Piano for children: a practical guide for dads

Many children are ready for piano classes between the ages of 5 and 7, when they recognize numbers and letters, they hold an activity of 20 or 30 minutes and have an opportunity to play. To start with, a keyboard with regular and touch sensitive keys will be sufficient and the 88-key digital piano can be held for a few months.

What most influences how your child goes, however, isn't age and instrument but a short and common practice at home and an adult who goes with his or her with his or her own care without becoming a teacher. That guide tells you what to expect, step by step.

To sum up

Many children are ready for piano between the ages of 5 and 7, and before that, the musical initiation prepares the ground.
To start with, a keyboard with regular and touch sensitive keys and a 88-key digital piano is the medium term goal.
The right height bench and supported feet matter as much as the instrument.
The children's methods combine reading, listening and creativity. Teacher chooses and adapts, and you have to choose nothing.
Ten or fifteen minutes about every day give up more than an hour on Sunday.

At how old can a child start with his piano?

A child's usually ready for piano class when:

He recognizes the number 1 to 5 (so his fingers are numbered on his piano) and some letters or colors.
It can be focused on a guided activity between 20 and 30 minutes.
He moves his fingers separately, for instance by making "every little dite heatens" one by one.
He wants to play, and his keyboard gets close to his own or his ears are pounding.

If your child's 3 or 4 and she loves music, [music initiation] class](/blog/que-es-la-iniciacion-musical) They work with rhythm, singing and listening and they make the piano more natural and if they are 9, 10 or 12 years old, it's not late: an older child understands reading more easily and can move forward at a good pace.

What piano or keyboard to have at home

You don't have to have a pony piano to start with, but something that doesn't make your child's life worse. That's a quick comparison:

Instrument options for a child starting piano
Option	Serves for	Limits
61 touch sensitive keys keyboard	The first months: place notes, posture and first pieces.	Less keys and without the weight of a piano, it remains short as the repertoire grows.
88-key digital Piano counteracted	Study several years with a touch similar to that of an acoustic piano and allows hearing aids.	It occupies more space and costs more than a keyboard.
Vertical acoustic Piano	Real sound and touch, complete experience if there's space and budget.	He needs regular tuning for a technician and we listen throughout the building.

The minimum necessary: regular size keys, touch sensitivity (that sounds more powerful as you press more strongly) and an entrance for pedal. Avoid toy keyboards with small keys. how to choose your first piano or keyboard We have more details about our options.

The bench and his feet

With the child sitting, elbows should be more or less at keyboard height and nearly horizontal forearms. If the dining room chair remains low, a firm cushion resolves it. If his feet hang, a bench or a box under them give him stability. It looks a detail but an incorrect height generates tension on his shoulders and his wrist.

What are the first piano classes about?

In the first few weeks, a good teacher doesn't fill your child with theory.

Keyboard geography. Find the Do thanks to two-key black groups, up and down, and get serious and sharp.
Posture and rounded hand. Like I held a small ball with his fingers curved and his wrist loose.
Finger numbers. The thumb's 1 and the pinky's 5, both hands.
First pieces with five notes. Melodies using a single place of his hand, first with each hand separately.
Rhyme and singing. To clap and sing what you're gonna play before you play it.
A space to come up with. For instance, improvising only with black keys, that always sound good together.

The reading goes in little by little, without slowing down the taste of playing. If you want to know what to care about teacher in posture, read [the right place of his hands at piano]](/blog/posicion-correcta-de-las-manos-en-el-piano).

Piano methods for children: what's best to know

There are many books and approaches to teaching piano to children, and it's normal that the teacher combines several. They are generally distinguished by how they introduce reading:

From the central Do. The two hands leave the Do of the centre and the reading advances note by note. It's very clear at first, though some children get used to reading at the same keyboard area as usual.
For intervals or several positions. The child learns to read distance between notes ("step up," "step up," "step up) and moves throughout the keyboard from earlier.
First ear. Approaches such as Suzuki propose listening and listening before reading with an active participation of parents.

More than the name of the method, look at three things: that your child plays music that she likes, that there's a balance between reading, listening and creating, and that every week there's a small but clear step. If something doesn't work, the teacher can change his or her book or approach without his or her child's losing his or her advanced.

How and how to practice piano at home

Daily age-oriented practice
Edad	Daily time	How to organize
5 to 6 years	5 to 10 minutes	Two short moments a day with play and singing.
7-9 years	10 to 15 minutes	A block with warming and piece and something free at the end.
10 to 12 years	15 to 25 minutes	Hands separated, then put together and methonomous at difficult passages.

Put the piano in a passing place, and not an isolated room: what's in sight gets more.
First practice separate hands and then put together, and that's the step that's leapt and the step that's saving most time.
When the piece's already coming out slow, the [online metronomer]](/herramientas/metronomo) helps to get up his speed without getting bad.
A notebook where his teacher writes down his homework prevents his classic "I don't know what to practice."

Find a complete routine at how to practice music at home.

The role of dads (even if you don't know music)

That's what's good with them.

To sit close during practice in the first few months, especially before age 8.
To ask him to teach you what he learned: to explain is a way to review.
To ask the teacher what the goal of the week is, so as to avoid redressing things that have been put to work.
To listen with care and to celebrate the effort, and not just the perfect pieces.
Organize mini concerts for grandparents, in person or by video call.
If they have an acoustic piano, program their tuning with a technician: an untuned piano confuses his ear.

Signs that something needs to be adjusted

Womens up or rigid dolls while playing, I cry before practising, whole weeks with the same piece or a "I don't care about anything I play" are motifs to speak with the teacher. They are almost always resolved by changing repertoire, shortening practice or adjusting posture. If you are looking for teacher, at [piano classes]](/clases/piano) Find how to get started.

Frequently asked questions

Is it better to start with piano or with keyboard?

For the first few months, a keyboard with regular and touch sensitive keys is sufficient. When a child plays with his or her two hands and starts using a pedal, a digital piano with 88 matching keys or an acoustic piano should be moved.

Do my child have to read scores from first class?

A few teachers combine listening with a gradual reading, so that the child will make music from the start without slowing down by the score. Over time, reading becomes a natural part of the class.

How many piano lessons a week does a child need?

A weekly class is what's best to start with as long as there's short practice about every day. A second class can make sense later, for instance by preparing a presentation.

What if my son's got his hands small?

At first it's no problem: the first pieces use five notes and do not require stretching their hands. The teacher chooses a custom repertoire and leaves for later octaves and broad chords.