Introductory Piano Lessons

Introduction

This page has two aims.

To give those people who have seen my flier at the local library or music shops an idea of what to expect if they hire me for piano lessons.
To enable people who are searching the internet for online piano lessons to teach themselves or their children.

Students

I have students of all ages, some students are complete beginners, others may have been learning for a few years with another teacher or on their own. On occasion I get students at diploma or degree level. In general, the complete beginners follow a fairly well-defined path which this page describes.

This page will not discuss a lesson plan for non-beginners who may have been "doing the exams" for a few years and want to continue at the rate of one exam (or 2) per year. I do have some students who want to work this way, it's not the best system for all of them. In some cases it results in a student getting bogged down on three exam pieces and a set of scales and arpeggios for nine months every year. The Associated Board has a free downloadable exam-advice booklet, These Music Exams which addresses this topic (see page 14 in particular).

Some adult beginners like to sing and may prefer to learn to accompany themselves with chords; this alternative approach can work out very well too.

Preparation

In general, when the parents sing for their child they are providing an ideal introduction to music. All the nursery songs are excellent. By playing clapping games (see below), playing your favorite CDs, dancing with the child when she's old enough to run around, etc., your child will naturally develop:

an enjoyment of music
a feeling for rhythm
a sense of pitch

In passing, it is worth drawing attention to the fact that perfect pitch appears to be an ability that most children can learn if they are given training early enough. The studies that have been conducted on this rare ability seem to agree that the potential for developing perfect pitch disappears at an early age, probably before 10. (It is not necessary to have perfect pitch in order to become a good musician. Almost anybody can develop relative pitch with practice.)

Your Piano

It is necessary that your piano is in tune, with all the notes in at least the middle three or four octaves of the instrument working. A piano that can't be tuned, or one that has some other serious fault, is not suitable. It's not fair to ask anyone to learn on an unplayable instrument - they won't be able to learn, and it won't be their fault. I'm not saying you need to buy a new piano, or even an expensive second hand one, but make sure your instrument is playable and will stay in tune. A piano that looks kind of beat-up on the outside may be a good instrument; conversely, a piano with a lovely polish may be unplayable. If you're not sure, get someone you trust to check it for you.

An electronic keyboard may be okay; preferably it would have no less than 5 octaves (61 notes) of wooden, not plastic, piano keys, and should be touch sensitive (i.e. pressure sensitive). It should have a socket for a plug-in sustain pedal. It may have integrated speakers; if not, you'll need to be able to plug it into your stereo system (or buy an amplifier/speaker). You may need to buy an adjustable-height keyboard stand; you also may need a music stand.
I've played some good electric pianos made by Yamaha and Roland, of course there are other good manufacturers. At this time (2009) a decent new electric piano would probably cost at least 600 euros. One feature an electric instrument has, which may be an advantage in some circumstances, is that it can be used with headphones. This doesn't mean it is absolutely silent, because the keyboard will have some mechanical noise due to the thump of the keys. Electric keyboards may have a number of additional features, such as the ability to produce the sounds of different instruments, or to record and play back a performance, etc.

Practice

Most of my beginning piano students are between 6 & 10 years old. Young children usually do best when a parent is aware of the homework and helps it get done. Most children need a reminder or some help, just like with school homework.

Playing a musical instrument requires some skill; this can only be developed by consistent practice. In the early stages it should be possible for a young child to concentrate for a five-minute practice session once or twice every day. Without regular practice at home, a weekly piano lesson will achieve little or nothing; ensuring that the "at-home" practice gets done is the parent's responsibility, not the child's (or the teacher's!). For older children, as progress is made the practice should generally increase to about 30 minutes a day.

Lesson One

At the first lesson we'll try to sing a few nursery songs that the child knows. I usually use Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had A Little Lamb, Twinkle Twinkle, London Bridge, or Old McDonald. Most kids know at least one of them. It is much easier for the child to learn to play a tune that he can already sing. Even if he can't sing in tune at all, being able to mumble the words in time is useful.

