Holiday Songbook It's hard to believe the holiday season is just around the corner. After a record breaking summer of 100+ degree temperatures in Texas, we're enjoying cool, crisp mornings and looking forward to holiday activities and family visits.

For me, one of the highlights of each Christmas season is receiving emails from parents and grandparents about the "recitals" their children give for friends and family during this special time. I love to hear stories about the pride these youngest students feel playing Christmas Carols while everybody sings along. Gathering around the piano has always been a tradition in our home, and I'm thrilled the familes who use our materials are able to participate in those memory-creating moments.

To foster the creation of these memories, I'd like to offer a complimentary download of our Holiday Songbook to anyone who purchases our Basic Course through December 31, 2011. Piano for Preschoolers Holiday Songbook includes seven Christmas Carols written in color-coded notes on a traditional musical staff. Even the youngest students are able to instantly play the carols using the color as a guide. The fun songs give the children more opportunities to reinforce and practice the musical concepts taught in our Basic Course. Simply send me an email to angie@pianoforpreschoolers.com and request your link to download the Holiday Songbook.

May your family be truly blessed and the music of Christmas bring joy to your lives this holiday season.

Angie 0 comments

Grandparents Teaching Their Young Grandchildren to Play the Piano Some of the most heartwarming notes I receive are from grandmothers, and even great-grandmothers, teaching their young grandchildren to play the piano using our method. Maybe it’s because I have my own special memories of summers at my Nana’s house and the great fun we had playing her organ and singing classic songs and hymns. Or maybe there’s just something extra special about passing on a lifelong love of music to grandchildren.

Sure, many grandparents purchase Piano for Preschoolers as a birthday or holiday gift and let their sons or daughters do the actual teaching. It’s exciting for the kids to perform for grandma and grandpa when they visit and gratifying for mom and dad to see the pride in their child’s accomplishment.

But more and more, I’m hearing from grandparents doing the teaching and enjoying every minute of it. Sometimes the piano is at grandma’s house so the lessons are taught when the kids come to visit. Or grandma teaches short lessons when she goes to their house and they all look forward to that part of their time together.

I’ve even heard from grandparents living far away from their grandchildren who started the lessons while the kids were visiting during the summer. They sent the materials home with the kids to continue learning and received video performances of their progress.

Regardless of the individual circumstances or how involved a grandparent gets in the actual lessons, both grandparent and grandchild can reap rewards from early music education. It may have been over three decades ago, but I still remember sitting next to Nana at the organ and belting out Moon River and My Darling Clementine. It’s gratifying to know that Piano for Preschoolers is helping grandparents and grandchildren create their own special memories today. 0 comments

New Downloadable Version Now Available! Downloadable versions of our award-winning products are now available on our website http://www.pianoforpreschoolers.com/. These new downloadable versions contain all the same materials that have been so successful in teaching young children to play the piano - but at substantially discounted pricing.

Piano for Preschoolers Basic Course includes a 17 song music book with color coded notes written on a traditional musical staff, a 19 lesson parent/teacher guide covering what a child would learn in 6-12 months of group or private lessons, a color strip that sits behind the keys of a piano or keyboard to guide children to the correct notes, and an audio file containing each song in the music book played with a metronome in the background and a voice-over count aloud. The cost of the Basic Course is now only $17.00. Our supplemental Holiday Songbook and Sacred Songs Book are priced at $7.00 each.

After you place your order on our secure site, you’ll be immediately directed to a download page with all your files. You may prefer to print one lesson and its corresponding song at a time. You can either print the color strip on cardstock for added durability or just print it out on regular paper and fold it before placing it behind the keys. Lesson One in the Parent/Teacher guide gives instruction on placing the color strip properly behind the keys.

Your child will instantly be able to play the first song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and that success will motivate him/her to continue learning. Sing along and enjoy the special times together as you teach your child beginning piano. 0 comments

Placing the Color Strip From time to time, a parent will call with a question about the placement of the color strip on their piano or keyboard. So, I thought I’d describe here how to place the color strip and explain why the strip is placed behind the keys.

Piano for Preschoolers Basic Course comes with two color strips; one fits a piano or keyboard with full-size keys and the other fits a keyboard with mini keys like the Casio SA-75. Both strips come on one 8 ½ x 11 card. The card is perforated where the two strips separate. Once the strips are separated the strip with the Piano for Preschoolers logo goes on a keyboard with mini-keys and the other one fits a piano or keyboard with full-size keys.

Lesson One in the Parent/Teacher Guide shows exactly where to place the color strip on your piano or keyboard. It describes how to find middle C and align the green space on the color strip with that key. The colors on the color strip correspond with the notes in the music book and guide the children to the correct key for each note.

It is a very important distinction that the color strip sits behind the keys rather than putting stickers or labels on the keys themselves. Children are able to transition easily from Piano for Preschoolers to further study because they have learned from the very start to read where a note is on the musical staff and which key plays that particular note.

In the beginning, the color guides them and allows them to play songs they recognize right away. This success motivates them to continue learning. However, the whole time they are reading notes on the appropriate line or space (they’re just different colors) and they are seeing and feeling the keys of the piano or keyboard. (Stickers don’t cover them.)

For a child to master beginning piano concepts they have to learn to read music. To receive all the benefits of early music instruction children need to actually learn to play the piano. Piano for Preschoolers gives parents the confidence to teach this terrific skill even if they don't have any musical background. Our Basic Course equips parents with all the tools they need. This engaging and fun method encourages both parent and child as they learn. That’s why kids as young as three years old are learning to play the piano and having a ton of fun with Piano for Preschoolers. 0 comments

Silver Lining in Uncertain Financial Times During these uncertain financial times, many families are searching for affordable alternatives to kid’s activities. Private piano lessons are not feasible for a lot of families right now. Piano for Preschoolers has always been an affordable alternative to group or private piano lessons. Kids as young as two and as old as eight are mastering beginning piano skills using our method. Their parents are successfully teaching them at home even though they’ve never played the piano themselves.

