Help, Don't Handicap

If you have a young pianist in your home, you may have seen those stickers that can be put on the keys, which tell which note is which. They are supposed to help. But they don’t. Oh, they do at first. The child confidently puts their hands on the labeled C’s and G’s and plays the pieces like a professional. But if they play on a non-labeled piano, they are lost at sea. (No pun intended!) I had a family that took lessons for months on their labeled piano, but it wasn’t until I insisted on taking the labels off that they actually learned the patterns and where the notes were. Another student had labeled keys, done by an older family member who was also trying to learn to play. Not surprisingly, this student didn’t do well on my non-labeled piano during lessons.

(Photo retrieved from amazon.com)

These stickers and labels are HANDICAPS, not HELPS.

Instead of memorizing the pattern of 2- and 3-black key groups and their surrounding white keys, the student reads the letters and totally ignores the black keys. But if they go play a different piano with no labels, suddenly they have no idea what they are doing. At Grandma’s house trying to play her a song? Out of luck. At a recital on a different piano? Cue the freeze and panic. Please don’t do that to your child!

And finally, don’t do what this teacher encountered:

Do not ever write on the keys! (Photo by Alicia John; used by permission.)

Keep the keys clean and pristine. If your child has trouble remembering note names of the keys, practice naming them each day with your child. There will be a graphic somewhere in their book, or look on the internet. Treat it like a spelling test- they just need daily practice!

“Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy.” Robert A. Heinlein, American author, engineer, and Naval officer.

(Clean, unlabeled keys- Image by nightowl from Pixabay)