Learning a new piece of music can be daunting for beginners, especially young children, if they don?t know how to approach their learning at the piano. The first thing to do is set a goal. For beginners obvious goal would be to learn their new assigned piece of music or one they have chosen on their own. Taking the next step, however, is where students often get discouraged and express their frustration. It's too hard. I can't play it. When this happens here?s what to do; and, parents, even...

To achieve musical goals, as with anything else, our attitudes and habits need to support these goals. In other words how we take care of things matters. For example I wouldn?t take care of my cactus plant the same way I care for my cat. My cat needs water and also to be petted. Obviously I couldn't apply those same habits of care to my cactus without killing the cactus or myself! Similarly many children in piano lessons are not getting the proper care and feeding every piano student needs t...

Imagine your child practicing their very first Christmas Song on the piano, such as Away in the Manger, or Silent Night, but theyre not holding out the half notes or playing the dotted quarter rhythms like were all used to hearing it. Their song starts and stops and lacks the rhythm your trained ear is used to hearing. But of course you dont want to say anything discouraging! When parents do try to correct such imperfections in rhythm and tempo, it often creates a lot of friction. Young stu...

A childs first piano recital is an important one because it establishes a performance history they will look back on - unless theyre too young to remember it! So why wait until your child is an adolescent to give them piano lessons when they will be much more concerned about their peers, and feel uncomfortable playing with students who have had years of experience. Look at your young child and imagine them as a fearful adolescent at their very first piano recital, wondering why their parents h...

Just as children need their parents to read to them and teach the alphabet, parents can also teach their young children the foundational music Language skills for piano or keyboard. If you can teach your child the alphabet, you can also give them an important foundation at home for learning to read music and understand keyboard theory. Even if your young children are already taking piano lessons, piano teachers don't have time in a 30 minute weekly lesson to give kids the complete foundation t...

Children, like all of us, need help setting goals that wont run out of track before the end of the journey. The piano journey is no different. There are basically two kinds of goals: Dead goals that simply expire, and Living Goals that never die. What kind of goals do you want your child to reach for? If you want them to achieve living goals youll need to show them how to prepare for the future.Preparing for the future requires having a plan in place. When it comes to planning, however, mo...