Do your piano students panic when playing piano out of position?
Position-based piano pieces are comforting for young piano students. Having this sense of predictability allows beginning students to make room in their minds for new notes, and rhythms; one less thing to think about is always a good idea.
But relying only on position-based piano pieces means you risk locking your students’ hands to the keyboard. When this happens, any music that requires movement rapidly becomes a panic-inducing exercise.
It is therefore important to “unlock” your piano students’ hands from those familiar positions early and often. So, if you have piano students who panic when playing piano out of position, today’s printable pack is the fun and comforting tool you need to bring some zen to position changes.
Position-Based Play – No Need To Take Sides
The other day a piano teacher asked us about our “position” on position-based play. Our response… we support it. But, as you may have guessed, we support playing piano out of position as well.
In our opinion, taking sides does not need to happen in the position-based play debate.
For young piano students, position-based piano pieces should form the foundation of their piano repertoire. The key word, of course, being foundation. If students only play position-based piano pieces, they will begin to associate certain fingers with certain keys. This can create problems down the road when other repertoire requires students to move their hands around the keyboard.
The solution for young beginners is to intersperse position-based repertoire with easier out-of-position piano pieces and exercises. By employing this strategy (where students are frequently playing easier music that eliminates their need to constantly note crunch) piano students can use most of their brain power to focus on the reading skills that develop when playing outside familiar positions.
The result… a pleasant, out-of-position piano playing experience that results in more adventurous piano players!
Level 1 Printables For Playing Piano Out Of Position
Today’s out-of-position activity explores different hand positions using notes from the Treble C 5-Finger Scale. While it works great as a standalone activity, if you are a WunderKeys teacher, it coordinates well with WunderKeys Elementary Piano Level 1A.
In our Level 1 method book we help kids get comfortable with hand position changes by using the exact strategy outlined above: by interspersing easier out-of-position repertoire to keep kids comfortable with changes in hand position.
Note: The musical excerpts you will find in today’s activity are much easier than the repertoire you’ll find in Wunderkeys Elementary Piano Level 1A.
This is intentional! As today’s activity is designed for students who who are learning about moving to new hand positions, it is important that they first engage with activities that ensure successful early experiences.
To play today’s activity, you’ll need our printable pack (click here or on the image to download) and a die. Follow the included instructions and eliminate out-of-position paranoia 🙂
Want To Learn More About Wunderkeys Elementary Piano Level 1A?
Wunderkeys Elementary Piano Level 1A follows the WunderKeys Primer Piano Series. It is fun, imaginative, and educationally sound. Your kids will have a blast while becoming brilliant piano players. And all of this means that your piano students won’t bail on lessons when that crucial primer-to-Level-1 transition occurs. Recently a teacher wrote to say:
“What a fabulous book! Finally, a logical, cohesive and masterful method that prevents all of those problems that off the shelf method books cause- highly recommend! Solid notation teaching that is pure joy to introduce and very engaging. Can’t wait for the next in the series. It’s about time pedagogy got an influx of modern flair.”
WunderKeys Elementary Piano Level 1A is available here on Amazon.
Barbara says
I like this concept and making it a “game” is always fun, but I’m a little confused…my students who would benefit from this activity aren’t reading those notes on the staff yet. Can you give me some guidance on that? As always thanks a bunch:)
Andrea says
Hi Barbara – this is for Level 1 students who are reading in the Treble C 5-Finger Scale but who are not yet 100% comfortable moving out of “C position”. It’s another way to solidify those notes as students have to focus on reading rather than relying on “C is 1” etc.
Kelly Koch says
I used this yesterday it’s fabulous! The dice is what makes it. Use a dice and it’s immediately a game not an activity. Brilliant!