Piano lessons provide a great advantage for children schooled at home. Because parents are in charge of their children s schedule and curriculum, homeschool students can set their own pace and spend more time on music than in the public or private schools. In the public schools young children go to music class about once a week. Not nearly enough time to develop their musical talent, and rarely are they able to learn an instrument such as the piano. This is unfortunate because of the educational benefits of piano lessons for elementary school age children. Homeschool parents, however, can provide all the benefits of piano for their children right in their own home. And there is no reason not to with all the resources available to homeschool parents on the internet.

So gather your homeschool team of friends and discuss this wonderful opportunity. Music is even more fun when you can share it with others. Small groups of children can develop their musical talent using keyboards and ear phones. Today the keyboards available are of good quality and reasonably priced. Create a space in your home and start your own homeschool piano club. Below are five things your children can learn in piano at home.

How to -

1. Set Goals to achieve their music dream;

2. Overcome worries and performance fears;

3. Become more patient with their learning;

4. Be persistent in their lessons; and how to

5. Take responsibility for their success.

These are character traits all children need to reach their dreams. So don t wait to give your children the gift of music!

For great home piano activities parents can use to help children ages 5 to 11 develop their musical talent, visit Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources You ll find a treasure box filled with piano resources to create an exciting musical adventure for your child - right in your own home! Visit their website and subscribe to their f ree internet newsletter so you can download f ree piano sheet music and mp3s of original piano compositions.

These exciting stories, games, piano lessons, and inspirational gifts feature the Piano Adventure Bears, Mrs. Treble Beary and her new piano student, Albeart Littlebud. Young students follow along with Albeart to learn what piano lessons are all about in a fun way that kids readily understand appreciate. Click here to visit PianoAdventureBears.com For a wealth of information about piano lessons, visit tallypiano.com

If your young child can identify the letters of the alphabet and numbers, knows how to count, and is beginning to read, they are ready for piano lessons. Below are 20 piano concepts and benefits children can gain in their first year of piano lessons.

1. Locating A, B, C, D, E, F, and G on the piano keyboard (Music Alphabet)

2. Musical Alphabet Up and Down (Circle of Seconds or Steps)

3. Line Notes and Space notes (Circle of Thirds or Skips)

4. Broken and Blocked, in the Key of C, F and G (Triads)

5. The Major Scale (Half Steps and Whole Steps)

6. Five-Finger Scales in C Major, A Minor, D Minor F Major, G Major (Pentatonic Scales)

7. Octaves (Ottava signs and Keyboard Arrangement)

8. Intervals (Distance between two keys on the piano or two notes on the staff)

9. Sharps (Half Steps Up)

10. Flats (Half Steps Down)

11. High Sounds (Treble Clef )

12. Low Sounds (Bass Clef)

13. Forte, Mezzo Forte, Piano, Mezzo Piano, Crescendo (Dynamics)

14. Listening & Playing Back (Imitation)

15. Changing a Theme (Variations)

16. Personal Expression (Improvisation)

17. Playing with more ease (Technique)

18. Playing with style (Articulations: legato, staccato, accents)

19. Playing for others (Performing in Recitals)

20. Sharing their talent (Becoming Part of the Music Community.)

In addition to music theory, first year piano students are trained in piano performance and artistry. Can you imagine your children playing the piano in your living room, or performing in their first piano recital? There is nothing that warms parents’ hearts more than seeing their children engaged in a creative activity that is challenging and beneficial. Why not enroll your child in piano lessons while they are young? You can’t make a better investment in their future.

In addition to the 20 benefits above, other rewards of piano lessons are well documented - increased math and reading scores, increased overall educational progress. So don’t wait to give your child the benefits of music. You’ll be glad you did.

To learn the best way to share the gift of music with children visit Amazon.com for my Piano Adventure Stories for Children These exciting Piano Adventure stores for children ages 5 to 11 feature the loveable characters, Mrs. Treble Beary and her passionate, new piano student, Albeart Littlebud. Children love following along with Albeart to Mrs. Treble Beary’s piano studio in Musical Acres Forest. Here they learn what piano lessons are all about in a fun way that kids readily understand and appreciate! Piano students laugh and giggle while reading “Little Bear’s Musical Garden” and “Little Bear’s Piano Goals.”

For a wealth of f’ree information and piano music online visit Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources Don’t Wait to Share the Gift of Music!

So, you want to learn how to play piano. So do thousands of others around the world. Here’s how they usually go about it.

First, they try to find a piano teacher close to where they live. They may or may not know what style they want to learn, but figure the piano teacher can help them figure this out.

Next, it’s off to the piano teacher for the first appointment. What usually happens here is the teacher gives the student “an assessment” to see what they know. Now, for the most part, piano teachers won’t ask prospective students what they want to learn because they assume it will be classical in nature.

The benefits for the piano teacher in teaching the classical method are enormous! First, students must learn how to read music and this can take anywhere from 1-month to 1 year depending on how fast a learner the student is. Second, students learn classical repertoire and this can literally take forever. As this is happening over time, the student becomes a piano player who can read sheet music and play the music of dead composers reasonably well. That’s the goal anyway.

The student at this point may have spent thousands of dollars learning how to do this thus increasing the piano teachers income. What a great deal for the piano teacher! But what about the student?

Listen, if your goal is to learn how to note-read and play other peoples music for fun then that is what you should do. But if you’re interested in a more creative approach to piano playing, you may want to seek out a teacher who will show you how to play piano using a chord-based approach. Here’s why:

1. Time spent learning is greatly reduced. Listen to this… you can learn most chords on the piano within one month’s time. You won’t be an expert at it, but you’ll know enough to get around on the piano. This puts you light years ahead of your classical playing counterparts.

2. Musicianship is quickly realized. Do you know that most classical players don’t have a clue how what they are playing was created? That’s right! They just play the notes like a typist and never understand the mystery behind the music. Now, if you learn chords, inevitably, you’re going to learn about chord charts and once you learn how to “chart out music,” you’ll be thinking like a composer. You’ll be quantum leaps ahead of most classically trained musicians.

Look, if you really want to learn how to play piano fast, learn a chord-based approach first. You can always learn note reading later on.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!