DD (3 yo) starting with SM - experiences

Hello all,

I'm now at the end of week 2 curriculum with my daughter (almost 3). Well, the first week went very well, she learned Hot Cross Buns with right hand, could sing the song. The 2. week was a bit harder. We were doing flashcards, finger exercices, singing, etc, that went very well.

But... when it came to left hand playing... she didn't like that at all. Although a few times she played it, and also without mistakes once. But it's harder and so she always wanted to play it with right hand. So I let her do it, because, I don't want to take away her joy with playing the piano.

Tomorrow, the 3. week would start but I really don't know, what to do. I'm sure, she wouldn't like to play the song with both hands... how can I motivate her? Are there any tricks?

Or would you suggest to do the curriculum in another way?

BK,

My daughter 3 had the same problem when she first started, she just wanted to play right hand Hot Cross Bun. So I just let her play right hand for 5 weeks Hot Cross Bun and French songs. I was not aware of the method suggested by Ms Hellene.

I showed my daughter youtube video of your kids playing both hands and tell her that pianist play with both hands. I remembered that I told my daughter to treat her hands fairly and try playing with left hand. Since then she started her attempt on left hand.Each time she played right hand she will attempt on left hand.

BK,

I am so happy that you are already on Week 2 activities!
Great Job! Stick to curriculum and you will see that in no time your daughter will be easily playing with left hand!

It is our 5th week with Soft Mozart and if 5 weeks ago someone would tell me that my DD would be easily playing with both hands, reading the notes by herself I would have very hard time believing it....
this is a link to our week 2 with SM, learning to play with left hand.
softmozart.com/forum/15-learning-experie...tml?limit=6&start=12

Here are some things that I found are very helpful in teaching a toddler to play with left hand:

1. Stickers suggested to me by Hellene,( they will be helpful in week 3 as well, while learning to play with 2 hands)

Suggestion: please, get in Walgreens or a store like this the stickers in form of little dots. Place them on Do Fa and Sol for the left hand. She needs a little more of visual support, because she has to look for 2 keys now.

2. Starting with Jingle Bells song, to practice Left Hand, as it has fewer switching between the chords, so basically you just practicing Do Sol cord. My DD had a hard time holding the piano keys for a necessary time, she was releasing them too early,this is what Hellene suggested:

tell your DD a story about Mister Oops ( a little dwarf whom she sees every time, when lifting keys prematurely). Tell her that by lifting her fingers before a butterfly replace the flower she is… waking him up. This is why he is so disappointed.

3. Cutting a small piece of the song , to make hard learning experience shorter .
I cut the piece of JB song to make it less overwhelming for DD:
(

You choose which hand you will use, I pressed "L" left hand, then pressed CTRL and Enter together, played to the point were I wanted to cut and pressed CTRL and Backspace together. Then I pressed "L" again and it took me to the beginning of the song.)

In Left hand part of JB song you start by pressing and releasing note Do and Sol 4 times, that is were i cut the piece for us.

This is our experience with learning chords :

I did not allow DD to use both hands playing the chords, as I saw her couple times successfully reaching the necessary notes. So I showed her that she needed to press and hold the keys for a moment then release. She gave it a try and third or forth attempt was successful, I exclaimed: "That is what you need to do" and chased to the fridge and got her a tiny spoon of strawberry ice cream ( I very seldom allow her sweets ). I told her: "you played the notes correct that is why now you are getting ice cream!" she was like: "I do it again!" Holding my laughter I said: "ok"
She did it, and got a little more ice cream. I know a lot of parents will disaprove this kind of "reward system" but it worked, and we were practicing playing with the left hand... Sometimes it is difficult to explain complex things to a toddler, like why she needs to practice playing with left hand... So i hope you will not judge me.

Once again, BK, congratulation on your Progress!