First piano lessons may have a big impact on how students feel about their future lessons and themselves as pianists. The following features aim to spark curiosity and interest for the piano as well as make the first lesson enjoyable for them.
1. Engage the student musically
Despite its apparent simplicity, playing the piano in their first lesson is an essential aspect, regardless of the student’s hand size or finger dexterity. They don’t need to know the notes or where they are in the stave. A traditional approach to music often prioritizes introducing notation in a first lesson – a distraction from the main purpose of music: the quality of sound, listening and enjoyment.
I’ve made an introductory game my students love and always works as a motivating and inspiring activity – you can download it here.
Firstly, I show them three small illustrations named rain, bell, and wave, each one represented by a musical pattern made of 3 piano keys numbered from 1 to 3. Afterwards, we do a warm up exercise singing and playing each pattern a few times until they feel comfortable. Once they do, it’s time to play!
I start by naming an illustration out loud, and instruct them to play the correct musical pattern or keep repeating it until I choose a different one. To make the activity more musical, I accompany them with a 4-chord progression.
Sharing this experience with the teacher inspires them, reinforces the importance of listening while playing, and encourages them to match the teacher’s quality of the sound.
2. Maintain a sense of ongoing progress in the lesson
Begin with a task your student can easily accomplish and has a low risk of embarrassment, like recognising and playing both groups of two and three black keys. Once completed, praise the achievement, fostering a feeling they “can do it“.
Following up, introduce short activities that logically build upon the previous ones – achieving short-term goals keeps the student engaged and gives a sense of moving forward.
It’s crucial to ensure the student is focusing on improving the quality of their sound and to make the necessary corrections and adjustments in their hand or body posture before moving to technically harder musical patterns.
3. Involve the student in a creative activity
As a consolidation exercise, students shall engage in a creative activity related to their lesson (i.e. they could create their own musical patterns using the piano keys you’ve introduced – I include similar activities in My First Piano Book). This can also be an opportunity for the student to assess their improvement during the lesson.
It will nurture freedom and autonomy rather than dependency – motivation is strengthened by empowering students to manage their learning, explore, and experiment on their own. We teachers should reinforce the feeling of choice, as activities imposed without consent can undermine motivation.
4. Assign homework that students can practice at home
Given their young age, parental supervision during practice is very important. Emphasize this importance to parents, along with consistent and regular home practice for their child’s progress. Address any misconceptions about parental impact on musical development, specially with non-musical parents, encouraging active involvement regardless of their musical knowledge.
I sometimes use the app PracticeSpace for parents as it allows me to record the activities, pieces and corrections explored in our lesson and write goals to be achieved at home. Often, I also end up recording a ‘guided practice’ explaining step by step how and what to practice.
5. Be flexible and adapt your lessons rather than having a single model
Every student is different. The suggestions provided were tailored for preschoolers who’ve had no exposure to the piano or music in general. It’s what’s worked best for me and the children I teach, but there are many other approaches.
Comment your thoughts, and don’t forget to download the free ‘Rain, bell, wave’ activity here!