Learn the White Keys: Visualize the Keyboard

Kit-Kat Keyboard! It's time for your second-year student to learn to identify all of the white keys.  

Our goal is for students to identify the keys without counting up.  If you see your child mumbling "C, D, E, F... G!"  Then you know she was counting up, which takes longer than instant recognition.  Your child can learn instant recognition by visualizing the keyboard geography (arrangement of black and white keys).

An Abstract Concept
At first, the arrangement of keys and their names are abstract and foreign concepts to your child.  Let me give you a sense of how it might feel: if I show you two nonsense arrangements of dots and tell you the first one is called "MONAY" and the second is called "CARRACA", what are the chances that tomorrow or next week you'll be able to recall those facts?

Students find it easier to remember new bits of information if we help them find meaning in what they are seeing.  Silly and outrageous mnemonics are easy to remember.  How about if I connect those dots and show how the first set looks like the arms of a monkey, which sounds almost like MONAY, and the dots on the second set connect to form the jaw of a CARRACA-dile (crocodile).  Do you think your chances of being able to match these pictures to their names will improve? Or your abilty to recall their names? 

If MONAY and CARRACA were actually useful pieces of information, this visual mnemonic would help you remember their names as you got started used them in your music practice.  With use and repetition, your mind would construct a true and valuable meaning for these images and eventually you wouldn't think of them as monkeys and crocodiles anymore...you would internalize them as monays and carracas.  

The same process takes place as your child gets to know each of the white keys and what they truly are in music.  Once he internalizes the look, the sound, the meaning, and the use of these keys, he will think of them as themselves.
 
The Kit-Kat Chant
The kit-kat chant gives your child a silly and outrageous meaning for the keys: those black keys look like candy!  If your kiddo still struggles with finding Cs and Fs quickly, do not skip this chant in your drill time until she masters those.   You'll know she's got it when she can:

* Fly along the keyboard (low to high) and find all the C's (or F's) without pause.
* Sing the pitch of the notes as she's finding them. (Let's strengthen the ear as well as the eye for identifying notes.)
* Do it again in the other direction (high to low).
* Identify a C or F when you play and ask her "What is this key?"  Repeat 5 times all over the keyboard.

Visualize the White Keys


Show your child the below picture, or draw it.  "Doesn't it look like those two black keys could be tipped together to make a little roof?  Who could live in such a tiny house?  Probably a Dog!  That key is D!  Can you find all the dogs (Ds)?" As you child plays all the Ds, have him sing middle D pitch!  "Deee, Deee, Deee." You may decide to just introduce this one for a few days or a week.

 

"Now imagine a bowl of food just on this side of the dog house.  That's because dogs LIKE TO EAT.  EEEEEEEat starts with E.  Can you find all the places to Eat?"  My students like to chant (on the pitch of E): "I like TO EAT.  I like TWO EAT." as they find all the Es (strike them on the word 'eat') by looking for groups of TWO black keys.  They think puns are hilarious!

Next, show your child the picture below.  "That doghouse was pretty small.  If we built a house and used THREE boards for a roof, it would be bigger.  Maybe it could be Grandma's house and we could visit her.  See where Grandma is standing in her house, it looks like she's got an Ant in the house!"

Have your child practice finding all the Gs or all the As on the keyboard while visualizing this silly picture.  For my own students, I tell them it is GINA'S house and the first key is G because that's how my name starts and the other key in the house is A because that's how my name ends (true for 'grandma' too).  You could also decide that building is a GARAGE.  My students know the first two letters in the word garage are G-A!

Almost done! "Wow, you know almost all of the white keys! You have been finding C and F for a long time, then you learned D and E, and then you mastered G and A.  Now I'll tell you about another animal, and it's not a dog this time; it's a BEE.  Where might bees live?" (listen to some suggestions) "Wild bees build a hive at the top of a THREE.  Oops, did I say THREE?  I meant to say TREE.  I guess on our piano, BEES live at the top of the THREEs." Laugh it up (I tell you, they love puns), then have them practice finding all Bs, not by counting from F (or heaven forbid, C) but from looking for groups of three black keys and jumping to the top.

