We have purchased Merrienan Melodies Curriculum for our 8 and 6 year old to use in the fall (they will be on different levels). For more information visit: http://merrienan.com. This curriculum was written by 2 sisters. I know how to read sheet music already but have very basic piano skills. This system pairs colors with notes initially to help kids distinguish the notes and recognize where they are on the keyboard, which I liked. There’s also an interactive kit you use throughout that includes various game components because it has hands on learning activities to do off the piano as the student works through their workbook and play games that teach not just how to play the piano, but how to read music on all the clefs (not just treble and bass, I didn’t even know there were more), chords, and music theory and composition on a level kids can understand. Instead of using familiar songs that everyone already knows, they use short easy pieces they wrote or the kids “write”, making a song with their name, rolling a special dice and spinning a spinner to determine what notes to put on the staff, this means they have to actually read the music and not just play it by ear.
We came across this at our homeschool convention. These ladies were so sweet and helpful. They print the stuff themselves and bind it and send it out. It is extremely high quality and the interactive kit even comes in a really cool organizer container with a clipboard on the front. You can get student workbooks with answer key if you aren’t a music person, and you can call them if you have any questions or problems and they will answer. These ladies formulated this system and use it with their own piano students and a number of schools and professional teachers are also using it too as word spreads. I feel great about it because it is so much more than just sitting at the piano which can get old, and it teaches you so much more about music that transfers to other instruments and vocal music too. We will be using this along with a hymn book that is a part of our Heart of Dakota Bigger Hearts for His Glory curriculum and is scheduled into those lessons for music.
Ordering was a bit complicated, there are 2 age levels and multiple skill levels within each age grouping. There was a teacher’s manual, a student workbook, and a student songbook that we got for each student as they fell into different age ranges and one had more musical exposure than the other. We also got one interactive kit that they will both use. If you are interested and have questions, you can contact them through the website, they are very helpful.
We bought a 76 key keyboard with stand on Craigslist that has a lot of great features and saved a ton of money, so we won’t feel terrible if piano isn’t our thing forever, but if we do love it for the long haul, it has touch which means if you press the keys harder it plays louder like a real piano. It will also work with sound systems and microphones and you can record pieces and hook it to the computer. If we get good enough to play worship at church some day we won’t need a new keyboard and we spent the price of a much cheaper keyboard.