PlayPawNotesNursery songs before scales
Mary Had a Little Lamb is a real piece of music. A scale is a drill. At three, start with the song. The drill can wait.
A scale is a useful tool for a person who already wants control over their fingers. A three-year-old wants a song they already sing in the car. Start there.
Mary Had a Little Lamb is a real piece of music. So is Twinkle. So is the wrong version of Happy Birthday they shout at cake. Those are the curriculum. A five-finger exercise can wait until someone in the room actually wants it.
Why a song wins
A song has a story and a shape. They know when you fake the ending. They know the next word. That is structure without a worksheet.
A scale is the alphabet. Useful, later. Reciting the alphabet is not how you get a toddler to love books. Singing a book they already like is.
The National Association for Music Education describes early childhood music as play-based: unstructured and structured play, singing, moving, creating, improvising. A nursery song is structured play. A scale, at this age, is a grown-up standing over a child saying “again.”
If they invent their own tune on Cat and Dog, that is improvising. You can say “that’s your song.” You do not have to fix it into C major.
Three notes is enough
Mary Had a Little Lamb, in the key that sits on these animals, is Elephant, Dog, Cat, Dog, Elephant, Elephant, Elephant.
E D C D E E E
You do not have to say E. You can say Elephant, Dog, Cat. You can play it once while they watch. Then they mash the right neighborhood of the keyboard. Close enough.
If you have tape on the keys, those three words are sitting there. If you are on an iPad, the same three animals are on the glass. Safari will not talk to a MIDI cable. Tap keys still play the song.
Twinkle starts on Cat and walks up. You can try it. You can also skip it if tonight is a Mary night. One song is a full session when the session is ten minutes.
How to sit next to a song
Play it slowly. Play it wrong once on purpose if they think wrong is funny. Let them play the last note. The last note is the prize. Adults hog the last note because we like cadence. Give it to them.
Do not stop them to fix finger numbers. Do not say “use your right hand.” A fist on Elephant still sounds like Elephant.
If they want the song twenty times, you may want to die a little. Three times is plenty. Then switch to free play: “your turn, any animal.” Free play is the other half of a musical childhood, not a consolation prize.
Sing. The piano is not the only sound. Your voice is the instrument they already trust. If the piano is being a pest, close it and finish the song in the kitchen.
What about “real” teaching
Later, a teacher may want a scale. Good. Scales teach evenness, and evenness is a taste you acquire. Tonight you are not that teacher.
If you are the sort of parent who loved scales, notice that love is yours. It is not a requirement you get to hand down at age three. You can play a scale yourself, quietly, as your own doodle. They can ignore you. Modeling is allowed. Assigning is the problem.
Gold stars for a completed scale are how you get a child who plays for the star. Skip the star. Cheer the lamb.
A tiny map, if you want one
You do not need this. Some parents like a map.
- Mary Had a Little Lamb: Elephant, Dog, Cat (E D C)
- Hot Cross Buns: same three notes, same neighborhood
- Twinkle, first line: Cat, Cat, Giraffe, Giraffe, Ant, Ant, Giraffe (C C G G A A G)
If the map becomes a test, throw the map away. The song in the air is the point. The animals are a handle, not a score.
Black keys can wait. Two hands can wait. Reading a staff can wait. The song cannot wait, because they already know it, and they will sing it whether or not you sit at a piano.
Stop on a good note
When they start sliding off the bench, the song is over. Do not bargain for one more verse. Leave the last Elephant in the air.
Tomorrow you can play it again. Or they will only want Bear. Bear is allowed. Nursery songs are a menu, not a program.