Beginner Class Piano - Part 1

In this flex course we will learn the very basics of playing the piano and use John Thompson's "Teaching Little Fingers to Play" and "Note-Speller."

Each week we will have a video lesson (posted each Monday morning) at the piano for 15-20 minutes. The student can watch the video at any time and is encouraged to pause throughout the video to further explore what is being taught. 

We will use John Thompson's Teaching Little Fingers to Play book which is a great introductory book for young learners. Each lesson will introduce something new so every week builds on the week prior. 

We will also use John Thompson's Note-Speller as well to aide in our new knowledge of music.

Students will post pictures each week of their assigned pages from the Note-Speller book along with a video recording of the assigned songs that are to be played on the piano.

The video recordings will need to be done in a quiet space so the notes can be heard clearly. The students fingers will need to be clearly presented on the piano keys as well. *Videos need to be posted by Saturday morning.*

Throughout the week the students will have the opportunity to interact with the other learners and will be prompted to share what they think is fun about the piano and what we're working on, what's difficult about it, or what they find interesting about the piano. Each student will be expected to comment on all posts, including other students posts. During this we will also play review games and do drawing/coloring handouts that will be posted in the classroom and shared with everyone.

Each student is to be courteous and encouraging to the other students as we're all reaching for the same goal; to learn to play the piano!

It is expected for the student to practice a little bit each day (10-20 minutes) in order to maintain their piano knowledge and continue to grow in their piano playing. No prior musical knowledge is needed as we will start with the very basics of reading music and sitting at the piano/keyboard.

Parents are highly encouraged to be enthusiastic and help their learner with their practice time each day. Finding a routine for practice will be very beneficial and the learner will benefit from consistent practice times.

Here is what will be covered each week:
Week 1
- Piano geography
- Teaching Little Fingers to Play pg. 5, 6, 8, 9
- Will be able to play a song!
- Note-Speller pg. 3-7
Week 2
- Review of Week 1
- Teaching Little Fingers to Play pg. 7, 10-12
- Note-Speller pg. 8-11
Week 3
- Review of Week 2
- Teaching Little Fingers to Play pg. 13-15
- Note-Speller pg. 12-14
Week 4
- Review of Week 3
- Teaching Little Fingers to Play pg. 16-17
- Note-Speller pg. 15-17
Week 5
- Review of Week 4
- Teaching Little Fingers to Play pg. 18-19
- Note-Speller pg. 18-19
Week 6
- Review of Week 5
- Teaching Little Fingers to Play pg. 20-21
- Special project