How to Make Beginner Piano Lessons More Effective For Kids

The easy grace of an experienced pianist can be intimidating for a novice who is thinking of learning the piano, and traditional as well as online piano lessons for children are often equally intimidating for the child. There are few arts where the gulf between a beginner and an experienced player is so apparent. With that in mind the following is a series of tips that will make beginner piano lessons less intimidating and more fun.

The most important part of making piano lessons for children as productive as possible is to remove the distractions from around them. Anything can be distracting to a child if they think that it could be more interesting than their beginner piano lessons. it is very easy for a child to find other things that are more interesting of exciting than their beginner piano lessons if they are prevented with many different things to compete for their attention. Each distraction removed is one step closer to making the piano, and by extension the piano practice, the most exciting thing in the room. A few ideas for removing distractions are:

1. Always look to practice at the same time. This will establish practice as a habit.

2. Keep the practice area consistent. Do not move things around if this can be avoided - especially the piano itself.

3. Make sure there is no possibility of interruption from a television. If there is one in the same room turn it off. If there is another that can be heard from the practice room, close doors or do whatever it takes to drown out the noise.

4. Remove as many 'other interruptions' as possible. For instance pets or siblings that may demand attention.

5. Do not have food or drink near the piano practice area. Piano lessons for kids should be about the piano - not about a snack.

6. Keep books tidily and teach the child to respect them. Scattered books are a distraction, and moving the books to bedrooms etc can lead to them being damaged or lost.

7. Where piano practice conflicts with another activity such as playing with friends, it should be made clear that piano practice happens first, and then the child can play. This needs to be done in a positive way to both the student and the friends. IE/ "She can't play now she has piano lesson" is negative, while "She can play right after her piano lessons" is positive.

Follow these 7 tips to create positive piano lessons for kids, but also seek their input as to what they enjoy so this can be incorporated into the lesson. Numerous educational studies have shown that children are more likely to follow rules and guidelines if they have had input in making the rules. This is a favorite trick of early childhood teachers which can easily be incorporated into a piano lesson for children, whether this is an ordinary or online piano lesson. Have a set of piano practice rules in your head, and ask the child what rules need to be in place for the piano practice. Then gently steer them in the direction of the rules you have in mind. "Do you think we should have a special place for your piano books?" or even better(because that question can be answered with a 'no'), "Where do you think we should keep your Piano books?".

Ultimately getting beginner piano lessons for kids to be productive is about designing them and their objectives with the child in mind. Children's minds work differently at a younger age, and piano lessons for children should take this into consideration. The best lessons will have a clear objective, but also many smaller objectives so the child always feels they are making progress. So long as you keep things structured and keep your piano lessons for kids fun and interesting then the student will find them enjoyable and interesting enough to remain enthusiastic about, and will progress at a much more satisfactory rate.