Teaching piano to a five year old

No age limit for patience and endurance

By Lume Kim

I started giving piano lessons last summer. My first student was David, a very bright and endearing five year old. He was taking lessons twice a week, and I tried to see him as a gift from God. David was very smart musically, but got easily distracted during lessons. He loved to reproduce the melodies he heard, but he seemed unmotivated and didn’t follow instructions.

So I prepared more than an hour for his 30-minute lessons and asked my two sons to join us to help David gain focus and motivation. My second son taught him about rhythms with the drum; my first son taught him new notes and helped him improve his listening ability with the cello. Still, David sometimes lay on the floor and refused to play the piano. He only wanted to play games with me. It was discouraging to say the least. Every day I asked God to give me the wisdom and strength to keep loving.

After several months, David’s attitude changed. His concentration improved, and he absorbed like a sponge whatever I taught him! He wanted to perform at very high levels and progressed very quickly. We enjoyed every piano lesson with each other.

Some time later, David’s mother shared very good news. David had gone with his parents to a music academy concert in Philadelphia. When asked to play the piano at the event, he performed exceedingly well. When David came for his next piano lesson he seemed more engaged than ever before.

One day during a lesson, we were drawing musical notes, and David asked me for extra paper. He drew several figures and wrote, “I love you, Mrs. Kim.” Then he explained, “Mrs. Kim, these are you, me and your two sons.” When his mom came to pick him up, he showed her the drawing and suddenly shouted, “I forgot something!” He added three figures to the drawing saying: “These are mom, dad and my sister Dasey, because we are all one family!” He gave me the drawing and added, “Please show this drawing to your people and keep it forever.”

I felt extremely happy and thanked God I hadn’t given up on David.

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