How to teach a toddler practical piano

My children are 2 y 10 mo. They know solfege from LM and would run to the piano and play do, re, mi… I play and prefer to teach them myself but I have found it difficult to teach them in a consistent way. So, we haven’t gotten very far compared to English and Math, which have their own challenges in terms of content and how to present lessons that are fun with lots of self-learning. Teaching piano is very different again. What has worked for you in developing musicianship in your little ones?

Many people have found Music for Little Mozarts (http://www.musicforlittlemozarts.com/) to be good for preschool children, but it is advertised for ages 4-6. It uses ABCs instead of solfege. There is also My First Piano Adventures (http://pianoadventures.com/myfirst/) for ages 5 and 6.

However, if you are having a hard time instituting piano into your life, perhaps you want to look into group piano classes for preschool children. On the forums of pianoworld.com, there are the following quotes:

"Music for Young Children (“MYC” www.myc.com) is one of a very small handful of group piano programs available. Harmony Road (www.harmonyroadmusic.com) and Yamaha are others. My understanding is that the Yamaha program was the ‘original’ group piano method (it’s been around for 30+ years) and that the others are in a sense offshoots of it. They are similar in that they share the same philosophy of ‘ear before eye’. Yamaha and Harmony Road use solfege as their musical language, MYC uses traditional letter names (and a little solfege, a la moveable ‘do’). MYC is very popular in Canada.

"What I like about these three programs (in comparison to programs like Music Together, Kindermusik, Musikgarten, and others for the 2-4 year old range) is that they are piano-based even from an early age. Each child and parent sits at a keyboard or digital piano. Keyboard activities include ‘bouncing on the black keys’ then white keys, making ‘birdie sounds’ and ‘elephant sounds’, etc… By the time the kids are 4 1/2 and ready for the group piano program they already have a nice introduction to the piano and can even identify some of the notes on the piano and the staff. "

We loved Soft Mozart and it has had success for us at any age, from less that 2 years and up. Any kid that had the chance to test the software at our home liked it very much they asked their parents to buy a keyboard… It’s a program and curriculum we can use for generations. You can use it at least 9 years from now on, from early learner to advanced.

This is our thread and my oldest progress http://www.softmozart.com/forum/56-progress-diaries--/6252-alin-4-yrs-old-romania.html. It’s not updated, but it gives you a clue of what it can do. People have posted on Soft Mozart here, including me and you may find more information if you are interested. Since we bought it, they made some improvements, like you can just download it and buy the license, no need for shipping now :slight_smile: And you have a curriculum made by levels, on age and development http://www.softmozart.com/forum/index.html.

A very close friend of mine in Romania has been using the software much more than I did, the entire family is practicing with it like crazy :smiley: http://www.softmozart.com/forum/64-progress-diaries---2013-2014/13612-maia-5-years-old-and-camelia.html

As a pianist you know that one needs finger strength and hand coordination. One place you can start is by teaching Kodaly as it develops rhythm. One example of Kodaly is “phant, phant, elephant” and have the kids clap as they are repeating the phrase.

Here is the new article about Kodaly: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/kodaly-orff-methods-cause-more-harm-than-use-hellene-hiner?trk=mp-reader-card

Thank you for post… I have also found the information very helpful.

Very good info