Private Piano Lessons for 2-3 y/olds (and/or Reality Check)

[Anonymous]

If you play piano yourself why not just start with short parent child sessions? I started learning piano from my grandmother before taking formal lessons. Or consider violin if you want to start formal lessons at an early age

[Anonymous]

Suzuki at Levine School of Music

[Anonymous]

I started Suzuki piano at 3 myself and I loved it and still play. Highly recommend it for musically inclined 3 yo’s!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is he potty trained yet?

+1


Also ask yourself, what is the benefit to starting formal lessons at 2 vs 6? Carnegie Hall will still be there if you want a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you play piano yourself why not just start with short parent child sessions? I started learning piano from my grandmother before taking formal lessons. Or consider violin if you want to start formal lessons at an early age

This is the route we took. I'm teaching my 4 year old the basics now. I've been giving her a 15 minute lesson 4-5 times a week. She is getting pretty good at sight reading in her primer book. When she's 5 we will start with a formal teacher.

[Anonymous]

Suzuki teachers will sometimes take three-year-olds. We started our daughter at four with Levine Music in DC and she has stayed musically inclined for her entire life. She’s now in college. Don’t listen to the silly people here. When a child is musically inclined you just know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi all, at the risk of sounding obnoxious, our 2.75 year old seems fairly musically inclined. We see him concentrating and mimicking/playing melodies on his mini piano, drum, flute, etc. We take him to group "music" classes, which he enjoys, but it feels like he is ready for something more engaging/serious. I played piano myself for many years and it was something that I really enjoyed doing- I could see him enjoying it too (plus something potentially fun for both of us to enjoy together in the future).

In short: 1) is anyone aware of and/or would recommend piano lessons for 2-3 year olds?; 2) do I need to calm down and just wait till he's 4 (I see a lot of lessons offered at this age)?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Banging on a piano does not mean you have a Mozart. I cannot imagine children that young have the requisite attention span or the ability to remember what they were taught from week to week, unless, of course, you plan on daily lessons.

[Anonymous]

I'd work on singing first. It will help with ear training for piano and isn't as physically demanding.

[Anonymous]

In old town they have toddler classes at Opal
music School. I’d still wait a bit bc at his age, his hands and fingers will be frustratingly small for a real piano, so he’ll learn to play in a way that will need to be unlearned later on

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do need to calm down and wait. Maybe til quite a bit past four.

God, this is heartbreaking.

I agree.

My brother, who's a professional musician, could play all of Yellow Brick Road by ear when he was five. I don't think he started lessons until he was maybe ten, and it was a lot of music theory, which he loved. He tried Suzuki and hated it.

Let your toddler play with sound before trying to suck the fun out of it.

[Anonymous]

Wait until 6, late 5 maybe. DD started in K and took serious lessons for 9 years. We waited a little longer for DS thinking he needed better fine motor skills before starting. Actually though the lessons did the job - improved the fine motor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Suzuki teachers will sometimes take three-year-olds. We started our daughter at four with Levine Music in DC and she has stayed musically inclined for her entire life. She’s now in college. Don’t listen to the silly people here. When a child is musically inclined you just know.

Levine can be hit-or-miss. We did a pre-Suzuki course there and they had some students come in to demonstrate their instruments. There was one 12-year-old who’d been playing for 7 years and couldn’t bang out The Happy Farmer without making a ton of mistakes. One of the teachers came to demonstrate her instrument and while she was very nice the piece she chose to demonstrate was clearly too hard for her. There are definitely some excellent teachers there, but you can’t rely solely on the “Levine” brand.