Kevin Guess

Growing the seeds of a musical life

Musical Mind Piano

A comprehensive method for learning to play piano when you’re a kid.

Musical Mind Piano is an approach to teaching piano designed especially for young children. Its aim at the beginning is much higher than merely presenting the basic elements. It aims to lay a solid foundation on which a lifetime of music making and piano playing can be built, and it seeks to do this by taking seriously the way children naturally learn. Below is a discussion of these aims and examples from Musical Mind Piano. 

Musical Mind Piano grew from the ideas that 

  • music is a language in which one can become fluent — as great musicians of past and present show,
  • any improvement to piano methods has to improve how students begin, and 
  • the key to such an improvement is in how kids learn language. 

When children are learning to speak, they use their eyes, ears, body and mind. They observe sounds they hear, try to imitate them, and explore until they discover how. They build a repertoire of sounds, and eventually words, and play with them. They have fun, and their parents have fun also as they interact with their child in play, encouragement and guidance. It’s all a whole lot of fun! This is how children naturally learn; through observation, imitation, exploration, discovery, play and interaction. The best musicians have often grown up in an environment in which a musical foundation was laid in a comparable way.

I believe that learning music, as learning language, is not merely a matter of acquiring knowledge and skill. For as children learn to speak, they develop a mind for their language; an English Mind, a Spanish Mind, a Chinese Mind, and so on. Similarly, if they are to speak the language of music, they must develop a Musical Mind. 

MusicalMindCover
MusicalMindHiThere
MusicalMindPurpose

The Goal of Musical Mind Piano

There are three fundamental bases on which we can build to develop a Musical Mind: 

  • Music itself, which requires the coordination of rhythm, sound and movement.
  • A child’s natural abilities of the eyes, ears, body and mind.
  • A child’s natural learning through observation, imitation, exploration, discovery, play and interaction.
Musical Mind Piano seeks to enlist children’s natural learning and engage their natural abilities to develop familiarity and skill in coordinating rhythm, sound and movement at a pace that feels natural to them.    

Attaining This Goal

I’m seeking with Musical Mind Piano to draw from the linguistic model of child learning, as well as, from the best contributions made by the past 200 years of developing piano teaching methods (and some from medieval Europe, folk traditions and even ancient Africa!). Through breaking the challenges of playing music on the piano down into very small steps — including many and varied activities and materials — and utilizing children’s natural abilities and learning, the problems that students usually encounter in learning to play the piano (stress, struggle, trauma and the development of hard-to-change bad habits) are minimized or eliminated, and in their place is more exploration, discovery and play. Most of all, they begin developing a Musical Mind from the start, lay a solid foundation for future development, and along the way having lots of fun!

Below is a selection of features of Musical Mind Piano presented in pictures with titles and captions. 

On mobile devices, tap & hold (or slide a little) a picture to see the title and caption, or on desktops and laptops, scroll to see the title and caption. Tap or click to see the full picture.

clip - twinkle picture
Colors in Song
Pictures students can color help to inspire their imaginations, helping them relate to the song and to feel more involved with the book.
clip - pulse
Pulse
Illustrations and actions help kids to visualize and experience concepts.
Coloring is fun and helps them to think through concepts like higher and lower.
Higher & Lower Black Keys
Most kids enjoy coloring and doing it helps them to think through concepts like higher and lower.
clip - MyDogRingo
Chanting Song
Chanting is singing on a single pitch. Chanting songs introduce children to singing in the easiest possible way. They can chant on any pitch that suits their voice. Chanting before singing or playing focuses on using the voice and feeling the rhythm.
Using a mini pumpkin helps to focus students' attention on learning to use their hand and fingers.
The Pumpkin Hand
Using a mini pumpkin helps to focus students' attention on learning to use their hand and fingers. This student is learning to control her fingertips and use her hand muscles. Holding the pumpkin helps with hand shape; playing the keys while holding it helps to develop wrist flexibility and use of arm weight before having to use fingers.
clip - on the beam
Reading higher and lower
In pre-staff line pieces, the higher & lower relationship of notes is easily seen and the student must use this to determine what to play. Relating higher and lower sounds to the notes on the page and to the keyboard becomes a habit right away.
clip - marching outside
Marching Outside
Note names in note heads transition from playing on black keys to reading via staff lines and spaces. Songs selected by student reactions increase enjoyment. This is one of many students have memorized just because they liked playing it.
clip - hammering nails
One Line Staff
One line staff makes seeing on, above or below the line easy. Seeing steps and skips is easy and the student must use these patterns to determine what to play.
clip - In mexico land
Two Line Staff
Adding a second line introduces "space notes"—notes between two lines, and line-to-line skips. Again, the student must use these patterns and relationships to determine what to play, so it quickly becomes a habit.
clip - drawing steps and skips
Drawing Steps & Skips
Drawing & writing helps to reinforce concepts and ways of thinking. The student uses the patterns and relationships to decide where to draw the note, but also must associate that note with a note name.
clip - going to school
Three Line Staff
Adding a 3rd line uses the same things as two—higher and lower, steps & skips, line & space notes—but with more possibilities and a greater need to rely on reference notes.
clip - G Flew Away
Five Line Staff
When first using the full 5 line staff, the reference note is highlighted by making its line red. Later they will trace this line for awhile before going "full staff." As with many of the pieces, this one has a fun ending, with the hand leaping up the piano and then "flying away."
clip - marching up to c
Five Line Staff Bass Clef
Using a starkly contrasting color for bass F helps kids to distinguish between bass F & treble G. Words illustrate and reinforce note names, location and movement.
clip - up the stairs
Stair Steps
Relating movement of notes to things kids have experienced helps them to understand and think effectively.
clip - two steps at a time
Stretching boundaries
Taking something simple—like skipping a key (two steps at a time), as with this piece—to an extreme is fun and helps avoid getting too comfortable with or locked into the current stage of development.
clip - tiptoe
Recognizable Experiences
Songs frequently concern things they have experienced, such as the soft sound of tip-toeing and the loud sound of a hiccup.
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