Oclef Q&A: EP007 - Can I teach my seven year old sister how to play piano by myself?

“Can I teach my 7 year old sister how to play piano by myself?” -
Peterson Normil


 


Yes.


Be consistent - practice 6–7 days a week
for 10–15 minutes a day. Doing 1 day a week for 1 hour will not
work out. 


Focus on reading- Get her several books (piano
adventures, Alfred, Hal Leonard) and have her constantly focus on
building a visual vocabulary of intervals. Reading by interval
instead of note names will promote independence and also help her
start with the right habits. She shouldn’t read by note names,
although knowing the names of notes is important. 


Make it a bonding experience - Focus on her
personal growth and don’t make it about perfection. Allow her to
make tons of mistakes and try to help her develop a system of
auto-correcting by learning to recognize what’s right and wrong
from her reading practice. Spending all week on getting one piece
right may feel right, but the long term effects of always doing
that doesn’t work out. 


As a bonus tip - having her watch videos and copy what others do
or simply having her play pieces that are too difficult will be
the fastest way to get her to quit.


 


If you want to see a parent who doesn’t know music teaching his
child, here is how our methodology works. It’s based around
parents teaching music to their kids while teachers teach the
parents how to be a step ahead.


 


Good luck!


 


The tortoise always wins,


Julian