Let's Do Some Drawing

Because this stage of key naming is so visual, I recommend some drawing fun! Draw a rectangle for your child, show how to divide it into 3 keys (or 4) and then how to add 2 (or 3) black keys.  This will be tricky the first time!  Your child might be surprised to notice how the black keys straddle two white keys.  Identify the white keys.  Challenge your child to recreate the drawing, as an advanced test of her ability to visualize the keyboard.  If she can draw it, you know she can visualize it.

Good luck learning the white keys!  Remember to introduce them bit by bit and take every opportunity to have your child SING the pitch as she plays it (love that ear training!). 

- Gina Weibel, M.S.

Let's Play Music Teacher 

Extra! Extra! Cdim7
(The Diminished 7th Chords)
I'm including this postscript for fun, because I still enjoy visual mnemonics, too!  There are chords beyond the Red, Blue, and Yellow, and one that I find to be lots of fun is a four-note chord called the diminished seventh.  The dim7 is the chord that gives you the  awesome melodrama sound just as the villain jumps out and grabs the damsel!  or the trains are about to collide! or the monster is about to attack!

If you've got a third-year student composing a song and looking for some excitement and tension, show that child the dim7!

There are lots of names for all of the dim7 chords, but there are really only three of them!  Here's why: this chord is build from a root, the next note is 3 keys up, the next note is 3 keys up and the next note is 3 keys up.  It looks like this, which I like to call "HOUSE".  This chord has 4 names (Cdim7, Eflat dim7, Gflat dim7, Adim7), but they all have only these notes .  As you are learning in your third-year Orange Roots class, you could play the higher C instead of middle C (inversion).  It will still be HOUSE because I remember these are the 4 notes.  By visualizing my picture, I can quickly find the notes I need.

The next chord looks like this and I remember it as "UPSIDE DOWN HOUSE." Can you see it in your mind's eye? Totally!  I am guessing you can figure out how to give this chord four names (any note of these special guys could be the root, and it's the root that gives the chord it's name.)

The final chord looks like this and I call it "DILAPIDATED HOUSE" or "FALLING-DOWN HOUSE."

Play these chords as you are improvising (especially on Halloweens songs!).  I love that in Let's Play Music, we teach students how to make music have the feel they want, to be creative, and to understand how to put it together.  This is an advanced topic, but don't let that stop you from playing these notes with your child to hear how they sound.  May your damsels all get rescued!

-Gina Weibel

How to Care for Your Piano

Every Let's Play Music family needs a piano or digital piano for years 2 and 3 of the Let's Play Music curriculum.  Get tips on what to buy with our buying guide.  Now that you've got that taken care of, you might be wondering how to take care of your lovely instrument.

Moving the Piano

Perhaps your piano is already nestled in its permanent home, but if you've just purchased it or are moving house in the future, please consider having professional movers deliver it.  The correct equipment for moving pianos includes using ramps, piano-moving boards, piano dollies, piano-lifting straps and protective padding.  Professional movers can get your piano in place without damage (and minimal knocking out of tune.)

Chances are, your upright piano is up against a wall, as is mine, because the back of the piano is not all that attractive.  Experiment with pulling it a few more inches away from the wall, since most of the sound comes from the back, and this will allow some space for some nice resonance to help you get that sound projecting into the room.  You might also consider using the piano as a divider between two rooms or spaces: cover the back of the piano with fabric for an attractive appearance, and be rewarded with the acoustics.

Don't they make it look easy?

Key Cleaning

Sticky peanut-butter fingers are not the only things that take the shine away from your piano keys.  Just the oils and daily dirt on fingers can do the trick.  It's a fine idea to institute a "washed hands" policy to reduce the frequency for key cleaning.  Another fine habit is to close the cover when not in use to prevent dust on the keys.

Avoid using anything abrasive (chemicals, cleaners, or even paper towels.)  Use a flannel or microfiber cloth with some warm water, and wipe each key towards you (not side-to-side) making sure you get the sides of the black keys as well as the tops. Only clean one octave and then quickly wipe it dry before moving to the next octave. A gentle soap is okay if your keys are plastic.

