We know gross motor movements as “important to enable children to perform every day functions”. Activities like sports, dance, yoga cater to this important aspect of childhood development.
Piano playing, is much more heavily weight on the fine motor development. It is understandable that some parents may be weary of piano lessons. Parents feel that children should be running, climbing and jumping instead of sitting on a bench. However, fine motor skills have a just as strong impact on developing every day function skills.
Gross Motor Movements and Piano Lessons
While it is true that a large part of playing the piano requires sitting on the beach and focusing on moving fingers, gross motor movements do play a role in music class.
For those whole learn with their whole body, off the bench activities are ideal to teach any musical concept. For example, when reading notes going up or down, the best way sometimes is to have students stand up. The students walk right for notes going up, and left for going down. Similarly, for these students, jumping to the rhythm is much more effective than having them play it with their fingers.
Outside the Lesson
The music we learn in piano lessons is not meant to be in a box. It is to help the student engage with music in the world. As a child, I remember dancing up and down the stairs listening to music. Sometimes I would pretend I am in a big castle waltzing by myself, and sometimes I would pretend I am marching in a band. While it is not always possible to have gross motor movements in the piano class, I design music classes to elevate the student’s gross motor movements in other parts of their lives.
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Eric Ng (B.Mus, A.R.C.T , ECE ) is a piano teacher based in Richmond, B.C. Mr. Eric has taught in a variety of early childhood education styles, including Reggio-inspired, Montessori, Play-based, and Outdoor-based settings. Along with his formal classical music training from the RCM curriculum and the University of Victoria, Mr. Eric brings a unique perspective to teaching music to young children today.