Keyboard Exploration (4/5 yo)
Your kid will learn music the same way they learnt to speak
Do your remember your kid’s first words? You will never forget that moment.
Your child heard you speaking everyday and tried to imitate you.
The first word was not even a word but a sound. And then the sounds became words.
Guess what, that is exactly how we should learn music.
That’s why at MMQ Piano Studio we have created a program adapted to the kid’s development stages. This will ensure the best progression towards piano lessons at 5 years old.
This program is based on E. Gordon’s Musich Learning Theory. His theory focuses on learning music the same way we learn to speak.
The process works the same when we learn music than when we learn to speak:
- Listen to the music.
- Feel and move to the beat.
- Imitate the patterns (first verbally, then at the piano).
- Eventually, learn to read music.
And in this process your child will have oh, so much fun!
What happens in the lessons?
Lessons are divided into Activity Time and Keyboard Time.
Activity Time
This part of the lesson focuses on:
- Developing a consistent coordinated movement to the beat. Movement is rhythm. When students can move to the beat, they can transfer it later to the piano and can play rhythmically.
- Coordinating breath before singing and before playing later on. Developing body awareness that will help to a healthy technique.
- Developing audiation activities (ability to hear music in the head, thinking music).
- Developing a vocabulary of rhythm and tonal patterns. (Patterns are to music what words are for language.)
Keyboard Time
This part provides informal guidance for exploring the keyboard.
Children make music at the keyboard by improvising, exploring sounds and playing short pieces, moving to the piano what they have learnt during Activity Time.
At the end of the program, your kid will have learnt:
- How to modify music parameters (speed, dynamics, registers, texture).
- All the key names.
- Finger numbers.
- Italian terms and symbols.
- Note values.
- An introduction to note reading and the staff.
What’s next?
After our Keyboard Exploration program, children have strong foundations for a solid start in piano lessons. Once students reach around 5yo they are ready to formal Piano Instruction.