Early this year I start teaching a total beginner of 2 year and 9 months toddler girl. It is an interesting experience for me. Besides listening to students’ piano playing, I like to chat and observe in order to know more about their background, such as character and learning habit, and guess what is in their mind. Through these ways I modify my teaching approach to suit the needs of different types of students. Before that I teach as young as 4-year-old kids. My past teaching experience do not so fit into this situation as this girl is too young. I have to modify all the teaching materials and approaches. Luckily she loves music and is very responsive during the class. She gives me lots of verbal and non-verbal feedback to me.
I start piano learning in 6.5 years old. I remember that I had some informal piano playing experience before I started learning piano. My mother told me that in around 2-3 year old I was fascinated in playing a toy piano in the bed. The keys of toy piano are in different colors, unlike the conventional one. There was a score booklet with this toy piano and notated the tunes in color. You only need to matching the color on the score with corresponding piano keys and then you can play the tunes.
I also had just one informal piano lesson from an auntie. I only remember at that time I was taught to play some tunes. And that’s all. I don’t have any piano playing experience afterwards. Then at age of 6, I joined a piano group class in summer. Afterwards I start my piano lesson formally. Well, this age is classified as elementary-aged and is within normal age group of beginners. However, in my homeland, some parents prefer to start piano learning earlier in pre-school. So it is some sort quite “old” in my homeland.
I feel very difficult to put myself in the shoes of kindergarten students. So I spend quite much effort in studying piano pedagogy for young children in my early stage of teaching. I mainly teach at a multi-teachers music center in these nearly 20 years, I come across quite a great variety of students. It is interesting to find that while my circle of piano-teachers friends and colleagues teach mostly young children and toddler, I am responsible to teach mostly teenagers and adults, boys, and in more advanced level. After years of teaching, I can now manage to teach as young as 4 year old. But honestly speaking I am strong in teaching elder students and deal with abstract concepts. And in these days, when the mainstream piano teachers mostly look for adult students, the admin assign me to teach toddler surprisingly.
Well, that’s fine. I start the lesson with piano method I usually use for kids. For example, I ask this girl to place the above little pics over the corresponding black keys group. Leaves and flowers are for 3-black-keys groups while butterflies are for 2-black-keys groups. At first, I ask her to find 2-black-keys group, as it follows the order of most of piano methods. However this girl places a butterfly over 3 -black-keys group. She simply thinks 2 black keys are found within a 3-black-keys group. Apparently she is correct. She focus on “2” . But I am afraid she maybe too young to understand the explanation just by words. So I change the order of activity and ask her to place flowers first. Next, place butterflies over remaining black keys groups. Here 2-black-keys groups come out automatically , except the bottommost single black key. Then I further explain that white gaps (white keys) between black-keys groups are bigger than those just between black keys. She seems understand and can re-do this activity correctly in next lesson.
“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” –Forrest Gump.
It is happy to meet different types of students. I hope I can help them to enjoy music and piano playing.
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