Teaching Children to Know Which Hand to Use in Kids Piano Lessons

Video Transcript

"So, another thing that your students may still be tripping up on is when left hand plays and when right hand plays. So, one of the things that helps you out for them is to ask the same questions at the beginning of every piece. You turn the page to a piece, let's do it, and you say oh this is a tough one. You don't say that! You say what hand begins? And, child A may look puzzled at the music for several seconds before saying ah, right? No, right is incorrect. But, I'll tell you why in this case, he probably said right. If you can close up on this, or I can bring the music towards you, so you can see it. You'll notice that this first note has a stick that points up; most of the right hand notes also have sticks that point up, so it makes sense for the child to say, oh yes, it's the right hand that plays because that stick points up, in his head. But no, you need to reinforce that, that's not what makes right and left. What makes right and left is where it falls on these boxes. If it's in the top part of the box, it's always right, if it's in the bottom part of the box, it's always left. A couple of things you can do one is to color it, I take colored pencils and I shade in the top a color and I shade in the bottom a different color, generally the same consistent color. Another thing to do is label it at the beginning to make sure. Another thing to do is point out the words, if it's above the words, its right, if it's below the words, it's left. So, these are just some tricks that you can use to help realize where right and left are on the piano music."