1.) Find a piano.
Or, I suppose, a keyboard. Get one from eBay—40 dollars will get you something good—if need be. If you already have one, that’ll do just fine. You’ll also need something specific to teach them, so dig up the old books you used to learn 15 years ago if you can find them. They will do just fine.
2.) Buy stickers.
Trying new things is a lot more rewarding with incentives, and the same goes for kids. Find a sheet of stickers, and prepare to decorate your books. Reading anything is a lot more fun when an assortment of animals, stars, and letters is there to brighten up the page. Bring some blank paper and colorful markers, too; it can’t hurt.
3.) Find students (or parents of students).
Perhaps you know a family friend’s child who wants to learn music, or perhaps you put some flyers up around your neighborhood. Ask around, and spread the word. Promote your new business on local Facebook groups with exciting posts. Shapes and colors don’t just motivate children; adults, I’ve found, are drawn to them, too. Create a flashy logo or advertisement for yourself if that’s your style. If not, be confident and show your enthusiasm.
4.) Make a plan.
Will you start with basic note reading? How will you introduce the keys themselves? Will you use letter names or solfège?
Of course, much of this depends on the way that you were taught music. The way you learn something is often the way you continue to perceive it, and, as a result, the way you teach it. Regardless, it helps to start simple.
5) Discard the plan. Begin to teach.
Children are not predictable, and neither is music.
If your student is in the five-to-eight-year-old range, bring out the pieces of paper and markers you brought with you, and ask your student to draw the keyboard sitting in front of them. Take your own sheet of paper to draw it yourself. Their drawing might not end up the most accurate, but it’s the fun that counts.
Using your drawing as a template, label what note each key on the keyboard corresponds to. Play to their pattern recognition abilities—you’d be surprised how well five-year-olds can recognize patterns—to help them learn. Point out where the black keys are and use them as a reference for finding specific notes. Show your student where these specific notes are on the keyboard. Allow them to play around with the sounds and explore the keys themselves. Freedom, after all, is important in music.
6) Continue to encourage them with things they love.
Ask them what their favorite songs are, and play them while you and your student sing along together. This step is the beginning of helping them fall in love with the empowering nature of an instrument; music is most fun when you can do what you want with it. Some hit songs with this crowd are “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” “Old MacDonald,” and so on. If you don’t know these songs, it’s useful to get to know them. However, every student is different, so be sure that you’re just as open to learning as they are.
7) Return to the books.
Balance enthusiasm with intellectual stimulation. In between singing songs, drawing, and giving out stickers, encourage students to work through the books. Start at the beginning, of course, and present each page and each bit of new information with excitement and intention. Over the course of a couple of lessons, these books will begin with diagrams of the keyboard, similar to the one you drew, and progress onto note names and eventually instructions for reading sheet music.
Apply one art to another, and use your old technique yet again: drawing. Have students draw a staff out, and show them, slowly, how to draw a treble clef onto their five lines. This may be a challenge, but it’s an engaging one, and now they’ll know what to look for.
Align this clef with the keyboard drawing you made a couple lessons ago. Have them draw each note on their staff, while you point it out both on the keyboard drawing and on the keyboard itself. Again, show them the pattern: Point out that notes alternate between lines and spaces, and have them guess where each next note goes. Practice this often and perhaps for a couple of weeks, depending on your students’ confidence in understanding note reading.
8) Personalize.
Remember those songs that you and your student were singing along to? Your students now know enough to learn how to play it! It may be helpful for you to write out some notes for them to follow along with. If they’re interested, they can even copy the notes that you write onto their own piece of paper. Again, repetition helps.
Now, teach them their favorite song, slowly. Walk through each note and encourage them to be patient.
9) Practice.
You’ve covered the basics! For a while, continue to strengthen these concepts with repetition, and, specifically, continue to encourage them to practice their favorite songs. Bring excitement to each moment, but don’t move on too quickly—learning takes time.
10) Perform!
If your student is interested, encourage them to play their favorite song in front of their parents. You’ll never see joy as pure as your student discovering how rewarding the creative freedom of music is, without even knowing it. Watch, also, the pride on the parents’ faces as they watch their child create.
Finally, set aside some time for your own self-reflection. Be proud of your patience and your own passion, and consider the fact that your student’s success and enjoyment are the best reward you could ask for. Recall the people who’ve taught you music and the ways that this knowledge has shaped your perception of the world. Be grateful for those who came before you, and be proud of yourself.
If you’d like, continue to teach. While supporting your current students as they grow, find new students and new ways for them to enjoy learning. Be flexible, and be open; the things you learn as a teacher apply to the way you will continue to see the rest of the world. Learn to be patient with yourself as you develop new skills and passions, just as you are with your students. Apply what you learn as a teacher to what you learn as a student.
