Piano improvisation with preshoolers by Piano Comics

I have a very headstrong new girl where if she does not want to do what I ask her, that’s her final word. She tells me ‘I already told you. I don’t want to.’ And she keeps her word. It’s hard to trick her into ‘playing a game’ while at the same time learning something on the piano or about music (we don’t only sit on the piano bench of course).

So, for motivation, I asked that she brings a favourite plushie without which she cannot fall asleep. She brought Mousy To inspire her I asked if we could compose together a song for Mousy. I asked her to tell me about Mousy and how she helps, afterall, who doesn’t like to talk about someone/something they love…?…

To avoid overwhelm, I asked her to play only on black keys. And started improvising lyrics. If you notice in the video, at the end of this post, sometimes I try to ‘guide’ her fingers by singing a little ahead the melody to see if she’ll follow. Other times I let her take the lead and milliseconds after she presses a key, I sing on it the remaining syllable.

Now the student is happy, has played during our lesson and can’t wait to do it again. I’ll be posting about her and this part of lessons in the future. Here in this video you can watch our result.

ps: as a headstrong myself with stubbornness bigger than a parachute, I regret not incorporating improvisation earlier in my piano lessons.