Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion instrument lessons

The teacher asked DD to figure out "Twinkle Twinkle" on her own. And also asked her to compose a piece using 5 keys. I thought he was nuts, but I saw her listening and figuring it out. She really wants to hear the notes to figure out if she is doing it correctly. It astounded me. I was not expecting that.

I am not keen on pushing a musical career or expecting her to practice hours a day. It is not my inclination, so it isn't on my radar. I may be short changing my child. But then I hear questions from her about how far the wind travels, does it travel in outer space. What is this bone called, what are these muscles? And I know her curiousity is vast. Her desire to pick up flip-top math and take it to read on the toilet, indicates more than just musical interest.

And she now wants "rock" which is really 60s hits to dance to, shows me that she has many interests to draw from.

Ren

thanks, kcab! You're not a nerd, you're a wizard! One of my long-standing areas of fear/ignorance/hope-that-some-voodoo-might-help/darkness has been illuminated, thanks to you!

minnie
¸

As a former music and piano teacher, I just wanted to give a couple of pointers to help out the little ones...

1) Playing chords that are too big for your hand is a normal part of piano at any level...Think about it. Most classical composers are men...Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mozart. Women and many men don't have as large a hand as the composers. There is a basic, standard technique used by pianist of rolling from the bottom up. The lower notes of the chord are played almost like a grace note, before the beat...the final note lands on the beat.

2)Limiting practice to a specific time doesn't make the best practice method. Instead of 15 minutes at a time, which from 6 under is a good number for each practice session, the parent should sit with the child and teach them how to practice correctly.

There is a phrase that "Practice makes perfect." Untrue...the correct phrase is "Perfect practice makes perfect." Bad habits are hard and frustrating to correct with music.

A better way to practice is to focus on improving each song just a little. While sitting with your child ask, "How many notes can you play without a misread note?" If they go to ten notes and make an error, teach them to correct the error (maybe 3 times at the measure), then go back to the beginning and play it and see if they do better.

15 minutes is a good time frame, but they like it better if you say, "We are going to play each piece 5 (if they are super short 10) times and see if we can make any improvement."
This practice method is preferred in little ones, because they can understand 5 times a song better than 15 minutes as applied to practicing. If they know the songs by the end of the week, they go through them 5 times each and are done! But they have to be played correctly.
Versus...15 minutes of...lying on the bench...only playing one song twice in 15 minutes...throwing a fit of not wanting to be there...dawdling 10 of the 15 minutes.

3) Composing music with the notes of a simple song or the C scale/chord helps with ear training, but true composing will come with a good background of theory, ie, scales and chords. Composing is what helps keep teens loving piano. If they can get a lot of theory under their belt at a young age, it will be more fun later.

4) It takes about 2 years to read music as quickly and as easily as reading books. There are a lot of notes to learn, not to mention counting. If you can get them through this rudimentary and boring part, they usually will end up liking it. It takes a while though...the younger they are, usually the longer it takes. That's why some wait until after they are a little older than 5 or 6.

We had our first piano practice meltdown tonight with DS5 (almost 6) who started learning piano a month ago. He kept crying that his hands are just two small to play correctly. He was playing Mary Had A Little Lamb with Chords. Although he knows all the notes and hand positioning it's true that his hands are still pretty small. After practicing about 10 times (with some tears) he finally was able to play it once flawlessly. He was so proud of himself. I decided to quit while ahead and told him stop practicing until tomorrow.

As far as the boring part goes I think my DS5 prefers the learning to read music and the various terms then he actually prefers playing. After one month he can sight read all the notes on the bass and treble clef and can identify all the keys on the piano. He has also learned about 30 other music terms from his flash card set. He keeps telling me that he wants to play the trumpet instead and I have explained to him that he doesn't have the lung power yet. When we talked about him starting piano I told him that it was important to learn to read music no matter what instrument he chooses to learn to play. In him mind I also think that he knows that the piano is not the instrument for him and he is only taking lessons to be ready for the trumpet.

jayne, I think there is a huge difference between 4 year old playing chords and 6 year old playing chords. Their hands are really small at that age. Why to push them to do something which will come much easier when they are older?


