You can teach even young kids how to transpose at the piano! I did this activity last year with beginner 5 year olds and they were all able to do it. The parents were tremendously impressed–both by the fact that their kids could do it and that my studio was teaching such useful skills to beginners.
The key is to start simple. Jingle Bells makes a perfect transposing activity because it’s a simple, well-known song and the kids will be excited to learn it. Click on the image to print this Jingle Bells sheet.
The video explains how to use this activity, but here’s a quick summary. You ask the child to place her right hand on the C Major 5 finger scale (pentascale). Then have her play the song using the finger numbers. If you’re working with a young child, I recommend that you send the piece home with the assignment to practice every day so she gets really good at it.
When your student comes back the next week, have her play the song for you so you can make sure she’s proficient. Now just have her move her hand to another pentascale and play using the same finger numbers. Easy as pie! Make a big deal about how she just transposed the piece and that this is an important skill. Your praise will encourage her to continue developing this skill.
Your students will be most successful if they know their scales and chords well. I’ve developed a special system that I use to teach scales and chords to young beginners and it’s available for purchase. Piano Magic makes learning scales and chords fun for kids. Learn more by clicking on the link.
This activity is powerful because it shows kids that there really are fun applications of piano scales. Do activities like this often, and start right at the beginning, and you’ll have students who are excited to learn scales and chords because they understand how powerful this knowledge is and how much more freedom and fun they can have at the piano.
Don’t feel like you need to wait until December to try this activity. Kids love Jingle Bells so much that they’ll be excited to learn it during any time of year!
This sheet only includes the first part of the song because it’s meant to be a quick & easy activity. If your student wants to play the whole song, challenge him to figure it out and play it by ear. See tips on how to teach kids to play by ear by clicking on he link.
If you like this activity and the free printable, please take just a second to like it, share it, and leave a comment below. This helps other teachers to find and be able to use these resources and I love hearing your feedback!
My son is sitting his teaching diploma next week and has to talk about transposition so this post was very helpful. Thank you.
I’m so glad to hear this post helps. I wish your son good luck!