I get this question a lot, “how old can my kid start taking piano lessons?”

There is no fixed answer to this.

Some kids can start piano lessons as early as 4 or 5, while others would have more fun starting with music classes before taking private piano lessons.

And it’s completely okay with either option.

With the young kids who are eager to learn to play the piano however, I have a different teaching approach to teaching them than older kids (say 7 and above, again depending on the kids).

First of all, younger kids love movement and singing. So, we do more rhythm clapping and singing in our lessons. They also learn better with rote playing – so showing them how to play is very crucial in this early stage of music learning and piano playing development.

Younger kids also love to draw and appreciate colors. Therefore, we spend some time drawing and writing in our piano lessons, and this helps them learn to understand and read music in a different way.

Younger kids are very creative – they love to make up their own melodies and music at the piano! I guide them in our piano lessons on how to create nice melodies and fun songs.

Of course, they still get to learn how to read music and play piano! But at such tender age, it is important, again, for me to guide them to the point that they get to enjoy playing and music making while learning step by step about music theory, the basic rudiments and piano technique.

I also encourage parents of younger kids to be more involved in the practice at home. I usually give the parents more pointers as to how to help their kids, so that not only the kids are practicing at home, the parents get to enjoy some music time with their kids! It’s a great way to share music and some precious time together.

If you are interested in starting your young ones with some piano lessons, please do not hesitate to contact me about them. If you’re not sure about your kids being ready yet, you can always take a trial lesson to see how it goes first.

Have fun at the piano!

Teresa Wong