Simple method for teaching children to play piano

As with any other language, the language of music is best learnt from an early age. The benefits of teaching music to very young children through the keyboard are enormous. As well as learning to read, sing and play music, they also develop a basic sense of pulse, and improve their "inner ear".

Learning to play the keyboard or piano from an early age has a tremendously positive effect on a child's development, in particular reading and maths. It also boosts memory and relaxation and teaches concentration, co-ordination, patience and perseverance. It is therefore an excellent preparation or support for schoolwork.

Books for Tutors and Teachers Children between the ages of four and seven usually have difficulty finding notes on the keyboard, and reading musical notation. Using the Dogs and Birds approach this is no longer a problem. In fact it is possible for parents to teach the material in Book 1 to their children. The Supplementary Notes for Parents and Teachers, gives all that is required. It is written as a guide to Book 1 and gives details on all aspects of the approach, including many musical games and exercises and a set of lesson plans. This is highly recommended for getting the most out of the first tutor book. Since the tutor books are written primarily for children, many of whom cannot read fluently, we have kept the text in the books to a minimum. However both books have a section entitled "Notes for Teachers" at the back. The notes for books 1 and 2 are reproduced in the two links on the right hand side.
		Notes for Teachers - Book 1
		Notes for Teachers - Book 2

Background to the techniques

The "Dogs and Birds" approach has been developed over the last ten years or so by Elza Lusher. As a native Hungarian, her music education was based on the Kodály principles from the start. She was trained as a piano teacher at the Liszt Academy in Hungary.

However, it was only through her piano teaching experience (both in Hungary and in England) that she came to appreciate fully the importance of singing and the inner ear.

In Hungary all students study solfege for at least a year before starting to learn an instrument, therefore all instrumental teachers assume a basic level of musicianship.

During her teaching in England Elza discovered that it was necessary to build basic musicianship into her piano lessons. The result of this is the "Dogs and Birds" method.

Elza has been living in England for seventeen years now and she has been teaching the piano for twenty-five years. She has a wide range of teaching experience, from very young children to diploma level, and has also taught piano teachers on the Kodály Institute of Britain's teachers' course.

Elza has recently been getting excellent results teaching groups in a Montessori nursery school. Here children as young as three years old are learning to sing the notes and understand the music using the "Dogs and Birds" approach.

For the last two years Elza has been teaching "Dogs and Birds" in a local infant school, to groups of ten children using five keyboards.

Elza has produced two volumes of pieces using this method together with her husband Chris. The books contain delightful illustrations by Liz Patton, which really capture the child's imagination and enhance the learning experience.

The tutor books are supplemented with other resources – a guide to Book 1 for parents and teachers, a set of wooden animals and a large set of staves (to help visualize the notes) and a set of animal stickers that can be used to reward good work or can be stuck on the keys as an aid to memory in the very early stages.