Piano Lessons for Young Beginners
What Should My Child Expect from Private Piano Lessons? A Guide to the First Three Months
Rose Park
Updated 5/19/25 • 4 min read
If you’re thinking about signing your child up for professional private piano lessons, you’ll want to know what to expect. From finding their way around the keys to reading music and building piano skills, an experienced teacher will guide them every step of the way. With quality one-on-one instruction through a well-planned curriculum, your child will build a great musical foundation.
Here’s a breakdown of the concepts and milestones your child can look forward to accomplishing in private piano lessons.
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Table of Contents
Finding the proper notes on the keyboard
As your child begins piano lessons, their teacher will help them get familiar with the keyboard step by step. Even if it seems confusing at first, a professional teacher has ways to make learning notes easy and fun.
Next, the teacher will guide your child into reading notes outside the central range—both higher and lower. This is when the full keyboard starts to come into play, and your child will learn to recognize note patterns all across the instrument. The teacher will introduce these changes gradually to make the transition smooth.
After getting used to playing middle C, the teacher will move on to helping your child identify all the other white note names – A, B, D, E, F, and G – across the entire keyboard. They’ll point out useful patterns to look for, like how the groups of two and three black keys act as landmarks to guide the way. Your child will learn that the white keys progress alphabetically from A to G, but there are skips between the notes E to F and B to C where there’s no black key.
Developing note finding skills
As new concepts are introduced by the teacher, your child will strengthen their skills through a combination of hands-on practice, listening activities, and music theory. Lessons usually begin with the right hand in the middle of the keyboard, helping your child become confident with identifying and playing notes in that range.
Music theory goes hand in hand with this—it helps explain the “why” behind the notes. Most piano books designed for beginners offer a well-rounded approach, blending theory, technique, and music in a way that makes learning both effective and enjoyable.
Identifying notes and reading a simple melody
Once your child has learned to read notes around the middle of the keyboard, their teacher will start working on left-hand reading too. It’s a new challenge since the left hand sees the notes from a reversed point of view, but with the right support and consistent practice, kids typically adjust well.
The teacher will then begin expanding your child’s range, helping them read and play notes above and below the middle range. This step allows them to start using the full keyboard and playing more dynamic music. It may feel tricky at first, but the teacher will build it up gradually so it feels manageable.
Over time, your child will become confident identifying notes for both hands, across all registers. A mix of hands-on practice, listening, and theory will help them grow into well-rounded musicians ready for more advanced pieces.
Identifying how a note should sound like
Listening to different tones
In private piano lessons, one of the most valuable skills your child will develop is learning how to hear and recognize different notes. It’s not just about pressing the right keys—it’s also about understanding how each note sounds. The teacher will help them hear the difference between low, resonant bass notes and high, delicate treble notes.
Your child will practice listening closely as they play notes across the keyboard, learning how sound changes based on where they play and how much pressure they use. Over time, they’ll start to recognize pitch, tone quality, and dynamics with more confidence.
Combining listening skills and music theory
Listening also plays a big role in music theory. When learning a new key, like G major, the teacher might start by playing the G note a few times so your child gets used to hearing it. Then, they’ll introduce a melody and ask your child to find which note sounds like the “home” or anchor pitch.
For instance, the teacher might say, “Let’s see if you can find the G in this melody.” They’ll play a short tune, and your child will listen, explore the keyboard, and land on the note that feels familiar and grounding—learning by ear as well as by sight.
Developing pitch perception
As your child’s ear for music improves, their teacher may introduce activities to help them understand pitch better. This might include practicing absolute pitch, where they can name any note just by hearing it. Usually, though, the focus will be on relative pitch, which means figuring out notes based on how they connect to a starting note.
For example, the teacher could play a chord, and your child would listen to the intervals to identify the notes that follow.
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Increasing speed and accuracy in playing
After your child learns the basics of reading music, their teacher will probably focus on helping them play with more speed and precision. It’s a process that needs steady practice, but a professional teacher will have plenty of ways to make it enjoyable.
They might use a metronome or app to set a consistent beat, starting with simple exercises at a slow tempo and then picking up the pace as your child improves. They’ll also work on keeping both hands perfectly coordinated. Another method could be clapping or tapping out rhythms before playing them on the piano.
Improving accuracy
To work on your child’s finger accuracy, classic Hanon drills are a popular choice. But they’re not a complete fix for long-term learning—while they’re great for precision and rhythm, they can get pretty boring and make piano feel less fun over time.
A better plan is to mix in different kinds of exercises. Your piano teacher might use a few Hanon drills but then move to more exciting pieces like Bach’s Inventions or Mozart’s sonatinas, which demand the same techniques but are more enjoyable and musical.
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Leveling up through piano method books
When helping beginner kids learn piano, teachers typically use leveled method book series. These books are really valuable, offering a well-organized curriculum that teaches skills gradually, made just for young students. With straightforward instructions, regular reviews, and extra practice activities, they give kids lots of guidance to solidify every new technique they learn.
Which piano book works well for kids?
One of the most popular method book options for kids is the Faber Piano Adventures series. It starts with an easy Primer Level book, focusing on just getting comfortable with the keyboard, learning note names, and playing simple tunes with both hands together.
Once they’ve learned those basics, they can start Level 1A and 1B which include more challenging rhythms, better hands coordination, and level-appropriate music reading exercises. As students level up by completing each graded book and move on to the next, it gives them a huge sense of accomplishment to have leveled-up their piano skills.
A professional teacher will usually take about 6 to 12 months to guide a student through each level, adjusting the speed based on how the child is progressing. The important thing for teachers, students, and parents is to be patient and give enough time to really master each skill before advancing. Some children might finish a level in 3 to 4 months, while others might take 6 months or longer, and that’s okay! There’s no one-size-fits-all timeline.
To learn more about great piano method books for kids aged 6 and up, see 8 Best Piano Books for Beginners.
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Rose Park
Rose Park is a graduate of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University where she studied Piano Performance and Arts Administration, receiving both Bachelor's and Master's degrees before co-founding Lesson With You. As a pianist, Rose was a prizewinner in many international piano competitions and performed at various summer programs and festivals across the United States, Italy, and Japan.