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Encourage Slow Starters At The Piano
You have to encourage slow starters at the piano. Many kids fumble and get off to a slow start. You need to go at their pace and not make them feel stress.
There are many things preventing the average child from playing the piano with enthusiasm. Everything at younger ages seems to conspire against enthusiasm. Let's look first at their state of mind.
Most children are inattentive unless motivated. Give them a real reason to pay attention and they will stick to you like glue. It takes a lot of attention and focus to start learning the piano. Even when presented in a "friendly" way, beginning the piano is a daunting series of physical and mental problems.
Piano Is Easy
Some Kid's Talent Has To Be Discovered
Never forget that nine out of ten children quit almost immediately, largely due to the piano teacher's inflexible diet of music reading. Yes, music reading is important, but it's not worth losing a perfectly good prospective piano hobbyist.
Some of the best students I've found were clumsy at first until they found their own way. A clever piano teacher knows this in advance. They have an arsenal of tools to make the medicine go down. Do it right, and the kid will ask for more "medicine."
Slow Starters Have Problems With Reading
The reason there are "slow starters" at the piano is because not every child adapts readily to a constant diet of sheet music. It's as simple as that. Almost all piano teachers are too impatient to try to find the spark in the student.
It takes time, trial and error. Once you abandon sheet music as an initial tool, you find that most children are incredibly quick and clever at working out the physical and mental moves of beginning piano.
Some Of The Smartest Are Slow Starters
Fingering, playing with both hands and a rudimentary knowledge of chords are all easily within reach of these kids if they are taught visually. To teach piano visually you have to show them physically every move, just as you would a dance, without reference to the realm of sheet music.
Don't forget these are clever kids. They can play Nintendo on an Olympic level, in a way that adults never will. Their minds work just fine, folks. Get their fingers working first, and this will attract their minds. Their hearts will follow soon.
BOOKS FOR YOUNGER KIDS
REFERENCES
Child’s Point of View
Number Sheets For The Piano
The Pillow and the Piano
What The Piano Means To Your Child
A Child’s Point of View
Finding A Child’s Piano Comfort Zone
Why Kids Need Freedom To Learn Piano
A Bill of Rights for Kid’s Piano
How Kids See The Piano
Inside A Kid’s Head During A Piano Lesson
Kids Don’t Care What’s In The Piano Book
Let The Child Appear To Lead The Piano Lesson
What Bores Children In Piano Lessons?
What Kids Like About Piano Lessons
The Teacher Is More Important Than The Book
Strict Piano Lessons Don’t Work For Kids
The Piano Is A Child’s Thinking Machine
How A Child Sees The Piano Keyboard
Kids Like Holiday Songs On The Piano
I Want To Learn That Song That Goes…
Follow The Child’s Pace With Piano Lessons
Discipline and Repetition Don’t Work in Kid’s Piano
Every Child Learns Piano Differently
Funny Piano Lessons
Engage Kids With The Piano
How A Child Sees The Piano
What Kids Think In A Piano Lesson
What Is Soft Piano?
Freestyle Kid’s Piano
What Kids Need In Piano Lessons
Piano By The Numbers
Piano With Numbers Keys
