How to teach your own kid how to play the piano - More lessons learned!

As I've mentioned before, the jump from playing music written on the staff has been a challenge for WonderGirl.  We've been flying by with the first Alfred Prep book but it was quite a leap.  I have a 7 year old student who is nearing the end of the book who hadn't the slightest hiccup while making the transition, but WG is still very much a 4 year old.  Both of us were wringing our hands, so I headed to the local music store to see if I could find a book that spent a little more time introducing the staff.  

Voila, enter the Faber My First Piano Adventures.  I'd looked at the series a few months ago, but the first book didn't seem quite WG's speed (it's delightful though).  The second book is all about introducing the staff, note by note (it comes with a CD that we haven't tried out yet - I'll give you info on that when we do).  It moves slowly, but it's chock full of games, theory and cute songs with catchy lyrics - which is exactly what WG needs right now.  She learned how to read English, but she'd been speaking it for about 2 years already - she's only been speaking "music" for a few months now, so I need to remember to be patient.

The bright illustrations and cute stories have WG excited, and I'm thrilled to pieces.  I plan on coming back to the Alfred book in a bit and using both, because she responded well to it too.  Plus I know once we get a firmer grasp on reading notes on the staff, it'll give her a big confidence boost to be able to rock the songs that had previously been difficult.

The lesson I've learned here is:  if your kid seems to hit a brick wall, sometimes you need to head to the music store and find a book that has a different path around the wall.  The end destination is the same place, and  will be more peaceful experience for both of you!  Who knew great method books could make a mom so giddy??