While having fun at the same time!
In this creative, kid-friendly course, students ages 5–8 explore piano theory through hands-on lessons that combine note reading, writing, sight reading, rhythm, and music creativity.
Each lesson includes:
Essential theory concepts explained clearly and visually
Writing and reading practice to build confidence on the staff
Sight reading and rhythm challenges that strengthen musicianship
Composer spotlights introducing great names and their music
Creative invitations — mini composition or improv prompts to spark imagination
Whether your child is brand new to piano or has completed the Beginning Piano for Kids series, this course helps them understand what they play — not just memorize it.
By the end of the course, students will feel confident reading music, understanding musical terms, big concepts and rhythm patterns, and be pros at expressing their own musical ideas.
Most theory courses teach reading and writing separately — mine weaves it all together!
Your student will see, hear, and create music every step of the way. Lessons are short, engaging, and designed to help children connect the dots between theory and real piano playing.
Ages 5–8, early readers on the staff
Students who’ve completed Beginning Piano for Kids
Teachers or parents looking for a ready-to-go, creative theory curriculum
12 video-based lessons
Printable accompanying worksheets
Fun listening examples and creative prompts
Progress tracking + Certificate of Completion
Lifetime access + any updates
We’re reviewing the basics in this lesson. Let’s make sure you’re solid on your piano finger numbers, keyboard note names, basic staff structure, and rhythms so you have a strong foundation to build on.
Composer of the Week: J.S. Bach
Creative Assignment: Improvising on C–D–E
We’re building on the basics in this lesson! We'll make sure you’re confident with Middle C on the piano and how to write it on the staff. You’ll also learn how to sight-read (which can be a note-reader's super power), and do some rhythm ear training.
Composer of the Week: W.A. Mozart
Creative Assignment: Composing in Middle C
We’re continuing to make sure you are super solid on Middle C notes- trust me, you’ll be glad we did before adding on. We’ll do some rhythmic math and learn about time signatures, work on our dynamics, and make sure you’re solid on your musical terms.
Composer of the Week: Lv. Beethoven
Creative Assignment: Improvising Snowfall Sounds
We're going to see how solid you are naming your Middle C notes! We'll also learn a different way to read notes (by the direction they are moving- stepping up and stepping down), work with two time signatures, do some sight reading and have a drum circle to practice our rhythms real-time.
Composer of the Week: Frederic Chopin
Creative Assignment: Creating short musical ideas- Musical Legos
Chapter 5
We’re going to start working with our left hand in C Scale, too! We’ll work on both memorizing where these notes go on the staff, but also reading by direction with steps and skips. We’ll do a little sight reading, some ear training, and review our dynamic symbols.
Composer of the Week: Amy Beach
Creative Assignment: Improvising with Steps- Walking to School
Chapter 6
We’re going to continue working with C Scales in the Right and Left hand, both drawing them on the grand staff and drawing steps and skips up and down around a given note. We will do more work with time signatures, and practice counting beats as we play our rhythms. We’ll also learn about “Cheese Sandwich" songs.
Composer of the Week: Claude Debussy
Creative Assignment: Improvise Bunnies Hopping
Today, we’ll explore what makes up an official "grand staff", refine your note-reading skills, practice getting very quiet with some new rests, and challenge your ears with melody vs. harmony.
Composer of the Week: Scott Joplin
Creative Exercise: Composing a Simple Melody and Adding a Simple Harmony
Chapter 8
We are really going to work hard on our note reading today in three different ways: by direction, by remembering note names, and by sight reading. We’ll review our rhythms, including our new rests, and see if we can tell 3/4 songs from 4/4 songs by ear.
Composer of the Week: George Gershwin
Creative Exercise: Improvise Falling Asleep
Chapter 9
Today we’re going to write several melodies using the notes of the C scale, then rewrite our favorite on the grand staff and add simple harmonies. We’ll further work on our note reading with drawing steps and skips in the treble and bass clef, use a new time signature, and test our ears with different dynamic levels.
Composer of the Week: John Williams
Creative Exercise: Compose a melody with simple harmonies
Chapter 10
We’re going to look deeper at our C scales today, and learn it’s “home tone.” We’ll learn some new touches for our notes (staccato and legato), work with a very unusual time signature, and do some sight reading.
Composer of the Week: Yiruma
Creative Exercise: Using nature for improvisational inspiration
Today we’re going to take another look at the black keys, and how to navigate to them using “sharps” and “flats.” We’ll review our staccatos and legatos, and do some musical math using the tie symbol.
Composer of the Week: Wynn-Anne Rossi
Creative Exercise: Composing a melody and harmony starting with the time signature
You made it to the last chapter! Yay! We're going to be pulling everything you've worked on together with some musical analysis, a note identification "time test," and a big review of all of the terms and rhythmic symbols we've covered. Plus we'll have a fun ear training session where you get to identify the music of some of the composers we've been listening to.
Composer of the week: Joe Hisaishi
Creative assignment: Create some music on the reproducible grand staff template, and share it with your friends and family!