If you are wanting to disinfect your keys during flu season, use a solution of 3:1 water:vinegar and wipe down as above.

Cabinet Cleaning

Modern pianos are finished with a variety of laquers and resins, designed for beauty without the addition of any wax or polishes.  Dust your piano with a feather duster or a specific piano-dusting mitt, or wipe away smudges using a slightly damp flannel using long straight strokes.

Since pianos are 85% wood that expands and contracts with humidity, you can protect your piano's finish, case, and pitch by avoiding swings in temperature and humidity whenever possible (the garage is not a good permanent home).  There are even piano-humidity devices available, and your kids will laugh every time you remind them to "go water the piano, please."

Your piano's beautiful finish hates direct sunlight, and live houseplants should never go on a piano.  Actually, you shouldn't set items on your piano unless there is a soft cloth protecting it, or scratches are likely to ensue.

Tuning the Piano

With the ear-training you and your child receive in Let's Play Music class, we hope you notice if your piano is going out of tune.  Even if no one uses the piano, it goes out of tune over time simply because the strings are under high tension and they slowly stretch.

Here's an interesting thought: if all of the strings stretch slightly, your chords and intervals may still sound correct even though the pitch is slipping!  Don't wait until you notice that your chords and intervals are sounding poor to get a tune.

Professional tuners will tell you that 6 months is the longest you should go between tunings.  Waiting longer, and letting all the pitches drop dramatically, poses a real challenge for getting a piano back into tune: when each string is tightened dramatically it interacts with the neighboring strings, knocking them out of pitch.  In that case your tuner will conduct a pitch-raise (dramatically increasing tension on all of the strings) before tuning, and you'll get an extra charge for it.  It's much easier (and maybe cheaper) to get a piano in tune if it is always kept tuned-up.

My favorite times to tune the piano are in September and March, simply because I want the kids feeling confident as they start up a new year in Let's Play Music, and again as they are preparing to perform their compositions in the big spring recital.

You do not need to re-tune your piano if you move it from one room to another in your home, but if it spends a significant time outdoors during them move, perhaps in a moving van, the fluctuation in humidity could knock it out of tune.  If it is only outside for a short while, you may be fine.

Brand new pianos, straight from the manufacturer, have strings under tension for their first time, and they will stretch a lot in the first year.  During that year, 4 tunings are recommended.

One more caution: before buying a used (or dangerously free) piano, be aware that if a piano has been flat for too long, it may be impossible for the strings to handle the string tension to get them back up to Standard Pitch (A440).  Buy a certified used piano, or hire a tuner to check it out for you before you buy.

Good luck and enjoy your piano!  It could bring you (and future generations) much pleasure for up to 100 years!

-Gina Weibel, M.S.
Let's Play Music Teacher
*Originally published at Making Musicians- the official Let's Play Music blog*

Create a Piano Practice Plan

Happy New Year!  In the spirit of resolution, are you thinking about your current schedule and perhaps finding renewed energy for making practice time sparkle this upcoming year?  I'd love to share my long-term-vision strategy for constructing a piano practice plan.
 

Long Term Vision
The first practice question that is sure to come up is simply: what behavior do you want to occur? Not too hard to answer, is it?  As an adult with perspective and vision (and access to lots of research articles), you know that your child benefits from her daily practice in ways she can't fully comprehend yet.  You want to see a cheerful response whenever you remind your child it's time to practice for the day!  

Question number two sometimes gets overlooked: what do you hope her motivation to be for that behavior?  That's what this article is about: creating a practice plan that doesn't plow ahead and leave this important  consideration in the dust.

My biggest hopes are that my child falls in love with making music and finds a way to express herself and her creativity through this medium, that it becomes a great tool for her to relax and have fun with other musicians and family members, and that the allure of mastering challenges and creating beauty keep her gravitating to the piano of her own free will throughout her lifetime.  A child who can tap into these intrinsic motivators will power up her own music practice for years! (even when she doesn't have me there to remind her.)

