a cost effective alternative, not only in a monetary sense, but in a timely sense as well. If you are a beginner piano player looking for a piano teacher, I’d advise you to check out local music stores first. Check your local directory or Yellow Pages for stores like these and contact them to find out if they offer lessons. You can also find private teachers who teach from home. My piano teacher structured her music business this way. You can find private teachers through advertisements in your local newspaper, through referrals, or sometimes advertised on information boards in your community. Finally, you can search PrivateLessons.com and click on “Piano” to try and find a teacher in your area.

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