As families take a hard look at their budgets and search for ways to cut back on spending, the simple things in life become most important. Enjoying time at home as a family becomes a welcome alternative to expensive outings. As you look back on these years what will you remember fondly – the trips in the car running from activity to activity, all the expensive equipment for each new hobby, or the latest and greatest toys whose packaging was much more interesting to your child than the toy itself?

Most parents and grandparents will fondly remember the special times with their children and the wonderful memories of baking cookies, snuggling and reading favorite stories or making music together. These are the times the kids will treasure as well.

A caring parent or grandparent is a child’s best first piano teacher. It is so important that a child have a very positive first experience at the piano if they are going to receive all the benefits of piano instruction and hope to continue their study. Learning to play the piano in a nurturing environment with a parent cheering them on and singing along as they play gives a child the necessary confidence and motivation to learn.

These are the special times together that create wonderful memories. The silver lining in all the doom and gloom of these tough economic times might be discovering what you sought as an alternative to a more expensive activity has become priceless. 0 comments

More Reasons You Are Your Child's Best First Piano Teacher As many of you know, I developed Piano for Preschoolers to give parents the confidence to teach their young children beginning piano at home. Thousands of caring parents and grandparents throughout the country have successfully taught their children to play the piano with Piano for Preschoolers. Most of these parents either never played the piano or took lessons for a short time when they were kids. I believe the main reason Piano for Preschoolers has worked so well for these families is that a caring parent or grandparent is a child’s best first piano teacher. Piano for Preschoolers simply provides a method that allows parents without any musical background to teach beginning musical concepts. Being able to play songs they recognize right away gets the kids excited about playing the piano and makes their first experience at the piano a very positive one. However, it’s the special times together learning to play and enjoying making music that mean the most to the kids and their parents.

I’ve written before about how I believe a parent knows their child best and given the proper teaching tools makes the best first piano teacher. After all, you can work with your child when he/she is most open to learning and can stop the lessons when the time is no longer effective. It’s never made much sense to me to schedule half hour lessons at an arbitrary time each week at a strange house and expect a three or four year old to cooperate and make progress each week. A caring parent singing along as a child plays is the best motivation to keep practicing until a child gets it right. This nurturing environment creates the perfect opportunity for kids to benefit from early piano study.

As you can imagine, this affordable method and simple approach is very popular with parents and grandparents. There are also several preschool music programs and many private teachers using Piano for Preschoolers to teach their youngest students. Unfortunately, these teachers seem to be more the exception than the rule. It’s a challenge to find teacher who will take on very young children. The overwhelming majority of the feedback I receive is from parents who are thrilled to have found an easy and affordable method to teach their young children to play the piano. I get phone calls and emails all the time from proud parents whose kids have mastered the beginning piano concepts in Piano for Preschoolers and gained self-confidence as a result. Please keep them coming.

Occasionally I hear from or read a review from a piano teacher or musician who clearly is more interested in telling me how smart they are than providing a positive first experience at the piano for the youngest pianist. Fortunately in the three years Piano for Preschoolers has been available this has only happened a couple of times.

Recently such a review reminded me once again why I developed Piano for Preschoolers. I wanted to give the youngest pianist a nurturing and very positive first experience at the piano. I wanted to empower parents to teach their children beginning piano at home. I truly believe a caring parent or grandparent is the best first piano teacher. The piano teachers that don’t get it are just part of the deal. Fortunately most parents do get that they are creating wonderful memories and giving their children all the benefits of early piano study by teaching them with Piano for Preschoolers. 0 comments

Does Music Really Make Kids Smarter? I received an email last week from a musician questioning the music and math connection recent studies have found. He said he has many friends who are terrific musicians but can hardly solve simple math problems. Most parents already know about the music and math connection and our website has links to the research indicating children who are exposed to early piano instruction do better in school. However, this musician’s email got me thinking about all the things we do as parents of young children to give our kids every advantage as they face the challenges ahead of them and all the other reasons parents choose to teach their children beginning piano at home with Piano for Preschoolers.

I’m very grateful to all the parents who take the time to write to me and tell me how well their children are doing with Piano for Preschoolers. Their stories are all different and they decided to teach their children beginning piano at home for a variety of reasons, but one thing is always the same.

Regardless of the age their child started learning or how far they’ve gotten in the course, these parents are beaming with pride and amazed at how quickly their children are picking up the beginning musical concepts. The children are excited to be playing songs they recognize and the parents are having as much fun as the kids!

I know when my kids were infants well-meaning people would tell me “they grow up so fast – enjoy these times”. But in my sleep-deprived state, I was just trying to make it through the day and didn’t really take their comments to heart. As they grew into curious preschoolers I tried to give them the most loving and nurturing environment possible to discover what the world had to offer. Now that they’re elementary and middle school aged, I know how fast the time really goes and the special times we spent learning and exploring together during those early years are special memories.

Yes, the research clearly shows a connection between early piano instruction and increased intelligence later in life. Yes, the coordination and confidence your child will develop by using all of his senses learning to play the piano will help him down the road in countless ways. Yes, you can teach your child beginning piano at home even if you’ve never played a note with Piano for Preschoolers.

However, what touches my heart more than anything else are the stories of the special times together and the wonderful memories created as children play songs they love while parents sing along. Does this mean your child will become a math whiz or play Carnegie Hall? I don’t know. What I do know is parents throughout the country are teaching their children beginning piano at home with Piano for Preschoolers and giving their children every advantage they can as they help their children develop critical skills that will carry them forward. 0 comments