I'm guessing you are not excited to hear your child say, "I only practice so I can get my privileges," and  "I practice because I have to, but I never want to."  You don't want her to burn out on music just because you are not there to give her a treat (extrinsic motivator) every day.  So what can be done?

Set the Stage
I suggest this step first because it's straightforward.  Set up your piano or keyboard in an inviting, uncluttered space.  If you want your child to gravitate to the piano easily, make it a pleasant experience to be at the piano. 

Share Your Vision
Before making any other changes or plans, get a peek inside your child's mind.   Talk to your child about why you think practicing is worthwhile.  Side note: it is a great exercise for you to pinpoint why you care about daily practice!

"Hey Johnny, come sit with me for a minute.  I'm so excited for this new semester of music to start up- you sure are learning a lot of things in class!  I've been thinking about practices, and I'm thinking it's  pretty important to get that done every day...'

'I noticed how confident you seem when you're heading to class, fully prepared for the goals of the week. '

'I love how when you're all caught up on practice you really participate in class and keep up.  You seem to have a lot more fun in class than on the days when you didn't know the songs very well.' 

'It seems like you have a lot more fun playing when we do it daily- it doesn't seem to be as scary or as tricky as when we miss a few days.  This is important to me, because I love seeing you have fun and I hope you'll love making music as much as I do.'

'And when you are caught up on practice, I really notice how capable you are at learning everything your teacher taught you.  I get really excited because I think you'll love some of the cool things you're going to learn.'

'Do you want to hear one more really cool thing?  I read some articles online about how practicing music makes your brain actually bigger! and helps you be a better thinker and helps you learn how to work on hard things without giving up!  Those are all really cool things I hope for you to have, and those are some of the reasons why I really care about helping you practice every day.'

Okay, reality check!  Some children can handle this whole conversation in one dose, and others might digest it better in small chunks.  I don't think of this as a huge lecture.  I do think you do yourself a disservice if your child doesn't know WHY you are asking him practice. 

Whatever few phrases you use, engage him with, "Do you also notice that?  Do you also feel that way?  Can you tell me what it's like for you when you go to class prepared (or not)?"  Then sit still and listen!   If you bring up these ideas just after a successful practice, you may be rewarded with something like: "Why yes, I did really had fun playing that piece and I'm delighted that I learned it in just one week.  My practice really did pay off!" 

Helping your child realize that he has fun making music and enjoys the challenge of mastering songs is your way of helping him discover the intrinsic motivation to stick with music.  It comes from inside him: talking about the good feelings and experiences going on in there will help him be aware of it!  In the long-term, this will be a longer-lasting motivation than weekly stickers and prizes.

 Fix It Together

Practice time involves the student, so have the student help decide how to make practice time work.  Talk to your child about how this thing could be most enjoyable, and hear what he thinks would be enjoyable.  "Well, you know I am excited to see you practice every day, so help me figure out what we can do to make it work really well and be most fun."

'I guess I like it best if I practice after dinner. In the morning I'm too sleepy.'
'I guess I better just do it in the morning... when I get home from school I just want to play.'
'I do like to play duets with Mom...that always makes practice more fun.'
'I want Mom or my teacher to give me a prize so I can look forward to it.'
'If you help me play the games from class as part of practice, that would be fun.'
'I like it when I have a few minutes of free time to play my own stuff.'
'I like it if you play for me sometimes, so I can just listen.'
'I like it if you give me stickers to help me see my progress.'
'I like to decide the order of what I practice.'
'I like to set a timer so I know when I will be done.'
Etc.



Draft an agreement with your child.  It can be written or just spoken (but you might forget if you don't write it down.)  We will agree to practice after dinner an set the timer for 15 minutes, and we'll be sure to play duets at least once each week and Mom will provide cute stickers to mark of practices, etc.


And When We Fail?

Once you agree on a few points of when/how practice will happen, ask "What will each of us do if we miss a practice?"  Hear how your child is willing to be held accountable and let your child know how you plan to react. 

'Johnny, will you agree to come to the piano nicely when I remind you that it is time?  If we are too busy one day to practice in the morning, will you agree to practice before bed?' (or twice on another day, or practice on the "day off" day).   Also consider: if he has met the goals of the week, will he be allowed to slack off for a few days, and what does that look like? 'If you can show me that you are ready with all the goals for class, you may spend the last practice of the week playing anything you want'. 

