10 Ways to Prepare Preschoolers for Piano Lessons

Many parents are eager for their little ones to start piano lessons. While preschool-aged kids are usually too young to begin formal piano lessons, there are tons of ways that parents can use those prime developmental years to help their kids get ready to learn piano.

Children are naturally very musical and the most important thing parents can do to prepare kids for future piano lessons is to nurture a love for music in their kids.

If learning about music becomes frustrating or feels like a chore too soon, it can be really difficult to get kids excited about music again.

Here are 10 things you can be doing with your preschooler to keep them excited and interested in music until it’s time to start piano lessons.

1. Sing

Singing is easy and fun. Even if you don’t think you have a good voice, sing anyways. Kids love singing and more specifically, they love singing with you!

You don’t have to sing anything complicated. Think of ordinary children’s songs that you sang as a child, sing along with your favorite music or make up your own silly songs to sing with your kids.

2. Keep A Steady Beat

When kids learn to play the piano, it’s really important that they can feel and keep a steady beat. This is a really easy skill to practice with kids. Any time music is playing, you can help your child clap or tap along with the beat of the music. The longer they can feel that steady pulse, the better.

If you want to take it a step further, you could use any kind of small percussive instrument like a hand drum, shaker, bell or rhythm sticks.

Conveniently, many basic development skills such as walking, running, riding a bike and cutting with scissors also teach kids to feel a steady beat.

3. Move to Music

Kids are very intuitive about how to move to music and this is one of the best things you can encourage.

Unstructured, free-form dancing is a wonderful way for kids to tap into the moods and expressions in music. More structured movement like marching, clapping, or jumping is a great way to build coordination.

4. Listen to Music Together

Expose your kids to a wide variety of music. Play music around the house, in the car or incorporate it into daily routines such as bedtime, meal time or quiet time.

Explore music genres you are less familiar with, especially classical music, music representing different cultures and folk music.

5. Demonstrate How to Sit At A Piano

Most kids are fascinated by pianos and any time a child is around the piano is an excellent opportunity to instill in them the correct way to sit at a piano.

Small children are often tempted to climb on pianos, put their feet on the keys or to play rough on them.

You don’t have to know anything especially specific about piano posture.

Just teach your children these simple things:

-To sit on the bench on their bottom

-Feet don’t belong on the piano keys or on the bench

-Touch the piano with gentle hands

It’s ok for kids to explore the loud and soft sounds of the piano, but it’s not a place to be rough and bang on the piano.

6. Nurture A Curiosity and Love for Music

The last thing you want is for your kids to burn out on music too early so that they won’t want to learn more as they get older. Don’t force them to learn or try things before they are ready. Instead, find everyday moments to enjoy music and pique their curiosity so that they always want to learn more.

7. Work on Coordination

Playing the piano requires a lot of coordination and fine motor skills. Anything you can do to help your kids practice coordination is helpful for learning the piano. Gross and fine motor skills are equally important. Younger children should focus on larger body movements like jumping, swaying, or twirling. As kids grow older, their motor skills become more refined and you can start incorporating smaller movements such as clapping or tapping. Older preschoolers can also create patterns with their movements or practice two movements together such as marching around while waving their arms in the air.

8. Learn Letters and Numbers

Kids can start to learn piano before they know how to read, but knowing letters and numbers is a huge help at the piano. The piano keys are labeled with letters A-G; fingers are numbered 1-5 and kids will learn how to count notes in groups of 3 and 4. Being proficient at naming numbers and letters forwards and backwards makes learning the piano much easier.

9. Work on Sequencing

Music is full of patterns, and if kids can quickly recognize patterns, it makes learning music much easier. Help your kids identify and categorize objects and put them into patterns. Reinforce sequences of letters and numbers and help kids count backwards and forwards or say short sequences of letters forwards and backwards.

10. Find a Preschool Music Class or Live Music Geared Towards Kids

There are many wonderful preschool music classes geared towards young children and their caregivers. These classes are a great way to prepare your kids for piano lessons.

Follow local musicians and check your local library or community center for music-related children’s programming.

Taking an early interest in music is a wonderful gift you can give to your child. Enjoy the special moments created with music. There is no perfect age for starting piano lessons, so don’t feel pressure to start lessons too soon and don’t feel guilty if you think you’ve missed an opportunity to begin.

This post was written by Megan, piano teacher and author of Pianissimo: A Very Piano Blog. Visit her website for more piano related blogs for teachers, parents, students, and all things piano.

Published on July 14, 2022