Piano Lessons for Children: A Lesson On Transposition

From time to time piano teachers may find that they need to explain complex subjects in a simple, childlike way. Piano lesson for kids present an interesting challenge as there are many technical facets to playing. Terminology also presents difficulties for children as they can be difficult to understand.

Children taking piano lessons sometimes have difficulty understanding basic music concepts. As children build up experience they need to be given explanations including examples that they can easily understand and associate with. This way young students can develop a musical vocabulary that’s appropriate for their age and playing ability and skill. This lets them develop and cultivate an appreciation and love of music over time. Studies show that getting them started early is better than waiting until they can understand more complex and technical definitions.

One term that teachers should try to get their young students to understand early is the term “Transposition”. Transposition is technically defined as the process of changing the key of a composition. To help the child understand what transposition means experts recommend that a seven-step teaching plan should be followed.

2. When the student has selected three colors the teacher should give them the second copy of the coloring page. The teacher should then ask the child to select three various crayons to color the second page. The student should also be told to do their best coloring.

3. When the student has finished both pictures they should be asked to explain the difference between the two pictures WITHOUT using the word “color” or the names of colors that they used to color the pictures. They’ll have a tough time explaining the difference between the pictures and the teacher should excourage them to use their imaginations. Remember that there are no wrong answers!

4. After the explanation student and teacher should move to the piano and the teacher have the student play an easy melody in the C five-finger hand position (C-D-E-F-G for each hand). This will be the initial position the students will learn to play in.

5. Next, the teacher should have the student move their hands to G position (G-A-B-C D), and the child should be asked to play their song again. The student should be asked how the two versions were different aside from the fact that their hands were in different positions on the keyboard, or that they played different piano keys. Again, there are no wrong answers.

The teacher should then introduce the concept of transposition: that is, transposing a melody on the piano to another key or hand arrangement is just like selecting different colors for in the coloring a picture on a page. The picture is the same but it’s colored in different a shade of sounds.

6. The students could be asked to expand their explanation of the differences between the two melodies by asking them which of the two pictures are brighter and which version of their song sounded brighter.

7. Finally the teacher should explain that changing the key of a song lets them play the same melody in another “shade or color.” And that this is called “transposition”.

Piano lessons for kids should always include explanations of terminology and concepts in child terms. Illustrations, examples and interactivity like this lesson should help students understand concepts of music that children might otherwise find hard to comprehend. It will also make piano lesson more fun for both student and teacher!

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