Find out more about our piano prep program from Founder, Melanie Bowes

Pre-Notes is our piano prep program designed especially for preschoolers — children at a stage of boundless curiosity, imagination, and discovery.

At this age, music learning isn’t about formal instruction; it’s about building the foundation for musical understanding through play, movement, and exploration.

Each lesson combines singing, movement, and exploratory piano in a carefully sequenced curriculum that nurtures nine key pre-piano skills, including rhythm and pulse, pitch awareness, listening, fine motor skills, and early understanding of musical patterns, letters, and numbers.

Our goal is to meet children where they are — helping them develop musical awareness, coordination, and confidence in a joyful, age-appropriate way.

KeyNotes Play lessons are dynamic, focused, and collaborative.
Students learn through doing — analyzing, experimenting, performing, and reflecting — building the independence and musicianship that drive engagement, motivation, and progress.

Understanding

Recognising highs and lows, fast and slow, loud and soft
Exploring how sounds can express feelings and stories
Discovering musical patterns, pulse, and pitch through exploration
Building aural awareness long before reading notation

Skills

Developing coordination and fine motor control for future piano playing
Strengthening listening and imitation skills through songs and echo games
Moving in time and responding to rhythm with the whole body
Experimenting at the piano with confidence and curiosity

Mindset

Growing confidence through creative success and self-expression
Learning to listen, take turns, and work cooperatively with others
Cultivating curiosity and imagination through open-ended activities
Building a joyful, can-do attitude toward music and learning

What makes Pre-Notes unique is the balance of structure and freedom.

Our curriculum is:

Sequential yet flexible – Each concept is introduced, reinforced, and revisited through varied, creative experiences.

Research-informed – Rooted in early childhood learning theory and music pedagogy, designed to align with how young children actually learn.

Integrated – Singing, movement, and piano work together to develop the whole musician — mind, body, and imagination.

Thematic and engaging – Seasonal topics keep learning relevant and joyful, inviting children to connect music with their world.

Pre-Notes lays the groundwork for a smooth, confident transition into formal piano study — ensuring that when children are ready to read, play, and perform, they already understand what music feels like, sounds like, and means.

Our year-long curriculum is based around the four seasons, with three cycles of three lessons within each one, as well as one-off lessons for events such as Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day.

Sticky Keys

For our Valentine's lesson we have a theme of bees and honey and in sticky keys, children play an improvisation on the black keys, playing as if their hands are covered in sticky honey!

Students learn technique and improvise on the black keys.

Arctic Trail

In our Winter lessons, we have an arctic trail where we are thinking about the musical alphabet and order of letters.

The aim is to learn the order of the musical alphabet and the progression goes from tracing lines that are already present, to drawing the lines in (see image), and finally to using separate letters and placing them in an order.

Cool Down the Piano

In our Summer lessons, we need to cool down the piano! Students place the caps on the two black keys, the sunglasses on the three black keys and flip flops (shaped to fit the keys) on the white keys.

Activities help students to recognise the two and three black key pattern on the piano, which prepares students for learning to find notes when they start formal piano.

Pot of Gold

We use rainbow pitched percussion instruments and provide theme-based opportunities to play melodies by following the colour patterns (the melody above for St Patrick's Day being C D C E C).

We also use these instruments for echo songs.

Every activity, song and game nurtures and develops the following skills:

Improvisation and development of hand and arm technique in relation to themes and characters.

Movement activities help with body co-ordination and experiencing inner pulse, as well as being essential for this age and stage and how they learn.

Responding to music through various activities develops a strong sense of inner pulse, and ability to imitate and make new rhythms.

Musical literacy uses letters & numbers, so we develop understanding and application of these in music.

Using manipulatives and arts & crafts to work on fine motor skills helps to prepare for finger dexterity.

Listening to a wide range of music genres develops students' awareness of music and intention, as well as exposing them to various musical elements.

Music is built on patterns so we provide opportunities to work with patterns in a variety of ways, playing instruments and games.

Singing activities include songs for learning, such as the musical alphabet, nursery rhymes, and echo songs for the development of aural skills.

Echo songs and tuned percussion instruments help to develop a sense of pitch, moving up and down, as well as highs and lows.

Every activity, song and game nurtures and develops the following skills:

Improvisation and development of hand and arm technique in relation to themes and characters.

Responding to music through various activities develops a strong sense of inner pulse, and ability to imitate and make new rhythms.

Movement activities help with body co-ordination and experiencing inner pulse, as well as being essential for this age and stage and how they learn.

Musical literacy uses letters & numbers, so we develop understanding and application of these in music.

Using manipulatives and arts & crafts to work on fine motor skills helps to prepare for finger dexterity.

Listening to a wide range of music genres develops students' awareness of music and intention, as well as exposing them to various musical elements.

Music is built on patterns so we provide opportunities to work with patterns in a variety of ways, playing instruments and games.

Singing activities include songs for learning, such as the musical alphabet, nursery rhymes, and echo songs for the development of aural skills.

Echo songs and tuned percussion instruments help to develop a sense of pitch, moving up and down, as well as highs and lows.

There are many wonderful Early Years Music classes which develop general musicianship skills; however you can offer a unique program that really does put the piano front and center of everything.

Our Pre-Notes children have opportunities to listen, play, dance and engage with the piano in so many ways.

We have improvisation both in terms of sound scapes (making the hedgehog hide away), and as a piece of music (black key improvisations with an accompaniment to illustrate elements such as a rainbow, snow falling and jellyfish!).

They are also asked to move in various ways to different extracts (ladybug resting, crawling and flying), responding as the music changes.

Finally, we have story pieces, where the piano narrates and illustrates our Spring or Winter walk.

All our piano songs and accompaniments are original and created with specific intention. Listen to our icicles improvisation accompaniment, where children are encouraged to play short notes, lifting their hands off each one.

Want to see some example lesson plans and resources for our Pre-Notes program?