LOL crisc. That's DS6. He could probably go through the 1st theory primer in 2 sessions and be done with it. I think the reading notes part is quite easy for gt kids. It's the playing which requires some work.

LMom, I agree that there is a difference in size of hands, but my point is when you roll a chord you can add many notes in the hand span. You can skip several notes, and it is taught even to 4 year olds as a technique. They just need to hit the lower note first. It becomes second nature after a while.

Also, when I was talking about "reading notes" I didn't mean by site reading a flash card set. That is rote memory. I also didn't mean playing out of a second or third level piano book. I was refering to the ability to open up a piece of music at intermediate-advance level (The Piano Guild has a different means of levels) and playing it correctly without error. In other words, reading music as easily as reading an intermediate book.

I have taught teens (2 of them) who have improved greatly in just 6 months, from going to little reading to intermediate level. Later, they reached advanced. They are also much quicker to go through to the advanced theory books. Teens can be amazingly quick! It has to do with with the motivation and time put in. (One wanted to become a keyboard player for a band, and worked hard on mainly theory.)

I have also taught gifted 4 year olds, who go through the books and songs, but they don't go anywhere near this level in 6 months. They take quite a bit longer as each level increases. Counting and rhythm for intermediate level playing is usually a challenge until they are quite a bit older. This holds up younger kids. They can even get frustrated about the counting at the middle intermediate level and quit at this point, due to the repetition involved in perfecting it. Having someone under 6 reaching advanced level, isn't very common, but of course it does happen, it's really rare though.

Anyway, I was just offering some suggestions for the little guys. They are so fun to teach! I like seeing them enjoy playing and performing. I hate hearing when they are having meltdowns at home.

I was for sure not talking about advance reading and mentioned the 1st primer only. I just agreed with crisc that our boys may find reading notes more interesting than playing themselves and that that part comes quite easily to them.

Thank you Jayne for all the suggestions. Many of which are already incorporated. Even with a roll, the chord is too far to reach at this point for her hands.

I think that at 4, you have to sit with them and practice. But there are many difficult times as they can play the piece, but then start to go fast. And they don't want to listen about the beat because there is some accomplishment for themselves to be able to do it with speed -- or maybe just with DD.

It is interesting how fast they do read notes. The teacher does a little bit with her and gets her to read them and asks her where the G would be, etc. I am working with her to understand attached notes go faster. Hollow notes she has to hold. Little things like that and a GT 4 year old learns these things quickly. But attitude is another thing.

The teacher suggested singing "this notes goes s-l-o-w-l-y". This works for her.

As I said, there are many positives, but his attitude seems to be a bit that he wants to show her off with the recital and stuff. That goes against my gut. Right now. Not that she can't do recitals but I want to focus on her enjoyment and never about showing her off.

Though she has done some ballet recitals, since that is part of every ballet show, and this is her 3rd year of ballet, but she has wanted to dance in front of people since she was a year. Though it wasn't so much wanting to dance in front of people as just dancing. Where there was music....

So who recommends doing the recitals early on for instrument players? Does it provide added incentive?

Ren

I'm not generally a fan of recitals. Especially for perfectionist kids like yours, Ren, I think it's an invitation to trouble. JMHO...

She said she didn't. DH is the supporter of the idea.

A piano recital isn't like a ballet one, where you are in the dressing room with the other girls, getting make up put on you and wearing a tutu. The room where they hold these small recitals is on the same floor as her lesson studio. There are two grand pianos in there, which she has tried. Her lessons are on a baby grand and she loves to see the hammers hit when she plays. (more engineer than musician, I think) We have gone in, we have seen the snacks put out. I told her she could invite her friends and teachers. But it doesn't appeal to her.

The teacher wanted it in December, but our schedule is full. He wants it now in January.

Ren