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About the author 

The methods we use as part of the main text book, Piano Fun, are revolutionary, Japanese-developed piano methods. ITO Yoshimoto, the author of this method is an Alexander-Technique licensed pianist and piano pedagogue. Her extensive study, including body mapping and neuroscience, led to a new way of teaching piano that cultivates little children's healthy musical growth with proper piano technique.

Main feature of Piano Fun

1 Cute & Fun!

When humans encounter something interesting, our brains produce dopamine. It stimulates our curiosity and leads us to motivation and focus. It builds seamless pathways towards learning. This is the most effective, productive, and effortless learning process.

2. By adapting to brain development, we can raise creative, happy, and smarter children.

Our brain has its own developmental steps. To stimulate well and not disturb those steps is the key to your children’s future success.

The Piano Fun method lets children use their hands and fingers, such as putting stickers in their music, before doing activities with tools, like writing with a pencil and crayons.

3. They will want to practice on their own!

Lessons are given with famous tunes which we heard them somewhere, without any pressure! This creates a virtuous cycle of "practice is fun" and "practice makes you better.

4. Good technique from the beginning!

The method, Piano Fun, is designed for children as young as 3 years old. It teaches healthy piano playing techniques based on human anatomy from the very beginning, and it allows all students a comfortable start in terms of their physical development 

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Coarse motor skills and fine motor skills

🤸🏻Gross motor skills : large movements that uses the whole body (walking, running, jumping, etc.)

Stage to developing cores of the body

♪ Including maintaining posture

♪ Sound play with percussion instruments

♪ Rhythmic exercise

📝Fine motor skills: precise movements using hands and fingers (drawing, writing, using chopsticks, grasping small objects with fingers, etc.)

Stage to developing peripheral nerves such as fingertips and etc.

♪Drawing and writing 

♪Using utensils such as chopsticks 

♪Picking up small objects 

♪Doing different things with both hands

🎹 In order to perform delicate finger coordination, it is important and necessary to have good control of the trunk (the core of the body), wrists, arms, and shoulders. In other words, it is important to nurture core strength first in childhood. 

After gross motor activities (using the whole body to feel and move to the music), the children can smoothly move on to fine motor activities (playing the piano).

Proprioceptive Sensation and Tactile Sensation

Those are two important senses for piano playing.

🎼 Proprioception (kinaesthesia): the sense of knowing the position and movement of each part of the body; reducing to playing wrong notes on the piano; delicate keyboard control; precise speed control with keystrokes; pedalling, etc.

🎵 Exercises to develop proprioception;  Balance ball, balance disc, standing on one leg, catch ball, etc.

🎼 Tactile sensations (tactile sensory processing): sensations received through the skin or the way that the brain interprets and uses information from the sense of touch related to producing delicate touches, such as how much pressure to apply to the piano keys.

🎵 Exercises to develop tactile sensations ;  Touching and holding various objects (objects with different hardness, texture, weight, and size)