Preschool Piano & Music
Age 3-5 Pre-Piano and Music and Movement Lessons
Private or Semi-Private
This preschool music program is a fun, private or duo piano lesson for children ages 3-5, with a broader goal of teaching the fundamentals of music. All lessons are 30 minutes per week. These lessons also utilize concepts and exercises from Dalcroze Eurhythmics and Kodaly, both methods renowned for developing musical ability in young children through movement, rhythm, and singing games. These lessons are especially good for the child who is not yet ready to sit through a private half-hour lesson, or for any child who really wants to start any musical instrument, but is not quite ready for the regular 1/2 hour private lesson.
The format for the lesson includes lots of varied activity and lots of fun, and provides a solid foundation for both traditional private piano lessons and/or another age-appropriate instrument. As the child progresses and his or her attention span increases, more and more time will be given to actual piano skills. These lessons can segue into private piano lessons or another age appropriate instrument.
Lessons include:
- Music and Movement games
- Introductory piano skills
- Rhythm games with percussion instruments and body percussion
- Elementary Note Recognition
- Listening to many styles of music
- Singing
- Fun!
The rhythm component is taught by doing fun games with rhythm sticks, shakers, hand drums, xylophones, as well as movement games including circle games, line games, dancing to scarves, and stop and go. Rhythm puppets and rhyme games also are used to introduce rhythmic values (quarter notes, half notes, etc).These methods not only stimulate the imagination of the child, but also gives the child a deep “feel” for, not just a superficial understanding of rhythm.
For the melody component they learn the concepts through lots of children’s songs and chants. They will learn high – low, loud – soft, pitch, major – minor, etc.
For notation they learn how to recognize musical symbols such as treble clef, bass clef, half note, whole note, etc. (Much the same as learning your alphabet before you learn how to read.)
The pre-piano/music and movement music lessons are taught by our instructors with university degrees in music who love working with young children. The instructors are patient, fun and very encouraging. The preschool music program prepares students to go on into private instrument lessons when they are older.