Learning Foundations
1. Brain Development and Readiness
Human brains develop through stages.
There are individual differences, and the brain cannot do what it is not yet ready to do.
Interfering with this developmental process can lead to difficulties later on.
Sensory sensitivity also differs from person to person.
2. Movement and Whole Body Development
The brain develops through movement.
Whole body movement is essential.
Gross motor activity supports the development of the core.
This allows the fine motor skills required for piano playing to emerge.
Movement involves constant changes in balance.
3. Sensory Experience and Piano Playing
Piano playing requires more than hearing alone.
Multiple senses are involved.
Sensory systems develop through use.
For young children, voice and sound are especially important pathways for learning.
What can be heard, imagined, and sung is more easily remembered than abstract symbols.
4. Pitch, Solfege, and Musical Understanding
Solfege (Do–Re–Mi) is used as a primary tool for learning pitch and musical relationships.
Because solfege syllables are easy to sing, they allow children to associate sound and pitch directly, often without conscious effort.
Letter names, by contrast, function as visual symbols.
For many children, it is difficult to associate a letter with a pitch at the same moment they hear or play it.
In addition, the pronunciation of letter names can change depending on context, which adds an extra layer of complexity unrelated to sound itself.
As students progress and begin to play more complex music, it becomes unrealistic to rely on verbalizing note names.
Musical understanding develops through recognizing pitch, direction, and keyboard location directly.
The ability to see a note, internally hear its pitch, and know where it exists on the keyboard is more important than naming the note aloud.
Solfege supports this process naturally by linking sound, perception, and movement.
5. Learning Through Experience
People learn through experience.
Theory is information.
It becomes meaningful only when it is used.
The brain learns most effectively when learning is enjoyable.
Piano learning follows a sequence.
6. Home and Everyday Environment
Parental interest influences learning.
Music in the everyday environment supports learning.
Music is part of daily life and is not separate from it.
