Random Access: Teaching Piano to Your Own Young Child (Professional Resources) (Column‪)‬

I'm taking a bit of a detour from this column's usually technology-focused content to share some of my personal experiences of teaching piano to my now 7-year-old son, Nio, for the past three to four years. I started his piano lessons quite early around the age 3. It was not the first time I had tried to teach piano to a preschool aged child; I had tried before with some less-than-stellar results. However, this situation was unique. It was the first time I had significant access to a young piano student for more than the traditional once-a-week lesson. I want to emphasize that I do not consider myself a real "expert" in the field of early childhood education. There are certainly more qualified instructors in this area, and I encourage you to seek out articles and other readings from such experts. I know many piano teachers encounter difficulties giving productive lessons to children ages 5 and under, l also have had many conversations with music teachers who said that lessons with their own children "just never worked out." I was recently invited to deliver a guest pedagogy lecture on this subject due to my recent experience. While each child is unique in his or her own way, I hope that what I have found to be successful in being a parent/teacher can help those in similar situations. Beginning With Sound And Touch