Many parents entertain visions of their child as a prodigy or a phenom. From concert pianists to Olympic athletes, moms and dads often dream about their little one’s talents taking them far in life.
If your under 7-year-old has been displaying an interest in music, that’s wonderful! Whether they’ve just been noodling on the piano or have come right out and asked for lessons, it could be the start of a lifelong passion or possibly even a career.
But before you rush out and buy a piano or sign them up for music lessons, there are some things you should know about music instruction and Early Learners.
What is an Early Learner?
At A Kopp Music, we classify students between the ages of 4 to 7 as “Early Learners.” It is between these ages that a child’s fine and gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, problem solving skills, and memory and attention span are growing and improving—all necessary for a positive musical education experience.
The vast majority of these students start their musical journey on the piano. And while we do offer this age group lessons on the ukulele or guitar (using baritone ukuleles), we believe that the piano offers a more robust first learning experience that translates well when transitioning to other instruments later on.
Piano is also applicable to other learning students are experiencing at this age at home, preschool, or kindergarten and first grade. These skills include counting, recognizing letters and numbers, identifying colors, and more.
Before starting music lessons, we perform an initial evaluation of each Early Learner to confirm their readiness to begin formal lessons and determine whether 20- or 30-minute lessons are the best fit. One of the most important things we look for is a child’s ability to sit at the piano bench for extended periods of time.
How Often Should an Early Learner Take Music Lessons?
We recommend Early Learners start with one lesson per week. This allows students time between lessons to practice pieces and absorb concepts we’ve discussed. While we do encourage daily practice, we don’t believe that it should ever be forced.
Routine is important to students at this age, so we suggest establishing a 5–10-minute practice time to review any assigned songs together with your child each day. This will ensure they’ll come to their next lesson feeling confident and eager to learn more.
What Sort of Progress Should We Expect from an Early Learner?
Private music lessons for Early Learners differ from traditional lessons given to older beginning students. Progress is slower as Early Learners are still “learning how to learn” while engaging in music learning.
What an 8- or 9-year-old student can accomplish in 10-12 weeks may take a 4-year-old a full year and a half to process. After another year of growth, a 5-year-old will work through the same information in eight to nine months. At age 6, processing time shrinks down to five to six months, and at age 7, just three to five months.
Piano Lessons & the Early Learner
Expect a lot of exploration when your Early Learner first begins their piano lessons and is introduced to the new language of music. We use several proven teaching methods to help with this journey, including pre-reading, finger numbering, learning white versus black keys, and copying rhythms.
Believe it or not, your Early Learner will be able to play a few recognizable songs within their first few lessons. This is due to our Parachute Piano teaching method which reimagines playing by color as a bridge between the first lesson and pre-reading.
After about six to eight weeks, your Early Learner will gain more knowledge of note types and their durations, along with the names of the white keys. At this point, depending on the student’s age, we’re still getting the hands and fingers ready, so they might just be using three or more fingers on each hand.
Once an Early Learner successfully completes our first lesson book, they’ll be ready to move on to learning how to read the Grand Staff (what composers and musicians use to notate piano music.)
Ukulele/Guitar Lessons & the Early Learner
During an Early Learner’s first ukulele and guitar (baritone ukulele) lessons, we’ll focus on reinforcing how to properly hold their instrument while learning about its anatomy, including fingerboards, frets, strings and their letter names, and more.
They will start by learning and playing straightforward melodies through repetition, allowing them to strum and sing along with ease. Once they can handle their instrument with confidence, we teach them how to strum chords and pluck individual notes that they read from the treble clef staff.
Our goal with these Early Learners is to prepare them for referral to a recommended instructor who specializes in teaching these instruments. Once the student can sit for a full 30-minute session, tune their instrument, and demonstrate not just mild progress from week to week, but a real eagerness to learn more, they’ll be ready to move on from us to a “Big Kid” ukulele/guitar teacher.
Music Resources for Little Ones
Occasionally, we do receive inquiries about music lessons for children under the age of 4. While it’s our policy to only work with students aged 4 and older, we do have recommendations for parents of little ones who want to offer a deeper musical experience for their young child.
- Community Ed Programs. Check with your city or your local school district about music class opportunities.
- Kindermusik/Musikgarten/Music Together/Cadenza Kids. These programs are specific to the youngest music explorer’s needs. Cultivated to be age and developmentally appropriate for babies, toddlers, and young preschoolers, they may include singing, playing, stories, and movement.
- Ukulele Sprouts. This program began in 2021 and trains parents to be their child’s first music teacher with the ukulele. The classes are for parents and tuition includes access to an amazing community of like-minded parents who are also providing their children with both the gift of music and precious time together.
- Concerts. Check to see what opportunities are available near you for music concerts.
- Many concerts are held in parks or at pavilions sponsored by your city or other civic groups that are passionate about the arts.
- Your local public schools may also present band and orchestra concerts, choir performances, school musicals, and singalong events that are open to the public.
- Other community spaces like shopping malls or concert halls often offer free family concerts.
Depending on where you live, many of these kinds of concerts are free or very low cost.
Taking children to see and hear music played live is one of the best foundations you can give your child to foster a love for music and fuel their imagination for when the day comes that they are ready for formal music instruction.
Want to learn more about booking lessons for your Early Learner? Contact A Kopp Music for more information today.
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