We all want our kids to explore and love music and for many of us, learning an instrument is a key part of that. Many times I get asked what is the best age to start learning the piano and whilst there is not one ‘perfect’ age, for the average child, I would recommend waiting until at least Kita Aleph if not Kita Bet.
The reasons for this are as follows:
One to one lessons on an instrument require a lot of focus from the child. They have to fully participate for the length of a 20-30 minute lesson and this is often too much for such a young child.
Given that until Kita Aleph our children are not used to sitting on a chair for such a length of time, this can prove tricky for many kids.
In order to make steady progress on an instrument you need to practice between lessons. This takes a certain level of commitment on the part of the child (and the parent) and many times a Gan aged child is not mature enough to make this commitment. Furthermore, having the maturity to understand that practice leads to progress is not an easy concept for a young child to grasp.
Learning an instrument is a multi faceted task and the older the child the more readily they can handle this challenge. They need to control their fine motor skills, often having 2 hands work in unison whilst doing separate things. They have to read the music and remember how many beats to count, what notes to play, what hand to use etc.
Learning an instrument is full of highs and lows- practice leads to progress and this means there are many mountains to climb and views to enjoy. A young child doesn’t always have the stamina to face one mountain after they have just recently overcome another and this stamina is much easier to build at a slightly older age.
For the reasons outlined above we developed our Keyboard chug for Kita Aleph and Bet. We recognized the desire amongst both parents and children to learn the piano but wanted to find a format that dealt with some of these challenges. In Keyboard chug, six children learn alongside one another, each with their own keyboard and headphones, working at their own pace.
Two teachers circulate and offer support and guidance during the first half of the chug. Pupils are spurred on by one another to keep moving forward and they feel a sense of camaraderie with one another, which helps to motivate them.
For the second half of the chug we work on developing rhythmic competency through games, building confidence with reading the music, using our fun filled theory book complete with stickers and colouring activities, and perform to one another developing both our listening and performance skills.
Students make steady progress throughout the year and develop good habits as they learn to practice every week at home and to work independently during the chug. The rate of progress is slower than in one to one lessons but this is not a negative. We focus on building their keyboard skills, their ability to read the music, and we develop good practice habits. All this ensures that when they finish the year they are in a great position to move on to one to one lessons and take it up a gear.
Find out more about our Keyboard chug here http://mirijeffay.wixsite.com/musicwithmiri/keyboard-chug
