The idea of playing piano by numbers has been colse to for a long time. In fact, numbering the keys is just an prolongation of numbering the fingers, which was first done by Carl Czerny early in the 19th Century.
In the 1950's, there was the Emenee organ, a keyboard which had numbers printed on the keys, and a book of songs "by number" to go with it. There were even "play by color" products. The idea was always to find a quick way to get population started playing the keyboard.The calculate for this is that reading approved sheet music is not easy, not for adults, and as a matter of fact not for children. Why should beginning piano be "easy?"
My Old Kentucky Home Sheet Music
Talk to most approved teachers and they'll say that music is serious and difficult, and piano cannot be made easy for beginners. The truth is that piano students have historically had an 80+% quit rate. 8 out of 10 quit within the first year! Why? The teachers blame the kids, but perhaps the teachers are to blame.
Do you know any formula for anyone that has an 80% failure rate and calls itself a success? A golf swing? A sewing pattern? A diet regime? It's supposed to work!
Here are a few figures from my incommunicable teaching practice: 90 out of 100 children who start piano by numbers are still playing a year later, roughly all having made the transition to approved sheet music. And roughly all of those continue, year after year, because they are allowed to learn at their own pace, and started having fun with the piano right away.
Who cares if a child who would usually have quit piano is happily playing songs by whole and a few pieces of sheet music a year later? The option is to have that child quit music altogether.
If a piano formula does not work, the formula is wrong, it's as straightforward as that. The professionals tell you otherwise, but base sense tells you this is true: if a piano formula does not work, the formula is wrong,
But why use numbers to teach beginning piano? What is there about approved music notation (sheet music) that so confuses roughly everyone, and specifically children? The answer is that numbers are understood by everyone. Numbers are essentially one-dimensional, whereas approved sheet music incorporates concepts from many dimensions to convey the information requisite to play, say, Jingle Bells.
Conventional sheet music and approved music teachers quiz, that a child perceive at least four things in order to "succeed:"
Find the definite piano keys to play (a big task for a child)
Be able to use the definite names for these piano keys (hard to remember)
Use the definite fingers to play those keys (even harder, especially at first)
Play those piano keys at exactly the definite point in time (add this to the above three)
These four elements are overwhelming to all but the most musically gifted children. Is music only for the musically gifted, or should everybody be able to play piano at their own ability? Kids are often devastated by failure at this ridiculous, approved system. No wonder they quit.
I'm not saying that the above four elements aren't necessary, I'm saying that roughly all children don't answer to this approved law as a beginning point.
We need a good beginning point for children and the piano.
Playing piano "by numbers" requires only one thing: play the definite piano key as best you can. Believe me, after watching thousands of kids, this is hard sufficient to do well. It's a great place to start for everyone. Just press the numbered keys so that it sounds like the song you know.
Music isn't just for musicians and teachers and stars and artists and description companies, it's also for children, an requisite part of childhood.
But why "piano by numbers?
The basis of musical building is mathematical. No one asks kids to start math class in the first grade solving algebraic formula. We let them start adding and subtracting for Years until we ask more. Piano by numbers gives children the same "gentle start." It's only logical to start at their level.
Numbers are an requisite part of music. When we "number" the piano keys with stickers we do no more than denote the classical "intervals." The numbers that kids learn with this law are the same as the numerical assignments given to the relation between piano keys by classical music. When a child plays the piano key #1 and the key #5, they are playing the same compound of keys known as a "fifth" in classical music.
Everything learned playing piano "by number" will be of value when manufacture the transition to approved sheet music. Playing "by number" is a reinforcement of classical technique, a "prequel" that approved teachers have unwittingly left out, to the unintentional detriment of their students.
It's prominent for children to get started easily, and successfully. I'm not advocating lowering the bar for all things and forever, only for the first year that a child starts music study. The benefits are enormous.
Preview the elements involved in playing piano "by number"
Your child will play a particular line of numbers, from left to right like a book. There are no other symbols to decipher. There are no chords and no accompaniment. The child is not expected to play with both hands unless this is what comes to them naturally. The object is to have the child make the piano produce the tones of a song they can recognize.
