Does anyone have any info on teaching a 3 year old how to play the piano?

Question

Does anyone have any info on teaching a 3 year old how to play the piano?

Answer 1

just make it easier and sign them up for piano lessons

Answer 2

You can teach him to enjoy the piano. The child's individuality, however, will be a deciding factor in how much he understands. Teach him the alphabet. Then, you could play notes one at a time in sequence and say the letter name of each key on the piano. This might provide a foundation for associating pitches with the paino keys.

Maybe you should take piano lessons :), and talk to your child about it at whatever level you can see keeps his attention. You know, kids absorb verbal communication that can serve them later, regardless of whether they can apply it at the time.

Answer 3

Help the 3 year old to act like hes playing Simon says.

Answer 4

That is way too young, because his fingers aren't even big enough to span 5 keys yet. Wait till he's 5.

But if he's really smart, maybe you can teach him what notes correspond to what keys on the piano (like CDEFGAB) and try training his ear by like playing a certain note and asking him to figure out what it is without looking.

Answer 5

He's too young to begin playing the piano.  You should wait until he's at least 5 or 6.  Much of the first year of piano lessons is theory, not actual playing and most children don't comprehend the concepts until about 6 or 7.

To begin, you should teach simple concepts like timing, keeping time, rhthym.

Answer 6

If you play even a little bit of piano, spend time each day playing songs your child likes a lot: Mary had a little lamb, Old McDonald, Wheels on the Bus, etc.  Songs with verses where your child can fill in words and sing while you play are a way to make it interactive.  If the child wants to sit next to you and play too, or wants to play when you're finished, great.  Keep everything low key, no pressure.  Playing songs with your child is a great way to spend time with them and interact with them, whether or not it leads your child to an interest in playing piano.

I myself started playing piano when I was 3.  My older brother was taking lessons at the time, and I used to watch him practice.  Then when he finished I sat down and by ear played everything he had just played.  The key was that no one was pushing me to do it, I was doing it because I wanted to and because it was fun.  Keep in mind that most teachers won't take kids that young.  My mom was my teacher until I turned 5 and she found another teacher willing to take me on as a student.

Answer 7

I know that most piano teachers won't teach until age 7-9, because their fingers span is not long enough.

Answer 8

Look up articles on the "Suzuki Method"-- at this age, the absolute best way to teach your child the piano is to give him a toy piano (a good one that makes realistic piano sounds-- you might even opt for a cheap keyboard sold in electronics shops) and encourage him to play with it. You want him to get the experience of enjoying the piano, and learning from feedback of the keys how to make it make the sounds he wants. Make sure he gets the idea in his head that he can use a piano to play other songs he's heard, and he might try to do that. Let him play with the "grownup" piano whenever he wants. He will develop excellent intuitive skills for playing by ear that will be extremely valuable if he becomes a musician.

Don't ever push him or force him to spend time playing the piano when he's not itnerested-- you need to make it look as appealing as possible to him, then let him play on his own. Otherwise, you'll turn it into nothing but a chore, and he'll never learn to play with passion.