ave you ever tried sitting in on a jam session… or even making up something new on an instrument? Jamming can be a sticky subject for most grown-ups, and even for older kids. But for babies, it’s what they do naturally!
Shopping for Jam can give us some great insight into how to help our babies continue to jam on the keys without fear (and how we as adults can get into it as well!)
There’s an experiment about jam (the other kind of jam, which isn’t usually scary) where Columbia professor, Sheena Lyengar found that offering shoppers too many kinds of jam had a similar result to asking musicians to come jam with some buds. When given 24 choices, they were likely to walk away without any jam. When they were offered only six kinds of jam, however, shoppers were more likely to take home some yummy toppings for their toast.
When you’re faced with 88 keys on the piano, and asked to “make up something,” especially if you’ve been taught that there are specific “right” and “wrong” ways to play, AND you want your made up music to sound good with your band-mates’ made up music, it can be like being asked to choose from 24 types of jam.
Here’s a simple way to start jamming with your baby, toddler or preschooler, that will be less intimidating than trying to choose from all 88 keys of the piano:
Just use the group of 3 black keys to start with. Try things like stepping up and down, skipping from high to low and from low to high, and repeating the same key. A fun way to make it interesting without being overwhelming is to talk about quiet (piano) and loud (forte.) It’s fun to try to see how quietly you can play by pressing the keys gently, and how loudly you can play. Don’t worry, pianos are designed to play forte and even fortissimo (very loud.) As long as you’re using fingers and not toys, drumsticks or elbows, you’re going to be fine.
As usual, my advice is mostly for you, the grown-up, since you’re your child’s favorite mentor. Your baby, toddler, or preschooler might not yet be ready to distinguish between the white and the black keys, or which set of black keys has two and which has three. They can have fun playing whatever the heck they want, while you refine your playing to the groups of three black keys (and if you want to get really wild, add the groups of two black keys, or even venture onto the white keys.) The limits aren’t designed to actually keep you from venturing out, they’re really there to help you get unstuck.
As always, Have So Much Fun!!
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