Recognition is the key: just watch the smile on their face as they perceive they are as a matter of fact playing a song they know. It's an instant increase in self-esteem, and I have the pleasure of seeing it every day
I've put the stickers on the piano, now what do I do?
You should put the stickers on the piano with your child. Kids emulate what you do. If you play piano and are involved, they will want to do the same. I can't emphasize this enough. Even if you only try playing at the beginning, the sight of you trying piano is sufficient to let them know that they should try it, too. Make the begin as fun as possible.
Open the book to the songs and try one yourself so you know what it's like. You are the teacher. You need to see what the children are attempting to do. Playing piano by whole is so easy for adults that you'll get the idea in a few seconds.
It doesn't matter which finger or hand you use. If you or your child use one finger, most likely the index finger, that's fine. The point is to start playing. It's good to play with one finger than be confused by a flurry of commands and not play at all.
Here's a very prominent tip: lavish praise on your child. Tell them they are great for playing Jingle Bells. Tell them you want to hear other song. Tell them you want still another, if they seem still excited. Be amazed. It is amazing. Sit with them and listen to them. Be involved.
Stay directly involved until your child seems to be firmly launched, playing song after song on their own. Then back away and let them do it by themselves. If they need help, there's nothing so involved that you can't help them shape it out. Piano "by number" is that easy, and satisfying to a child.
My object in incommunicable teaching is to make a child into a "tinkerer." A tinkerer is a child who:
Plays the piano a minuscule bit every time they go past one
Likes to try out new songs
Doesn't worry about anyone else's idea of their playing
Tries to play songs they hear on Tv or elsewhere
Is distinct and absorbing about the piano
Thinks piano is easy
Makes up their own songs
A piano weighs perhaps at least an midpoint of 500-700 pounds. Are there any other 700 pound pieces of furniture your child has exclusive control of in your home? My point is that just playing Jingle Bells on a 700-pound monster is sufficient to raise the self-esteem of the most humble child.
Never express disapproval.
The only mistake your child can make is to not play the piano. Praise, praise, and then when they are bored, go play the piano yourself. They'll keep arrival back, and so will you.
The phrase, "Piano Is Easy!" was in fact the expression of one of my students. I asked a child, after about a month, "Well, Dave, how's it going? Still like piano?"
Dave, about seven years old, said, "Piano is easy!" with a smile that indicated any person knows that silly piano stuff. I had the title for the book, right there. Thanks, Dave.
By the way, Dave now reads music, plays straightforward Bach pieces and sight-reads any easy piece of approved sheet music I put in front of him. Yes, it took two years. But Dave plays (not practices) the piano without being told, because it's a fun activity.
Dave was allowed to contemplate that piano is fun, even for population who can't read approved sheet music at first. In my estimation, Dave had a 100% opening of being one of those "quitters" if I hadn't started him with numbers, and then used numbers carefully to put in order his transition to sheet music. I always tried to find His level, and help him move up at his own speed.
How do you teach a child at first?
To be honest, I make a game of everything. Kids are always scared and intimidated by the idea of "piano lessons." (In the interest of accuracy, I make only "house calls." I am that rarest of teachers who travels to the child's house and teaches them where they feel most comfortable, at home.)
You have to demystify piano lessons as quickly as possible, and get the fun started. After the kids memorize the location of Middle C, I start playing well-known songs right away.
All you have to do is say, "Dave, play the piano keys that are numbered, just like in the book."
The kids play well-known songs like Jingle Bells right away. In fact, I've never had a kid who couldn't play Jingle Bells in the first two minutes of their first lesson. And then five more songs. And then ten and then twenty.
One prominent point: I break any tension with jokes and fun and playing silly songs myself as soon as I see the child begin to wander, and kids will wander. Mental about music is hard work, so break it up with fun. As soon as a child has a small taste of fun (a silly song) they're ready for a minuscule more work.
Fun, work, fun, work. Watch their faces and you'll see exactly which one is right for the moment. The kids will show you what to do! Keep prominent them back to the task, for short periods, and they will follow, because music has its own possible fun. Kids and music, work and fun, in straightforward combination, are a natural partnership.
