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**joe-salton** · 01-04-2011, 02:16 AM

Hey Mike,

It's wonderful that your daughter is showing interest and aptitude in music. My youngest piano student is 5 years old, and is learning quite rapidly, while other industrious and talented students at 7 and 8 are quite slow. All kids are different and are ready at different times.

Three years is a little young to start most of the methods. I think the best things that you can do right now are spend time with your daughter having fun with music. The more positive associations the better. Pitch matching, is a great excercise. Sing a short piece of music of your own invention and see if she can sing it back, ideally with rewards. Help her clap a steady beat, and reward long succesions of on-beat claps. Even learning note names on the keyboard.

Just the fact that you are seeking answers, show that you're involved in her music education, and that is key. I would definetly say you could not push her to much with positive reinforcement, IMO a child this young should never be punished for not wanting to practice. You wouldnt want to say get angry at her for not practicing. This should be a stage where she is exploring and developing fluency, I've seen children turned off of music because they were afraid of failure. Push her, but with rewards, not punishment.

If you are going to start her on a method I would reccommend the suzuki method, it is the only one I know of that has material for such young students. Most other methods start at five.

Even if you don't end up using suzuki look over these websites, I think suzuki got alot of things right.
http://www.suzukimethod.or.jp/english/E_mthd112.html
http://suzukiassociation.org/teachers/twinkler/

Best of Luck Mike. Keep us updated on how she is doing!

01-04-2011, 02:16 AM	#9
joe-salton Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 464 Senior Member	Hey Mike, It's wonderful that your daughter is showing interest and aptitude in music. My youngest piano student is 5 years old, and is learning quite rapidly, while other industrious and talented students at 7 and 8 are quite slow. All kids are different and are ready at different times. Three years is a little young to start most of the methods. I think the best things that you can do right now are spend time with your daughter having fun with music. The more positive associations the better. Pitch matching, is a great excercise. Sing a short piece of music of your own invention and see if she can sing it back, ideally with rewards. Help her clap a steady beat, and reward long succesions of on-beat claps. Even learning note names on the keyboard. Just the fact that you are seeking answers, show that you're involved in her music education, and that is key. I would definetly say you could not push her to much with positive reinforcement, IMO a child this young should never be punished for not wanting to practice. You wouldnt want to say get angry at her for not practicing. This should be a stage where she is exploring and developing fluency, I've seen children turned off of music because they were afraid of failure. Push her, but with rewards, not punishment. If you are going to start her on a method I would reccommend the suzuki method, it is the only one I know of that has material for such young students. Most other methods start at five. Even if you don't end up using suzuki look over these websites, I think suzuki got alot of things right. http://www.suzukimethod.or.jp/english/E_mthd112.html http://suzukiassociation.org/teachers/twinkler/ Best of Luck Mike. Keep us updated on how she is doing!
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