'I want to be helpful to you, so  I'll promise to remind you when I notice practice time is coming.  Do you prefer a 5-minute or 10-minute warning?  I'll also agree to sit by you for the first 2 practices each week, so you can get help if you need it.'

'It will break the agreement if I call you to practice and you throw a tantrum.  If you want to practice at the alternate time, will you agree to talk to me politely about it and we can decide if it will work?  If you decide not to come to the piano at all one day, that will also break the agreement- what should be the consequence if that happens?'    For some students, the consequence of being unprepared for class may be enough.  Your child might still need extrinsic motivation (supplied by you) to get it done.  Do what works with your parenting style.  'Can we add to the agreement that in our family, each person will practice before they play computer games?' 


Jump in, But Be Ready for Bumps!
Post your agreement and start having fun!  When the day comes that your child doesn't want to practice, lovingly inquire (and make guesses about) what makes practice hard. 

'Okay, Johnny, we're here at the piano, but you seem to be having a hard time getting started...

'Are you feeling a little nervous because this is a huge song and you are not sure where to start?  Perhaps if you just figure out the right hand for these 2 measures, and play those measures 3 times, that's enough of that song for today. '

'Are you feeling worried that this might not sound right, because you don't know it well yet? Yes, there might be a lot of mistakes today, but I love hearing your work through hard things and not give up.  Let's find the tricky part and just practice that a few times. '

'Are you feeling like this song is not much fun to play, because it's really hard and slow right now?  Yeah, songs do take a lot of work at the beginning, but I know you get faster and smoother every time you play it...and that means more fun every time!  How about if you work on this for a few minutes, and then play one that you know really well. ' 

'Are you still thinking about playing with that toy you just had, and wishing you could keep doing that right now?   Yes, that was fun, it would be nice to have more time to do that.  You'll be able to play again in 20 minutes.  I bet if we play this song a few times, you'll start having fun at piano, and the 20 minutes will pass really quickly.'

'I'm noticing that you really need to wiggle today! How about if you play through the assignments, and do five jumping jacks between each one?' 

If your child can tell that you really understand why this is so hard for him right now, he is more likely to listen to your suggestion for moving forward. 

The Unilateral Decision

Hopefully your child was able to understand some of your wisdom and reasons for encouraging daily practice.  If he's having fun in class and having fun bonding with you around the piano, he probably bought into the practice agreement, and isn't surprised that you follow through daily to check if it's getting done.

Occasionally a child may announce he just doesn't want anything to do with music lessons.  Then it's up to the wise parent to weigh the benefits of musical education and decide how important it is to the family.  As a parent, it might be time to step in with a unilateral decision (no voting!).  You've probably already made decisions about going to school or church or certain behaviors.  Your children learn that "that's just the way we do things in our family, and it's not up for a vote."

'Johnny, I respect that you don't enjoy practice right now.   I really care about you, and I know there are so many great things that will come to you if we stick with the music program.  I have many dreams for you, and musicianship is one gift I want to give you.  It is very important to me that I do my part to be sure you have this gift, so I would be too sad to let you stop music lessons.  I'm going to do everything I can to help you have fun and catch my vision.  I am pretty sure that one day you will!' 

Long-Term Vision

Your long-term vision is to have a child reaping the many advantages of musical education, all the while loving the adventure.  


Right now, he is young and the challenges of learning music are new.  He loves practicing music because he loves and trusts you, he loves his teacher, he is excited about prizes, he has fun with you at the piano, and he wants to avoid the consequences of missing practice.


Over time, an exciting thing will happen- he'll start finding his own enjoyment at making beautiful music, he'll find joy in overcoming the challenges of learning new material, and he'll feel the pleasure of creating.  He'll practice because he's intrinsically motivated to practice, and because he's caught your long-term vision. 


I wish you the best as you help your child catch on to your long-term vision this year!


Gina Weibel, M.S.
Let's Play Music Teacher