Piano Is Easy and The Christmas Carol Kit are intended as an ideal beginning point for children's music study. roughly all children can and should make a transition from numbers to playing approved sheet music. For example, there are gifted kids I teach who have attention Deficit Disorder, and I allow them to play by whole as long as it takes me to get them feeling gain about deciphering sheet music.
I try every chapter to move forward with reading music, and if the child isn't ready for the transition, we stop and go have fun with games and counting and numbers. This sick person "bait and switch" method, in my estimation, always works, with any child.
Numbers are like training wheels on your kid's bike. When they're comfortable with taking them off, you'll be the first to know about it.
Perhaps only the eye of a pro will be able to settle the exact moment for this transition from numbers to approved sheet music. I also recognize that roughly all parents don't have the luxury of a instructor arrival to their home once a week. But the law are the same.
How will you know when your child is ready? As a general rule, later is always good than sooner.
Give your child the opening to contemplate the piano at their own pace. If the kids seem to lose interest, you should renew your interest. If they see you keep trying to play piano, they will keep trying, too.
In fact, one element I look for in seeing candidates for this transition to approved sheet music is arrogance: I want a child to say, "This whole stuff is too Easy!" That's when kids are ready for approved sheet music. Remember that by this time (every child differs, a week, a month to a year) any child will be able to play dozens of songs by whole from memory, and dozens more with the book in front of them.
A child who has had a distinct preliminary contact with piano, and who already knows their way colse to the piano, is a much good candidate for approved music teaching than a child who is plainly thrown into involved approved piano lessons and expected to succeed.
How far can piano by numbers take my child?
Piano by numbers, if introduced by a parent or comprehension teacher, offers the best possible beginning platform. There's no confusion, discipline or force involved.
Do I have to use more than Piano Is Easy to get started?
Absolutely not. We've created an whole law in case exploring "piano by number" meets the long term needs of our students.
The midpoint child benefits by being able to start playing piano in a distinct atmosphere, beginning with perhaps Piano Is Easy or The Christmas Carol Kit, and then proceeding to I Can Read Music. Here are some of the benefits of beginning a child playing piano by numbers:
Start learning piano at home where a child feels comfortable
Use a law which is immediately understandable: numbers
Build reliance with simple, barely perceptible, gradual steps
If all your child gains in beginning piano "by number" is a distinct attitude towards piano, everybody is a winner. The goal is to see your child start playing piano in a distinct atmosphere, and then perhaps go on to incommunicable lessons.
I'm not advocating playing piano "by number" for more than the preliminary experience. In my incommunicable practice, I use "numbers" to start the child, and then, as we get started with approved sheet music, numbers are used as a way of defusing the tension kids feel in learning the more involved art of reading approved sheet music.
Practical advice for parents: do's and don'ts
Do encourage your child
Don't criticize their playing
Do sit and listen to them play
Don't quiz, that they "practice."
Do ask them to "play" the piano
Don't set a time limit, such as "Practice half an hour." If a child doesn't do it under their own steam, it's pointless to force them. Five minutes a day is all that a child needs, if it's fun.
Do play piano yourself. I teach in homes daily where the youngest ones are eager to try piano because Mom does it, Dad likes it, and the older kids play as well.
Don't take playing piano so seriously. If you think it's fun, your kids will, too.
Do this if your child seems to not want to try it: go over to the piano and start trying it yourself. You'd be surprised how quickly your child decides that they want to do it, too.
Don't even think of Carnegie Hall. Don't apply any pressure whatsoever. If you push kids too hard, they turn off right away, and it's hard, if not impossible, to get them back.
Do think about a incommunicable instructor for your child if they show interest. But not for a while. Let the child contemplate the piano on their own.
Don't expect your child to understand things like using the "correct fingers" or playing "in rhythm." All you want at first is to have your child enjoy sitting at that great big piano for a few minutes a day. There will be lots of time to pursue supplementary interest if and when your child decides they want to take lessons. And when they start those lessons, they'll already have a relationship with the instrument. It's much easier to interest a child in approved music study when they think they already can play!
Do make games out of all things associated to music:
"You play a song, then Mom will play a song.""Let's see who can play Jingle Bells the fastest without any mistakes.""Let's each play our favorite song.""Let's play the song backwards!" (Kids love this one!)
