Teaching Piano Minor Chords to Children

Video Transcript

Now that you've introduced the sound of the minor, the next step is to introduce the minor chords, especially the easy minor chords, which include A, D and E. Again, because those are the three chords that have all white keys for their minors. It's easy for them to see and it's easy for them feel, if you can deal with white keys. And so, very soon, your kids are able to play heart and soul, which is clearly the only reason they've come to piano, in the first place. So they can go (playing piano) and annoy legions of people, everyday but now they have vocabulary for it "wow, you're fantastic." They can say that this is a C chord and it's a happy one, so it's major and that this is an A chord but it's a sad one, so it's minor and this is an F chord and it's happy one, so it's major. This is a G chord, it's happy so it's major. I say this, as if this happens "oh it's just so easy," it's not quite as easy as that but you'll find, even in small children, I have a five year old little boy, whom I can tell "play me a D minor chord" and he can find it or "play me a D major chord" and he can find it. They'll pick it up, surprisingly faster, than you think. This is one of those things that just works, it just has a very nice way of working. You can also give them chords to make things out of, just like heart and soul has that pattern, that repeats, over and over, you can give them other patterns and see if they can have that happen. Before you know it, you have kids on the piano, six year old kids, who are composing all because you just gave them, three or four chords that go in a row or two chords, that go in a row. Say "go back and forth between this chord, a C chord and an A minor chord and back to C," and they think they're rock stars. It's fantastic. Making sure they understand the difference between a major chord and a minor chord opens up, literally, the world of possibilities, to them.

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