Here’s how I go about a student's first piano lesson
There's something so special about giving someone their very first piano lesson. Be it the 4 year old who has been begging their parents to learn piano, the 16 year old who really wants to learn that song they heard on the radio or the 57 year old who has always wanted to learn piano but never came around to it; there's usually a healthy dose of nervousness, excitement and child-like energy!
In the first lesson, there are a couple of things I like to go over:
Reasons for taking lessons.
When they first come into their lesson I like to find out a little bit about why they wanted to learn piano. Do they like a specific kind of music? Do they want to learn a particular song? Either way, I usually express how exciting it is that they want to learn piano and how fun it's going to be. I mean, as cheesy as it may sound, it really is awesome to play an instrument and to be able to play and express yourself through music. It's a skill you'll be able to have for the rest of your life.
Hand position.
This is so, so, soooo important! This is something some students may understand right away or something to just keep reminding them to do. I like to have the kids imagine a balloon in the palm of their hand. I ask them to tell me what their favorite color is: red, purple, rainbow or any imaginative combination of colors they come up with. I tell them we always want this balloon to be under our hand. I tell them to place their hands on the keys and I take their wrist gently and move it downward; I tell them if we play with our wrist down, the balloon pops, but if we play with our wrist up, and fingers curved, we'll have a really awesome balloon! Plus, this will help us play with a really beautiful sound.
Going over the basics.
Before starting to play the keys I like to go over the the keyboard itself. Most everyone knows what a piano looks like even though they've never played, but many might not realize the patterns on the keys. I like to go over how the piano is made up of black and white keys. I'll explain to them how the black keys are separated into groups of two and three black keys and how the white keys are made up of the first 7 letters of the the alphabet: A B C D E F G.
Next I'll ask them to take their pointer finger on their left hand and play the very first white key to the left of the piano. I make them play the first key and explain that this note is “A”. I then help guide them up the keys saying the letters of the keys with them. A B C D E F and I stop on G. I then explain, that after G, the 7 letters repeat again beginning at A. This pattern continues on all the white keys. I ask them to play all the white keys in order, going up the keyboard with their pointer finger while saying the letter names. I ask them to use the left hand pointer finger up until Middle C (which I explain is in the middle of the piano) and then tell them to continue with the right hand pointer finger as they go up from Middle C. They did it! Well done!
Next, I'll explain the finger numbers, 1-5. Our thumbs being finger number 1 all the way to our pinky being finger number 5. The left hand fingers usually throw people off, so just make sure to go over this a few times. For very young children, it is better to go over this in more detail: get a piece of paper, a pencil and crayons(!) and follow these steps:Trace both of their hands on the paper and tell them to point to the Left and Right hand on the page. Label it with a large L.H. and R.H.
Ask them to number the fingers on the page. Remind them the thumb is number one (There is a great song to help them identify the fingers which I love to use. I'll write about it in another post.) If they are very young just have them point to the correct finger and you can label it for them.
Here's the fun part! Assign a color for each of the 5 fingers and have them color finger 1 on both hands red and finger 3 green etc… (I like to ask them to color the fingers out of the 1 2 3 4 5 order so I can make sure they know which finger is which. The little ones love this activity. I then like to write their names in big letters on the top of the page and send them home with the paper.
For older beginners and adults, the process of learning the fingers probably won't take much time. For younger kids, you may have to go over this for a good portion of their first lesson and review it in the following lessons.
Okay! So now they've identified all the white keys and their finger numbers. Next, I go over the groups of two and three black keys. First, I'll play and block (blocking means to play the keys at the same time) the groups of black keys and have them identify if I am playing a group of two or a group of three. I'll then have them show me the peace sign✌️and have them start to block the groups of two black keys with fingers 2 and 3 on their left hand on the lower end of the keyboard and move up the keyboard. Once they get to the middle, I ask them to use their right hand to continue up the piano. I'll ask them to repeat the same thing on the group of three black keys using finger 2, 3 and 4.
For older beginners and adults I would probably begin to teach them to play five finger positions and finger exercises, since they have more dexterity than a young child would.
Let's learn some songs!
Since this lesson has most likely been pre-scheduled, I would already have a few books prepared. In the first lesson I will teach them some beginner songs and go over quarter, half, dotted half and whole notes.
I have several piano book series I recommend and will probably write a post on books I highly suggest for you to use.
I hope you find this helpful for teaching your first lesson! Just remember to have fun and make sure your students are enjoying it! Piano is such an incredible thing to learn and you want to make sure their first lesson is a happy and positive experience!
Stay tuned for my next post!
🎹 Alejandra Diaz-Acosta