"I'm going to try a song using both hands.""I'm going to play three songs, and you play three songs.""Does this song sound happy or sad?""I'm going to use lots of different fingers on this song." "Let's play name that tune.""Let's play musical chairs."
Don't be impatient. Don't expect anything, and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Expect lots of approved accomplishment and your child will lose interest as soon as they see they cannot please you. Make it easy to please you.
Mom and Dad say you have to practice.
One case comes to mind, about forcing kids to "practice." I had a student, six, who was a great, zesty boy, clumsy and sensitive and athletic and curious. I used all my usual methods to get him started. He became a tinkerer, manufacture up minuscule songs, always playing a few minutes every day or so. He was progressing well sufficient toward learning the first five notes of the approved sheet music staff. I never gave him assignments, or homework, but I always brought him new approved sheet music which he had the option of exploring that week. He always tried the pieces I left him.
After five months he was intrigued by a silly beginner's song called "My Wigwam" and played it at home, according to his Mom's account, 500 times a day. His Dad hated this song. I tried to get the parents to see that it was prominent for the child to memorize and own a song that he liked. I advised them to grin and bear it, be thankful you have a child who goes to the piano under his own steam, with no one nagging him to practice.
But Dad instituted a new program, demanded assignments and started forcing the child to convention half an hour a day, with Dad watching sternly, which was very uncomfortable for this child who idea it was fun to play the piano by himself.
After two weeks, I watched the child give up and want to quit. I told the child that he didn't have to play piano if he didn't want to, that it should be fun, and that maybe he would start again some day. This was a child who had waited by the living room window for me to arrive for our crazy, fun lessons for five months.
After a month the parents decided that piano "Just wasn't for him."
How do I select a piano teacher?
Very carefully. Look for the following list. Some elements below are obviously hard to find, but you won't find them unless you look for them.
Look for a instructor that has a fun, warm manner. Don't select that great instructor down the block that everybody says is great but has a distant, pro manner. You can come back to that instructor when your child shows promise and is older. Start with person friendly, pro and skilled with children.
Look for person with the patience of a kindergarten teacher.
You need person who is willing to go slowly, who doesn't emphasize accomplishment as much as very sick person skill building. The truth is that music and piano study is hard, and it takes a brilliant, sick person instructor to inspire kids. Look for a instructor who also teaches music law to kids, not just piano, and has a reputation for manufacture music law fun. Kids like to know how music works from the inside, but it takes expected patience on the part of the teacher.
Try to find a instructor who will come to your home. This is not easy or inexpensive, but for a beginning child, it is often the unlikeness between getting started and quitting. A child is most comfortable at home. You can see and rate the teacher's manner and "method." From the child's point of view, you've never seen a child as uncomfortable as a beginner sitting in a stranger's music studio, unless the instructor as a matter of fact has a cope on putting kids at ease with games and fun.
If you can't find a "house call" teacher, ask to sit surface the teacher's studio room until the child feels comfortable. It's hard sufficient to perceive music, much less do so with a stranger in a strange house. Make your child as comfortable as possible.
Here's my most prominent point. Listen to your child. If they say again and again that they don't like lessons, that it's too hard, get other instructor and start over. Kids don't lie about this: if they say piano is too hard very often, the formula is wrong. Get another, more sympathetic teacher. Every child is unique, and too many teachers forget this in their passion to teach their "method."
I'd rather have a child love the piano and happily play six straightforward songs than hate piano as they play some involved piece like a robot performing pointless drudgery.
There's time sufficient to work on the hard stuff after a child is inspired to do so.
In conclusion:
A child who has a distinct start on the piano at home is more likely to make the transition to incommunicable lessons surface the home.
In previous times, before radio and television, the piano was the entertainment center for the family. The whole house at least tried to play an instrument.
I believe beginning to play piano "by numbers" helps move a house toward that perhaps unattainable but noble ideal. There can be only a good consequent from more population discovering the pleasures of the piano and music, no matter how humble their current abilities.
It's good to start playing piano with a straightforward law than to be confused with a flurry of approved commands and thus quit trying altogether.
What I try to do as a instructor is to divulge the excitement I felt for the piano as a child to each and every child as an individual.
Start Your Child Playing Piano by amount
