We're All in the Mood for a Melody

Maya has fallen in love with Auntie's piano. We adopted it in September, and she has plunked out a song every single day since it arrived.


We try to take advantage of her interest, showing her a song or a scale when she is in the mood to learn. Often she wants to improvise, which isn't jarring as you might think. She plays softly on the high keys and asks Elliot to do a ballet dance while she plays the music.

Auntie's other gift to us was a wonderful set of piano books for preschoolers called Teaching Little Fingers to Play. They include a teacher accompaniment with almost every song, so she feels like she is really making music, especially with the Disney book. It sounds to her like she is playing "Beauty and the Beast" or "A Whole New World," although her part requires only a couple of notes. They would be a good gift for any preschooler with a piano in the house!

She is extremely proud of her "mastery" of "Twinkle, Twinkle." She prefers to use one finger to pick out the notes, given that her little hand can't really span an entire octave yet, but she is pretty consistent about finding the right keys.