Learning a piano song with a young child


		Learning with a 3.5-year-old child how to play and memorize a song on the piano using the Soft Mozart piano teaching software.

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3-year-old Isabelle learns how to play the "Hot Cross Buns" song on the piano using the Gentle Piano program.

For such young children, the teacher uses the 1st music presentation of the Gentle Piano program. This modified representation of the musical score and the visual feedback allow the young student to read the musical notes and find the correct piano keys with minimal teacher's involvement. You may see that the child hardly removes her eyes away from the computer monitor while playing. The teacher helps in the places which are difficult for child's understanding or coordination, and gradually improves her fingering.

You may see the main stages of learning a song:

1. The student listens to the song. Before playing the song, she will have a notion about the melody. In this way the student activates her music perception and memory, shifting her learning from mechanical rote to intelligent music practice.

2. The student plays with the left hand, the part of the right hand is played automatically by the computer. The teacher may put some additional markings on the piano to help the child to find and perform chords.

3. The student plays with the right hand, the part of the left hand is played automatically.

4. The student plays the song with both hands. The teacher shows the student how to play the song section where the notes in the left hand are much longer than notes in the right hand.

In the initial stage of acquaintance of a student with a song, the teacher should not worry about the correct fingering and hand position, especially with young children. The teacher improves the playing technique of a student gradually after the student is able to find correct piano keys without much struggle and can spare some of her attention to the correct finger position.

After playing the song, the student starts to learn how to play it by memory.

5. The student plays with the right hand, the part of the left hand is played automatically. While playing the right hand, the student practices Solfeggio - she sings the names of musical notes. Solfeggio connects the graphics, sound and name of a musical note. Also, Solfeggio involves the speech memory in the process of memorization of the song.

6. The teacher hides the musical notes so the student plays the music for the right hand by heart. Together with the musical, visual and muscle memory, singing of the musical notes helps the student to find a correct piano key to play. The visual feedback supports the student if she forgets the next note.

Learning with a 3.5-year-old child how to play and memorize a song on the piano using the Soft Mozart piano teaching software.