Just as children need their parents to read to them and teach the alphabet, parents can also teach their young children the foundational "music Language" skills for piano or keyboard. If you can teach your child the alphabet, you can also give them an important foundation at home for learning to read music and understand keyboard theory. Even if your young children are already taking piano lessons, piano teachers don't have time in a 30 minute weekly lesson to give kids the complete foundation they need to read music easily. But most parents dont know how easy this is to do because they dont have the right tools, resources and support from their childs piano teacher. Sometimes piano teachers even make parents feel stupid when they ask what they can do at home to help. They act as though only a piano teacher with their level of education and experience is qualified to do this. This is not true! Even if you dont play the piano, you are absolutely qualified to help your child get a great keyboard foundation at home.

When I show parents how easy it is they are so relieved. Their young children taking lessons are able to get the right musical foundation they need to advance much more quickly. Plus they stick with piano because their experience is so positive! I have been showing parents how they can do this for years. Its a very simple straightforward process. And you can learn it too.

So find a piano teacher who is willing to give you the guidance and support necessary to help your young children get the musical foundation they need to excel in piano. Dont believe you are unqualified. In fact when it comes to piano pre-skills, parents are the most qualified of all!

Cynthia VanLandingham

Cynthia VanLandingham's Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources create an exciting musical adventure for children ages 5 to 11. Visit PianoAdventureBears.com for free samples of her Piano Adventure Story Books and piano resources for children. She is also the author of The Wonder Guide to Creativity.

Cynthia has been teaching piano in Tallahassee, Florida for 20 years and is the owner of TallyPiano & Keyboard Studios. She is a member of the American College of Musicians National Guild of Piano Teachers, the President of TallyPiano Enterprises, LLC, and a graduate of the Florida State University College of Education. Visit her website at TallyPiano.com to download her original, uplifting piano compositions, including "The Potter's Wheel." While you're there subscribe to her free internet newsletter, Piano Matters, and read the Wonder Guide to Creativity Online.

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