hen I took piano lessons as a little girl, I was so lucky to have a teacher who taught her students to play by ear, as well as from written music.
She was amazing. She taught me how to compose my own music, and how to improvise on existing pieces, how to transpose music, as well as how to play precisely what was written on the sheet music. She gave me so much. If I could see her again, I would hug her and kiss her!
The songs we played by ear were drawn from our memories of songs we’d sung all our lives – folk songs. For the most part, I didn’t think about what those songs actually meant, except for Rock-a-by-Baby. I never could figure out why we were singing about a baby falling out of a tree! What I really didn’t understand, and am just coming to really grasp all these years later, is the harm that some of their lyrics caused. It turns out, lots of folk songs became popular during the minstrel show era, where the dehumanization of Black people was celebrated. I had no idea – I just sang along.
In 2020, Good Humor published a public apology for using the tune “Turkey In the Straw” (a song that was once used to celebrate horrible things) on their ice cream trucks. Even though Good Humor no longer owns the ice cream trucks, they commissioned a new song to be played to celebrate summer and ice cream instead. Yay Good Humor!
Another challenge with folk songs is, they can be tricky for very little fingers to play. Moms sometimes want me to teach their 2-year-olds how to play “The Wheels On the Bus”, “because it’s his favorite song!” I get the logic, but The Wheels On the Bus is a great song for a pretty new student to play when they have bones in their grown-up fingers, and a frame of reference for patterns and sequences, using two hands, and playing dotted rhythms. But for a 2-year-old, this would just be frustrating. What you would get is a lot of resistance, and maybe, if you kept trying to push it, a tantrum. Most likely, your 2-year-old would decide in their developing brain that they’re just not good at piano and they’d go play with their cars (or if they’re lucky, their bus).
We need lots of new songs for kids to play by ear, to learn from written music, and to celebrate all of the seasons. Songs they remember from infancy, and which are simple and easy for very little children’s developing fingers to navigate.
That’s why I’ve written Baby-Led Piano™, a compilation of little songs, fingerplays, flashcards, and games for parents to offer to their very little kids. Songs that are simple and sweet, and that do not celebrate harming anyone. They talk about bugs, alligators, bicycles, and friends. And they foster connection. At Baby-Led Piano™, parents offer music that is sweet and simple, and kids take it in. When they’re ready, they show you what they’ve learned. It’s so amazing when that happens, and you can’t force it. You can only watch your baby as they do what they’re best at – PLAY!
When you introduce these little songs to your baby by singing them, showing them the notes, and playing them on the piano every day, these will be the songs they naturally want to play. Your baby will develop a strong sense of rhythm, melody, musical notation, piano technique, and most importantly, how loved they are by you, and how to love others. Because creating music together is the best way to say “I Love You!”
