Teaching preschoolers seems terrifying to me.

I love teaching the piano to kids. But the youngest student I’ve ever taught was 6. Teaching preschoolers seems like a completely different (and, if I’m honest, intimidating!) world.

I reached out to Amy Elmore – a piano teacher who believes you’re never too young to start learning the piano!

Amy, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us!

What inspired you to start teaching piano to preschool-age children?

My answer is that it was my husband’s idea! Our music student is located near a preschool and it was his idea to offer piano lessons for the students who attend there.

Although I’ve been teaching piano for over 30 years, it wasn’t until relatively recently that I began teaching preschool-aged students. In 2016, I started teaching private preschool lessons. In 2017 we had our first group piano class. There were 3 students in that first group. Those kids are in middle school now!

I love teaching beginners of all ages, but yes, I do have a soft spot in my heart for preschoolers. They are so full of wonder, generally quite eager to learn, and often say the funniest things!

I don’t remember having any reservations or worries at the time, which is unusual as I tend to overthink most things! When it came to teaching preschoolers, I guess I just jumped in and figured things out, mistakes and all, along the way.

In those early years, both the TopMusic Podcast and the Vibrant Music Teaching Podcast were lifesavers as I navigated through teaching this new age group and started seeing my teaching as a creative business not a hobby.

Why is it beneficial for students to start learning the piano at such a young age?

It reminds me of painting a room. It’s all about the preparation! Clean walls, taped-off areas, and a big drop cloth make the process so much easier and the results so much better. And it’s much the same with starting to learn the piano at a young age.

Working with a young beginner is like starting with a blank wall or building a new house. As teachers, we get the beautiful opportunity to lay the foundations and build a musician from the ground up.

The benefits of piano lessons for preschoolers are not only the musical skills they begin to build. They are also developing cognitive, communication, social, and emotional skills.

These secondary, soft skills will become beneficial to them for the rest of their lives. That’s a powerful thing!

A second benefit of learning at such a young age is that younger students have not developed all the fears and mindset blocks that older students may have. Things like being afraid to play in public, fear of making mistakes, hesitations to step out of the box (because they haven’t developed ‘boxes’ for themselves yet) are things that won’t stand in their way of musical exploration.

The skills of creativity, determination, courage, and resilience they develop at a young age will definitely serve them well as they mature as musicians and as people in general.

How do you keep a preschooler engaged for a whole lesson?

It can definitely be a challenge! But being aware of that going into it, helps to ease my mind and helps me feel confident during a lesson. I have to remember not to compare a lesson with a 4-year-old beginner to the way a lesson ‘feels’ with an older or more experienced student.

Currently, I mostly teach preschoolers in small group classes. Our group lessons are 40 minutes long and we offer them in 12-week sessions a few times during the year. There are a few ‘secrets’ when working with preschoolers that can apply to private or group lessons:

1) If you don’t have a plan, they will!

Create a simple framework for each lesson. In our group classes, we like to cover aural, rhythm, theory, and technique in each lesson and have called it the ARTT lesson-plan framework. Without having to read a wordy lesson plan during a class with active preschoolers, the framework helps me remember what activity comes next and keeps the instruction moving.

2) Be willing and ready to abandon the ‘plan’ if necessary.

Part of being a teacher is being able to pivot if students are not understanding a concept. With preschoolers, you just never know how they are feeling when they come to class. Are they tired? Hungry? Missing a parent? If a lesson doesn’t go as planned, don’t be too hard on yourself. Most likely, students learned something musical, and most importantly, they learned that you were a caring adult they could trust.

3) Keep it simple and keep it moving.

Teachers (myself included!) tend to talk too much! With each new concept, briefly tell them, show them, and then let them try it. So much is learned through exploration.

4) Create a dual approach to lessons – a tactical approach (everything mentioned in the points above) and a deeper approach.

Beyond the practical/tactical, create a sense of belonging and community.

Make your lessons a place where every child feels seen, heard, and valued. The human connection is the most captivating teaching tool of all.

Related: Can Preschoolers Learn the Piano?

How do you approach teaching musical concepts to preschoolers?

Simple and one step at a time. Chasing too many things all at once is confusing and doesn’t get you very far. When working with preschoolers, we have time to take our time.

I think it’s important to remember that what we teach this age group is preparatory for them. We hope they will continue with further studies and will ‘circle back’ to many of the concepts they explored as preschoolers. We meet them where they are, knowing these are the first steps in a life-long journey.

A specific example of circling back that comes to mind is when teaching rhythm. First, we let students feel the beat in their bodies before specifically teaching a particular rhythm note name or numerical value. Then, when those things are introduced, they will have a reference point.

Speaking of rhythm, we love introducing rhythm with the Piano Safari animals. Anytime a stuffed animal appears, a preschool student becomes completely engaged – it’s magic!

What advice would you give to teachers who feel intimidated and overwhelmed by the idea of teaching such young students?

If you’re feeling intimidated and/or overwhelmed, you’re not alone.

Doing something new can feel scary. My encouragement to you is that you probably already know more than you think you do!

And for the things you’re not sure of, find other people who have gone before you and learn from them. Teachers are generally very gracious to offer help and insight.

If teaching preschoolers is something that’s been on your heart and you just can’t seem to let it go, the only way you will know if it truly is a good fit is if you just start!

Nothing is set in stone. If it doesn’t work as you thought it might, you can always ask for help or pivot to something different. It’s your business after all, and you can create it to look and feel the way you desire.

In all you do, nothing is ever wasted. There’s always a lesson learned or some kind of growth that has taken place. Teaching preschoolers can broaden your studio community, open the world of music to young minds and hearts early on, and be an incredible business and personal growth experience

TopMusicMag: Teaching Preschoolers

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