Soft Mozart in Melbourne

Awesome! Small chicken is not aneasy piece for a beginner. Wow! She did a good job!

In observation of our future training in Houston I was keeping quite and didn't give you my feedback. Now I just made some time to be able to help you with your teaching journey!

tayechka@gmail.com wrote: And as for the 4 year old, HOW DO YOU DO IT? One week she's all over the piano, the next she can't settle down - scratch, itch, bathroom trip, playdoh, stickers, food, sock chords (that's when you use your feet instead of your hands to play chords. Lovely.)

Our first stage of learning is re-enforce rules and set the boundaries. In my class I have a monarchy When student comes for his/her first lesson I first show my music country's treasures: candies and toys.
Second - I show them money. My money. They can be converted just in my country.
After that we start 'making money'. First prices are for 'following the rules'. Didn't pick your nose for 30 sec? Here is my music $. Seating nicely for 5 minutes? One more buck. Positive approach works much better then negative. If you teaching 2 students and 1 behave, the one receives a reward.
After the boundaries are set and rules are established (ONLY ESTABLISH THEM ON PRACTICE! NO LECTURES!) we may proceed to next stage - focusing on learning process.

I have reduced her lessons from 30 minutes (ambitious!) to whatever the attention span - 15 minutes is typical. We play games for a good 30 seconds before she gets bored.

Hmm... I would go from different angle: set super short/easy time. Stop the game at this exact point. Write the score. Seeing progress in precise numbers that also get conversion into music $$ prices is the best motivation!

We sing notes which she loves, and then she can't sit anymore. She rummages through my "music" bag to look for gifts or new stickers, then back on the piano, then off, then on.

Oh, no! Nobody can act like this in front of a Queen! This is no-no. She is a Princess! Just a Princess!

We did start playing a fun game though - happy or sad? I play chords or songs and she has to guess if it's a minor or a major key. She does very well, and I suspect there are surprises ahead: perfect pitch, good fingers, and talents galore... but for now, screams and giggles, and how can I say no to the delighted little eyes and ponytails so full of life and happiness?

Tayechka, believe it or not, but children LOVE rules. Her game with you is how far she can push you. If she will push you around and won't get any more interesting things to do, she will loose her motivation.

Have a 'queen talk' with her.

tayechka@gmail.com wrote: As my 8 and 9 year old students progress with giant leaps, the 4 year is less interested in piano and more in ballet, singing and violin. We have started doing short lessons where we sing along to youtube videos using "super simple songs" and similar channels.

We have to win her over to piano. It is very foundation of everything including singing and ballet. Say Hi! to her from me and say to her that I am watching how she is doing and have my faith in her. If she will learn couple of piano pieces towards holiday season, I will send her a gift.

The older girls are playing well. Tayka is learning scales as well as Christmas carols, which we are preparing for a little concert.

Wow! These girls are my candidates for receiving gifts already!

With Tayka (9 year old) we have learned scales and keys, and are nutting out notes on the grand staff. She leans on her knowledge of theory from violin class and her naturally good pitch. She's at a curious age where everything is interesting. But the piano is currently standing in the TV room which makes for a distracting environment. I am counting on when the piano is moved to a private room, as I am also competing for her attention with a million other interesting things to do.

Yes. Learning environment ought to be changes asap.

My other student ( has no music background but good piano learning space. I find the more homework I give her, the more she does. We have pushed 30 minute sessions to 45 mins and include theory, practice, games, and singing. We just introduced the circle of fifths and lots of theory. The best part though is the singing. At the start, she was not able to hear or sing the right tunes. Now she can hear it herself, and has an awesome range of lower A to high D. This is the biggest breakthrough as there is now a connection between tone, piano key, and voice.

Wonderful! I wish to see that! It is always useful to record everything.