Next we look for the groups of two black notes, and the groups of three black notes. We can then identify C as the white key located just on the left of the 2 black notes; middle C is the C in the middle of the keyboard. I tell him that each finger gets a number: the thumb is finger 1, index is 2, etc. To make sure he gets the idea, his hand is placed on the keyboard and when I say a number he presses a key with that finger. I may hide his hand under a piece of paper so he can find the finger without looking at it. We may need to get the hand to relax a bit and curve the fingers. Some kids have a natural co-ordination, their hands have a great shape right away; most need a little manipulation to relax the wrist or fingers. However we don't dwell on this, they want to play something as soon as possible.

Usually, then, we start with Hot Cross Buns. I write the words in his notebook, and the finger numbers above the words, with black pen or pencil. Here's how it looks:

Hot Cross Buns

(Thumb on C)

3	2	1
Hot	Cross	Buns
3	2	1
Hot	Cross	Buns
1	1	1	1
One	A	Pen -	ny
2	2	2	2
Two	A	Pen -	ny
3	2	1
Hot	Cross	Buns

I sing the song as I play it. I make sure the child puts her right hand thumb on middle C, then get her to copy me. There's usually no problem for them finding the right fingers, but the rhythm may be a little off for the first few attempts. After a few runs at it they always get it right, and will almost certainly be able to do it without looking at the notebook.

We may have another brief look at the hand shape, and try to get the fingers to curve as they strike the key. I show them a finger exercise to practice at home. The fingers should be relaxed and curved, as if wrapped around a ball. The wrist should be at a height which allows the thumb to be parallel with the keys, not pointing up or down; this height allows the fingers to relax across a wide range of vertical movement.
We want to avoid a hand position in which the fingers are more or less straight and stiff. We also want to avoid the fingers "collapsing" (i.e. bending in) at the lowest joint.
All of these points can be seen in the two videos: try to observe the way the fingers curve (or don't). In the 2^nd video the fingers curve better but the wrist is a little too high; you can see the way the thumb slopes down a bit, rather than remaining parallel with the keyboard.

Then on to the next tune, let's say Twinkle Twinkle.
The left hand will be used here, so both thumbs are placed on middle C. I write the words in the notebook, and the finger numbers above the words. The numbers for the left hand fingers are written in red ink.

Twinkle Twinkle

(Thumbs on C)

4	4	2	2	3	3	2
Twink -	le	Twink -	le	lit -	tle	star
1	1	2	2	3	3	4
How	I	won -	der	what	you	are
2	2	1	1	2	2	3
Up	a -	bove	the	world	so	high
2	2	1	1	2	2	3
Like	a	dia -	mond	in	the	sky
4	4	2	2	3	3	2
Twink -	le	Twink -	le	lit -	tle	star
1	1	2	2	3	3	4
How	I	won -	der	what	you	are

Twinkle is a bit longer than Hot Cross Buns so it's a bit trickier. After playing through the tune a few times with the help of the notebook we'll try to memorize the first line. This is done by repeating the first line several times in a row, then trying it without the notebook. If this is easy going and time permits then the second line is memorized. The parent should help the child to memorize the tunes during the week, before the next lesson. Even at this early stage a few minutes practice at home every day is necessary.

And that's pretty much all there is to the first lesson. It takes about twenty minutes, maybe a half hour. I'll usually play a few tunes for the student to clap along with, just to make sure she knows how to clap a steady beat. I'll also play a few single notes for the child to sing, in order to check her pitch. I sing these with them because many kids find it difficult to get a pitch from the piano at first, but easy enough to get it from a voice. I've had quite a few kids that couldn't sing a reliable pitch for the first two years, and then they start to get the hang of it. Patience is the magic word; we're trying to make music a happy experience, and the lessons a good place to be.

As noted above, in general parents will need to remind the child to practice, but if there is an ongoing battle over several months to get your child to practice a few minutes each day, it may be time to call it quits. Conversely, if your child falls in love with a particular tune, they may play it incessantly. This is a good thing even if you may find it hard to take!

Lesson Two & Beyond

Obviously some kids learn faster than others, so it's not possible to say "such and such happens at lesson two, and at lesson three we do this...". However, the general plan in the early stages is to learn to play a new nursery song every week, and memorize it before the next lesson.

At each lesson we'll review some, if not all, of the songs we've done since the very first lesson, thereby building a set of memorized tunes. This set is an important foundation for all subsequent work. It is not a good plan to learn a song and then forget it in order to concentrate on the new material. The old stuff needs to be mastered (gradually); this mastery builds confidence, helps to improve co-ordination, and helps to develop a solid sense of rhythm.

The notebook has an important part to play, because it keeps a record of everything we go over during the lessons (as you can see from the photo). Parents should refer to the notebook regularly to keep track of progress; most children need a parent's help and encouragement to do a little organized practice every day.

The lessons may also include:

five-finger exercises
thumb exercises
playing scales, broken chords, & arpgeggios
rhythm/clapping exercises, like in the following links to YouTube:
transposing the memorized tunes (e.g. play Twinkle with "Thumbs on F")
playing the memorized tunes with one hand
adding a separate left hand to a memorized tune
reading music

Reading Music

The student's progress may be good enough to suggest that I can introduce written music around the third or fourth lesson. I provide exceptionally simple material which I've written specifically for reading practice (see below). The books I've listed below are good, but they move quickly on to new notes, and most kids need the extra practice material which I give them. Learning to read music fluently requires lots of practice with simple material.
Books that I continue to use with the beginners include:

Leila Fletcher's Music Lessons Have Begun
John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course book 1 with CD (also available without CD)
John Thompson's Teaching Little Fingers To Play
Me & My Piano (Waterman & Harewood)
Piano Lessons book 1 (Waterman & Harewood) (moves a little faster, as does the next in this list)
Piano Playtime book 1 (Waterman & Harewood)

Local students can buy any of these books at Pro Musica on Oliver Plunkett Street. Online students can purchase them by clicking on the links.

More Nursery Songs

London Bridge

(Thumbs on C)

2	3	2	1	2	1	2
Lon -	don	Bridge	is	fall -	ing	down
3	2	1	2	1	2
fall -	ing	down	fall -	ing	down
2	3	2	1	2	1	2
Lon -	don	Bridge	is	fall -	ing	down
3	2	2	4
My	Fair	La -	dy

Mary Had A Little Lamb

(Thumbs on C)

3	2	1	2	3	3	3
Mar -	y	had	a	lit -	tle	lamb
2	2	2	3	5	5
lit -	tle	lamb	lit -	tle	lamb
3	2	1	2	3	3	3
Mar -	y	had	a	lit -	tle	lamb
1	2	2	3	2	1
its	fleece	was	white	as	snow

Row Row

(Thumbs on C)

4	4	4	3	2
Row	row	row	your	boat
2	3	2	1	2
gent -	ly	down	the	stream
5	5	5	2	2	2
Mer -	ri -	ly	Mer -	ri -	ly
2	2	2	4
Mer -	ri -	ly	Oh!
2	1	2	3	4
Life	is	but	a	dream

Other tunes that fit under the hands in this initial position are:

Old McDonald
Oranges and Lemons
Happy Birthday
Lazy Mary
Eensy Weensy Spider
Hush Little Baby
Blow The Man Down
Yankee Doodle
Lightly Row
and so on...

In the next version of Mary Had A Little Lamb the right hand plays the tune, as usual. However, now the left hand plays a few notes at the same time as the right hand. Again, the numbers for the fingers are above the words, red for the left hand, black for the right.

Mary Had A Little Lamb _{with 2 hands together}

(Right Hand Thumb on C, Left Hand Thumb on G)

3	2	1	2	3	3	3
5
Mar -	y	had	a	lit -	tle	lamb

2	2	2	3	5	5
1			5
lit -	tle	lamb	lit -	tle	lamb

3	2	1	2	3	3	3
5
Mar -	y	had	a	lit -	tle	lamb

1	2	2	3	2	1
	1				5
its	fleece	was	white	as	snow

If your browser (Mozilla Firefox is good for this site) reads SVG files then below you can see a page of sight-reading material for beginners.
The music typesetting is done with Lilypond, and additional graphics with Inkscape. I've uploaded more pages to scribd; you can download them from here. If you find them useful please send me a gratuity by using the donate button.

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